The two retail companies picked are Walmart and Costco whose 2017 Financial statement links are provided below: WALMART https://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/ wmt/financials?query=income- statement COSTCO https://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/ cost/financials?query=income- statement Both organizations are well known brands and position themselves well with their customer base. Walmart’s value proposition is “We save people money so they can live better”. On the other hand, Costco’s value proposition is “All-in-one convenience and everyday affordability”. Both retailers focus on cost saving for their customers. Looking at their financial statements and by analyzing them a few key areas are evident when comparing the two organization. Looking at the current ratio and quick ratio we can determine the short-term solvency of each organization. The current ratio can be determined by dividing the assets by the liabilities. Walmart’s current ratio sits at 0.86 while Costco’s sits at 0.99. The quick ratio is c
The article “How to Change Your Organization’s Culture” identifies four key challenges a manager has to face when dealing with the implementation of substantial changes within an organization. The first challenge is on a cognitive level; since people have to understand the reasons the changes in strategy or culture are needed (How to Change Your Organization’s Culture, n.d.). The second challenge focuses on resources, indeed, a successful change needs a shift of resources from some areas to others. The third obstacle a manager has to face is motivation. Workers have to be motived in order to successfully undertake the changes. In this phase, the manager has to be able to create the right tools, to build and enhance workers’ confidence in order to drive and especially own the changing process. Lastly, the process of changes has to be institutionalized by the organization.
In my opinion, those hurdles can be successfully applied to a project manager attempting to promote cultural changes in his/her team. The most important aspect is that the project manager has to be aware of what is happening within a much wider context of the company’s organizational culture. Understanding a broader context can help the project to be always synchronized with the company’s objectives. Projects with better alignment to the organizational culture can have a higher success rate since misunderstanding and conflicts can be minimized. Although conflicts cannot be eliminated, they can be minimized by understanding the cultural frameworks, personalities, personal and organizational motivations within the team (Huard-Guillemette, 2018).
Changes and transformations are essential for the survival and success of a project, thus, I believe every member of the team has to be aware of that. Markets, customers, retailers can shift and evolve, for those reasons team members have to promptly react to every changes and transformation. Horizontal communication can be a successful tool for the project manager to promote transparency and continuous improvement to install trust and promote motivation during every phase of the transformations or changes. Moreover, when cultural changes need to take place within a team self-awareness is key to successfully support those changes. According to 10 ways of changing your culture through self-awareness (2017), self-awareness is defined as having a clear perception of your personality, including strengths, weaknesses, thoughts, beliefs, motivation, and emotions which allow the way we perceive the world. Thus, high self-awareness of each team member is the key element to successfully undertake changes within a project.
References:
How to Change Your Organization’s Culture. Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from: http://guides.wsj.com/
Huard-Guillemette, M. (2018, January 25). How organizational culture can influence project management. Retrieved from https://www.adviso.ca/en/blog/
10 ways of changing your culture through self-awareness. (2017, October 3). Retrieved from https://www.cmo.com.au/blog/
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