Introduction
Change is a constant factor, especially in the corporate sector. New working modalities, such as project-based work, maintaining competence, and technical advancements that effectively drive continual transformation, are required. It is typical for people to feel scared and inconvenienced by the magnitude of a crisis, regardless of whether it is a minor change or a complete overhaul of the enterprise. Change is unavoidable if the company is to keep up with the rapid pace of innovation, future growth, organizational culture, and top-level leadership (Holbeche, 2019). Organizational change occurs effectively when the people who support it outnumber those who oppose it. The imperative for organizational change frequently clashes with its stakeholders’ desire to maintain a perception of individual certainty (Chebbi et al., 2020). In other words, individuals and organizations inherently oppose change implementation.
I started working as an intern at Comcast in 2020, serving as a customer care representative. Comcast was ranked as the poorest-rated business for customer service in the United States in 2020, taking the biggest proportion of negative comments (44%) (Key et al., 2020). Two years later, numerous customer complaints regarding the quality of services remain. As a current employee of the organization, I have observed that many customers have stopped using the company’s services or moved to other competitors. I assess that Comcast must change its customer service quality and mainly transform its value proposition to reflect the company’s commitment to customer satisfaction.
John Kotter developed Kotter’s Eight-Step Change Model to help businesses become more adaptable and boost their prospects of success. More importantly, Kotter created the framework to help company executives understand the value of change and innovation. The model is divided into the following eight segments: creating a sense of urgency, forming a guiding coalition, developing a strategy and vision, clarifying change vision, supporting employees to take broad-based action, producing short-term victories, centralizing gains and driving more change, and grounding new strategies in the organization’s culture (Kotter, 2012). This model has remained a popular management strategy to this day. Comcast can prevent collapse and improve its ability to undertake change by adopting this step-by-step guide.
Application of Kotter’s Model to Comcast’s Case
Step 1- Building a Sense of Urgency for Change
The demand for change has increased dramatically due to the intense competition on the world stage caused by decreasing merger activity and expanding economies. The most difficult task is determining why firms are not embracing change with enthusiasm to achieve organizational objectives. A fresh viewpoint on the industry is vital so that the firm’s goal is not confined to generating revenue but also bringing value to society and consumers (Kotter, 2012). If the firm provides excellent service to its clients, it will produce income and profit. Comcast management must prioritize servicing more consumers to allow the firm to improve its declining appeal.
The sense of urgency must be based on the company’s low customer rating over the past two years. Comcast should focus on allocating resources effectively for progress and implementing strategies to generate a lineup of change for short-term and long-term growth to create the feeling of urgency required for change. The lack of these techniques shows an over-reliance on current strategies and inadequate efficiency. Comcast’s executives should define core plans for long-term profit development and the critical role of customer service quality improvement in achieving corporate goals. In this manner, a feeling of urgency for change will be created.
Stage 2-Developing A Guiding Coalition for Change
A guiding coalition is a blueprint for changing staff attitudes. The change implementation team formed to delve into Comcast’s transition must reflect the whole firm, not only the leadership. It should be composed of steadfast individuals with no self-importance at all management levels, whether male or female, who value inclusion and diversity. A highly diversified alliance is more likely to be inventive in its approach to enacting the desired change (Thornton et al., 2019). The steering coalition must exude passion and concern for the customers, the firm’s growth, and an understanding of the processes and techniques used. Comcast’s governing coalition could consider incorporating external experts such as strategists, partners, academics, and professional organizations in different or related industries. Additionally, the coalition must use social networking channels to communicate change objectives to the key (Kotter & Rathgeber, 2017). More significantly, the steering coalition should recognize that with the backing of workers, change occurs in a corporation.
Managers must demonstrate concern and understanding for their workers to earn their trust. Members of the coalition should recognize that workers must be motivated to be inventive. When a company is operated for short-term gain, the climate becomes hostile and combative, as people fear job loss. The result is that workers turn up to fill the void left by their absence, and as a result, they burn out from lack of stimulation. On the other hand, long-term growth allows mistakes to be tolerated, leading to a more welcoming work atmosphere and a more risk-taking culture among the workforce (Kotter, 2012). The company’s commitment to change should convince staff members that change is necessary for the organization’s growth and self-development. The path to change must be engaging such that employees find joy in discussing it with friends and family.
Stage 3-Designing a Strategy and a Vision For Change
Comcast has to act like a freshly created firm to build a vision. The organization’s strategy and vision must be adjusted to reflect changing client requirements and market circumstances (Kotter & Rathgeber, 2017). Leadership should evaluate the firm’s current operational strategies, including internal capabilities, procedures, marketing mix, tools, and products. The evaluation will enable leadership to understand emerging technological patterns and expand customer needs. Profitability, expansion, and resilience ought to be Comcast’s primary priorities. This will require a balance of restructuring and mergers to guarantee that profitable growth is achieved via efficient resource use (Kotter, 2012). Comcast executives will then be able to deploy intellectual and financial resources to change initiatives. Leadership must recognize that internal transformation may be accomplished by enhancing existing goods and procedures. Before publicly initiating change efforts, company leadership should build a future-oriented array of changes and visions.
Stage 4- Communicating Change Vision
Openly expressed visions for change contribute to business growth. For Comcast, regular and unambiguous communication of the business goal is vital. A corporation may express its vision through several methods, such as via emails, posters, signage, or message boards. Comcast’s strategy for change should be plain, without technical terms, so that all stakeholders can understand it. According to Kotter (2012), the ideal approach to sharing a vision is an exemplar. Comcast’s vision should stimulate workers’ intellect while encouraging cooperation from all partners. Achieving corporate vision necessitates swift decision-making and tolerance of creative setbacks.
Stage 5-Empowering the Employees for Broad-Based Change
Employee empowerment entails holding them accountable for the firm’s successes, training them, and responding to their views. Comcast should give workers a greater ability to make decisions about change in the organization to be mentally stimulated. Leadership should contemplate providing rewards to staff to help them implement change using the most extensive, productive, and reliable approach (Chebb et al., 2022). In this context, rewards imply the elimination of administrative processes and rules, as well as open communication. Incentives might comprise initiatives like competitions that encourage reflective and critical thinking. Comcast should teach its staff innovative and creative ideas, tools, procedures, and approaches as an investment in the company’s future success (Kotter, 2012). Workers must be acquainted with the practice of releasing innovative services. Department managers should establish customer service innovation labs to cultivate in-house change capabilities. To design a change practice, milestones should be set. Personnel committed to the firm’s change process must be involved in employee empowerment.
Stage 6-Generating Small and Short-Term Wins for the Change
Comcast will achieve small and short-term successes if its leadership releases creative services, adopts new traditions, and provides measurable financial rewards. The business should have a strategy and procedure for coping with unexpected and anticipated change factors (Edmondson, 2018). Comcast must abandon its current inflexible customer service approach in favor of a more adaptable one that delivers new and personalized services in response to client needs. It is likely that while pursuing short-term successes for change, some may fail. Early setbacks are vital as they teach people what should be prevented in the future (Kotter, 2012). Short-term successes prove that change is valuable since they validate the firm’s planned adjustments. Modest, short-term gains for change will bolster Comcast’s leadership ability to push reform across the firm. Passionate and knowledgeable business leaders will deliver more transformative and inspirational motivation in pursuing change.
Stage 7-Consolidating the Gains and Driving More Change
Disclosing the firm’s achievements will encourage staff to embrace the change. Research has shown that achievement is an excellent motivator for workers (AlManei et al., 2018). Coordination across different departments is a crucial barrier when identifying change initiatives. Comcast’s leadership should intensify the push for transformation once medium-term successes have been achieved by promoting collaboration. The organization’s ethos should be redefined to ensure long-lasting changes. This may require a readjustment of corporate processes and regulations, vision, accepted practices, workplace culture, habits, and organizational structure (Kotter & Rathgeber, 2017). Regular assessments, change measurements, and action plans for fostering progress must be implemented and constructed at the departmental level. When change becomes a routine operation across the organization, it is said to have reached maturity.
Stage 8-Anchoring New Strategies in the Organization Culture
Comcast is responsible for building change strategies that maximize medium and long-term gains. Kotter (2012) notes that reinforcing transition is critical for sustaining a changing culture. The business’s culture, objectives, actions, choices, and measurements should encourage change. If Comcast implements essential techniques for sustainable development through change, services will expand considerably, cultivating continual change. Staff training and departure interviews must stress change to ensure that the organization’s change concerns are maintained both internally and externally (Edmondson, 2018). After this accomplishment, the community and the business’s customers will appreciate the change. It will be impossible to do this until the change is firmly established in the business culture.
Conclusion
Using Kotter’s 8-step to change strategy, this essay has examined the necessity for change at Comcast and recommended approaches to solving its current problems related to poor customer service. Overall, many factors contribute to their reluctance to accept change. Some of them include a lack of trust in change approaches, a lengthy product innovation cycle, and a lack of responsibility for change. Comcast’s ultimate objective should be to maintain sustainability and continuous expansion rather than maximize profits. Kotter’s eight steps provide Comcast’s executives with a tried-and-true foundation for implementing their change goals effectively.
References
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