The Impact of Change Management on The Successful Implementation of Product Lifecycle – APPLE INC
Background of the Study
Every company try to make quality product so as to attain some fame not only in the market place but also in the heart of people. Apple Inc. is one of those companies which produces quality products and has made this as the basic strategy to develop & strengthen the base of making business a success.It is not just a company but has developed into a brand which has innovation and quality as a chief strategy to maintain competition within the market. And due to this, the company is holding a large share of loyal customers. The company adapts different techniques and strategies to maintain loyalty of customers. Product lifecycle management (PLM) is one of those techniques which has created a success factor for the company. The company’s change management has a great contribution towards product development, quality and innovation which has further maintained the structure and culture of the organization.
Aims of the Research
Aim of the research is to analyze the effectiveness of change management on the successful implementation of product lifecycle management by utilizing the case study of Apple Inc.
Objectives of the Research
- To scrutinize the effectiveness of product lifecycle management in maintaining culture, structure and process of Apple Inc.
- To study various methods of change management adopted by Apple Inc. and determine whether these methods are efficient for the successful implementation of product lifecycle management.
- To scrutinize the various strategies of change management adopted by Apple Inc.
- To study the steps taken by the company for the integration of change management within product lifecycle management (PLM)and its successful implementation.
Research Hypothesis
- Implementation of product lifecycle management (PLM)is possible due to effectiveness of change management.
- Structure and culture of the organization plays a vital role in the successful implementation of product lifecycle management (PLM).
Literature Review
The economy and competition within the market is frequently changing in nature. This has developed a need of changing scenario in the way of doing business. It has now become important for organizations to adapt some strategies & methods as a part of change managementfor doing a successful business. Consequently, it is also very much important for organizations to maintain or manage changes because the absence of maintaining such changes can create legal and income obligations within the organization.This research focuses on analyzing the impact of change management for the successful implementation of product lifecycle management.
Product lifecycle management is the process that helps to manage the lifecycle of a product. This is the chief strategy that most of the companies are adopting for enhancing their business profit. Product lifecycle management is the process in which the product is manufactured, assembled and furnished at different level by different companies or manufacturing unit. This involves engineering at different workflow thus reduces pressure on single manufacturing group to manage everything. For example, extraction of raw material, manufacturing and production, transportation, utilization, disposable and recycling of the product is done at different levels by different work force. And when the disposed product get recycled it again enters into the cycle of manufacturing and utilization. The process is vast but very helpful for reducing waste, managing time, cost of one manufacturing unit and also help to save engineering workload on one unit or company. It makes the process of manufacturing flexible. Furthermore, the implementation of product lifecycle management enhance the efficiency as well as faster the designing phase of the final product. This management has made the companies to maintain their success level while following laws and regulations. One of the most important benefit of this management is that it helps to maintain revenue along with enhanced quality of product. Variety of impacts are there due to implementation of product lifecycle management. It make the companies to accept strategically implied changes that go beyond expectation. Though the management require time to manage or plan everything in a sequential way, it provides noticeable profitability to the companies. It require resources to manage such changes that are undertaken by HR and the process also involves management of finance to support such changes. Thus, efficiency of work force plays a vital role for accomplishing the task of managing changes. And to achieve this efficiency, it is very important for companies to motivate and train their employees in order to make them to perform in flexible and dynamic environment of the company.Finally, process of change management involves monitoring of the whole process and dealing with the issues.
Research Methodology
For this research, qualitative research methodology has been followed and the deductive approach has been used to formulate the theories in connection with numerical data. With the help of positivism approach and descriptive research design, the research has been concluded with appropriate gain of knowledge and understanding. Interviews of the manager and the employees of Apple Inc. have been conducted to analyze the reality of the change management and the useful impact that it produces on the development of companies.
Reference List
Barratt-Pugh, L. and Bahn, S. (2015). HR strategy during culture change: Building change agency. Journal of Management & Organization, pp.1-14
By, R., Armenakis, A. and Burnes, B. (2015). Organizational Change: A Focus on Ethical Cultures and Mindfulness. Journal of Change Management, 15(1), pp.1-7
Davidson, J. (2015). What’s all the buzz about change management?. Healthcare Management Forum, 28(3), pp.118-120
Investor.apple.com, (2015). Apple – Investor Relations. [online] Available at: http://investor.apple.com/ [Accessed 14 Jul. 2015]
Ketchen, D. and Bergh, D. (2006). Research methodology in strategy and management. Amsterdam: Elsevier JAI