Change Management in Unilever: Drivers, Stakeholders, and Initiatives

This paper discusses the change management initiatives taken by Unilever, including the removal of plastic from their operations and the reduction of middlemen. It also identifies key stakeholders and their reactions to the change. The paper evaluates the success of the campaign and its impact on the company's sustainability efforts.

Running head: CHANGE MANAGEMENT
Change Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Notes:

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Introduction
Businesses around the world carry out their operations. It can be said that all activities of
a business are directly or indirectly related to generation of revenue. Thus businesses must
develop a business model or framework that contributes to the long-term sustainability of the
business. The amount of plastic used by Unilever in their daily operations are hindering their
sustainability efforts (Rangan, Chase and Karim 2015). Thus a change driver is proposed that
could help the company in achieving punctuated equilibrium. The paper will enumerate the topic
by clearly stating the current structure and profile of the company, the change drivers and
initiatives, the key stakeholder who will be affected by the change and their reactions to the
change.
Organisation Profile
The paper will be concerning the activities and operations within Unilever. It can be said
that Unilever is one of the biggest suppliers of Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) across
the globe. They have been able to provide their consumers with quality products. The company’s
business model has been developed with perfect alignment to meet the demands of the customer
of the company and the business model is developed and aimed for the sole purpose of value
creation for the consumers. The company came into existence in 1930, after which they began on
their quest of satisfying the diverse needs of the customer community (Unilever.com 2018). The
company is based in the United Kingdom and Netherlands. The head quarter to of the company
is in London, England (Unilever.com 2018). The company is considered as a market leaders in
the segment and industry that they operate in. Over the years they have established branches
throughout the globe. The company have been successful in developing products that cater to the

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diverse needs of people across many countries. Qwality walls, AXE and Dove are some of the
company’s flagship products of the company. From empirical research it was found out the
company employed about 172,000 people (Unilever.com 2018).
Organisational Structure
It can be said that the organisational structure of an organisation is responsible for the
nature of performance of the organisation and its ability to achieve the same with a degree
efficiency (Pathan and Faff 2013). The company have three structures that are embedded within
the organisation. The company has created a product based division. This is justified as the
company’s productivity revolves around Fast Moving Consumer Goods. The company have a
range of products that cater to different needs of the population. The company’s product division
consists of the Personal care division, the food division, the refreshment division and the home
care division.
Figure1: Product Division
Product
Division
Personal
care Food Refreshment Home care

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(Source: As created by the author)
The company have a geographic segregation in their structure. The division is created on
the basis of the areas that the company operates in. the divisions consists of the European,
American and the division for the rest of the world.
Figure 2: Geographical Division
(Source: As created by the Author)
The Chief Executive officer of the company heads the corporate structure of the
company. There are several other departments that exist in the organisation who fall below the
CEO. The delegation of responsibility includes the Human Resource Department, The Research
and development wing, marketing and communications department and the finance department.
The geographic and the product division is also included within the corporate structure of the
company.
Geographical
division
European
division
American
division
Rest of the
World

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Figure 3: Corporate Structure
(Source: As created by the author)
The company has created a competitive advantage for itself by devising incorporating
three structures within one organisational structure. The sole purpose behind creation of such a
structure is market segmentation. It can be said that market segmentation helps companies direct
the desired activities in the desired direction. Unilever are taking advantage of the same and this
justified their sustainability and current position in the FMCG industry.
Change drivers
It has been realised that the ultimate aim of the company is customer satisfaction. The
operations of the company involve a considerably small amount of middlemen. It can be said that
the middle men can cause complexities in trade and can lead to hindrances in consumer
satisfaction (Arya et al. 2015). It has been found that middlemen reduce the satisfaction that
Chief executive
Product division Geographical
division
HR department Research and
development
Supply chain Marketing and
communications
Finance

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consumers derive from products. At Unilever, all the operations are focused towards reduction of
dependency on the middlemen. Consumer satisfaction has been responsible for the creation of a
change driver form the part of the company. Punctuated equilibrium is the first change driver of
that the company have identified. Punctuated equilibrium is a state through which a company is
able to sustain itself (Lam and Chan 2015). The latter is a change model that helps companies
exist with the help of periods of stability. The company have identified yet another change driver
that is interlinked to the former. The second change driver is the complete removal of plastic
form all the operations of the company. It is not an unknown fact that plastic is hazardous and
leads to degradation of quality of the abiotic factors (Depledge et al. 2013). Thus the company’s
initiative to remove plastic from all the operation has been justified.
Key Stakeholders
Stakeholders determine the sustainability of an organisation in the long-run (Nasim &
Sushil 2012). They are responsible for the wellbeing of the company. The fact that organisations
are reliant on its stakeholders is evident. The reverse is also applicable since the satisfaction and
utility perceived by the stakeholders are determined by the performance of the company and the
nature of their adaptability in the long run. The stakeholder of the company have been identified
as the associates of the company. The stakeholders of the company include the customers, the
employees associated with the organisation, the board of directors, business partners,
shareholders, the member of the supply chain and the community as a whole. The
aforementioned drivers of change are said to have effects on the stakeholder of the company the
nature of their response will determine the company’s stature in the upcoming days.

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Change Initiative Overview
The aim of the change drivers are to contribute to customer welfare and to carry out eco-
appreciative activities while doing the same. Unilever values the feedback of the customers and
it was found that the customers have an unfavourable relationship with middlemen. As
mentioned above, it has been found that middlemen hinder the satisfaction levels of the
customers. Thus the change initiative is realised as considerably negligible amount of middlemen
are involved in the operations of the company. Elimination of plastic was identified as another
change initiative of that the company where taking. The ecosystem is faced with dire concern
with the depletion of resources and the accumulation of hazardous waste. Moreover it has been
found that plastic contributes one of the highest amount of solid waste accumulated in the earth.
Plastic is not biodegradable, the only method to remove it from existence is by burning. The
latter leads to poisonous emissions that contribute to global warming and degradation of life on
earth. Thus the removal of plastic has been suggested as it could reduce the dire consequence on
the environment. This proposed initiative can be classified as a sustainability initiative form the
part of the company. Sustainable initiatives as such are said to boost the goodwill of a company
and it set a company apart from its competitors.
Key Success Factors
The change drivers that have been proposed will go a long way in sustaining the
company through end user satisfaction and sustainability of the nature respectively. The key
initiatives of the company revolves around “Elimination”. Elimination of middlemen form their
operations and the complete elimination of plastic form all the operation of the company. It can
be said that the KEY to achievement and realisation of the change drivers will be laid down
through smooth communication. It has to be ensured that the structure of the company

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incorporates smooth network of communication with no hindrances. Unilever is a big
multinational company and it employs people of varied cultures and ethnicities. Furthermore
their business is spread across many countries. The difference in culture and language impose
difficulties on both the communicator and the receiver. Thus the company should take note of the
lingual, cultural and regional differences while communicating the drivers of change.
Change initiative process
The success of the change initiatives will lead to enhanced performance from the part of
the company. It is deemed that the removal of middlemen will result in enhancement of end user
experience of the customers will be boosted by the removal of the middle men. The removal of
plastic form the operation of the company will result in reduction to contribution towards the
adverse effects of the environment (Hong et al. 2013). The sustainable initiatives of the company
are realised by the proposed initiatives of the company. Both will be achieved by educating the
members of the supply chain about the importance of adopting such initiatives. The supply chain
of the company consists of the raw material suppliers, logisticians, whole sellers and the
retailers. The success of the initiative of change will be reliant on the efficacy of the members of
the supply chain in removing plastic form their operations. Resistance is expected from the part
of the packing divisions and packing material providers. It was found that plastic is extensively
used in every other activity of the Unilever. Thus the existence of plastic material suppliers will
have to come to an end. This might lead to grievances from the end of the plastic suppliers,
however the company should know that the grievance is of much smaller stature than that of the
cause that the company is proposing the change driver. The implementation of the change will be
reliant on fabric and paper materials which replace the plastic packaging materials that were

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previously employed in operations. Other than the creation of the fabric and paper packing
materials, the change will not be much reliant on technology.
Stakeholder Reactions
Unilever is a for-profit organisation and it is operating in the market to generate revenue.
However, the company have realised to get over the view profit orientation. They have decided
to put the customers ahead of themselves. The company has realised that the customers possess
one of the most crucial roles in the company’s existence. They have further realised the
importance of sustainability activities and thus have decoded to remove plastic from all their
activities. The collective effect of both the activities are deemed to result in favourable responses
from the part of the stakeholder. The consumers will be educated about the hazards caused by
plastic, the removal of middlemen form operations will ensure that their overall experience is
boosted. Capital markets would react positively to such information and share prices and
investment might rise as a result. The latter will lead to satisfaction of the board of directors and
the business partner who could choose to support and invest in the initiatives of the company.
The employees will also benefit as favourable implication such as the above might lead to
performance appraisal and lead to possibility of increment of their salaries. However, as
discussed above, certain members of the supply chain might be unhappy with the removal of
plastic form the operations. Other than that reactions are expected to be favourable.
Evaluation and Assessment
The success of the campaign will result in reduction of accumulation of plastic and
enhanced levels of levels of satisfaction along with the further boost of the image of the
company. The success of the proposed change drivers will result in further differentiation of the
company from its competitors. Success of the campaign will be measured by awareness that is

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spread among the consumers of the commodities offered by the company and the satisfaction
levels of the customers. Survey and interviews will help determine the level of satisfaction of the
scale as the questionnaires will employ the use of the 5 point Likert scale. Furthermore, the
accumulation of the plastic and reduction of emissions caused by plastic will help determine the
success of the sustainability efforts.
Thus it can be said that the change drivers of the company will help the company in
solidifying their place even further in the market. The company will be able to position itself in
the minds of the customers as a company who put customers ahead of profitability and also
contribute to sustainability issues of the environment. Thus the proposed change initiative is said
to be favourable for the sustaining the existence of the company in the long run.

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REFERENCES
Arya, A., Löffler, C., Mittendorf, B. and Pfeiffer, T., 2015. The middleman as a panacea for
supply chain coordination problems. European Journal of Operational Research, 240(2),
pp.393-400.
Lam, W.F. and Chan, K.N., 2015. How Authoritarianism Intensifies Punctuated Equilibrium:
The Dynamics of Policy Attention in H ong K ong. Governance, 28(4), pp.549-570.
Nasim, S. & Sushil (2011) ‘Revisiting organizational change: exploring the paradox of managing
continuity and change’, Journal of Change Management, 11 (2), pp. 185-206.
Pathan, S. and Faff, R., 2013. Does board structure in banks really affect their
performance?. Journal of Banking & Finance, 37(5), pp.1573-1589.
Rangan, K., Chase, L. and Karim, S., 2015. The truth about CSR. Harvard Business
Review, 93(1/2), pp.40-49.
Unilever.com. 2018. Unilever global company website | Unilever Global. [online] Available at:
https://www.unilever.com/ [Accessed 26 Feb. 2019].

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