Reflective Case Study: Organizational Change and Employee Experience

This case study examines the impact of organizational change on employees within a fast-food chain, focusing on a student's personal experience. The study analyzes the implementation of customized product offerings, highlighting issues arising from inadequate employee training and poor change management strategies. It explores the challenges faced by employees, including difficulties in customer interactions and operational inefficiencies. The analysis applies Lewin's change management model to assess the effectiveness of the change process, emphasizing the importance of communication, employee involvement, and leadership. The case study concludes with reflections on the need for improved training, effective leadership, and the strategic application of change management theories to enhance employee adaptation and organizational outcomes. The assignment also includes two questions designed to further analyze the case study, along with example answers that showcase the potential learning outcomes.

Running head: ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR
ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
Change management is considered to be a discipline that is able to guide the ways by
which the organization prepares, equips and further supports the individuals in order to adapt
to the changes that are necessary to the drive the success levels of the organization. The
changes are unique and the individuals in the organizations are also considered to be unique
in comparison to each other (Al-Haddad and Kotnour 2015). The process of change
management is able to provide a structured approach that is able to support the individuals in
the organization in an effective manner. The change management process of the organization
is based three major levels that include, individual change management, organizational
change management and change management capability of the enterprise (Alvesson and
Sveningsson 2015).
The analysis will be based on the reflection of the experience that has been gained by
me while I was a part of a fast food chain in Australia. The effect of change implementation
on the work process of the employees and the ways by which I have been able to adapt to the
changes will be analysed in the reflective report.
Analysis of the issue faced by me in the organization
The operations of the fast food chain based organization of which I was a part had
been influenced in a huge manner by the major factors like, processes, people and innovation.
The organization had developed a position in the industry with the help of proper strategies
and processes that have been implemented in different departments. The customers of the
organization were however not satisfied with the speed of operations of the organization. The
amounts of time that was being taken by the organization in order to provide the orders to
customers had been able to affect the revenues in the industry (Bish, Newton and Johnston
2015).

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The lack of proper customer base of the organization had led to the proper
implementation of different innovative methods in the organizational processes. The leaders
in the organization have provided high levels of importance to the innovation related
activities. The CEO of the organization decided to implement different innovative
technologies in the processes. The innovative processes were implemented in the production
based processes of the organization and the interaction with the customers as well. The
changes that have been made in the food preparation based process of the organization had
provided major hindrance to the ways by which the employees are able to provide the
products to customers (Burke 2017).
The major change that was thereby implemented by the fast food organization was
based on the customized products that are offered to the customers. The customization
process was totally based on the needs and demands of the buyers. The entire product was
planned to be developed with the help of options that have been provided by the buyers. The
CEO of the organization however did not make effective levels of research based on the
training that is required to be provided to the employees based on change programs that have
been implemented (Cameron and Green 2015).
The change based process had been able to affect the organizational operations and
the ways by which I was able to adapt to the production system as well. The feedback that
had been provided by customers depicted that the change process had not been successful in
the fast food organization. This had proved to be major issue that had occurred in the
organization while the change process had been implemented (Ewenstein, Smith and Sologar
2015). I had also faced major issues while interacting with the customers after the
implementation of customized order. The leaders and the CEO of the organization have not
been able to manage the change that has been implemented. The customers of the

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organization have been waiting for their orders for a much longer time than before (Hussain
et al. 2018).
The major stakeholders who were involved in the change management program of the
fast food organization mainly include, the managers, the employees and the customers. The
members of these group of stakeholders are able to affect the change program that has been
implemented in the fast food based organization. The employees, including me have been
affected by the failure of the change management based program. The lack of proper training
had a major impact on my relationship with the customers (Imran et al. 2016). The change
that had been implemented in the operations had an adverse effect on the profitability levels
of the organization.
Lewin’s change management model can be used in order to manage the change
program that has been implemented in the organization. The hindrance that has been provided
by the employees based on change management can be reduced with the help of proper
implementation of the change management model that has been proposed by Lewin. The
model also could have been implemented by my organization in order to implement the
change in an effective manner (Kaufman 2017). The change management model proposed by
Lewin have been divided into three major stages or levels.
1) Stage 1 – Unfreezing – This is the first stage of change management model
that is considered to be a critical part of the entire process. This step is helpful
in improving the readiness levels of the organization. The change that has
been decided by the organization is based on the implementation of innovation
in the production and customer service based departments. The
communication process is able to play a key role in the ways by which the

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employees can be involved in the change implementation (Maheshwari and
Vohra 2015).
2) Stage 2 – Change or transition – This is the second stage that is based on the
transition of the employees from their comfort zone to changed process that
has been implemented. The change is thereby actually implemented by the
management in this step. The innovation process that has been decided by the
organization can be implemented practically in this step. The organization will
be able to implement the changes in the operations effectively with the help of
proper collaboration by the employees (Morin et al. 2016). The transition or
change will be effective for the future operations of the organization only if
the employees are involved in the transition process.
3) Stage 3 – Freeze – The third stage of change management process is based on
maintaining the organizations operations after change has been implemented.
This stage is based on the ways by which the employees are able to adapt to
the changes that have already been implemented in the organization. The fast
food organization of which I am a part also requires to provide support to the
employees based on proper change implementation (Sune and Gibb 2015).
However, the change implementation process that has been implemented by the fast
food organization has not proved to be effective for the operations. The management of the
organization has not used the change implementation process effectively in order to include
the employees in the process (Raza, Khan and Mujtaba 2018).
The major learning that can be provided by the case study is based on the ways by
which the management needs to implement proper change management theories in order to
involve the employees in the process. The change management process is considered to be an
important part of the ways by which the revenues can be increased (Khatoon and Farooq

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2015). The levels of profitability of the organization can also be increased by implementing
the change management process in an effective way. Another major learning outcome that
has been provided by the case study is based on the leadership based activities that are
performed by the managers in proper implementation of change in the organization
(Andreeva and Ritala 2016). The case study has been developed in order to provide a picture
that is based on the ways by which changes can be implemented within the organization. The
issues that are faced by the employees in the organization in change management process is
considered to be an important part of the ways by which the organizational processes can be
improved. The case study that has been developed is based on the ways by which a single
employee has faced issues due to the implementation of change in the organization without
any proper training that was required to be provided (Pasmore and Woodman 2017).
Conclusion
The analysis in the case study can be concluded by stating that the implementation of
change is an important part of the operations of an organization in the environment. The
issues that have been faced by an employee based on proper change management process
have been analysed in the case study in detail. The implementation of change management
with the help of a proper change model is considered to be an important part of the
organizational operations. The training that is required by the employees is a major part of the
ways by which changes can be implemented in the organization.
Questions
Two questions that arise from the case study
1) What was the main reason behind the issues that have been faced by me in the
organization during the change management process?

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2) What are major change management implementation based factors that have
been able to affect the work process of an employee who are a part of the
organization?
Q1. What was the main reason behind the issues that have been faced by me in the
organization during the change management process?
The major reasons that are related to the issues which have been faced by the
organization are based on the lack of effective training that is required for the implementation
of change in the organization. The change management process of the fast food based
organization had not been planned effectively by the management. This has been able to
affect the work process of the employees in a huge manner. The lack of proper planning has a
major impact on the performance levels of the employees and the relationship that has been
developed with the customers (Pasmore and Woodman 2017). The organization has not been
successful in achieving its objectives based on increasing the profitability levels in the
industry. The management has not been successful in implementing the change in operations
due to the lack of an effective change management based model. The involvement of
employees in the change implementation is considered to be a major reason behind issues that
are faced by the employees (Andreeva and Ritala 2016).
Q2. What are major change management implementation based factors that have been
able to affect the work process of an employee who are a part of the organization?
The leadership related qualities of the managers have not been used in an optimum
manner in order to manage the organization. The managers have not been able to
communicate with the employees in an effective manner about the change management
processes in the organization. The leader in an organization needs to develop effective
communication based process in order to ensure effective operations in the industry. The

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implementation of proper communication by the manager is able to have a major impact on
the ways by which the organization is implement the changes along with collaboration that is
provided by the employees (Raza, Khan and Mujtaba 2018). The employee who has been
considered in the case study has not been able to provide the highest levels of performance
due to communication based issues that has been faced by him. The changes that have been
seen in the organizational processes have been able to play a key role in increase the levels of
problems that are faced by the organization. The management of the organization is mainly
responsible for the lack of proper leadership and communication based on the change
management based activities that have been performed. This had also led to losses for the
organization as the customers were unsatisfied and the implementation of innovative
processes requires high levels of investments as well (Bish, Newton and Johnston 2015).

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