Organizational Change Management at Honda Motor: A Business Report

This report provides an in-depth analysis of organizational change management at Honda Motor. It begins with an executive summary and introduction, outlining the need for change to meet company goals and objectives, particularly in response to market competition and technological advancements. The report reviews relevant literature on change management, including the importance of change agents, strategic, leadership, and technological changes, and the impact on employee performance. It then details the methodology, including the use of descriptive research design and interpretivism philosophy, along with secondary data collection and thematic analysis. The research findings highlight Honda's adoption of transitional change processes, focusing on product design changes to meet customer expectations and maintain a competitive edge. The report discusses the role of organizational culture, the impact of globalization and technology, and the application of the Mckinesy 7S model. The report underscores the importance of employee training, resource management, and effective communication in managing change, making it a comprehensive study of Honda's organizational adaptability.

Business project

1.0 Executive summary
Changes is required in organization for fulfilling the goals and objectives which
are set by company. For the successful implementation of change it is required to
dedication and guidance. Further organization change is a set of planned activities,
without implementation of changes company cannot achieve success. For managing
the changes within an organization company need to hire change agent who help in
implementation of changes successfully within the organization. Further, changes are
need to made if company profit and sales declined. For this purpose company can
make changes in its internal working system. Changes support organization for survive
in competitive market.

Table of Contents
1.0 Executive summary....................................................................................................................2
2.0 Introduction................................................................................................................................4
3.0 Literature review .......................................................................................................................4
4.0 Methodology .............................................................................................................................7
5.0 Research Finding ......................................................................................................................8
5.1 Organisation's structural designs ............................................................................................10
5.2 Organisation's cultural development........................................................................................10
5.3 Cultural web.............................................................................................................................11
6.0 Discussion/ conclusion ............................................................................................................11
7.0 References ...............................................................................................................................13

2.0 Introduction
Honda Motor is a one of the largest motorcycle manufacture which release
dedicated luxury brand. Further it is the fastest growing organization in all over the
world. Honda makes innovative product which lead to increase in demand of products
among customer. To met the increasing demand company expand its business
operation in different countries. Apart from this some changes in organization to flourish
and sustain the profitability in the long run. Honda is operating its business in auto
mobile industry where it is imperative to bring about the adequate changes in the
company so that firm can survive in competitive market. Further there are many
competitors who are ready to capture the opportunity for gaining market share. Change
in organization is very important so that Honda company can easily survive in cut throat
competition and make position in market. The organization lies in this vertical need to
regularly keep an eye on what is the latest trend in the market in respect to products
and services which they are offering to their customer. Along with this they need to
identify exact customer expectation regarding the product which they are delivering to
them and the changing consumer behaviour from time to time which line up new
strategies for making huge profit. Honda organization not only required to focus on
customer basic cognitive process but also on retaining them for longer time. In the
chaining phase Honda bring changes in CR-V design so that it can target large number
of customer. It focusses on introducing new design which because it need to make
product as pre the customer expectation and external environment. Changes in design
is going through by at the moment by Honda organization because it has many
competitors which are bringing changes in design for garbing the attention of large
number of customer.
3.0 Literature review
According ot the view of Petrou, Demerouti and Schaufeli, (2016) Changes is
very important for an organization because without it business cannot survive in
competitive market. Once if organization make objective and scope of changes then it
need to consider the specific task. Further there are different activities which are
involved in managing changes. Firstly it is necessary to make sure that for making any

changes there should be clear explanation of changes which are required to make and
support sponsor for communicating this. Then further it is required to identify people and
change agent who are involved in specific change activities that is problem solving,
technology, designing etc. and who can act as ambassadors for change. Assessing
training and needs driven by changes and way to implement them within the
organization. If changes occur in organization then it can be strategic, leadership
changes, technology and tactical changes. If this all changes take place within an
organization then it impacts the performance of employees, people and process of
work. Therefore, reducing the effects from having unintended negative outcomes of
changes organization need to have change management. Further, for managing the
changes company need to adopt Bureaucratic system in which organization is used to
show the way change can work. It is a using principle of push for driving the changes.
This problem with this system is that people who hold power resist the changes.
Further, for reducing this problem of resistance, there is high level of communication
required so that changes can be successfully implemented.
Petrou, Demerouti and Xanthopoulou, (2017) explained that there is eight steps to
successful change which can be summarised as follows:
Increase urgency: This inspire people to move and make objective real and
appropriate to benefit an organization.
Build a guiding team: for managing the changes it is necessary to build the right
team of highly skilled people so that employee can easily manage the changes.
Get the vision right: firm need to establish a simple strategy and focus on factor
which drive services and efficiency.
Communicate for buy in: for managing the change it is necessary to involved
people and communicated with them strategy for implementing the change.
Empower action: There is required of support of leader, remove barrier and
enable constructive feedback.
Create short term win: at this step it is necessary to create short term to create
short term goal and then move on long term goals.
Don't let up: Adoptive and promote ongoing changes and also required to
encourage ongoing progress report.

Make changes stick: Reinforce the value of successful change through
recruitment, new change leader and promotion.
In a business changes are required so that organization can easily reach the desired
goal. Organizational change is required if company is not able to increase the customer
base of their if there is decline in profit. If there is well planned organizational change
then it creates value for stakeholders.
According to the view of Zhao, Seibert, and Lam, (2016) there are some external factors
which drive changes that are as follows:
Technology development: New technology introduced in market which was
adopted by many organizations for making innovative product and services. Therefore,
company need to adopt new technology for making an innovative product for its
customer.
Globalization: The globalization is one of the tough force of changes. In modern
era, organization expand their business in different country so they need to go with
many changes in order to survive in competitive market. An organization should have
some specific characteristic for managing the changes. It means that firm should have
strategic direction and clarity of structure. If organization have clear structure then firm
can easily manage the changes. At the time of implementation the changes company
need force its employee to accept the changes while some of them resist the changes.
Before implementing any changes in the organization need to understand the way
system is working. There are some techniques of managing the changes effectively
from its current states and future desired. In this organization firstly need to understand
the current position and needs which include problems which are faced by company,
assigning the changes which are needed to solve the problems. Further it is important
to manage the changes in systematic manner in which it covers the way of managing
the transition effectively. For implementing the changes successfully it is necessary to
allocate the resources, draw up the plan and appoint the person who take responsibility
of whole change process. Apart from this some kind of challenges is faced by an
organization at the time maintaining the changes that is organizational structure. In this
lack of adequate polices, procedure and rules which are the great challenges for
manager for implement the changes.

4.0 Methodology
 Research approach :Research approach give better outcome by taking into
consideration theoretical framework. In current study Honda company is
managing change within an organization so researcher can used inductive
approach because it helps in collecting general information and then focus is on
finding specific causes. Further it allows researcher to develop understand the
change in organization deeply.
 Research design: Basically there are three type of research design that is
explanatory, descriptive and explanatory (Taylor, Bogdan and DeVault, 2015). In
the present report researcher used descriptive research design because it helps
in accessing valid sources of information for driving the valid outcome. Further
the main reason behind using this design is that to present finding related to the
factors which can effect at the time of managing changes.
 Research philosophy: There are two type of research design which can be
used by researcher that is positivism and interpretivism philosophy which can be
used by researcher for carrying out present study. Further, in the present report
interpretivism research design will be used be researcher in order to identify the
barriers which organization can faced at the time of managing the changes. In
this large amount of information is collected in relation to particular topic.
 Data collection: (Tarone, Gass and Cohen, 2013). Therefore, by evaluation of
all different kind of data researcher can easily gain knowledge of each and every
aspect of research topic. The main reason behind selecting the secondary data is
that it provide result in providing more suitable information in order to effective
change management strategy.
 Data analysis: The main reason behind using this strategy is that to convert raw
material into a valid outcome. In a qualitative technique researcher used different
tools and techniques for analysing such as thematic perspective in which themes
are made for interpretation.

5.0 Research Finding
From the secondary research is has been find out that transitional change
process is effective for the Honda company. In a transitional strategy firm need to
replace it existing process with new prices. This process is more challenging and it can
affect the comfort zone of employees within an organization. For the successful
implementation of transitional change it is important to make modification in present
structure (Kuusela, Keil and Maula, 2016). An organization, merger acquisition, creating
a new produces and implementing of new technology is example of transition change.
Further Honda company is adopting transitional change so it not required to make
changes in culture or behaviour. However, it is difficult to implement new change within
an organization. In an organization there are some system which need to involved for
making change through meeting, notice boards etc. in the present study Honda
company is bringing change in design of its product and services. Further, for
responding the needs and demand of customer Honda company need to make changes
in its design, so that it can easily meet the expectation of its customer. Further, in order
to survive the organization need to change their culture and must continuously make
change. Moreover, it can be stated that organization culture play significant role in
managing the change, it can facilitate or inhibit change within an organization. Honda
focus on safety at the time of designing new care for its customer (Honda change,
2017). This lead to increase in demand of products and services. Apart from this new
design of Honda company product is completely different from its competitor. From its
new design model it can be identified that company manage changes by responding
the feedback from its customer. The major improvement in its product with a premium
interior and crisp handling. For managing this change company used the resources,
finance and its employees effectively. It makes some changes in its organizational
culture and adopt new technology which assist in making innovative product and
services for customer. Change management focus on the way employees and team are
affected by an organizational transition. There are some main reason which influence
Honda company to adopt changes. Globalization and regular innovation of new
technology result in constantly evolving business environment. The change is difficult
due to organizational structure, cultural and routine of organization. Here change model

support Honda organization for managing change in effective manner. Employee need
to provide training and development facility in order to mange changes at work place.
Further, for managing the change within an organization in effective manner Honda
company adopt Mckinesy 7S model. There are few steps in this model which manage
the change effectively and efficiently. Honda company create a plan for designing new
product in respect to survive in competitive market. For this purpose company make
strategy to reach the goal. Then in next stage it need to structure it is a way business
represent the way and units are organized and includes the information of who is
accountable to whom. For managing the change proper structured is required because
it is an organizational chart of firm. Furthermore, system is the process and procedure
of organization which show business daily activities and the way decision are made.
The manager mainly focus on system at the time of implementing the change. In order
to make new product company need to hire highly skilled employee who capable of
making new product and services. The organization uses this model if it focuses on
strategy and make objectives for managing change successfully. Further Honda
company management department need to change the structure of its organization in
order to manage the changes. Along with this, Honda need to find out what are the main
system which organization run. It need to include financial and human resources system
and communication. Then it need to share valued in order to manage changes and
encourage employees for adopting such changes. It need to make strong value culture.
Then focus on leadership style for this purpose it can adopt democratic leadership style
which is very effective in motivating the employees. Then highly skilled employee need
to who can successfully make new design for its new products. If employee are highly
skilled then company can easily make high quality products for its customers.

Hard element are ea sire to define and for finding out which can directly influence
change. On the other hand soft elements are not easy to describe and are less tangible
and more influenced by culture of Honda organization. But it can be said that this soft
elements are more important as compare to hard elements if company want to succeed
in making changes
Illustration 1: Mckinesy 7S model

5.1 Organisation's structural designs
There is a simple process for implementing the transition change within an
organization that is defining roles and responsibility for each employees. There are
various manager required who can initiates the idea of change in an organization
(Petrou, Demerouti and Schaufeli, 2016). For making transitional changes company
need to firstly communicate with its employees so that they not resist the changes at the
time of implementation. Each employee roles and responsibility should be
communicated directly to them so that they can easily adopt the changes. At the time
when changes is implementation in an organization there are often resistance.
Opposition of changes is common in employees, at workplace employee resist the
change in organizational culture, policies and structure. In order to successfully
implementation of strategy Honda company need to develop strategy which is useful for
employee defiance management. Honda can adopt normative- re educative strategy. As
Illustration 2: Change model

form the assumption it is known that people are adhere of cultural norms, so it is difficult
for organization to redefines it and add values to make changes.
5.2 Organisation's cultural development
For the effective change management skill is needed at the time of
implementation of changes. There is great importance of problem solving in the change
management process. It has been argued that changes can be effectively implemented
by problem solver. There are three type of strategy for managing the changes within an
organization. At the time when change process is drafted that it is a responsibility of the
change and leader for measuring the difference between eh current process and
change process (Hansen and Clausen, 2017). Further, at the time of managing the
change leader play significant role because it identifies the changes required to produce
and force its team member for accepting the changes. Honda organization make
changes in its entire system and use integrated system of communication. Further it
focusses on making changes in design of its products in which it need to recruit highly
skilled candidates who can innovate new design for grabbing the attention of large
number of customer.
5.3 Cultural web
However, from the finding of the study it is recommended that it is hard to
manage and understand the emotion of change at the time of change process. There
are different model and strategy of changes which is adopted by Honda for managing
the change. Further the role of emotion is high and it influences the thinking of
employee for accepting changes which are introduced within an organization. However,
the success of changes in organizations is highly depended on the want it is positively
accepted by the organizational workforce. On contrary to this, it can be stated that
decision of implementing the changes is not based on emotions
6.0 Discussion/ conclusion
From the above research it has been identified that it is not easy to manage the
change within an organization. It has been find out that changes made in design of
product by Honda is very benefited in order to gain competitive advantage. Company
respond to the changes by focusing on feedback provided by its customer. Some of the

possible consequences caused by the decision of the company to change the design is
that Honda may need to hire highly skilled employees and provide them training facility.
This may cost high in hiring and training employees. Further it need to make changes in
its organizations structure which may be resist by employees. Further change have
some positive impact that it attract large number of customer and increase sale of
organization.
Change management is important for organization if company unable to increase sale
and or earn profit. Change is significant part of organization which help organization in
achieving success and for survive in competitive market. In the present report Honda
company bring changes in its designing of its product and services for this purpose it
makes changes in its entire working system (Nuhu, Baird and Appuhami, 2016). To
modified entire working system is not easy for Honda company. Employee not like to
accept the changes and they don't want to come out from comfort zone. For this
purpose company need to adopt strategies for implementing the changes within an
organization. There should be direct communication with employee for making them
aware that how much implementation of changes is important for achieving success.
Therefore, it can be stated that communication is important key elements for the
successful change managing. For making innovative product company need to adopt
new technology and conduct market research for identifying the current needs and
demands of customer. Further organization also need to provide training and
development facility to its employee so that they can easily use those technologies for
designing innovative product. Honda company need to make changes in its entire
system for this purpose it need to take support of change agent. Some employee resists
the changes and company deal with them through negotiation. At the implementing the
changes successfully within the organization, it can easily achieve target without facing
any issues or barrier in achieving organizational goal and objectives. For designing the
products and services company need to make changes in its different department of
working who always design the products.
From the above report it can be concluded that changes is very important for
organization and there are many drivers of changes such as decline in sale and
profitability. There is great importance of change management that is it minimize the

resistance, improve performance and enhance the innovation. If company is not
performing well then it is necessary to bring new changes in its system or in product.
Further it can be concluded that for implement the changes successfully company need
to take use strategy which help in managing the change. There are different types of
strategy which company can used for successfully implementing the changes within an
organization. Change is important part of organization and firm need to make changes if
it need want to survive in competitive markets. Further, changes support in making high
quality of product which grab attention of large number of customer. Promotion of the
new design brings some changes within an organization and all changes are very
effective for an organization. This changes give new way of working to an organization.
Hard elements can easily influence the changes and have some positive impact
organization. While soft elements are more tough in implementing within an
organization.

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