Change Management in Woolworths

This article discusses the key changes and reforms implemented by Woolworths Supermarkets, the factors driving the need for change, the human resource development strategies implemented by the company, and the ways in which Woolworths has aligned its future strategies to manage change and innovation in a global business environment.

Running head: CHANGE MANAGEMENT IN WOOLWORTHS
CHANGE MANAGEMENT IN WOOLWORTHS
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction....................................................................................................................2
Analysis of the discussion questions..............................................................................2
a) Outlining key changes and reforms that have already been implemented by
Woolworths Supermarkets.....................................................................................................2
b) Identification and discussion of factors that are driving the need for change.......4
c) Identification of human resource development strategies that have been
implemented and proposed by Woolworths Supermarkets to overcome any resistance to
change....................................................................................................................................6
d) Analysis of ways by which Woolworths Supermarkets has aligned its future
strategies to manage change and innovation in a global business environment....................7
e) Reflection based on your own personal learnings and insights as a result of
analysing the Woolworths Supermarkets case study.............................................................8
Conclusion......................................................................................................................8
References....................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
Change management is considered to be a combined term that is able to describe the
approaches related to preparation, supporting and helping individuals, teams and the
organizations in implementing the organizational change. The major drivers of change
comprise of process reviews, technological evolution, changes in consumer practices, crisis
and the pressure provided from new entrants. The mergers, acquisitions, restructuring of the
organizations are a vital part of the change management method (Al-Haddad & Kotnour,
2015).
Woolworths Supermarkets is an Australian grocery or superstore based chain that is
mainly maintained by the Woolworths Group. The firm was established in the year 1924 and
the company currently holds a large share of the Australian retail market along with Coles.
The firm specialises in the retailing of magazines, household products, stationery products,
baby and pet supplies (Woolworthsgroup.com.au. 2019). Woolworths has faced major
changes in the last few years with respect to the operations in the retail sector of the country.
Changes that have recently taken place in the firm and drivers of the changes will be
discussed in the report in detail.
Analysis of the discussion questions
a) Outlining key changes and reforms that have already been implemented by
Woolworths Supermarkets
Woolworths Food Group has recently developed a three-year approach in order to win
the trust of customers. The company aims at increasing the share of consumers’ food that is
spent with the help of lower prices and this leads to the improvement of the all the aspects of
shopping experience of customers. The organization has decided to place the customers at the
centre of its activities. The overall experience that is offered to the consumers is considered to

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be a vital aspect that has an influence on the relationships that have been developed with
them (Alvesson & Sveningsson, 2015). The strategy developed by Woolworths is mainly
based on the three major principles that are include the following,
 Offer – Improvement of the core offer in order to guarantee that the consumers
can provide first priority to Woolworths.
 Growth – Innovation based on the ways by which the needs of customers can
be met.
 Efficiency – Development of the consumer value by organising for the success
and execution of “Lean Retail” based model (Ausfoodnews.com.au. 2019).
The company has thereby planned for the implementation of some major changes in
the operations with the aim of improving the position the company has developed in the retail
industry. The different strategies that have been implemented by Woolworths in this case are
as follows,
Pricing and the range strategy – Woolworths has developed the value and new
price based strategy that can help the firm in order to neutralise its major
competitor Coles and reducing the influence of Aldi on sales as well. The
“Own brands” of Woolworths have also been able to play a major role in
competing with the limited range of the discounters (Cameron & Green,
2015).
Refurbishments and new stores – Woolworths has stated that the strategy is
mainly involved in rebalancing the capital expenditure between the existing
and new store based refurbishments. Woolworths has planned to refurbish
greater than 80% of the stores per year for the future (Ausfoodnews.com.au.
2019).

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Delivering “new products and better experiences” for customers –
Woolworths has developed a major division that is named as Woolworths
FoodCo. The division will be mainly responsible for the development of the
new categories of products that have the ability to improve supply of fresh
meat, processing and supply based facilities and development of the sourcing
relationships as well.
Online – The existing strengths that have been gained by Woolworths are
harnessed in order to enhance the investments that have been made on the
multi-channel based customer experiences. Online prices of the firm have
been aligned effectively with the store prices of Woolworths
(Ausfoodnews.com.au. 2019).
The Lean Retail model that has been implemented by Woolworths is a vital aspect
that has an influence on the three-year based growth plans that are made by the firm. The
investments are mainly made by Woolworths with respect to the customer offers that have
been formed by the organization in the highly competitive retail market (Dawson, 2019).
b) Identification and discussion of factors that are driving the need for change
The changes that have been applied by Woolworths in order to maintain its operations
in the competitive retail market have been driven with the help of different external factors in
global business environment. The drivers of changes implemented by Woolworths are as
follows,
Customers have become more powerful in the last few years and have a major
impact on organizations like Woolworths that are a part of the retail industry.
The changes that have been implemented by Woolworths have been

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influenced in a huge manner by customer preferences and relationships as well
(Helfat & Martin, 2015).
The development of technologies has been able to play a major role in the
ways by which organizations are able to maintain their operations.
Woolworths is has also implemented technologies in order to improve the
customer services and maintaining the revenues as well. The organization has
implemented changes in the ways by which technologies can help in the
development of lean retail model. The lean retail based model is considered to
be an important factor that has an impact on the reduction of costs in process
of manufacture (Dawson, 2019).
The price based competition that is being faced by Woolworths is considered
to be a key driver in formation of the lean retail model. The innovative offers
are also able to attract customers towards the different stores of Woolworths
that operate in different parts of Australia.
The competition that has been face by Woolworths in the retail industry from
Coles and Aldi have also led to the implementation of changes. The company
has aimed at attracting the customers with the help of its services rather than
only the prices of products (Alvesson & Sveningsson, 2015).
The globalization in business environment have an impact on the ways by
which the customer relationships can be developed by the organization in an
efficient manner. Woolworths has to develop the strategies in such a manner
that can help the firm to support the company to maintain its global position in
an effective manner (Al-Haddad & Kotnour, 2015).
The levels of innovation and services and products are also related to the
formation of proper customer relationships by Woolworths. The innovative

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capabilities of Woolworths have been able to play a major role in the attractive
services that are formed by the organization (Holten & Brenner, 2015).
c) Identification of human resource development strategies that have been implemented
and proposed by Woolworths Supermarkets to overcome any resistance to change
Woolworths has been able to design the human resource development based strategies
that are able to support the company in order to overcome the resistance that is provided
towards implementation of change. The development and recruitment of talent are matched
with the requirements of the business organization and retaining and training the employees
as well. The company has implemented many crucial approaches based on the proper
development of the human resources of an organization (Bailey et al., 2018). The human
resource based functions of Woolworths are operated at the functional and strategic level.
The practitioners who are involved in planning of human resources are considered to be a
vital part of the operations and change management method of Woolworths. At functional
levels line managers of Woolworths have the ability to ensure that the employees can
complete the activities at right place and within right time as well (Albrecht et al., 2015).
Kotler’s change management model can be applied by Woolworths for the purpose
of implementing the changes that have been planned. The different stages that are a part of
the model with respect to change management include, increasing urgency within the firm,
building the teams, getting the correct vision, communicating, getting the things moving,
focussing on the short term goals, not giving up and incorporating the changes (Petrou,
Demerouti & Schaufeli, 2018).
The workforce planning based capabilities are considered to be a major part of the
human resource development based activities that are performed by Woolworths in order to
overcome the resistance to change implementation. The programs based on training and

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development have also been able to support the methods by which Woolworths can plan the
capabilities in an effective way (Collings, Wood & Szamosi, 2018).
The flexibility of HR designs has played a major role in increasing the levels of
efficiency based on development of the human resource practices. The HR team of
Woolworths and employees also have access to the flexible human resource designs of the
firm. The team of employee management has also been able to enhance the capabilities based
on knowledge management in the organization (Noe et al., 2017).
The human resource management team of Woolworths and the employees who are a
part of the team are considered to be quite collaborative. Woolworths aims at improving the
HR based skills of the firm in order to improve the ways by which resistance to change
implementation can be reduced.
Line management is considered to be an important part of the approaches that are
implemented by Woolworths in order to manage the employees and reduce the resistance that
they can provided to the development of change management as well (Smither, Houston &
McIntire, 2016).
d) Analysis of ways by which Woolworths Supermarkets has aligned its future
strategies to manage change and innovation in a global business environment
Artificial intelligence is considered to be an important part of the future strategies that
have been implemented by Woolworths. The growth that is depicted in the usage of artificial
intelligence in the organizations is considered to be a major factor that can have an impact on
future operations of the firm. Innovative value is provided to Woolworths with the
application of the artificial intelligence in the organization (Özdemir & Hekim, 2018). The
relationship that has been developed between the organizational environment and innovation

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based trend of artificial intelligence is considered to be an important factor that has influences
the future operations.
The proper implementation of the innovation capabilities has an impact on the
methods by which Woolworths can sustain its customer base in the future. The changes that
have taken place in the external business environment is able to influence the strategies that
have been developed by Woolworths (Kolassa, 2019). The changes that are thereby
implemented by Woolworths in the operations is considered to be a vital feature that has an
influence on the innovative value creation by Woolworths. The proper alignment of business
strategies with the innovation capabilities of Woolworths is considered to be important for
the organization to maintain its operations in the industry for a longer period of time. The
vision that is formed by Woolworths has also been supported in a huge manner by the
innovation trend of the firm (Özdemir & Hekim, 2018).
e) Reflection based on your own personal learnings and insights as a result of analysing
the Woolworths Supermarkets case study
The insights that have been gained by me based on the study of Woolworths case
study is mainly related to the impact that external environment has on the changes within the
organizations. The importance that has been provided by Woolworths to the customers is a
major factor that I think can influence the operations. Implementation of modern technologies
will also play a key part in proper improvement of the revenues of Woolworths and position
that is maintained by the firm as well. I have also been able to understand that the future
strategies of Woolworths are mainly based on the application of modern technologies in
global business environment.

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Conclusion
The report can be concluded by stating that a major retail organization like
Woolworths has offered major levels of significance to the customer satisfaction and services
that have been offered to them as well. The organization has implemented some major
changes based on the major drivers or external factors in order to enhance customer
satisfaction levels. The future strategies of the firm are also aligned with implementation of
modern technologies in operations.

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References
Albrecht, S. L., Bakker, A. B., Gruman, J. A., Macey, W. H., & Saks, A. M. (2015).
Employee engagement, human resource management practices and competitive
advantage: An integrated approach. Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People
and Performance, 2(1), 7-35.
Al-Haddad, S., & Kotnour, T. (2015). Integrating the organizational change literature: a
model for successful change. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 28(2),
234-262.
Alvesson, M., & Sveningsson, S. (2015). Changing organizational culture: Cultural change
work in progress. Routledge.
Ausfoodnews.com.au. (2019). Woolworths announces new strategies to win over grocery
shoppers, AFN reveals full detail | Australian Food News. Retrieved 2 October 2019,
from https://www.ausfoodnews.com.au/2015/05/06/woolworths-announces-new-
strategies-to-win-over-grocery-shoppers-afn-reveals-full-detail.html
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management. Oxford University Press.
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Dawson, P. (2019). Reshaping change: A processual perspective. Routledge.

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