An In-Depth Analysis of Change Management at Woolworths Australia

This essay examines the change management process, focusing on the case of Woolworths Supermarket in Australia. It identifies key issues such as employee resistance to change, including fear of job loss, fear of the unknown, irrelevant communication strategies, and lack of competence. The essay highlights three critical strategic problems Woolworths faces: resistance to reality, systematic resistance to change, and resistance to organizational change. It also delves into ethical issues arising from change management, such as data manipulation and power dynamics. The essay outlines effective steps for implementing and monitoring change, including identifying the actual change, presenting a proper case, creating a roadmap, gathering information, ensuring clear communication, monitoring risks, and continuously reviewing processes. The analysis provides a comprehensive overview of the challenges and strategies involved in successful change management within a large retail organization.

Running head: CHANGE MANAGEMENT
Change management
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author Note:

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Introduction
The term change management refers to the collective term for all the different approaches
that leads to the preparation and support for the individuals, organizations and teams to make the
change in the organization. This can be done by the use of different methods that helps to
redefine and redirect the process through which the resources in an organization are used, the
process of budget allocation, the other modes of operation that significantly change the company
or the organization. The main objective of the change is to derive positive results from any such
change that can help improve the performance of the organization. Change can either be positive
or negative depending on the change management strategies of the organization. The following
essay is based on the study of the change management process considering the case of
Woolworths Supermarket in Australia. The investigator has tried to highlight the necessary
elements that lead to the change management process.
Woolworths Supermarket is an Australian Supermarket chain owned by Woolworths
Limited. It was founded in the year 1924 and has its headquarters in Bella Vista town of
Australia (www.woolworths.com.au). The company along with its rivals Coles Supermarket
accounts for nearly 80% of the total market share. Apart from specializing in groceries it also
sells different products ranging from books and DVD’s to other beauty and Household products.
The retail sector in Australia has employed a lot many people in the country than in any other
sectors. The fall in the market share of the company due to lack of a proper vision has made it
fall apart from the other competitors in the market. The inability of the mentioned company to
satisfy the customers, loss of faith from the products of the organization and some other similar
issues have forced the management of the mentioned company to formulate strategies in order to
effect a necessary change.

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Identification and Discussion
There are some major issues that make the employees of the organization resistant to
changes. Some of them are as follows;
1. Loss of Job- Fear of losing the job is one of the major reasons behind the resistance of
the employees to initiate the change management process. The change management
process in an organization will generally involve the technological advancement, product
change involving smart work, reduction in the cost, fast turnaround times and many other
different changes (Appelbaum, 2015). The following means the change will be severely
opposed as because it may lead to the reduction or elimination of a certain post or role of
an employee.
2. Fear of the Unknown- Fear and panic from unknown changes is another key cause for
the employee’s resistance to change in the organization. The employees may feel the
need for holding to the past because they might consider it to be much better and secured
than the present situation. This makes them more fearful and diminishes their self
confidence. The fear increases when the organization is not sure about the possible
impacts of the changes thus leading to strong resistance from the employees.
3. Irrelevant Communication Strategy- The irrelevant communication strategy of the
organization is one of the major reasons that lead to the resistance to the change. It is
important for the management of the business organization to communicate the changes
to be made in the organization to the people of the organization in a proper, efficient and
transparent manner (Appelbaum, 2015) (Cameron, 2015). The proper communication
helps the employees to be well aware of the changes but the absence of an effective

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communication leads to a confusion among the employees and they are most likely to
resist the change to be undertaken by the organization.
4. Lack of Competence- The employees of an organization might feel the upcoming
development process can create problems for them as they might not be able to cope up
with the new change. The following fear may come up in the mind as because they are
hesitant to accept the new changes or shift into a new routine. Such fears leads to strong
resistance.
Resistance to change is one of the main problems considered by the managers that may stall
the process of development. Woolworths being a large organization also faces similar changes
that makes life difficult for the organization and stalls the change that may be undertaken. There
are three most critical strategic problems that Woolworths faces. They are,
a. Resistance to reality main - The management of Woolworths faces such problems when
the strategy of the management ignores the external reality that they the least control.
Some of the main external factors that experiences normal changes are technology,
business models, strategies on a certain product, standards, customer choices and many
more as such (Cameron, 2015). Woolworths faced a huge challenge at the time of the
introduction of the CD’s and DVD’s as the market opposed the new development in the
absence of proper infrastructure to run these products and had the choice for floppy disks
and cassettes that had much lower space but ideal installations to run on.
b. Systematic Resistance to Change-The following resistance occurs when a global
economy\y or the combination of different firms altogether fails to change the response to

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the threat of the system. It is one of the biggest problems to change as it involves a large
space and has a large area to be covered in a single go.
c. Resistance to organizational Change- The resistance to the strategies put forward by the
executive management is opposed by the employees of the organization. The main
problem that lies within such a resistance is the inability of the employees to accept the
new cultural or organizational change. The managers of the organization must conduct
meetings and make the employees understand about the projected changes.
According to (Cameron, 2015) power is one of the most central aspects of both the social
sciences in general and organizational and management theory in particular. Power acts as the
most influential part of the social living that takes into consideration the different groups and
individuals within the workplace. Power can be considered to be a mere subordinate to
organization based social phenomenon. The secondary role of power has been relegated by
organizational research leads to a serious shortcoming in the way in which it is conceptualized in
organizational and management studies. On the other hand (Deneen, 2014) has stated that during
the time of the implementation of change is to make sure to derive a power driven resistance to
change as it will have a negative effect on the initiative to change. The managers of Woolworths
who fears the loss of power are usually the ones who have a large influence and can interrupt the
preparation of a proper management plan. (Cummings, 2014)
According to Management of power driven resistance to change requires a proper
strategy and a proper understanding of the different stakeholders. Therefore it is better to
learning about the influence of the stakeholders and the amount of impact upon the employees of
the organization. Therefore (Cummings, 2014) has stated that the success of the change will be
highlighted in the organization only when the management implements a proper strategy that

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identifies the possible amount of resistance that they might face in the context of the change
management.
Key Ethical Issues
Change is inevitable in any organization and it generally arises from the need to improve
the allocation of the different resources, bringing a change in the technology, changing the
budget of the organization and bring some other notable changes in the organization to make it
much more efficient and profitable. The change agent must challenge the present situation and
totally bring a change in the status quo by bringing an altogether different perspective to the
organizational environment (Doppelt, 2017). A number of different ethical issues arise when the
change management takes place within the organization. There are cases when the information
collected by the change agents is not aligned with the executive management agenda, the results
can get manipulated. The manipulation of the data can point fingers towards the low level
employees of the organization and will result in their expulsion. The executive management of
the organization decides all the policies related to the change and thus they have all the
discretionary powers that lead to the change. Therefore there is a chance that change is
determined by the power perceptions. This may lead to intentional misstatement of information.
There are also cases when the management of the company may highlight the change
management process to be a form of more employee engagement within the organizational
matters of the company whereas the actual intent behind the change process is to diminish the
engagement of the employees within the organization or reducing the employee strength (Hayes,
2017). The management in such cases generally cites reasons like the absence of proper
technological knowledge, inability to adapt to changing situations and many more as such.

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The management of Woolworths must make it a point to identify such different ethical
issues and remove the barriers that may lead to resistance from the employees.
The management of the mentioned super marketing chain has identified some of the most
effective steps to implement and monitor the total process of change management. They are;
1. Identification of the Actual Change- The main step to the beginning of the change
management process lies in the clear identification of the particular change to be made
within the organization. The management of Woolworths must make sure that they make
each and every employee who will be affected by the change (Hon A. H., 2014). The
management must define the need for the change and how it will benefit the employees.
2. Presentation of a proper case- The presentation needs to be done in a proper way so that
the employees can be made aware of the changes that have an impact upon them. The
proper presentation also helps to avoid any form of resistance that would be otherwise
harmful to the plan for the change.
3. Creation of a roadmap- The formulation of a roadmap is utmost necessary for the
organization to effect a positive change within the organization. The documented strategy
for implementation of the change helps to identify the point from where the
oorganizatio0n is starting and what are the steps to be taken for implementing the plan
perfectly (Kuipers, 2014).
4. Gathering proper information for efficient evaluation- The beginning of the
implementation of the change management starts with the consideration of the benefits of
gathering and analyzing the information to measure and monitor the progress of the
organization. Some of the changes will be easier to measure than the others but it is
utmost necessary for a clear report that facilitates better communication.

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5. Communication- Clear and effective communication is utmost important to the exercise
of the change management process (Lozano, 2015). A proper change management plan
depends on rock solid communication structure that not only does determine the plans for
the change but also seeks to understand the needs for the particular change.
6. Monitoring and managing risks- Monitoring and the management of the risks is one of
the major areas that need to be highlighted by the organization (Botha, 2014). The
management of the risks is utmost necessary for the organization as because it helps to
identify and mitigate the risks that may occur during such a time. Resistance is a normal
reaction to the change process but it can act as a serious threat to the success of the
project. A proper anticipation and taking effective steps to curb the risks helps the
organization to be successful in leading the change.
7. Continuous Review and improvement of the processes- It is quite necessary for the
organization to keep a constant watch on the change process from the beginning. The
absence of a proper watch may lead to the failure of the change process and will lead to
negative results. Proper Monitoring and review can help to identify the challenges,
remove the barriers and meet the objectives of the change process roadmap (Stephan,
2016).
Conclusion
The following study has revealed the processes by which the organization undertakes the
change management process and the different elements that are associated with the process of
such a change in the organizational structure. Woolworths has made a huge change in the
organizational structure in the last couple of years to cope up with the new challenges and the
demands of the modern day customers. The successful analysis of the total study will reveal the

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different factors like political, social, globalization factors that are associated with the change in
an organization.

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References
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