MGT 530 Module 7 Leading Sustainable Change Example

From Saturday Walk-Ins to Virtual Try-Ons: Leading Change That Lasts in a Family Bridal Chain

Student Name

Master of Business Administration, Aspen University

MGT 530: Leadership Theory and Practice

Instructor Name

Month Day, Year

From Saturday Walk-Ins to Virtual Try-Ons: Leading Change That Lasts in a Family Bridal Chain

Buckeye Bridal, a composite family-owned chain, runs six bridal shops in Columbus, Dayton, Cincinnati, Akron, Toledo and Mansfield, Ohio. For forty years, its model has been the Saturday walk-in: brides arrive with family, try on gowns with a stylist and order. About 3,200 gowns are sold each year. But brides now browse online first, and many never visit a shop. Sales have fallen 14% in three years. The family's second generation has decided to add online booking, virtual try-on consultations by video, and made-to-order gowns shipped across the country. The company's 38 stylists, many with twenty years of experience and loyal followings, are skeptical: they are paid commissions on in-shop sales and fear video consultations will not close sales. This paper plans how to lead the change.

Choosing Change Agents

Battilana and Casciaro (2012) studied change initiatives in the British National Health Service and found that the network positions of the people leading change shaped whether changes were adopted. Change agents whose networks bridged otherwise disconnected groups were more successful with divergent changes, those departing sharply from existing practice, while agents in cohesive networks did better with changes closer to existing norms. Ties to those who might resist also mattered. Moving bridal sales online is a divergent change for a chain built on in-person service, which calls for change agents who bridge the shops and the stylists' informal groups.

Building Commitment

Herold et al. (2008) studied employees experiencing organizational changes and found that leaders' behavior was related to employees' commitment to the change. Broad transformational leadership by the employees' own managers mattered, and its effect was stronger when the change had high personal impact on the employee's job. For stylists, a change that alters how they earn commissions has the highest personal impact. Commitment will depend on how shop managers explain and support the change, not only on what the owners announce.

Why Changes Fade

Buchanan et al. (2005) reviewed research on sustaining organizational change and found that many changes decay after initial success, a pattern sometimes called initiative decay. Factors that sustain change include substantive fit with the organization's needs, individual commitment and capability, management and leadership attention over time, financial and other resources, embedding in systems and culture and the timing and pace of the change. Changes fade when attention moves on, resources are withdrawn or new practices remain add-ons rather than part of how work is done.

What Stylists Fear

Conversations with stylists at four shops surfaced concerns the owners had not anticipated. Veteran stylists feared that video would expose them as less comfortable with technology than younger colleagues, a threat to status as much as income. Several worried that brides who never visit would return gowns more often, eroding commissions. And many simply believed, from experience, that a bride needs to feel the fabric and see herself in the mirror with her mother beside her. These concerns are not irrational resistance; they are informed doubts that the design of the change must answer.

Designing With the Stylists

Battilana and Casciaro's emphasis on ties to potential resisters is why the Cincinnati stylist, leader of the senior group, is among the change agents. She will help design how virtual consultations work: what to show on video, how to send fabric swatches before an appointment and how to bring family members in from other cities. A format designed by respected stylists will carry more weight with their peers than one handed down by the owners.

The Plan

The change agents will design virtual consultations with the stylists rather than for them, testing a format in Columbus for two months. Commissions will be paid on virtual consultation sales at the same rate as in-shop sales, and stylists will earn a small fee for each completed virtual appointment, addressing the personal impact Herold and colleagues highlight. Each shop will schedule virtual appointments on weekday afternoons, now its slowest time, making them part of the routine. Shop managers will receive training in explaining the change and coaching stylists on video. The owners will review progress quarterly for two years, keeping the attention Buchanan and colleagues found necessary.

What the Owners Must Do

Herold and colleagues' findings place responsibility on leaders at every level. The owners will visit each shop during the first months to hear stylists' experiences directly, and will resist the temptation to judge the change by the first quarter's numbers. Buchanan and colleagues found that changes often fail when leaders' attention moves to the next priority; the owners will keep virtual sales on their monthly agenda for two years.

Costs

The change requires video equipment and lighting for each shop, about $4,000 per location, a booking system at $6,000 a year, swatch kits shipped to virtual clients and paid training time for stylists. The owners expect online and virtual sales to reach 20% of revenue within two years, more than covering these costs.

Pace of the Change

Buchanan and colleagues note that changes pushed too fast can collapse while those too slow lose momentum. The rollout will move one shop at a time, every six weeks, so each shop learns from the last and stylists see colleagues succeeding before their own shop begins. Early wins, such as the first virtual sale to a bride across the country, will be shared at every shop.

Measures

The chain will track the share of sales from virtual consultations and online orders, stylist retention, conversion rates for virtual and in-shop appointments and customer ratings.

Conclusion

Moving a bridal chain online depends on stylists who have built its reputation in person. Battilana and Casciaro's research guides the choice of change agents, Herold and colleagues show why leaders must address the change's impact on stylists' pay and Buchanan and colleagues' review shapes a plan to keep the change from fading once the novelty wears off.

References

Battilana, J., & Casciaro, T. (2012). Change agents, networks, and institutions: A contingency theory of organizational change. Academy of Management Journal, 55(2), 381-398. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2009.0891

Buchanan, D., Fitzgerald, L., Ketley, D., Gollop, R., Jones, J. L., Lamont, S. S., Neath, A., & Whitby, E. (2005). No going back: A review of the literature on sustaining organizational change. International Journal of Management Reviews, 7(3), 189-205. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2370.2005.00111.x

Herold, D. M., Fedor, D. B., Caldwell, S., & Liu, Y. (2008). The effects of transformational and change leadership on employees' commitment to a change: A multilevel study. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93(2), 346-357. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.93.2.346