Change Management: Theories and Applications

This assignment delves into the field of change management, examining fundamental theories and practical applications. It analyzes different change management models, their strengths and weaknesses, and explores how they can be effectively implemented in diverse organizational settings. The assignment also discusses the impact of change on individuals, teams, and organizations, highlighting strategies for managing resistance and fostering a positive environment for change.

MANAGEMENT OF
CHANGE

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
1 Organizational change and theoretical perspectives................................................................1
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................2
a) Brief overview of Organization .............................................................................................2
b) Describing a change ..............................................................................................................3
c) Relevance to organizational change........................................................................................3
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................4
a) SWOT Analysis......................................................................................................................4
b) Benefits and drawbacks of using SWOT analysis..................................................................6
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................7
a) Key conceptualisations of role of change management..........................................................7
TASK 5............................................................................................................................................8
a) Definition of problem centric and dialogue approach to change............................................8
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
The report presented below briefly defines the concept of management of change and its
considerable effect on overall organizational structure and culture. Changes occur within an
organization with consideration to technology used, people involved or strategies and policies
followed. The concept of organizational change is also referred as reorganizing or restructuring.
Uniliver is a multinational organization co-headquartered in UK, that has been leading the
consumer goods market since long back (Kotter, 2008). Considering the scenario of cited
company, impacts of factors imposing a need for change with respect to various elements of
business environment have been included in the study work applying two theoretical perspective
such as ontologies and world views. Uniliver has well aligned with the change process required
to be carried out as demanded by the era of globalization and expansion of scope of international
business. Lastly, the frameworks in consideration of organization's restructuring also considers
problem-centric and dialogue approaches to change.
TASK 1
1 Organizational change and theoretical perspectives
Any change that occurs within an organisation and has a considerable impact on its
overall performance is defined as a major factor leading change. Change management concept
denotes various theoretical approaches that could be applied by the cited organization to resolve
number of issues. Organization structure consists of specific culture and list of strategies are
framed accordingly. Any major factor that drives a change in organisation structure has a
considerable effect on company's policies, marketing plan and technology used in manufacturing
process. Stage theory of change management is a concept that includes four main stages to be
followed as a procedure to align with organizational change (Anderson and Anderson, 2010).
There are series of steps that are to be followed by an organization to align the operational and
managerial activities with new process. New process would include providing training to
employees to understand new methods and procedure required to be carried out for completion

of task assigned. First of all, risk management department and research department analyses
various threats and risks that could slower down company's progress. Secondly, the extent of
impact of issue identified is measured by analysing its considerable impact on strengthening
company's position. If these changes indicate positive impacts, the same are denoted to modify
the strategies and policies accordingly. At last, the organisation follows institutionalisation
process wherein changes identified at initial stage are now recognized as a part of organizational
environment. Kurt Lewin's change model is another world renowned approach of change
management philosophy. Lewin identified three main levels of aligning with change, that
includes freezing, changing and unfreezing. Freezing is the initial stage of procedure of change
management wherein, an organization analyses a need to identify factors that imply a
compulsion indirectly, forcing the company to bring a change in its structure (Paton and
McCalman, 2008). Thereby, moving ahead in the flow, to design criteria for required behaviour
to be adopted to bring the change into implementation. At last, policies and activities performed
to align with a change, becomes a norm that is to be followed by each individual working in an
organization in accordance with objectives and goals to be attained. Organizational changes are
with respect to strategies, policies, plan, procedure, culture and activities followed. For designing
new processes in aligning with same, requires an organization to follow specific procedure of
steps included in Stage theory. On the other hand , Lewin's theory indicates how a particular
change is accepted and implemented by the organization to achieve better results as compared to
its rivals.
TASK 2
a) Brief overview of Organization
Uniliver is a British-Dutch oriented organization operating in internal business
environment. The headquarters are located in London, United Kingdom (Heller and Zavaleta,
2009). It has successfully attained a prominent position in the consumer goods and home care
products market. The cited organization has been providing wide range of products including
food, refreshments, home care and personnel care products in almost 190 countries. After
emergence of era of rapid globalization, the cited entity has diversified its product ranges
including products made out of oils and fats to expanded business scope with wide operations
over the globe. It has not only established production units over the globe but has also developed

research and development centres in various countries including China, India, United states and
Netherlands, etc. Uniliver has its origin long back during 1930 after merger of Margarine Unie
and Lever Brothers. With consideration to the given concept, Uniliver has addressed various
issues arising on account of increasing number of new entrants by bringing in required
modifications in its organizational structure and cultural environment. Uniliver PLC is an
important constituent of London Stock Exchange. Uniliver's largest selling brands include Dove,
Lux, Lipton, Vaseline, etc (Bilton, 2007). The cited organization aligned with reorganization
with a goal to cut the number of brands from 1600 to just 400 to reduce the overall cost incurred
to sustain these brands in the market.
b) Describing a change
International business environment and the factors prevailing there in, have provided a
broader base for expansion to the organization cited. The task of sustaining in international
market and maintaining a unique position in the market is an extreme complex task. The cited
organization has to face number of threats and challenges originating from the factors prevailing
in the industry. Company has decided to align with regional business groups orientation to
withstand against competition from Proctor and Gamble and Nestle (Cole-Lewis and Kershaw,
2010). Below mentioned are two major changes taking place to align with new orientation
adopted by the cited organization:
 Strategic Change: Strategies framed for marketing needs to be modified to develop an
appropriate organizational structure in accordance with new managerial approach
adopted by the organization. Marketing strategies have imposed a need to unite similar
product manufacturing companies within specific regional market. For example,
Uniliver's detergent department in UK would be responsible for developing a common
market in the region wherein there would be a single manufacturing and distribution
department focusing on supplying the product within entire specific region. Moreover,
specific product would be distributed over entire regional area, following similar pattern
of distribution.
 Change in cultural environment: As the company is on the path of rapid expansion, it
needs to develop new set of policies to accept cultural diversity in a broader sense with
respect to protection of interest of various stakeholders (O'Flynn, 2007).

c) Relevance to organizational change
As mentioned above, it is very clear that Uniliver's path of achieving success and a
unique position in the market has not been simple. The cited entity had to undergo various
changes that directly or indirectly impacted list of activities carried out within various
departments. Managing a change led by external factors prevailing in industrial environment is a
complex task. None consideration or avoidance of factors requiring change within organizational
structure could lead to adverse effects that might further lead to organizational failure. This
section includes determining relevance of changes occurring with that of theories of change
management mentioned in the section above. Considering the change in strategic management, it
requires to follow a flow of procedure including list of steps as consisted in stage theory of
change management (Stanleigh, 2008). For bringing in required changes in strategies, the cited
organization analyses the market condition and draws recommendations explaining the need to
bring a change in strategies followed. After that, these changes are considered for listing out
various benefits that could be obtained by the cited company. Initially procedures followed are
then modified in accordance with new strategy adopted, thus establishing new norms signifying
specific working pattern for various employees to produce goods accordingly to satisfy market
demand. Change in cultural behaviour has relevance to lewin's change model wherein cited
company designs new policies to provide equal opportunities to all the employees to sustain
them for a longer period of time. New policies designed are then brought into implementation to
design a pattern of new cultural environment to be followed.
TASK 3
a) SWOT Analysis
SWOT is an abbreviation for Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats. The
analysis is a tool utilised as a concept of management to undertake research for listing out
company's strengths and weaknesses. Uniliver is an organization having wide scope of activities
divided into functional departments managed by respective senior executive. Company's core
competence determine its strengths whereas areas within which company is lacking behind as
compared to various competitors is defined as weaknesses (Pahl-Wostl, 2007). The company
cited in the report has acquired third largest position in international market by applying
available resources effectively in appropriate manner. To keep a check on how effectively these

resources are applied, the cited firm carriers out procedure to analyse factors prevailing within
organization and affecting internal environment of various subsidiary companies of Uniliver
operating in different markets within different industries. The cited company has divided its
structure into food, detergent , personal care and home care products, each having own definite
structure for successfully performing in respective industries. Some of the common factors
affecting each of these segments are mentioned below:
Strength identified  The cited company, has efficient and
capable human resource possessing
expertise in performing with
accordance to customer's need.
Potential human resource can be a
supportive factors helping the
organization to align with modified
strategies (Paulsen and et.al., 2009).
 Structural management of the cited
organization, efficiently manages each
department to align with external
business environment.
Weaknesses  Despite of lots of efforts made by
marketing department, the cited
organization is not able to pull potential
customers.
 Products manufactured by the cited
entity, are less appealing as compared
to those of competitors.
Opportunities evaluated Application of effective measures of change
management will enable the cited organization
to acquire market share of competitors using
smart tactics to attract customers (Steffens,
Martinsuo and Artto, 2007).

Possible threats There is a possibility that Uniliver might face
sudden decrease of current market share on
account of increased promotional activities
undertaken by various competitors.
b) Benefits and drawbacks of using SWOT analysis
SWOT analysis conducted in above section, determine a need for change to be accepted
by the cited company, to expand its scope of operations in international business environment.
With increased competition and number of new entrants in the market, Uniliver needs to
understand the importance of studying internal factors prevailing within organizational
environment and there considerable impact on different managerial and operational aspects
(Trkman, 2010). It has been observed that various companies possess different perspective with
respect to determining list of benefits and drawbacks obtained after undertaking examination of
organizational environment. List of benefits and drawbacks of SWOT analysis conducted with
consideration to Uniliver have been mentioned below:
Objective perspective: Objective perspective of cited organization is constructed after analysing
the importance of achieving a leading position in the market. Benefits to be obtained from
SWOT analysis include concentrating on acquiring maximum market share utilizing available
resources effectively as indicated. Cited company's weakness might be highlighted due to
which , it would be facing problems in applying strategies effectively to attain objectives listed in
mission statement. Opportunities would determine which activities could be performed by the
cited entity, to attain various objectives. Threats would determine risk factors that would arise in
future and thereby enable the cited firm to effectively plan for risk management. On the other
hand, there are few drawbacks of SWOT analysis such as, it does not include the fact that certain
elements are not under control of management leading to failure in attainment of objective (Holt
and et.al., 2007).
Social constructionist perspective: List of benefits obtained with context to social perspective
determines the importance of promoting moral standards and belief in the society of which the
cited organization is a part of. Weaknesses determined under SWOT analysis detects the reason
due to which, the cited organization is not able to build a positive image among its customers.
Opportunities can be listed out by finding out which areas of society can be considered to

achieve better results, by taking sponsorship of various charity campaigns. Threats might occur
in future on account of increasing societal issues, which would be ascertained in advance. On the
other hand, factors prevailing within regional area of an economy are not considered in internal
analysis and this would provide incomplete information regarding factors influencing morals and
beliefs of most of the people (Carraher, Buckley and Carraher, 2008).
TASK 4
a) Key conceptualisations of role of change management
A change agent is an individual from outside or inside the organization who is to helps an
organization for transforming itself by focusing on business effectiveness, improvement and
development. It usually focuses his efforts on the effect of changing technologies and
organizational structure. The key objective of change agent is to focus on the people within the
organization and interact with them. Unilever is the third largest consumer goods company in the
world. This company has focused on sustainable growth rather than profit margin. The main
role of change agent in Uniliver to serve this organizations as a counsellor and trainer. The agent
meets with employee and management to aware them how the Unilever operates and they also
involves in process of evaluating the organisation's structure, financial status and use of latest
technology. For the process of evaluations in the Uniliver the change agent listen the idea of
employees as well as management though (Trkman, P., 2010). And provide authentic
recommendations that focus on the benefits of the organization. There are three competencies to
become an effective change agent:
 Clear vision: A change agent must have a clear vision to communicate clearly with
others. In the Uniliver change agent are specially trained for the purpose to explain there
productive ideas in front of its management and its employee. A better communication
skill can easily convince and implement the ideas that are very important for the
organization. The change agent of the Uniliver play an important role to implement the
goals and vision of the organization smoothly with the help of there productive ideas. The
change agent of Uniliver always make it understand to employees and management
authority about the transforming ideas which need changes for time to time and changing
latest technology. They also make there employee aware about the changing marketing
strategy and competitiveness (Holt and et.al., 2007).

 Sensitivity and Maturity: A change management must also be sensitive and mature
enough to be aware of own motivations. A change agent never implement there ideas
only by discussing from one side. They first inform about the information or changing
technology to there employee and management. They also deeply investigate the market
requirement and their needs and always try to implement these things with consent of
their employee and management.
 Authenticity: A change management must be authentic. It must act in accordance with the
role and responsibility to promote organizational objective. In Uniliver each step of
change agent is directly or indirectly related to the goals and objectives of the
organization. The change agent of Uniliver implement ideas by following all the
government rules and regulation. They always take care about the authenticity of the
ideas which they are going to launch in the organization (Carraher, S.M., Buckley, M.R.
and Carraher, C.E., 2008).
The change agent can be of two types i.e. internal or external to the organization. In Unilever,
change agent play implement the transforming ideas on change in the business.
 Internal change agent: Internal change agent usually the employer such as HR
professional, senior executive, team leader or any other employee who has mastered in
organization development. This types of change agent are appointed by the organization
to look after the change process. The role of internal change agent usually focus on
internal working mechanism of the Uniliver by performing their job while setting in the
organization.
 External change agent: External agents are working for the Uniliver but only during the
change process of an organization. These are consultant who are working for the
organization but not permanently. They work only when some technologies ideas.
External change agents in the company do not control thinks directly but they interact
with the Uniliver and impact on the performance. These individuals are allied with an
outsider entity who impact or make the decision smooth in suitable direction (Plowman
and et.al., 2007).

TASK 5
a) Definition of problem centric and dialogue approach to change
Various approaches have been included in modern concept of management, that focus
mainly to define number of factors prevailing within and outside an organization. The cited
organization has been following problem centric and dialogue approach to address different
issues arising on account of changes occurring within an organization. Each of these approaches
are explained in detail below along with determining appropriate theoretical conceptualization
that underpins each :
Problem centric approach: This approach of change management focuses mainly on determining
list of problems faced by cited organization and major reasons lying behind occurrence of such
problems (Plowman and et.al., 2007). Uniliver has well applied the concept of problem centric
approach to identify areas that require problem resolution by following steps included in Stage
theory. Application of this approach, requires creating an environment that consists of real life
situation. Personnel is confronted with practical situation , that arises on regular basis and
provided with opportunity to express set of skills possessed by him. An individual under training
campaign is expected to provide appropriate resolution for the issue. For enhancing skills and
abilities of personnel under training, he must be provided with practical situation to analyse how
efficiently he deals with the problems with consideration to department in which he might be
required to work with. With increasing competency among individuals, it has become difficult to
select appropriate candidate for specific job. However, the task can be simplified by exploiting
benefits of problem-centric approach. List of benefits and drawbacks of problem-centric
approach are as below:
Benefits:
 It is also referred to as student oriented approach wherein, focus is laid upon digging
below surface to provide complete knowledge for list of issues that could emerge when
an individual is assigned with the task of completing specific job (Weber, Reichert and
Rinderle-Ma, 2008).
 This approach tends to transfer the knowledge resources possessed by individual for
helping the organization to deal effectively with support of human resource, who have
already been provided with practical training for dealing with various issues and thus
avoid wastage of time. Cost savings can be attained as there would be no requirement of

assistance of senior executive for providing training and thus complete the task before
time.
 An individual who is under training procedure, obtains and gathers knowledge from the
campaign undertaken. After acquiring required knowledge he executes the same for
delivering quality service to the organization (O'Flynn, J., 2007).
Drawbacks:
 Creating an environment for including real life elements into the training session requires
lots of expense to be incurred to build practical scenario wherein an individual's
personality will be accessed.
Dialogic approach: Another effective approach, that is an important part of change management
is dialogic approach. The internal structure of cited organization is such that it appreciates
recommendations and ideology of various employees working at different levels. Lewin's model
of change can be applied to implement a change with respect to strategical or cultural aspects. It
so happens many times within cultural environment of Uniliver, wherein it is ascertained by top
level management that present strategies and policies followed by various individuals are no
longer appropriate to carry out procedural activities and operational tasks. Uniliver has been
following dialogic approach, by appreciating recommendations of various stakeholders and
gathering opinion and suggesstion from experts who can provide guidelines for designing
resolution structure. Benefits include attaining best solutions and save maximum time by directly
bringing in changes recommended. On the other hand, there are certain limitations too.
Difference of opinion among stakeholders arises with respect to specific problem, thereby
creating an environment of confusion and complexities. (Millar, Stephenson and Stephens,
2007).
CONCLUSION
Thus, it can be concluded here that changes occur on regular basis, that needs to be considered to
avoid any unusual impact on overall performance of the organization. Therefore, Change
management requires skilled and experienced personnels who can efficiently manage with
dealing various factors that lead an organization to bring required modifications within
organizational structure and cultural environment. The cited organization has list of opportunities
to exploit for acquiring wider market base along with attracting potential customers. Various
theoretical approaches, developed by management experts as mentioned in the report determine

the procedure that can be followed by the cited organization to undergo any change and obtain
number of benefits by fixing up a permanent position in different industries of which it is a part.
The report has well considered the role of changing agent in making the procedure of change
management as an effective one to successfully attain list of objectives and goals.
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Change Management. 2017. [online]. Available through<https://www.pmi.org/learning/featured-
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