Contemporary Management Issues in the 21st Century: Role of ICT, Case Study on Tesco Plc, and Recommendations

This report discusses the role and impact of ICT in the 21st century, presents a case study of Tesco Plc, explains the role of leaders, and provides recommendations for surviving the pandemic.

CONTEMPORARY
MANAGEMENT ISSUES IN
THE 21ST CENTURY

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Role and Impact of ICT...............................................................................................................3
Case Study on Tesco Plc..............................................................................................................4
Role of Leaders............................................................................................................................5
Recommendations........................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
COVID – 19 pandemic has caused an adverse effect on the economy worldwide. Many
organisations were shut down while many faced huge loss. The report will discuss Information
and communication technology and how it contributed to businesses during the pandemic. The
report will present a case study of Tesco Plc that what are the strategies and policies it adopted
to deal with the pandemic in the learning and development and change management.
Furthermore, it explained the role of leaders that how it helped the employees and organization
in implementing the strategies and initiatives. Lastly, it will address the recommendations that
what are the necessary initiatives that he organisation should take to survive in the crisis and
regain its position.
MAIN BODY.
Role and Impact of ICT
The COVID -19 pandemic in year 2020 had caused huge destruction in the industries and
organisation and it also affected the working conditions of the workforce. Due to COVID-19
pandemic, the uses of information and communication technology has been increased. The ICT
has played a major role in connecting the people and continuing the work of the people. With the
help of new and updated technology , the employees have an opportunity to continue their work
from home , initially it was a bane for the management regarding managing and assessing the
work. ICT has developed a work focused workforce and also increased the expectations of the
employer regarding the productivity of the employees. With the help of ICT , it is easier to
connect to the human resources of the organisation. The trend of Digital workflow ,automation
has increased. For the human resource management, it was easier to hire new talents through
telephonic interviews and zoom meetings (Ahmadi and et. al., 2021.). ICT helped in ease
communication of the requirements and needs in the working process. It made it easier for the
HR department to schedule work and task to the workforce while working from home.
ICT developed apps like time tracking app which is a handy tool and easier for the
management in saving time and money by controlling the unnecessary distractions in the
workforce. Nevertheless, technology has both positive and negative impact and thus updating
with the technology made workforce feel outdated and unoccupied at the workplace. Due to
COVID-19. It also caused miscommunication among the employees because of zero physical
contact.

The Structuration Theory of the technology , is one of the model of technology that
emphasize on the use of integrated technology in communication of human. This model
facilitates tat technology is an important part of the organization role, t helps in understanding
the use of technology by the people (Schneidewind, and et. al., 2018). It states that the thus
theory emphasize on use of technology to train and develop the workforce in the organisations
and also it is useful for the Human Resource management to manage the employees in the
organisation. Thus, ICT plays a vital role in managing and communicating the workforce of the
organisation and it had impacted the organisation in both negative and positive ways.
Case Study on Tesco Plc
In the era of COVID 19 pandemic, it was very difficult for the organizations to deal with
the changes in the general and business environment. The companies have to lay off the
employees because of no profits' situation while many of the industries were shut down. Few of
the firms adapted new technologies, strategies and policies to cope up effectively with situation
of COVID- 19. In instance with Tesco Plc., it was observed that the organisation faced difficulty
in hiring new employees and professional. This was because of the unpredictable environment
which affects the internal capacity of the people. The Tesco Plc., adopted the policy to redesign
their strategies of hiring and recruiting the new talents. It provided the new joiners an
opportunity to join the offices and become familiar with the technology and office environment.
Initially to acquire talents, it can offer various benefits such as Covid – 19 safety, 50% pay in
case of infected from Covid - 19 virus and so on (Jung, and et. al., 2020). Regarding the learning
and development practices, the management of Tesco Plc adopted new and updated technologies
to provide training. The company adopted the way to up skill and reskill the employees and
make them learn new approaches of production and conducting other functions through live
videos and other meeting apps. Basically, digitalization should be used by the companies to
delver specific training regarding industry or technology to the employees, this will ensure
professional development and on job training on the continuous basis.
The Change Management of Tesco Plc adopted various strategies and policies to deal
with the impact of Covid - 19 pandemic. To overcome the adopted the strategies of relocation of
the workforce and transferring work to the alternate sites ,this reduces the unnecessary workload
of the management. Tesco Plc's management designed the plans to work with the limited
resources and contracted with the suppliers and vendors to ensure inventory management (Amis,

and Janz, 2020.). To safeguard the employs it recommended the employees with the Assistance
programs and provide the services for managing their work and life stress. The company
analysed about the supply chain and the risks associated with it, and tried to reduce it by
considering the alternative suppliers. Change management is the necessary part of the
organisation as it helps the company in dealing with the current environmental changes that
might adversely affect the functioning of the business.
Role of Leaders
The leaders are the keyman of the organisation as they influence the employees towards
the attainment of goals and drives the organisation towards success and growth. Leader ensures
maximum efficiency and productivity in the employees of the organisation. The leader of Tesco
Plc plays a crucial role in achieving the targets and adopting the initiatives taken by the
organisation to deal with the issues caused due to pandemic. The leaders act as a link between
the employees and organisation, thus it communicated the needs and requirements and ensures
that the needs are fulfilled. The management adopted the practice of virtual learning and
development, the leaders effectively introduced the changes to the employees and help them in
adapting the new technologies and changes due to Covid – 19.(Anbu, 2019.). Due to the
pandemic, many employees lost interest and dedication to work hard, leader motivated the
workers to work efficiently and built the morale of workers by appraising and recognizing them
for their work. The changes in the policies and strategies of the Tesco Plc ere introduced by the
leaders because the employees are influenced by the leaders, thus otherwise they can resist the
change and this will have a bad impact on the organisation. To implement the new policies,
leaders asked for the opinions and suggestions regarding the changing environment thus gaining
the support of the employees and easily implement the strategies.
Recommendations
Tesco Plc to regain the position and survive in the crisis adopt few business strategies.
The strategies should be formulated after analysing and scanning the environment and need of
the customers. It is recommended to Tesco Plc to start working remotely, this will improve the
performance of the employees and ensure alignment with the pandemic policies saving the
organisation from the government's penalties and fines. The company should plan and change
their strategies on the basis of the changing customer needs ,this will generate high revenue for
the business in the near future. The organisation have to change its business model and practices

so that the organisation can adapt and respond to the problems and difficulty faced due to
pandemic. Tesco Plc is suggested to offer the services and products to the customers through
digitalized methods such as online sales, digital marketing and it can also connect with the
consumers through remote working and online reviewing the needs , changes and their
requirements. To survive the pandemic, the company have to make investments in the innovation
and technology (Obrenovic, and et.al., 2020.). Tesco plc should plan to change its credit policies
because long term credits will affect the liquidity of the business and in the crises period it will
be difficult for it to negotiate the expenses and operational activities of the organisation. The
company is required to make investments in the sectors from where it receives high interest to
help the organisation in attaining the normal and profitable position in the market.
CONCLUSION
From the case study, it is concluded that the Covid – 19 pandemic had adversely affected the
business of Tesco Plc. The Tesco plc adopted the updated information and communication
technology to deal with the changes in the business environment and retain the employees. Tesco
Plc adopted many new initiatives to work effectively and provide the customers with the
products and services as per tier demands. The case study evaluated about the policies that the
organisation had adopted to acquire new talents and ensure learning and development of the
employees and workforce of the Tesco Plc It also discussed how the leaders helped in adapting
the changes and recommended new ideas that organisation should adapt to survive from the
pandemic.

REFERENCES
Ahmadi, J., and et. al., 2021. The impact of information technology on workforce
management. Journal of Science, Management and Tourism Letter.1(6).
Schneidewind, U.,and et. al., 2018. Structure Matters: Real-World Laboratories as a New Type
of Large-Scale Research Infrastructure: A Framework Inspired by Giddens'
Structuration Theory. GAIA-Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society. 27(1).
pp.12-17.
Jung, S. Y., and et. al., 2020. Real-world implications of a rapidly responsive COVID-19 spread
model with time-dependent parameters via deep learning: Model development and
validation. Journal of medical Internet research. 22(9). p.e19907.
Amis, J. M. and Janz, B. D., 2020. Leading change in response to COVID-19. The Journal of
Applied Behavioral Science. 56(3). pp.272-278.
Anbu, D., 2019. The role of leaders and managers in Business organisations. Asian Journal of
Management. 10(3). pp.225-228.
Obrenovic, B., and et. al., 2020. Sustaining enterprise operations and productivity during the
COVID-19 pandemic:“Enterprise Effectiveness and Sustainability
Model”. Sustainability. 12(15). p.5981.
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