High-Level Change Management at Verizon

This report was commissioned to examine how did Verizon manage the change based on Kanter and Bird’, evaluation of Seidenberg and McAdam’s leadership and recommendation for verizon moving forward. Change is the process of transitioning from the usual modes of operation to new ones, In an organization, change might be initiated internally or it could be driven by external forces. Since change could be required at any moment, preparedness is crucial for ensuring that an organization is not debilitated by change.

A systematic approach to handling the transformation of an organization’s goals and technologies is called change management. Verizon is a communications company that initially specialized in landline communication services but later introduced significant technological changes. According to Kanter and Bird (20l2), between 2003 and 2010, telecommunications firms in the United States and elsewhere around the world rapidly shifted their locus from a landline, analog and narrowband offerings to wireless, digital and broadband technologies More recently, the global telecommunications industry has shifted again towards machine-to-machine and smartphone technologies.

The launch of the iPhone in 2007, for instance, dramatically increased smartphones sales, and by 2011 smartphone owners had become the principal users of wireless services. The total revenue of the telecommunication industry also increased during this time. Despite originally focusing on landline communication verizon was not left behind in this transformation. In 2003, the company established its first nationwide wireless broadband network; it launched its 36 networks in 2007 and its 46 network in 2010, as Verizon provided a wide range of communications products and services, their competitors varied according to the product or service and included wireless carriers and cable providers.

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among others. Verizon’s leadership team thus decided to separate landline and wireless operations to protect their growing wireless business.

Later on, a new unit known as Verizon Business was formed by Verizon’s landline company to serve government and enterprise markets Meanwhile, Verizon Wireless merged with Vodafone in 1999. In the year 2003, Verizon, together with Qualcomm, launched the first mobile-based distribution system, which allowed users to download ringtones and games. In the same vein, Verizon also developed a user interface that simplified the process of switching between phones by providing common functionality across devices and requested that the original equipment manufacturers integrate the interface into their devices. As the largest buyers of handsets, Verizon gained control over the handset market with this decision. The company later expanded its operations to the industries of music, games, ringtones and CPS-enabled devices, and in the process became the second largest digital retailer in the United States Kanter and Bird (2012) note that while Verizon’s wireless company was growing rapidly, their traditional landline business saw a significant decline margins grew unstable and revenues fell as consumers gradually abandoned landlines and moved to wireless services.

To address this, Verizon developed FiOS, a broadband network that connected directly with consumers’ homes. The FiOS network was proposed as a means of competing with emerging voice over Internet Protocol (VolP) and cable companies, maintaining customers and slowing their migration to wireless by providing television, phone and Internet services together. To facilitate its growth, however, the company relinquished its landline business in 17 states, an action that left many traditional employees jobless. Evaluating Verizon‘s management of the above changes involves rating the leadership of Ivan Seidenberg and Lowell McAdam. Seidenberg. the company’s long-time CEO, was succeeded by McAdam in October 2010:, Seidenberg oversaw the company through several mergers that eventually produced the company called “Verizon”; for this reason alone, his competence as a leader cannot be denied. In 2010, Seidenberg said that it was because of McAdam‘s strong performance that he selected him as his successor and entrusted him with the future of the company.

Seidenberg was a visionary leader. In their article on the development of Verizon, Kanter, and Bird describe a point in time when the organization needed to adjust to the technological advancements that were then taking place as communications technologies were becoming more sophisticated and the industry was shifting from landline communication to wireless, which would later lead to the birth of broadband, the growing use of smartphones and the development of new machine-to-machine capabilities. Seidenberg took advantage of these changes in the industry and allowed the company to amass significant assets. When he stepped down as CEO, he left in place a clear vision, which he expected McAdam to follow faithfully McAdam was also a visionary leader who was able to identify opportunities in the traditional areas of Verizon’s business, He believed that leadership should be responsible for finding and taking advantage of such opportunities.

However, most chances for developing in the company’s traditional modes of business had been lost or previously exhausted. As a step towards a new beginning, McAdam began focusing more on shareholder value and shared success developed a new corporate credo and re-engineered company processes for speed and simplification, mostly based on organizational learning. He knew that transformation would not be as easy expected, but he was determined to transform Verizon from a provider of traditional communications to a global services and technology firm, and ultimately his efforts proved highly successful Every organization must implement changes in order to move forward and improve performance, and it is critical that all members of an organization take ownership of such changes. For this reason. it is important for an organization’s leadership to understand all of their employees.

Different people react differently to changes hence, management should provide ample time for all employees to adjust to organizational changes. In fact, changes that are planned and introduced in a hurry may lead to an organization’s failure because of a lack of acceptance among employees, The initiatives taken by the leaders of Verizon benefitted the company by helping it move forward. However, I would advise the company’s leadership going forward to emphasize intra organizational communication whenever changes are adopted. Doing so, this would ultimately help foster an environment that immediately enhances the quality and speed of intra-team communication.

Management should communicate changes to the whole team in a clear and convincing manner and illustrate why each particular change is important and how it will impact the organization, such as the 56 network project‘. This practice creates an understanding among team members and motivates them to work towards a common goal In addition, management should ensure that the information they provide to employees is accurate to avoid the spreading of rumors. A channel for feedback should also be established when changes are communicated so that management can get to know the views of their employees.