Change Management - Analysis, Recommendations & Execution Plan

This document provides an analysis of change management in the context of a case study on The Blue Marina restaurant. It discusses the nature of change, employee reactions, and provides recommendations and an execution plan for implementing the change.

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CHANGE MANAGEMENT – 981175

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Table of Contents
Introduction.......................................................................................................................3
Case Background..........................................................................................................................3
Analysis of Change.............................................................................................................3
Nature of Change...............................................................................................................4
Employee reactions to proposed change............................................................................4
Recommendations & Execution plan..................................................................................6
Conclusion.........................................................................................................................7
References.........................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
Case Background
The case revolves around The Blue Marina, which is an Italian restaurant located on the
ground floor of a shopping mall. The restaurant has been popular amongst the customers
because of its ease of success, no-fuss menu, simple set-up and great customer services. The
management has been able to keep the turnover time for its customers below 15 minutes,
which also adds value to the services. Recently, the restaurant has started experiencing a fall
in its profitability which can be attributed to the decreasing coordination between the waiting
and the kitchen staff. The customers have to wait for more than one and a half hour before
being served while those who remain in the queue for a long time eventually end up leaving
for another restaurant. The manager of the restaurant attributes the prevailing conditions to
poor performance management and economic crises and has stepped down for his son to take
up his position. His son, Marcello, had completed his masters in Business Administration and
has planned to introduce certain major changes in the workplace. Therefore, in this report, a
deeper insight into the change initiatives being planned for the restaurants will be discussed.
Analysis of Change
The change being planned for the restaurant is a major change that is being drive by a number
of internal and external factors. A brief description of the internal and external factors that are
driving a change in the restaurant is given below:
Internal factors: These are the factors that are related to a company itself and are in its direct
control. The internal factors driving a change in the Blue Marina are leadership and strategy.
As there is a leadership change taking place in the workplace, there will be definitely a
change in the style of working of the new employee, which will drive a change in the
workplace. Further, the new leader is also ambitious in nature and wants to implement
changes in the company’s strategies as well, which would make it more competitive and
efficient (Quain, 2018).
External factors: These factors are related to an industry on the whole and are beyond the
control of a company. The external factors driving a change at Blue Marina are competitors
and economy. As per the outgoing managers, the opening up of new bars and pubs in the

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shopping mall has increased the competition, which is driving the need for the restaurant to
change and become more effective. Further, the economic conditions have also been having
an impact on the business of the restaurant, which is also driving a change in the workplace
(Googlesir, 2018).
Nature of Change
The change being planned for the Blue Marina is a major change that would have an impact
on the entire organisation and the stakeholders involved. As suggested by George and Jones,
some organizations are faced with tricky market situations and are required to implement a
change as soon as they can (Consador, 2017). A change brought about in such an unexpected
condition is known as a revolutionary change, which is a rapid, dramatic and broadly focused
in a business organisation.
A revolutionary change usually occurs because of the changing market climate, economic
conditions or a new technological innovation, which is integral to the processes or operations
of an organisation. Such a change also takes place in business organizations when a new
leader takes up the responsibility of a department or a process (Borwick, 2013). The
characteristics of a revolutionary change are in a perfect alignment with the conditions
prevailing in the Blue Marina restaurant. Therefore, the change can be said to be
revolutionary in nature.
Employee reactions to proposed change
Change has become an inevitable part of business and managing change has become even
more complex because of the natural tendency of human beings to resist changes.
Organisational changes often receive a wide variety of reactions from the concerned
employees as some of them oppose the change while some of them promote the change if
they are convinced. The most likely reactions that the employees will provide to the change
program being planned for the Blue Marina are discussed below:
Fear:
One of the most common and immediate reaction that a majority of the employees working at
Blue Marina will show is fear. Fear is a common reaction to any sort of change amongst
human beings. Changes in relation to the workplace can foster a fear in the minds of the

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employees about job security and satisfaction, demotions, pay cuts, etc. In case of
revolutionary changes, such as the one that is being planned for the restaurant, the fear in the
minds of the employees is going to develop even more as the change will take place rapidly
and they would not be given much time to cope up with the change (Travis, n.d.).
Anger:
Workplace changes can bring about a change in the status quo of the employees working
since a long time in the company. A change in the status quo is not perceived nicely by most
of the employees and their anger becomes visible in such cases. They can show an emotional
outburst and can even start spreading negativity amongst the other employees (Bringselius,
2014). Out of anger, such employees become more likely to act against the interests of their
companies and prevent a change from taking place in the organisation.
Ambivalence:
As discussed above, workplace changes receive a mix type of reactions from the employees,
which can be negative, neutral or positive. Employees that have an ambivalent reaction to a
change program are those who are neutral or slightly positive for the change program and can
be easily won over by the managers. If such employees are involved and their trust is won
over, they become an important part of a change program and can promote a change in the
long run (Stensaker & Meyer, 2011).
Enthusiasm:
Enthusiasm is a positive reaction that the employees offer to a change program. Some
employees readily accept the call of their leader to undergo a change as they see an
opportunity for themselves or for their organisation on the whole. They feel that a change is a
natural step that would have to be taken for the betterment of the workforce and of the
company. As a result, some employees can feel enthusiastic when a change program is
announced as they would get a change to develop their skills and competencies, which would
open up new career opportunities for them.
Resistance:
One of the most common reactions, which leads to the failure of a change program in most of
the cases, is employee resistance to change. If the employees are not involved in the change

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program or if there is an ambiguity during a change, the fear and anger in their minds leader
to resistance to change (Illumine Training, 2014).
Recommendations & Execution plan
There are a number of change management theories that can be used by the management of
the restaurant to promote a desired change in the workplace. Some of the theories are the
Kurt Lewin 3 Stage model, Kotter’s 8 step change model, the ADKAR model, McKinsey 7-S
model, Bridges’ transition model, etc. (Mulholland, 2017)For bringing about a revolutionary
change, it is important that the change model to be used is quick and affective in dealing with
problems related to a change program. Therefore, the change model that would best suit the
needs of the Blue Marina is the Kurt Lewin’s change management model. The management
of the restaurant can divide the entire change program into three difference stages i.e.
unfreeze, change and refreeze, as suggested by Kurt Lewin.
Unfreeze:
In the first stage of change management, the management of the company will have to create
an awareness amongst the workforce that the organisation requires a change. This stage
requires a thorough analysis of all areas, operations, processes, strategies and policies that are
inefficient and are making a company less competitive (Cummings, Bridgman, & Brown,
2016). Once an awareness is created in the minds of the employees, the next step is to start
unfreezing the current processes, procedures, operations, etc. It is in this stage that effective
communication can be used by the management to inform the employees about the forces
driving the change, nature of change, effects of change and the benefits of the change.
Changing/Moving:
This is the second stage in the change management process. In this stage, the management of
the restaurant would have already created an awareness amongst the employees and will have
to start deploying its changes. In this stage, all the transition would take place. In this stage,
the management will have to provide full support to its employees in terms of resources,
skills and competencies, that they would require to demonstrate a change in their behavior,
processes or operations. The management will also have to train and develop its workforce in
the field of technology that it is planning to implement in the workplace (Hussain, et al.,
2018). The management will also have to develop action teams that would carry out different

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tasks related to a change program, such as acquiring space for new restaurants, recruiting new
staff members, preparing a new menu, acquiring hardware and software solutions required for
adopting the new technology, etc. In such difficult times, the employees can also lose their
motivation to change, which makes it important for the management to continuously motivate
them by reminding them of the forces that are driving a change and the benefits that the
change program would have for the organisation on the whole (Akingbola, Rogers, & Baluch,
2019).
Freezing:
This is the third stage in the change management process where. By the beginning of this
stage, the management would have experienced a change in the workplace and in the
employee behaviors. According to Kurt Lewin, all the change efforts of a management are
pointless if old habits surface or if it is unable to sustain the change achieved. The
management of the restaurant will have to conduct regular feedback surveys and reviews to
check if the new methods, processes, operations, etc. are being followed. Further, the
management can also reward the employees who demonstrate a consistency by sticking to
their changed behavior. The change in behavior shown by the employees can be rewarded by
monetary as well as non-monetary benefits. In most of the cases, appreciation, recognition,
verbal appraisal, etc. can get the job done for the managers and can have a long-lasting
impact on the employees (Day & Shannon, 2015). This stage can last for a longer period of
time as revolutionary changes can be difficult to achieve and require a lot of efforts to be
sustained.
Conclusion
The Blue Marina restaurant is facing a tough market situation, which is creating an urgency
for the restaurant to undergo a revolutionary change or otherwise lose its market share to the
new market entrants. The new leader of the restaurant is ambitious and is moving in the right
direction by revamping almost all processes and operations of the company while also
ensuring expansion side by side.
As the change being planned for the restaurant is most likely going to be a revolutionary
change, which would have an impact on the entire organisation, there is a high possibility of
positive as well as negative employee reaction. Therefore, it is important that the

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management prepared an effective change management model to deal with employee
reactions to change and to increase the chances of success of the change program. In the
given scenario, the Kurt Lewin’s change management model will prove to be beneficial as it
will allow the company to achieve its organisational and change goals and objectives by
keeping the employees engaged. Furthermore, the model will also help the management in
sustaining the changes for a longer period of time, once they are successfully achieved.
References
Akingbola, K., Rogers, S. E., & Baluch, A. (2019). A Model of Change for Nonprofit
Organizations. Change Management in Nonprofit Organizations, 73-94.
Borwick, J. (2013, June 5). Revolutionary vs. evolutionary organizational change . Retrieved
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http://www.heitmanagement.com/blog/2013/06/revolutionary-vs-evolutionary-
organizational-change/
Bringselius, L. (2014). Employee Reactions to Organizational Change: A Framework for
Addressing Management Responses. Organization Development Journal, 32(1), 41-
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theory.html
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external-forces-affect-organizational-change/
Hussain, S. T., Lei, S., Akram, T., Haider, M. J., Hussain, S. H., & Ali, M. (2018). Kurt
Lewin's change model: A critical review of the role of leadership and employee
involvement in organizational change. Journal of Innovation & Knowledge, 3(3), 123-
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Illumine Training. (2014, January 14). 4 common reactions to organisational changes.
Retrieved from Illumine.co.uk: https://www.illumine.co.uk/2014/01/common-
reactions-of-employees-when-organisational-changes-take-place/
Mulholland, B. (2017, July 24). 8 Critical Change Management Models to Evolve and
Survive . Retrieved from Process.st: https://www.process.st/change-management-
models/
Stensaker, I., & Meyer, C. (2011). Change experience and employee reactions: Developing
capabilities for change. Personnel Review, 41(1), 106-124.
Travis, E. (n.d.). Employee Reactions to Organizational Change . Retrieved from Chron.com:
https://smallbusiness.chron.com/employee-reactions-organizational-change-
17732.html
Quain, S. (2018, May 4). Internal & External Factors That Affect an Organization .
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