Strategy Map Analysis
Resource:
Strategy Maps section on page 353 in Ch. 10 of Organizational Change
Strategy Map Analysis Grading Guide
The assumption underlying strategy maps in for-profit organizations is that financial outcomes are the end goals that they are striving for and that other objectives within the change program should be aligned to produce and support those desired outcomes. If particular activities and the objectives don’t support the changes, they should be seriously questioned and either dropped or reduced in importance.
Consider a change initiative that you know is currently being researched for adoption, or that you want to have considered for adoption, by an organization with which you are familiar.
Answer the following:
If the vision for change is achieved, how will it look from the perspective of the financial results achieved?
To accomplish these financial outcomes, what initiatives have to be undertaken from a customer perspective to deliver on the value proposition in ways that generate the desired financial results?
To accomplish these customer and/or financial outcome efficiencies, what changes must be made from an internal business process perspective?
To attain the internal process goals and objectives, what must be undertaken from a learning and growth perspective to increase the organization’s capacity to do what is needed?
Write a 700- to 1,050-word paper in the third person voice in which you address the four questions above.
Identify the change initiative clearly.
Design a strategy map to illustrate your analysis using Figure 10.3 “Generic Strategy” and Figure 10.4 “Strategy Map for Control Production Systems” as examples from Chapter 10 in Organizational Change.
Include the map in your assignment and explain its components.
Use organizational change terminology consistent with what is used in your text.
Include at least two other sources other than the Organizational Change text to demonstrate research on the design, purpose, and responses to the questions of your strategy map analysis.
ANSWER
Introduction Change Initiative
The change initiative considered for this assessment is the incorporation of artificially intelligent systems into business organisations. After years of discussions on the applications and implications of artificial intelligence and machine learning, the change is making its way gradually to most businesses. Pioneer companies like Google with the search engine, Tesla with the autonomous driving and Amazon with E-commerce have applied these changes into their business models and refer to the imminent change as a result of these technologies to be an industrial revolution. It is therefore imperative that business organisations brace themselves for these changes if they are to remain competitive, operational and profitable. AI presents an opportunity to achieve goals in production, distribution and manufacturing faster, more efficiently and accurately. A study conducted in 2018 reveals that 47% of companies have applied at least one AI capability into the business process with the figures expected to go up to 71% by the end of 2021 (McKinsey $ Company). Redundant operations that include both software and hardware will be automatically left to machines that do not get tired or make human errors and this is bound to create a huge ripple in the world of business. This essay considers the AI adoption change initiative to XYZ corporation.
The perspective of Financial Results
The fundamental improvement and basis for AI are that it performs the same tasks that were previously handled by human employees but 10 or 100 or 1000 times faster with minimal or non-existent rates of error. The financial impact of this is bound to be incredible, for example, in production while XYZ was used to manufacture 100 units of product in an hour, the rate is expected to improve by 100 meaning 10000 units per hour. Additionally, the production based on the fact that is not reliant on human effort is expected to go from 8 to 12 hours a day to 24 hours each day, every week. The results are incredible. For profit, from the sale from one unit, the price can reduce due to production efficiency and therefore create more appeal to the consumer population which also becomes a marketing strategy. With such benefits, an increase in revenue for XYZ is exponential. The company matches up to the competition while at the same time lowers its overhead costs by eliminating expenses previously used to pay salaries and wages and, the product becomes refined because of technology’s nature to be accurate. A good reference point for all this can be obtained from the first digital revolution and the use of computers in businesses. Initially, data was manually stored and computed leaving a lot of chance for both arithmetic and human errors. The coming of computers brought about the Excel sheets which later evolve to ERP systems that computed the data effectively and efficiently minimising the loss caused by errors. Now, another evolution is designed to ensure the computations are all received in binary formats requiring no human input. Like its predecessors, AI is going to revolutionise the financial results of XYZ.
Initiative from Customers
From the customers’ perspective, XYZ biggest goal is to ensure the maintenance of quality to their products. Customers are also expected to provide feedback such as the star rating of products where this data can be assessed in reports. A good example is the review system used on most online commerce platforms like Amazon where customers are able to rate the items they buy in five stars, zero stars being the review for an item product and 5 stars being the perfect satisfactory item. Without customer feedback that matches the enormous amounts of increments in production, XYZ would be incapacitated without knowledge of what works and needed to be reinforced and what does not and needs to be scrapped off.
Internal Business Process
A lot of changes are expected to emanate from this change initiative in XYZ internal business process. The change is going to be most impactful in management and how managers spend their time. XYZ manages are expected to have most of their tasks that include administration and coordination automated. Reports by various departments such as Human Resources, Finance and Accounts are produced on command and periodic results compared and analysed instantaneously. Rather than performing these tasks, managers are expected to focus more on decision making and present judgments for the operations of their AI colleagues (Harvard Business Review). Instead of what XYZ currently has demonstrated in Chart 1, the functions of managers will be more like Chart 2 below.
Chart 1: Current functions of managers before the change initiative
Source: https://hbr.org/2016/11/how-artificial-intelligence-will-redefine-management
Chart 2: Future functions of managers after the change initiative
Source: https://hbr.org/2016/11/how-artificial-intelligence-will-redefine-management
The Learning and Growth Perspective
To the goals and objectives of this change initiative, it is important that the general staff is well prepared and equipped to handle the change. XYZ employees like many others around the globe have been resistant to changes caused by AI with the logic that machines are taking over and putting them out of employment. However, rather than fight the inevitable change, internal business processes must prepare employees for a world where AI and humans can coexist and work together toward the same objectives (CMS Wire). As tools, integration of machines with human common sense, emotion and experience, XYZ like many other companies is expected to make this initiative a success.
References
CMS Wire. AI Success Relies on Strong Organizational Change Management. Retrieved on 17th February 2020 from https://www.cmswire.com/digital-workplace/ai-success-relies-on-strong-organizational-change-management/
Harvard Business Review. How Artificial Intelligence Will Redefine Management. Retrieved on 17th February 2020 from https://hbr.org/2016/11/how-artificial-intelligence-will-redefine-management
McKinsey $ Company. AI Adoption Advances, but Foundational Barriers Remain. Retrieved on 17th February 2020 from https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/artificial-intelligence/ai-adoption-advances-but-foundational-barriers-remain
