Change Management in Nokia: Problems and Opportunities Analysis

This report presents a comprehensive case study on Nokia's change management initiatives. It begins with a background of the company, highlighting its historical success and subsequent challenges. The analysis delves into the problems and opportunities relevant to Nokia's change strategy, including complacency, product-led decision-making, and the impact of the iPhone's introduction. The report applies Lewin's and Kotter's change management models to analyze Nokia's approach. It then proposes a change intervention focused on cultural shifts, organizational structure adjustments, employee training, and product portfolio improvements to address the identified issues. The report also discusses potential barriers to implementation, such as employee resistance and communication gaps, along with the ethical considerations of the intervention. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of a holistic approach to change management, considering both internal and external factors for Nokia's future success.

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Executive Summary
The report is based on the analysis of an organization that has been facing major issues and
the changes that have been implemented for this purpose as well. The organization that has
been taken into consideration for the proper analysis of change management process is Nokia.
The opportunities and problems that are a part of the change strategy implemented in Nokia
have been analysed in the report in detail. A major change intervention has been suggested to
Nokia in order to improve the future operations and growth levels of the organization in the
industry. The issues and barriers that are a part of the implementation of change intervention
process is also an important part of the report. The ethical issues that can be faced by the
organization with respect to the proper implementation of change process has been discussed
in the report as well. The analysis in the report has depicted that the change intervention can
be influenced in a negative manner due to the barriers provided by employees and ethical
issues that take place as well.

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Table of Contents
Introduction....................................................................................................................3
Background to the company...........................................................................................3
Opportunities and problems that are relevant to change strategy..................................4
Change intervention that can address problems and opportunities................................7
Analysis of the issues and barriers you can face in implementation of the intervention
....................................................................................................................................................8
Analysis of ethical issues that the intervention can create.............................................8
Conclusion......................................................................................................................9
References....................................................................................................................11

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Introduction
As discussed by Al-Haddad and Kotnour (2015), change management can be defined
as the discipline that is able to guide the proper preparation and supporting the individuals in
order to adopt to the changes in a successful way. The individuals who are a part of the
organization are considered to be unique in nature and change based needs are also unique. A
structured approach is provided by the change management process for the purpose of
providing support to the organizations so that they are able to move from the current state to
the future state. The change that are implemented in the organizations can be managed by the
individuals or by various teams who are a part of the change project (Alvesson and
Sveningsson 2015).
The report will be based on the study of an issue that is being faced by Nokia and the
implementation of two change management models in the analysis of this issue. The change
intervention that can be suggested to the organization in order to solve the issues that are
faced in the operations of Nokia. The barriers that can be faced in the proper application of
the change intervention in Nokia will also be an important part of the discussion. Ethical
issues in the organization after implementing change intervention will be examined in the
report.
Background to the company
Nokia Corporation or Nokia is a multinational telecommunication, consumer
electronics and information technology based organization of Finnish origin that was
established in the year 1865. The headquarters of Nokia are located in Espoo that is a part of
the Helsinki greater metropolitan area. In the year 2018 Nokia has employed more than
100,000 people in different parts of the world in more than 100 countries and the business
operations have been conducted by the organization in over 130 countries (Nokia.com 2019).

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The annual revenues that have been reported by the firm in the industry were around 23
Billion Euros. Nokia has been operating in different industries for the last 150 years
(Nokia.com 2019).
Opportunities and problems that are relevant to change strategy
Nokia had been able to develop its processes in the telecommunication and
technology industry in an effective manner from the start of its operations in the industry. The
company depicted high levels of growth in the 1990s and had been able to become a
dominant force in the business of mobile telephony. The organization had provided emphasis
to the development of products that are required by the customers (Engert, Rauter and
Baumgartner 2016). The lucrative mobile technology industry and the sales and
manufacturing efforts had played a key part in the success that had been gained by Nokia.
The company had also been able to set the global standards for the proper development of
global management in the industry (Bbc.com 2019).
However, after a decade the strategy that had been implemented by Nokia was not
effective for the operations of the organization. The revenues of the company had started
declining in the last few years and the fast decline in growth levels was mainly related to the
complacency about the dominance in the market and loyal customers (Fernandez and Rainey
2017). The organization had major levels of confidence based on the methods by which its
products had the ability to retail the customers. However, changes that have taken place in the
industry had led to the lack of effective levels of profitability and sales of the products as
well. In the year 2007 the introduction of iPhone in the market had a negative impact on the
dominant position of Nokia (Bbc.com 2019). Stephen Elop had been appointed in Nokia in
the year 2010 for the purpose of re-energising the processes of the firm. The new CEO of the
organization had taken five months for the purpose of conducting a strategic review. The

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“burning platform” named memo had also been developed by the CEO in order to
communicate the need of change in Nokia (Helfat and Martin 2015).
Issues identified in Nokia - The cultural complacency had been considered to be a
major reason related to the issues that had been faced by Nokia in the industry. The major
problem was thereby related to the product-led decision making process of the organization
rather than the customer-led process. The bureaucratic environment in the organization is also
considered to be a major aspect of the organizational structure of Nokia that has an impact on
the operations (Bbc.com 2019). The corporate communication process in Nokia had also
failed and had been able to upsurge the levels of frustration among the employees and the
management as well. Nokia was also not ready to face the competition that is a part of the
technology industry due to increase in the number of organizations (Homburg, Jozić and
Kuehnl 2017).
Opportunities of the change intervention – The major suggestion that had been
provided by Elop for the purpose of improving the position and culture of Nokia was the
implementation of a major overhaul. The CEO had decided to sign a strategic partnership
with Microsoft in order to develop the future products. The changes were also implemented
in the organizational structure from the bureaucratic nature to flatter style. The focus was also
increased on the leadership and the markets in which Nokia operates.
Implementation of Lewin’s change management model – The change management
model developed by Kurt Lewin can be implemented for the purpose of analysing the change
process in Nokia. The three major steps that are a part of the change management model
include unfreezing, change implementation and refreezing. The employees had been first
taken into consideration by the CEO before implementing changes in the organization. The
next step was mainly based on the partnership that had been developed with Microsoft as a

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part of the change process. The third step is related to the ways by which the employees of
Nokia are able to adapt to the changes (Cummings, Bridgman and Brown 2016).
Implementation of Kotler’s change management model – The change intervention
that has been developed by Nokia can also be examined with the help of the different steps
that are a part of Kotler’s change management model. The different steps of the model can be
related to Nokia can be discussed as follows, Increasing urgency – The urgency levels had been increased in Nokia by
informing the employees about the issues that are being faced by the
organization.
 Building the team – The teams had been developed by the CEO of Nokia in
order to manage different processes that are a part of change management
(Petrou, Demerouti and Schaufeli 2018).
 Getting the vision correct – The vision that was formed by CEO of Nokia was
mainly based on the improvement of revenues and growth of the firm.
 Communicating – The lack of communication in Nokia had been improved
with the help of increase in levels of communication between the employees
and the management.
 Getting the things moving – The CEO aimed at gaining the support of
employees in order to implement the change (Helfat and Martin 2015).
 Focussing on short term goals – Elop had developed various short term based
goals that can lead to the ultimate achievement of the change management
objectives.
 Not giving up – The CEO and employees of Nokia had planned to work in a
collaborative manner in order to manage the operations and achieve the
growth levels.

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 Incorporating change – The changes had been implemented in the structure
and culture of Nokia in order to improve the collaboration levels and
communication process (Kirton and Greene 2015).
Change intervention that can address problems and opportunities
Elop had aimed at implementing major changes in the management structure of Nokia
in order to improve the levels of collaboration and communication process. The hierarchical
organization structure had been changed in order to develop a flat structure for the purpose of
improving the decision making process (Bbc.com 2019). The CEO also aimed at focussing
on the market based factors and the leadership in organization as well. However, in spite of
the efforts that had been implemented by the CEO and employees the change implementation
was not a success. The failure of the change implementation process had thereby led to the
decision that had been made by Microsoft to buy the mobile phone based business of Nokia
(Jarzabkowski and Kaplan 2015).
The change intervention is mainly based on the ways by which planned and
programmatic activities are implemented in order to bring changes in the organizations. The
changes are also able to ensure that the levels of improvement in functioning of the
organization and the levels of efficiencies. Changes are mainly applied with the support that
is provided by the employees of the organization. The change management process that has
been implemented by the CEO of Nokia had been a failure and the organization was not able
to enhance the levels of growth in the highly competitive technology industry (Kin and
Kareem 2015).
The intervention that can be implemented in order to improve the growth levels of
Nokia is based on the changes that will be in the organizational culture. The changes have to
be implemented in the structure of the organization and different teams can be developed for

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the purpose of fulfilling various objectives (Vaara, Sonenshein and Boje 2016). The
employees need to be offered with major levels of training so that they are able to maintain
their work process in an efficient manner. On the other hand, the improvement of product
portfolio is considered to be a major change that can help Nokia to face the competition that
is provided by the various smartphone organizations (Kirton and Greene 2015).
Analysis of the issues and barriers you can face in implementation of the intervention
The implementation of major changes in the culture of Nokia will be based on the
support that can be provided by the employees. The lack of proper collaboration between the
management and the employees is considered to be a major barrier that can be faced by
Nokia in the industry. The employees of Nokia can provide barriers to the proper application
of change intervention in the firm. The development of an effective communication with the
employees is considered to be a vital part of the ways by which change intervention can be
implemented (Vaara, Sonenshein and Boje 2016). The resistance that is provided by the
employees is able to play a major role in the development of issues that can be faced by
Nokia. The increase in product portfolio of Nokia on the other hand will require high levels
of investment (Schein 2015). The failure of the partnership of Nokia with Microsoft has a
negative impact on the amounts of capital that have been gained by the organization. Lack of
proper levels of capital and effective financial position of the organization is also considered
to be a major barrier that can be faced in the implementation of change intervention (Petrou,
Demerouti and Schaufeli 2018).
Analysis of ethical issues that the intervention can create
The ethical issues in the process of change management is considered to be an
important factor that is able to influence the success levels. The success of change
intervention can be measured in an effective way with the help of improvements that have

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taken place in different organizational aspects. The proper communication of change process
to the employees is considered to be a major factor that can lead to the development of ethical
issues in the firm (Smither, Houston and McIntire 2016). The implementation of change
intervention in Nokia can also lead to the development of many ethical issues that can have
an influence on the success of the change process. The changes in organizational culture that
are being planned for implementation in Nokia are able to play a key part in the changes that
will take place in the work process of employees (Stephan et al. 2016).
The formation of a proper communication process within the organization is
considered to be a major aspect that can have an impact on the change management process.
The employees have to be informed about the changes that are being applied in the
organization so that they are able to become an important part of the process. The ethical
issues that are being faced by the firm as a part of the change management process can have
an impact on the support that is provided by the employees and steps that have been
implemented by the management (Stone and Deadrick 2015).
Conclusion
The report can be concluded by stating that Nokia has faced major levels of issues
based on the increase in levels of competition in the telecommunications and technology
based industry. The company had provided importance to the products that are manufactured
rather than the changes that have taken place in the market. This had led to the formation of a
culture of complacence in the organization. The lack of proper importance provided to the
market and competition had reduced the growth levels of Nokia in a huge manner. The
changes have been mainly implemented in Nokia under the leadership of the CEO Stephen
Elop. However, the strategies had not been able to support the organization in gaining success
in the industry. The change intervention that can be applied by Nokia in order to improve the

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future processes is mainly based on the changes in organizational culture and enhancement of
the product portfolio as well.

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