Introduction to Management
and Organizations
Tutorial 9 – Chapter 7
Omnia Hussein
Tutorial Agenda
01 02 03
NOKIA CASE STUDY ORGANIZATIONAL CALM WATERS VERSUS
CHANGE WHITE-WATER RAPIDS
METAPHORS
Have you ever used a Nokia mobile phone? Have you witness your
parents using it? As millennials , what do you think/know about
Nokia?
Nokia’s Failure After Enjoying Unrivaled
Dominance
Nokia was the largest cell phone maker in 1998. Nokia overtook Motorola, a move that
was hard to predict. So what led to the downfall of Nokia? It wasn’t a single factor but a
myriad of reasons, most of which resulted from Nokia's resistance to change! When
mobile phone manufacturers were busy improving and working on their smartphones,
Nokia remained stubborn. Samsung soon launched its Android-based range of phones
that were cost-effective and user-friendly. Nokia's management was under the
impression that people wouldn’t accept touch screen phones and would continue with
the QWERTY keypad layout. After realizing the market trends, Nokia introduced its
Symbian operating system. However, it was too late by then with Apple and Samsung
having cemented their positions.
Nokia was always famous for its hardware and didn’t pay much
attention to its software line-up. Initially, the company
overlooked technical advancements to avoid the risks associated with
bringing innovation to phones. The business needed diversion but it was
too late by the time Nokia realized this. Instead of being amongst the
early initiators, Nokia transitioned when almost every major brand had
already started producing awesome phones. Nokia overestimated its
brand value. The company believed that even after the late launch of its
smartphones, people would still flock to stores and purchase Nokia-
manufactured phones. The Nokia Lumia series was a jump-start
measure, but even that collapsed due to lack of innovation. The
unattractive and dull features didn’t help. In the era of 4G, Nokia didn’t
even have 3G-enabled phones. Nokia also came up with the Asha series
but it was game over by then.
It is all about managing the environmental
change!
Nokia’s case explained the MUST of dealing with the surrounding
environmental change and market trends, otherwise, you can be out of
the market in a blink of an eye!
How organizations do this? Innovation is the key!
Do you remember this?
There is definitely a link!
Discussion Question 1
• What is the ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE? And Guess the
words summarized in VUCA, that relate to any change might
happen to an organization.
The Case for Change
• Organizational change: any
alteration of people, structure,
or technology in an
organization.
• VUCA: volatility, uncertainty,
complexity, and ambiguity
Again, it’s related!
Environmental Uncertainty Matrix : Chapter 3A
Discussion Question 2
• Explain the difference between Calm Waters and White-Water
Rapids Metaphors, using examples.
Organizational Change: Two Metaphors
• Calm Waters (Incremental, Evolutionary)
• White Water Rapids (Radical, Revolutionary)
Calm Waters vs. White-Water Rapids
Metaphors
• The Calm Waters Metaphor: The calm waters metaphor characterizes
the process of change as being like a ship crossing a calm sea.
While..
• The White-Water Rapids Metaphor: The white-water rapids
metaphor describes change that takes place in uncertain and dynamic
environments.
To put the two views into perspective, it is helpful to note that not every manager constantly faces a
world of messy change. However, the number of managers who do not face this type of
environment is quickly decreasing!
The Three-Step Change Process: Calm water
metaphor
• Exhibit 7.2 illustrates Kurt Lewin’s three-step change process
Successful Organizational change: PVH From brick
& mortar to ecommerce: Video uploaded on LMS
Discussion Question 3
• Do you think that PVH change is calm water or white water rapids?
Explain why.
Try to link Calm Waters vs. White-Water Rapids
Metaphors to decision making approaches
• Structured problems and programmed decisions
• Unstructured problems and nonpragmmed decisions
• Rational decision-making
• Bounded Rationality
• Intuition
Thank you, see you next tutorial