Change Management in Tesco

Introduction

Change management is a systematic approach towards managing change in the organisation for making transformation to achieve the organisational goals and objectives strategically. The aim of the essay is to analyse the change management practice in the company through which the organisation tries to handle their operational activities and improve customer service in near future. The change management practice further provides a scope to the organisations to manage changes in the workplace and fulfil the pre-specified aims and objectives of the organisation. In this context, the change scenario has been implemented in the organisation Tesco, which is a famous retail firm in the UK and serving across the globe. The company provides quality products and services across India, Malaysia, Thailand, Hungary, Poland, Ireland and UK and it has over 450000 employees, who are efficient to fulfil the organisational aims ad objectives.

The organisation serves across different international borders and the leader decided to provide 24*7 hours services to the customers so that proper support can be provided to the customers across the globe. The customers can access this website as per their preferences as well as get proper support any time from the end of the organisation. This is the major change, where the organisation develops the self service mechanism, where the customers can log into the web page as well as log out as per their convenient and the organisation tries to develop the website of the company efficiently by easy clicking options with sharing appropriate information in a systematic manner. Additionally, the organisation also provides the options such as live chat, 24*7 customers calling and chat options, where the organisational representatives are there to resolve the queries. These are the major changes that are developed by the leader of Tesco.

Evaluating the importance of engaging the stakeholders in change work

During the change project, it is important for the organisation to identify the stakeholders who need to be engaged with the project in the organisation. In this regard, the organisation tries to improve the engagement with the stakeholders as it provides a scope to the stakeholders to understand the project requirement and develop an effective team, so that it is easy to contribute positively in the organisation and maximise the project aim (Wood, Coe and Wrigley, 2016). In the preset project change, as per the above change scenario in Tesco, the major stakeholders of the project are such as,

Employees

Computer technicians

Software developer

Manager

Front line staff

Customer service management team

The above mentioned stakeholders are necessary for this particular project, where the managers are playing crucial role in implementing the project in Tesco and apart from that, the customers service management team is also important to enhance the quality and excellence of customer’s service where the customers can get appropriate service and care from the organisation. In this regard, the leader needs to incorporate the entire stakeholder in the project to create urgency if implementing change and sharing the organisational visions and benefits of the project successfully with the entire stakeholder. The software developer and the employees who are handling the software are also necessary stakeholder in this project, where the leader and the managers provide proper training and development program for improving their knowledge and technological skill and this in turn helps to maximise innovation and creativity in the organisation to implement the strategic change. Hereby, proper involvement with all the stakeholders in the workplace is necessary where proper communication and cooperation can be built in the workplace and the management team can direct the stallholders for successful project implementation. The human resource manager is also involved in the project to restructure the employment rules and enhances their performance through providing them freedom to choose their working hours as per their convenient. As 24*7 service needs to be implemented, the workers can choose different shifts for serving the customers and it future motivate the employees to perform better and contribute positively as a team to maximise the organisational aim of creating values for the customers. As per the stakeholder’s mapping, showed below, the leader and the managers of Tesco needs to improve the interest of the stakeholder and influence them to work as a team to maximise the project aim. In this regard, there may arise some issues during the change management at the workplace, which are resistance to change towards giving 24*7 services, lack of interest due to poor technical skill and efficiency of the employees, poor management and lack of technological infrastructure (Samantara and Sharma, 2015). The issue are involved with this change management project and it needs to be resolved through providing appropriate training and development program for the employee, continuously motivate them for better performance and cooperation, which provide a scope to the manager to handle the workplace and the employees and create suitable working environment through communication and team collaboration.

In order to mitigate the above mentioned issues that can be taken place during the change management project, it is necessary for the members and the leader of the organisation to take active initiative for implementing the project. As per the stakeholder’s mapping, it is necessary to raise interest among the stakeholders by empowering them in the change project and share appropriate information with them about the necessity of the project, as well as communicate the project aims and objectives and also process of innovation in the project. This in turn helps to impropve trustand loyalty and encourages the stakeholders to engage with the project and make necessary contribution through performing better in the workplace. Continuous communication and cooperation with all the stakeholders and creating values for them is also important to improve engagement, so that the stakeholder can feel valued and contribute positively in the maximisation of the project.

Discussing that the communication is a key process and core skill of managing change

Communication skill is important for the change management project, where the change leader aims at enhancing communication of further cooperation and team collaboration, so that all the members can work as a partnership basis. In the present change management project, Tesco tries to implement proper process innovation though software development and hiring the staff 24*7 for excellent customers service innovation and in this regard, communication plays an important role for the leader and the management team to interact with others and share each other’s experience in order to maximise the project aim by implementing the project successfully in the workplace.

The skill of communication, includes, proper listening skill, managing meetings, open conversation with positive body language, public speaking, networking and storytelling, where the leaders and the managers of Tesco try to engage all the stakeholder in the project of process innovation for customer service excellence through enhancing internal and external communication. For enhancing internal communication system, the management team arrange proper meeting as well as group discussion for sharing each other’s knowledge and experience as well as enhance the chance of public speaking, so that each of the members can take active part during the change management project. In addition to this, the management team also tries to understand the leaders and covey the actual message to the software developers and the staff who handle the operations of the customer service. 6this is also effective to improve understanding and ensure proper project implementation. Hereby, through communication skill, the staff and managements of Tesco can interact with each other at the workplace and develop effective strategic planning for implementing the change project successfully.

In this context, the change project of Tesco was planed properly where the leader and the managers have the scope to communicate with the stakeholder, engaged with the project so that they can understand the urgency of the project and implement it properly for customer service excellence. In this regard, the behavioural style of the leader plays a crucial role in managing the change in the workplace and as per the behavioural style; there are different styles such as delegating, participative, selling and telling. In the organisation Tesco, the leader is supportive and participative where the leader participates in the change project positively and share ideas with all the stakeholder so that the stakeholders can be empowered well in the project and make effective decision with the help of the managers and the leader. In this regard, the positive communication, listening to each other’s opinion, group discussion and trust among the stakeholder are effective behavioural style which contributes positively in successful change project management. Apart from that, the leaders of the organisation is also behaving like selling and telling, where providing specific instruction to the staff and mangers as well as supervise the performance of the staff are encouraging the stakeholders, who are taking active part in project management. In this regard, the leader tries to empower the entire stakeholder and communicate appropriate information and instruction of project aims and the process innovation, so that the stakeholders cannot get confused and perform better in the successful implementation of the project (Galli, 2018). The behaviour of the leader is appropriate for the change implications in the organisation, where the management team and the leader of Tesco focuses on continuous collaboration, team work, communication and empowerment of the stakeholder in the project so that every stakeholder are engaged well and they perform with their full capabilities to fulfil the project aim.

Describing the organisational change through evaluating the change management models

According to the above mentioned change management in the organisation Tesco, it is necessary to follow suitable steps to implement the project by proper process innovation, software development and customer’s service improvement. The Lewin’s model in this regard is effective change model, through which the company can implement the change in the organisation. As per the Lewin’s model, there are three steps, which are unfreezing, change and refreeze.

Unfreeze:

Unfreeze is the first step as per the Lewin’s mode of change management, in which the organisation needs to determine the necessity of change at the workplace and ensure string support from management. Creating urgency of needs and managing the doubts of the employees are important in the first step of the model, where the organisation can develop proper team to lead the project successfully. In this context, the leader of Tesco tries to determine the needs of the project which are to maximise the perform of the firm, improving excellence of the customers service and creating values for the customers by providing 24*7 services. These are the major project aims and in this regard, the management team and leader try to cooperate with the employees and the staff members, where they support the employees and software developers for process innovation as well as clear their doubts to improve their understanding. These activities are beneficial for the management team of Tesco to lead the change management project by improving understanding among the stakeholders, engaged with the project and creating urgency of change.

Change:

In the second step as per the Lewin’s model, change is taken place through enhancing communication, empowering the staff members engaged with the project and involving the people in the process. In this regard, the leader and the management team focus on enhancing communication through the system of telecommunication and empower the actions in the project (Hornstein, 2015). All the stakeholders are empowered well, where through group discussion, the leader tries to share each other’s opinion and motivate them to develop effective strategic planning to fulfil the project aim. In addition to this, involving the people in the process is also necessary, where the leader supports all the people and improves engagement with them during the process innovation. Without proper involvement, it is difficult for the leader to lead the change in a systematic order.

Refreeze:

In the stage of refreeze, the organisational head lead the changes by managing the cultural perspective of the organisation, developing suitable changes and providing support and training to celebrate success. In this regard, the pleader and the management team of Tesco is successful to develop effective training program for the benefits of the staff, where it is possible to enhance the skill and knowledge of the employees so that they can perform better by maximising their abilities. Through the above mentioned model, it is hereby possible for the organisation Tesco, to lead the changes in a systematic manner and maximise the engagement of the stakeholders to make the change project successful. There are some major elements which are necessary to lead the changes in the organisation, where the elements are such as skill, strategy, leadership, change activities, capabilities and integration which are contributing factors in maximising the change management project. The leader is capable of restructuring the strategic planning of the firm to implement the process innovation for the benefits of the customers through automatic log in and log out system as well as providing 24*7 services to the customers. In this regard, the element of change such as communication, stakeholder involvement and performance management are also restructured well in Tesco, where the organisation is efficient to manage their performance and improve engagement with all the stakeholders so that they can be motivated and encouraged for heir innovation and creativity to handle the customers.

The leadership style of Tesco is also contributing factor in the change management project, where behaviour of the leader is appropriate to support the employees with adequate tangible and intangible resource of the organisation. However, there are some elements which did not work as expected which are lack of involvement of the customers, which are the major stallholders of the change project and lack of effective execution. There is no such proper information in the website of the company about the process of automatic self log in and log out and getting proper customers service from the front desk staff of Tesco. Due to which, some customers fail to handle the website for self service and some find it difficult to manage. Hence, the elements of change become complicated due to such problem, where the organisational leader needs to take active initiative to mitigate the problem and utilises the element strategically to fulfil the project aims. In this context, it is necessary for the team members and software developer o provide effective content with adequate information about the process of self service, so that the customers can handle it well. Another element is to empower the customers and manage their feedback online for understanding their satisfaction level and this further helps the firm to handle the change project strategically.

Reflecting on resistance to change and insights on managing resistance to change

There are different types of resistance to change, that occur during the change management process, where some of the employees are not happy with the change, taken place in the organisation (Cameron, and Green, 2015). This is a critical issue for the entire organisation, where the organisational leader and the management team try to mitigate the internal issues and cooperate with each other for better performance through successful change project implementation. In this present context, there are some resistance to change in Tesco for which the leader and the managers face difficulties to lead the project towards achieving success. The major reason is maximisation of self interest, where the employees find that the change project is not beneficial for them in near future. The employees are concerned with their job position, performance and own interest instead of considering the collaborative success of the organisation. This is the major issue where resistance to change occurs in the organisation.

Apart from that, another problem is low tolerance of change, where some of the employees are insecure about their job position and stability of work and this further leads to misunderstanding among the employees. In this regard, the there are some employees in Tesco, which are technically not skilled and this raise concerned about their job safety and security. They are suffering from the fear of job loss and this situation tends to resistance to change, where process innovation and automatic self service for the customer required technical staff and skilled workforce in the organisation. Other issues are misunderstanding and different assessment of the situation which also creates resistance to change in Tesco, where the leader and managers face difficulties to lead the change management process for business success. In this regard, in order to manage the resistance to change, it is necessary for the leaders and the managers to tale active initiative to improve trust and loyalty among the employees and manage them well at the workplace. It is necessary for the leader of Tesco to create urgency of change management project and communicate the vision of the organisation and the necessity of change so that it is possible for the employees to understand the organisational situation and benefits of themselves. Reducing uncertainty among the staff is necessary where the leader and the managers ensure job security among the employees, so that the staff can feel valued in the workplace and they trust the organisational leader about their job security and stability of the job position. Additionally, it is necessary to restructure the salary and performance related pay, so that the staff can feel valued and they can earn more through the change management project.

Additionally, proper empowerment is necessary to manage the resistance to change, where all the stakeholders are engaged with the project, so that they can improve their understanding and the leader can maximise their interest to perform better to meet the ultimate objective of the project. Hence, rewards and empowerment play a crucial role in creation values for the employees and mitigate the issue of resistance to change at the organisation Tesco.

Analysing the role of ethical behaviour on change management project

Ethical behaviour confirms the organisational moral values and principles, where all the activities of the companies are done according to the ethical code of conduct and in this regard professionalism and ethical behaviour of the organisation provides a scope to the managing people to run their organisational activities ethically and ensure future success. During the change management process, it is necessary to behave ethically, so that every member in the organisational can be engaged with the change project successfully (Beynon‐Davies, Jones and White, 2016). Organisational culture is one of the major factors under the ethical behaviour of the firm. In this regard, the organisation Tesco is successful to create a suitable organisational culture with proper maintenance of good governance, where the leader and the managers of the organisation manage transparency and accountability at the workplace and maximise equality, in which all the members are treated equally. Fair treatment and equal opportunities are provides to each of the employees, which in turn creates trust and loyalty among the staff in the organisation during the change management process (Haleem and Jehangir, 2017). The health and safety of the employees are managed well in Tesco which provides and scope to the members to feel safe at the workplace. The managers in this ergard provide suitable working environment where each of the members are rewarded for enhancing communication and team collaboration for better performance. Apart from that, data protection is maintained where each member manage confidentiality at the workplace, which also helps to improve the ethical behaviour at the organisation. The leadership style is also important factor in managing the ethical behaviour at the workplace, where the leaders treat the people fairly and guide all the members positively with sharing the organisational information and right information (Shin et al., 2015). In addition to these, the decision making process needs to be considered during the change management process, where moral values of all the stakeholders need to be maximised well, so that all the members are well profitable from the initiative, taken place in the workplace. In this regard, maximisation of moral values and ethical behaviour can be possible by managing the all the members fairly and maximising the value of each of the employees at the workplace. In the decision making process, the leader also needs to be concerned about the personal benefit of the employee as well as overall organisational profit and in this present case, Tesco is efficient to create values for all the employees by creating their values at the workplace and leading the project ethically by proper engagement with the stakeholders and effective plangent through process innovation and software development for ensuring customer service excellence.

Conclusion

It can be concluded that, the change management process is innovative in the organisation Tesco, where through process innovation and service improvement, the company focuses on maximising the values of the customers by ensuring customer service excellence. In this regard, in order to mange change, the leader of Tesco is efficient to manage the workforce by behaving ethically and developing effective decision through proper empowerment of the stakeholders, where the stakeholders are engaged with the project and they are contributing positively in the project management process.

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