DDBA 8521 Week 5 Change History Brief Example

What Three Earlier Programs Taught the Store Managers: A History Brief Tracing a Retail Chain's Shrugging Response to a New Customer-Service Initiative Back to How Its Predecessors Ended

Student Name

Walden University

DDBA 8521: Seminar in Change Management

Instructor Name

Month Day, Year

What Three Earlier Programs Taught the Store Managers: A History Brief Tracing a Retail Chain's Shrugging Response to a New Customer-Service Initiative Back to How Its Predecessors Ended

The Response to Be Explained

In spring 2026, a composite chain of 64 home goods stores in the Southeast launched "Every Guest, Every Time," a customer-service initiative asking store managers to train staff in greeting standards, track guest feedback scores weekly and hold a monthly service huddle. Regional directors reported that managers received it with little enthusiasm: attendance at the launch webinar was full, but by the end of the second month only 19 of 64 stores were submitting weekly feedback scores, and several managers told their directors, in nearly the same words, "We'll see how long this one lasts." Senior leaders described the managers as cynical. This brief examines whether the response is better read as learning.

The Record of Predecessor Programs

The chain's records and interviews with eight store managers who have been with the company more than six years show three earlier customer programs.

"Service Stars" (2017) asked managers to nominate staff for monthly service awards. It ran for 14 months and ended without announcement when the budget for award gift cards was cut. Managers learned of the end when the cards stopped arriving.

"Guest First" (2019) introduced mystery shopper visits with scores reported to regional directors. Scores fell in stores that had cut staff hours under a simultaneous labor budget reduction, and two managers were placed on improvement plans. The program was dropped after 11 months when the mystery shopper vendor contract was not renewed.

"Hello in Ten" (2022) required staff to greet each customer within ten seconds. It was announced at a national meeting, measured for one quarter and not mentioned again after a change of chief executive.

What the Managers Learned

Each program taught something specific. Service Stars taught that programs end quietly when their funding ends. Guest First taught that service measures can be used against managers when other decisions, such as labor cuts, make good scores impossible. Hello in Ten taught that programs tied to an executive end with that executive. Reichers et al. (1997) described cynicism about change as partly a learned response to a history of failed initiatives, especially when employees see that leaders did not follow through. The managers' shrug is consistent with that account, but the history allows a more precise reading: they are not doubtful about service; they are doubtful about this company's follow-through on service programs, for reasons the record supports.

Why Calling It Cynicism Misleads

Calling the response cynicism locates the problem in the managers' attitudes and suggests motivating them. The history locates it in how the company has ended programs. Ford et al. (2008) argued that those leading change help create the resistance they complain of, for instance by breaking promises and never repairing the damage. The chain's leaders have ended three programs without explanation; the managers' response is a reasonable prediction from that record.

What Would Change the Response

The initiative would need to show, early, that it differs from its predecessors on the points managers learned to watch. Fund it for at least two years in the budget managers can see. Separate feedback scores from performance reviews for the first year, so a low score caused by staffing cuts does not count against a manager. Name a sponsor below the chief executive, so the program can survive a change at the top. And when the program ends or changes, say so. Weick and Quinn (1999) observed that programs launched as episodes tend to fade when the routines around them stay unchanged; tying the initiative to budgets and reviews is a way of making it part of routine rather than another episode.

References

Ford, J. D., Ford, L. W., & D'Amelio, A. (2008). Resistance to change: The rest of the story. Academy of Management Review, 33(2), 362-377. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2008.31193235

Reichers, A. E., Wanous, J. P., & Austin, J. T. (1997). Understanding and managing cynicism about organizational change. Academy of Management Executive, 11(1), 48-59. https://doi.org/10.5465/ame.1997.9707100659

Weick, K. E., & Quinn, R. E. (1999). Organizational change and development. Annual Review of Psychology, 50(1), 361-386. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.50.1.361