Managing and leading change

Introduction

a.

Organizational change is mandatory for the multinational corporations for ensuring creativity and technological innovation in running the business successfully. Through change management, it is possible for the corporate leaders to develop innovative tactics to manufacture the products, manage the staff members and enhancing operational excellence for better management. The study focuses on analyzing organizational change through discussing Change Leadership Models such as Kotter’s model and Lewin’s model. In the second art of the study, there is change leadership model analysis in terms of the organizational change initiatives at Tesco. Through this study, it is also possible to evaluate the strategy of Tesco for recent changes at the workplace which provides a scope to the company to run their business operations efficiently. For students willing to seek insights into business dissertation help, this is going to offer valuable analysis and case studies in the field of organisational change management.

Question 3

a) Product Life Cycle (PLC) is considered as important tool through which companies can develop their products and determine ways through which their life can be enhanced so that customers can be served in a better and effective manner. According to Andriankaja et. al (2015), one of the key uses of PLC is that it can help companies in introducing new products in the market at a much quicker rate. The reduced time to market can help the construction companies in effectively introduce new products while entering the new market. PLC also helps in reducing entry costs while entering into new markets. According to Restuccia et. al (2016), this is because of the reason that PLC enables companies in understanding the target market and on the basis of such information, firms can determine ways that can help them to reduce the costs for entering the new market. Chau et. al. (2015) also argues, while highlighting the benefits of PLC, that it helps companies in developing more efficient and profitable distribution channels. This can enable the construction firms in creating such systems that can help the firms in developing better channels that can improve distribution and profitable channels. Such an approach can be useful for the organisations in enhancing the operational flows and thereby serve the customers in a better and effective manner. According to Guimon (2016), using PLC enables organisations in understanding the target markets in a better manner and thereby be able to fulfil needs and demands of the customers. In addition to this, PLC can further enable the construction companies in extending the lifetime of their products and/or services. In a highly competitive market such as the construction sector, using PLC can help such organisations in creating better products and/or services that satisfies demands of the customers. b) The Eclectic Paradigm is also known as the Ownership, Location and Internationalisation (OLI) framework (Dunning, 2015). It is a three-tiered framework that can be used by organisations when they are attempting to determine if it is beneficial for the firm to pursue FDI. In the construction industry the OLI framework can be used as a means by companies that are seeking to engage in involvement in international operations. In this regard, it can be suggested that companies in the UK construction industry can focus on expanding their operations in the developing markets. This way, such organisations can attempt to enter into new markets and establish their operations to cater to a new set of customers and enhance their overall operations and sustainability in the industry. Furthermore, it can also be said that these enterprises should focus on creating a proper ownership structure, so that the organisation can operate effectively and thereby be able to fulfil its goals and objectives (Guimon, 2016). In addition to this, these companies should also focus on identifying the right location, so that they can reach out to maximum number of customers and fulfil their varied needs and wants. This will help these organisations in enhancing the quality of their operations and thereby also enhance their performance.

Change Leadership Models

Kotter’s model

Change management ameliorates to the organizational transition, whereby the organizational process along with the business environment is embraced. In this context, Kotter's change management model can be referred to. The model was developed by John Kotter, whereby, the process of managing the changes in an organization is illustrated by using 8 steps (Teixeira et al., 2017). The application of this model and its incredible durability in the rapidly changing business environment is highly significant (Chowthi-Williams et al. 2016). The application of the model of Kotter in terms of change management follows eight significant steps in order to conduct changes in the process of management as well as leadership within an organization. The eight steps are the following:

Creating a sense of urgency

In terms of the sense of urgency, the organization helped the other employees to overview the changes need, whereby the diversifications of the companies into different constituent parts were done. Furthermore, in this step, the company evaluated the opportunities of constituting the diversifications separately under the Alphabet that helped the companies to be more effectively organized.

Developing guiding coalitions

In this step, the concerning company identified its key stakeholders for the implementation of the change in its business as well as the entire management process and developed a coalition team (Chappell et al. 2016). Forming a vision as well as a strategy After that, the coalition team of the concerning company determined its values and defined its ultimate vision and set strategies regarding the change accordingly.

Interpreting the vision

The higher management of the company interpreted the change in the vision convincingly and powerfully and linked the vision of all essential aspects such as training, review of the performance and much more. As per the Kotter's model, the vision interpretation needs to be developed through analyzing the future, based on past experiences. The vision for the restructuring was to enhance the management scale and efficiency (Chappell et al. 2016).

Eliminating obstacles

The higher authority of the Company actively identified all barriers that may arise in the process of change and adopt proper actions to remove such obstacles. The management of the company communicated with its employees and provided them training for the change and made them known about the importance and effectiveness of the change in the structuring. This has helped to transit the change effectively and easily. The independence for each of the constituents has helped to enhance the operations of the firms in a more efficient manner.

Establishing short-term wins

The concerning company was set many short term targets rather than one long term target as this method was less expensive and easy to achieve. Furthermore, it encouraged the employees of the company for further changes and thus adopted each of the units as a separate entity to be exercised.

Integrating gains

The concerning company achieves its targets one by one by analyzing the previous strategy regarding achieving the target and in this way the company met its targets. The page of the Alphabet has also helped the consumers to segregate each of the constituents separately (Teixeira et al. 2017).

Incorporating changes in the corporate culture

Using the changes in the structure, the employees have been benefited by concentrating on the productivity issues with having their separate mission. This, in turn, has helped them to have a new cause and effect for each of the organizational cultures with separate expenditures (Tang, 2019). Implementation of Kotter's model regarding change management or leadership is highly beneficial for an organization as it follows several stages which provide distinct guidance and assistance on the whole procedure of the change (Teixeira et al., 2017). Apart from this, the process of implementation of this model is easy in comparison with other models of change management. In terms of the change of the business operation of the firms, the higher management of the company implemented this model for which the company became able to adopt such changes step by step from identifying the potential threats to incorporate the changes within the corporate culture. On the other hand, this model focuses on the acceptability and involvement of the employees for which the concerning company focused on communication with its employees regarding the implemented change. For this reason, the organization became able to provide a clear concept regarding the urgency and significance of change adoption and for which the employees of the company are motivated to increase their performance and contribute to the change implementation within the company (Chowthi-Williams et al. 2016). Moreover, this model highlighted the acceptability of the change rather than the procedure of the change for which the organization became efficient to encourage the employees as well as its customers to accept such changes for which the process of change turned easy for the company to enhance the productivity and innovation. Despite the advantages of utilizing Kotter's model in terms of change management, certain demerits can harm an organization while the process of change adoption. In this case, it has been found that, the Company faces issues due to the implementation of this model. This is because this model follows several steps that require much time, for which the concerning company faces issues of delay (Small et al. 2016). On the other hand, the model is a step by step model; hence skipping any step could cause any type of challenge or risk. Furthermore, as this model is mainly a top-down model, it prevents scope for involvement as well as co-creation. On the contrary, implementation of the model of Kotter regarding change management may cause dissatisfaction and frustration among the employees as this model only focuses on the organization's aim and vision, therefore, it may miss the individual requirement of the employees which causes employee dissatisfaction (Tang, 2019). Thus, implementation of the model of Kotter in terms of change management could be harmful for an organization that requires careful attention to the entire process of change and each step of the model. Lewin’s model The three stages model of Kurt Lewin or the planned organizational approach is one of the most significant and relevant models in the current scenario of the business environment. Kurt Lewin a physician and social scientist presented an essay framework at the beginning of the 1950 century in order to understand the techniques of organizational change. This model is known as "Three-Stage Theory" where three stages are unfreezing, change or transition and freeze or refreeze. In words of Lewin, a change regarding individual or organization is a highly difficult journey that mainly includes different stages regarding misunderstandings or transitions before gaining the stages of stability or equilibrium (Cummings et al. 2016). The application of the model of Lewin regarding change management or leadership is highly crucial for an organization that is intended to adopt changes within the organization or in the operation of its business (Bakari et al. 2017). For instance, in the process of implementing change within the business of the companies, the higher management of the organization utilized the model of Lewin regarding the management of the changes. In this case, application of the Lewin's model follows three stages which are as follows:

Unfreeze

This is the primary stage of the procedure change management as in this stage; an organization needs to determine the change that required for its business. For this conducting a survey within the organization could be beneficial in determining the required change. In this case, permission and support of the higher authority of the organization is highly crucial for conducting the change management effectively. After determining the change, it is highly essential to identify the needs behind the requirements of the change. It further helps to understand and manage the concerns and doubts regarding the importance of the change (Chappell et al., 2016). In terms of the change within the business operation of the companies, the organizations determined the required change at first along with the support of the senior authority of the company. After that, the companies identified the needs behind such a requirement of change, where the firms found that, the economic status of the company is low in comparison with other competitors. Based on this, the higher management of the concerning company manages all doubts of employees regarding the importance of implementing change (Tang, 2019).

Change or transition

This is the second stage of the transition that requires effective and required actions for incorporating changes within the business or in the organization. The companies determined to make changes in marketing, partnerships and geographical expansion and much more. In this case, the management of the company made effective planning regarding the changes, evaluated the expected benefits from the changes and developed proper strategies. For this, the management of the company answered all questions on the employees honestly and openly to provide them a clear idea regarding the importance and effectiveness of the change (Teixeira et al., 2017). Furthermore, the authority of the company managed all the potential issues advanced by taking proper actions and provided many opportunities for employee development.

Freeze or refreeze

This is the final stage of the model of Lewin regarding the management of change of business. This stage includes the incorporation of the change within the organizational culture. In this term, the concerning company identified the support of the changes along with the barriers of the change. Furthermore, the concerning company implemented a new organizational structure for sustaining the new changes in the business operation as well as in the organization. The company also provided training to its employees to make them know about the importance and effectiveness of the change (Cummings et al. 2016). For this action, the employees of the company became motivated and interested in the change and perform their job accordingly. The application of Lewin's model in terms of the management of change within the business or an organization is highly beneficial for the organization. As all stages of the model are interrelated, therefore in the process of implementation of change, the Companies had to focus on all stages as well as all aspects of the model (Hm, 2017). For this reason, all stages were carefully handled which generated effective outcomes. On the other hand, the application of this model included all departments as well as all levels of staff of the organization for which the organization became able to address the change through different viewpoints which are also very crucial. Furthermore, the application of Lewin's model in terms of the leading change was also utilized as a guide regarding organizational change rather than only business-related change. This is because, by implementing this model, the concerning company adopted changes not only in its business operation but also in its organization by changing its organizational structure and culture to match its business-related changes (Bakari et al. 2017). Despite the multiple advantages regarding the application of Lewin's model in terms of the management of change, there are certain disadvantages exists which can cause loss of the business that implemented this model for change. All parts and stages of this model in interrelated, for this reason skipping any part of the model, will be difficult. Furthermore, this model is highly complex in comparison with other models as this model avoids differences (Tang, 2019). Nevertheless, as all parts are interrelated, hence issues in one part could negatively affect all stages which can cause a loss in the business in the firms. At the refreezing stage, if the company found an urgency of implementing another change, this could be difficult in the middle of the process of change management. If the company conducts the additional change after completing the previous one, it could require much time and the company could face risk associated with the delay for the additional change (Bejinariu et al., 2017).

Change event in Tesco

Recent change event in Tesco

Tesco had announced that 90 chain stores available in the market would be shut down recently in order to influence the profit and other benefits inside the market. The company decided to close 90 stores that contain fresh food in order to advance more in the market. However, this may result in approximately 9,000-job risk considering the complete shutdown. As a change event, the company decided to run 700 stores that contain fresh meat, fish, and other products that will be run on a flexible and full-time basis. Furthermore, this decision will affect a few hundred more jobs considering the closure of 200 canteens that was run by outsourcing companies (The Week, 2019). The Tesco UK business may get a certain impact considering the decision as it may affect several customers lose inside the industry and the company needs to accommodate all of the possible factors inside the organization. Dave Lewis, who is the Chief Executive of Tesco, explains that this decision may affect the cost saving of the company and it will be responsible to save £1.5 billion by 2020. Supermarket chains and Bakeries will be affected by this decision regarding tend to provide skilled based efficiency of the company. The officials of the company encountered that, the response of the customer towards these shops is lesser as compared to other factors. Tesco has been recognized as Britain's biggest supermarket runs 732 stores in the UK and five butchers, five fishmongers, and six-deli worker in the shops are concerned about their job existence (Mirror, 2019).

Evaluation using Kotter's 8 step change model

To evaluate the changes proposed in the Tesco, John Kotter’s 8-step model will be appropriate in order to provide systematic justification of the procedure. The 8 steps concerning process policy are as follows

Increase the urgency for change

For developing sustainable change inside the organization, it is required to communicate with all of the associated members inside the organization. As most of the retail industry of the UK, the hierarchy and management power is superior in Tesco. The management of the company was able to find out that the consumers are less interested in those particular. The financial performance of the organization is also decreasing considering the limitation in wastage management. For this reason, the company decided to analyze the condition more effectively with the help of other officials and come up with the decisions mentioned above (Das, 2019).

Build a team responsible for the change

An impactful decision execution is needed to be performing by the dedicated team development and management. Tesco developed a team that contains responsive and effective team members in order to enhance the sustainability of the team. The team was selected based on emotional attachment towards the company. The team was responsible to analyze and calculate all of the positive and negative factors that are associated with the decision implementation. Tesco focuses on team development based on a good mixture of people from different fields and different areas of expertise (Tang, 2019).

Creation of vision for change

Clear vision for the decision needed to be created in order to motivate all of the associated members in the organization. For this reason, the company decided to clear out the financial and management factors associated with the decision proposed by the company. The company also focuses on the less efficiency of the shops that they are planning to close in order to advance the profitability. Determination of value and executive vision is also an important factor in order to implement this step in an organization (Tang, 2019).

Communicate for changing need

For communicating the essential and effectiveness of different decision, the company determined the value of the decision and distributed to the members of the team. Tesco addressed the people's concern and enhanced the value to improve in different factors. The company decided to improve the hiring process, training procedure and salary packages of the employees in order to manage the financial performance of the company. The opportunity and the advantages of implementing this decision are provided to the effective team in order to improve the teamwork (Mirror, 2019).

Staff empowerment with changing ability

In order to implement this strategy, many obstacles need to be concerned about enhancing the financial performance and stability management in the organization. The company decided to increase the staff empowerment in order to associate changes for overcoming the obstacles. Tesco focuses on the strength and weaknesses of the associated team and removes barriers to enhance the performance. For overcoming the weakness factors in the team, the company appointed responsible and skills employees in the organization and replaced it with the other employees (Mirror, 2019).

Creation of short term goals

Dividing strategies into short-term goals and performing individually helps to enhance the consistency in a task. For this reason, the company decided to introduce short-term goal for the employees that can be converted into bigger goals to create several opportunities. The short-term goals help to provide enthusiasm and encouragement to the employees (The Week, 2019).

Persistent

Throughout the implementation of change, the company analyses every single move and identifies the limitations of the particular stage. For this reason, the associated mistakes in one stage did not repeat at the next stage (Bhatt, 2017).

Making permanent change

The company associated with the decision to change in the operation market field to enhance more towards the process transition. The decision may be unfair considering the job loss of 9,000 people in the stores. However, in the long term, it will be beneficial in the financial aspects of the company for which it can save £1.5 billion in long term (The Week, 2019).

Conclusion

Considering the change factors, it can be said that, the change strategy provided by Tesco follows the proper implementation of Kotter's 8-step model. This helps in the acceptance and easier transition of change to provide systematic development towards improvements (Galli, 2018). However, the limitation of the steps is that none of the intermediate steps can be skipped and it is driven by emotional procedure over functional integration.

Reference List

Journals

Bakari, H., Hunjra, A.I. and Niazi, G.S.K., 2017. How does authentic leadership influence planned organizational change? The role of employees’ perceptions: Integration of theory of planned behavior and Lewin's three step model. Journal of Change Management, 17(2), pp.155-187.

Bejinariu, A.C., Jitarel, A., Sarca, I. and Mocan, A., 2017. Organizational Change Management–Concepts Definitions and Approaches Inventory. In Management Challenges in a Network Economy: Proceedings of the MakeLearn and TIIM International Conference 2017 (pp. 321-330). ToKnowPress.

Bhatt, R., 2017. Theoretical perspective of change management. CLEAR International Journal of Research in Commerce & Management, 8(2), pp.234-296.

Chappell, S., Pescud, M., Waterworth, P., Shilton, T., Roche, D., Ledger, M., Slevin, T. and Rosenberg, M., 2016. Exploring the process of implementing healthy workplace initiatives: mapping to Kotter's leading change model. Journal of occupational and environmental medicine, 58(10), pp.e341-e348.

Chowthi-Williams, A., Curzio, J. and Lerman, S., 2016. Evaluation of how a curriculum change in nurse education was managed through the application of a business change management model: A qualitative case study. Nurse education today, 36, pp.133-138.

Cummings, S., Bridgman, T. and Brown, K.G., 2016. Unfreezing change as three steps: Rethinking Kurt Lewin’s legacy for change management. Human relations, 69(1), pp.33-60.>

Das, V., 2019. Comparative Study of Kotter’s and Hiatt’s (ADKAR) Change Models. Journal of Leadership and Management, 1(15), pp.106-265.

Galli, B.J., 2018. Change management models: A comparative analysis and concerns. IEEE Engineering Management Review, 46(3), pp.124-132.

Small, A., Gist, D., Souza, D., Dalton, J., Magny-Normilus, C. and David, D., 2016. Using Kotter's change model for implementing bedside handoff: a quality improvement project. Journal of nursing care quality, 31(4), pp.304-309.

Tang, K.N., 2019. Change management. In Leadership and Change Management (pp. 47-55). Springer, Singapore.

Tang, K.N., 2019. Change management. In Leadership and Change Management (pp. 47-55). Springer, Singapore.

Teixeira, B., Gregory, P.A. and Austin, Z., 2017. How are pharmacists in Ontario adapting to practice change? Results of a qualitative analysis using Kotter’s change management model. Canadian Pharmacists Journal/Revue des Pharmaciens du Canada, 150(3), pp.198-205.

Website

Mirror. (2019). Tesco 'to axe 15,000 jobs and close meat, fish and deli counters in £1.5bn purge. Available at https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/breaking-tesco-to-axe-15000-13912379 [Accessed 23 December 2019]

The Week. (2019). What is changing at Tesco? Available at https://www.theweek.co.uk/99270/what-is-changing-at-tesco [Accessed 21 December 2019]

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