Impact of Change on Organizational Strategy and Operations

This assignment report discusses the impact of change on organizational strategy and operations using examples of Sports Direct and House of Fraser. It evaluates the internal and external drivers of change and their effects on leadership, team, and individual behaviors. It also explores measures to minimize negative impacts of change and barriers to change in decision-making. The report concludes with an analysis of different approaches to leadership.

Leading and Managing
Change

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................2
LO 1.................................................................................................................................................2
P1 Compare different organisational examples where there has been an impact of change on
an organisation’s strategy and operations...............................................................................2
LO 2.................................................................................................................................................4
P2 Evaluate the ways in which internal and external drivers of change affect leadership, team
and individual behaviours within an organisation..................................................................4
P3 Evaluate measures that can be taken to minimise negative impacts of change on
organisational behaviour........................................................................................................7
LO 3.................................................................................................................................................8
P4 Barriers for change and how they influence leadership decision-making........................8
LO 4...............................................................................................................................................10
P5 Approaches to Leadership...............................................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Change is a defined as a procedure that assists an organisation in rebuilding and
reforming their strategical operations to gain success in marketplace (Braveman, 2016). This
assignment report is based on Jacks Wills which is a Britain based company, having 100 outlets
and six franchises. Also, House of Fraser, a UK based departmental store which operates in
Ireland and UK will be considered in this assignment. This company operates more than 50
stores in global manner. This report will cover about external and internal change drivers and
their influence on the decision-making of company. Other than this, influence of change in
organisational strategy and decisions will be considered. Ways to resolve barriers to changes and
leadership approach to implement change successfully will be discussed in briefly manner.
Change is a crucial aspect within firm that is liable for facilitation of enhancements within the
execution as well as efficiency for smooth work flow. But it is mandatory for firm to ensure that
changes are executed in an affirmative manner with respect to trends which pertains within the
market place.
Sports Direct was a Sports brand that acquired the firm Jack Wills, a fashion brand with
an aim to buy and then building the brand despite considering the financial condition of the firm
(Arora and Kumar, 2016). The company paid more focus on expanding itself with an aim to
expand their services in different countries by acquisition of firms like Jack wills. The
company’s strategy was to buy as well as build fashion and sports brands irrespective of
financial position. Along with this, it paid attention on reducing rents so that overall finances
could be reduced. The major alteration in this context is that it gave the responsibility of its
administration to KPMG (Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler), one of the big four audit firms
globally, as it was going through high cash flow pressure along with trading conditions from
some years.
House of Frazer was bought by Sports Direct and the company’s strategy was to divide
within two groups, Fraser which contained stocks related with designer labels and the other
group was rendering their services to mass market audience. This was done in order to reach
maximum number of individuals as well as new segments of potential customers. Same plan had
to be carried out within all the layout but the company was rebranded.
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MAIN BODY
LO 1
P1 Compare different organisational examples where there has been an impact of change on an
organisation’s strategy and operations
Change is an important aspect for any organization and companies must ensure that
changes are carried out in an effective way (Cowne, Frankl and Gerschel, 2018). Changes can
vary among organizations but each change has its own significant impact on the functioning of
the firm and its operations. There are various factors that drive change among organisations
which should be addressed by them in an appropriate as well as an effective manner to ensure
their success. These changes can either be structural, strategic, related to process etc. In context
to this report, organisations Sports Direct and House of Fraser have been considered in order to
understand the changes that they went through and the impact of those changes on them and their
strategies.
Sports Direct rescuing Jack Wills
Sports Direct was a UK based sports retailer that bought Jack Wills, a fashion firm with
the thought of buying and building the brand (French and Rees, eds., 2016). Thus, Jack Wills
became a part of Sports Direct. Sports Direct wanted to build Jack Wills despite of its own poor
financial condition. The company thought of negotiating with the landlords to be able to reduce
the rent and reduce their costs. The company also hired KPMG, a leading financial firm to
manage its administration as it had faced intense pressure on its cash flows in some of the most
difficult years. On the other hand, Jack Wills focussed on improving its overall financial
position. Even after several efforts, the challenging environment led the company to conclude
that the future of the company will be safe in the hands of a larger group such as Sports Direct.
House of Fraser
Being the owner of the brand, Mike Ashley decided to invest a huge amount in turning up
seven House of Fraser stores into mini luxury chain stores which were to be called Frasers. The
company was bought by the brand Sports Direct and was decided to be divided into two groups.
The brand Fraser comprised more of designer labels whereas House of Frazer catered to a mass
audience. This was done by the company in order to reach out to a large number of people and
therefore, the company was rebranded. The company changed its overall functioning with its
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main focus on fulfilling the needs of common people. Besides this, the company also moved its
main facility to Shirebrook and also integrated its head office with the London headquarters of
the luxury chain, Flannels. The SWOT analysis of Sports Direct is described below-
SWOT Analysis of Sports Direct
 Strengths – Sports Direct is among UK’s top sports retailers having over 470 stores
across the nation and is trusted by a large number of customers for over decades
(Ghavifekr and et. Al, 2017). The brand has tie-ups with several famous sports brands
like Nike, Adidas, Reebok to name a few. The brand retails its products through various
channels and reaches out to its customers through multiple platforms including online,
mobile etc. Sports Direct follows a competitive pricing strategy which has proved to be
useful in communicating with the customers in order to persuade them to purchase the
company’s products.
 Weaknesses – The sports industry is considered among highly competitive markets but
has a slow growth in its market share. The company has been criticized for having poor
working conditions and poor work practices. The company lacks in a proper financial
planning which has led to various circumstances with not enough cash flows which in
turn led the company to borrow money. The company also lacks behind in implementing
new technology in its premises.
 Opportunities – With the number of internet users rising at an increasing rate, the
company has an opportunity to expand its presence online on various platforms, social
media being one of them (Heckmann, Steger and Dowling, 2016). The company can use
it to promote and its products and also communicate with the customers and understand
their feedbacks as well as suggestions.
 Threats – The company has a threat of facing immense competition within the industry
by its competitors as well as new entrants in the market. Also, changes in the consumer
preference can put pressure on Sports Direct to change its product portfolio in order to
meet the customers’ needs and expectations. Not adopting the latest technology can also
pose as a threat.
These were some changes that were made Sports Direct in order to enhance their existing
services and reach out to a larger segment of customers. Implementing these changes resulted in
impacts that can be evaluated by using the Bohner and Arnold change impact analysis, which can
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be defined as identifying the consequences that a change can have on an organisation or
estimating what are the needs that must be modified and in order to attain change. Sports Direct
made changes in their strategies as well as operations for which they needed to forecast the effect
that could have been resulted by these changes. The main objective was to build the position of
Jack Wills as well as improve its financial condition and overall performance in the market.
Sports Direct was supposed to assist Jack Wills in achieving their goals and objectives. Also, the
company should have paid focus on upgrading its product portfolio in order to attract more
customers and build the brand image it desired.
Workforce Planning is an important concept that has become essential for all
organizations if they want to be successful and gain a competitive edge. This is because the
employees or the workforce of a company are considered to be the most tangible assets. Thus,
both House of Fraser as well as Sports Direct should have carefully aligned the needs of the
organization with that of their employees. This would have helped in carrying out the acquisition
of Jack Wills in an efficient manner. But the company did not consider the skills and knowledge
of the employees which resulted in their skills becoming outdated and they could not add value
to the company.
LO 2
P2 Evaluate the ways in which internal and external drivers of change affect leadership, team and
individual behaviours within an organisation
There are various factors that drive change that affect leadership, behaviours of
individuals as well as teams within an organization. These factors can either be internal or
external to the organisation (Iles, 2017). Companies today seek success and they must
understand the positive and negative impacts that these changes can have on their functioning.
External forces like preferences of customers, economic instability, laws and regulations by the
government, suppliers, technology etc. can arise all of a sudden and require skilled managers or
leaders to catch hold during such circumstances.
Sometimes, various factors prevailing inside the organisation can lead to changes in the
organisation. These changes can include financial management of the firm, morale of the
employees, poor delivery of output, competition among the employees, increased wastage etc.
All these factors in some way or the other can affect the leadership, team and individual
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behaviours within the company as poor productivity of employees can result in an overall poor
performance of the company when compared to its competitors, the behaviours of individual
team members can change as well as the way a leader leads the team can also be affected (Glass
and Cook, 2016).
Technology has become an essential component for organizations across all industries.
Fashion industry has been adopting various technological methods that help them in attracting
more customers and also improve their brand image in the market. Various companies like
Sports Direct were not able to implement and cope up with the same because the company did
not carry out a proper technological analysis of the industry. This led to its failure and the
company got dissolved. The competitors of Sports Direct were able to implement various
technologies in their systems are carefully analysing the industry. The retailers also posed
competition to the company.
In such case continuous improvement and systems theory could have been implemented
by the company to actively plan for and predict the change. Continuous improvement can be
referred to as a process of continuously improving themselves (Rintoul and Bishop, 2019). A
continuous improvement model is structured in the sense that a systematic approach could have
been used to leverage the methods and drive efficiencies in the company. Change in the
organisation impacted the leadership, and the behaviour of individual employees and different
teams. The company also had a poor employee security check process. Leadership was impacted
in the way that the employees were fined for their 15 minutes pay even if they were one minute
late. There was also a fear of losing jobs among the employees as the leaders had become strict.
The employees were paid below average standards and there were various contracts that put
leaders under no obligation to provide the workforce with the minimum number of work hours
etc.
Therefore, as a result the company saw a huge turnover of employees and a gradual
decline in its overall performance. The employees resisted change in the organisation and there
were conflicts among different teams etc. Hence, Burke Litwin model could have been used by
Sports Direct in order to make the process of change effective as well as efficient (Burke-Litwin:
The Performance and Change Model, 2018). The model explains defining and setting up a
relationship of cause and effect between 12 organizational dimensions that form the key to
organisational change. Implementing the model would have helped the company to either
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diagnose the problem or develop an action plan for the same. According to Burke Litwin model
there are four groups of 12 elements of the organisation. The four groups are namely –
transformational factors, external environment, transactional factors and performance.
 External environment – This factor explains any forces or conditions external to the
organisation that can affect the overall functioning of the company for example consumer
behaviour or market condition.
 Individual and organisation performance – This factor is what is delivered by the
company as an output. Turnover, productivity can be cited as examples for this. These are
known as input to the organisation. The various transformational factors are described
below -
 Leadership – Leadership provides direction the workforce of an organisation by guiding
them at every step, developing the mission and vision for the company and also
motivating the employees (Seale and Cross, 2016).
 Mission and Strategy – This factor describes the purpose of the organisation and the
way in which it can be achieved.
 Organisation Culture – Organisation culture represents the rules, regulations and norms
of the company
 Transactional factors are referred to as operations that are carried out on a daily basis.
Various transactional factors are explained below –
 Management Practices – These are the activities and behaviours of managers that are
usually assigned in order to carry out the overall strategy.
 Structure – Structure can be defined as the breakdown of various aspects within an
organisation like hierarchy, channels of reporting for the employees as well as various
functions or departments working in it (Spoehr, 2016).
 Systems – Systems in an organisation are made in order to assist and help employees
work effectively and efficiently. These can either be legal systems or systems set by the
organisation itself.
 Work Unit Climate – This can be referred to as the working environment of the
company like how well various departments are able to function and the coordinate with
each other in order to achieve the goals and objectives of the company.
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 Motivation – Motivation can be referred to as the process of setting goals by the
organisation to help the employees work towards achieving them.
 Task Requirements and Individual Skills/Abilities – There can be cases when even the
qualified and experienced employees struggle in order to adapt to various changes like
technology etc. This factor explains matching the job description with the expertise of an
employee.
 Individual Needs and Values – Employees expect certain things that must be met like
work/life balance, salary, responsibility etc.
P3 Evaluate measures that can be taken to minimise negative impacts of change on
organisational behaviour
Change in an organisation can be minimised by opting for various measures that will in
turn help in reducing the impact of change on the organisational behaviour. Sports Direct should
have developed a change management plan that could have assisted the company in minimising
the impact of change on its organisational behaviour (Shaw, 2016). Different measures like
strengthening the ability of leaders as well as managers to manage the change in the organisation
could have helped the employees to react towards it and not resist the change. The managers
should have supported their subordinates or team members in adapting to the change. This could
have been done by providing effective training so that when the change was brought in, the
employees would not have shown resistance towards it. Various training programs could also
have been conducted for developing and enhancing the skills of the managers. The company
should have notified the employees and spoken to them clearly regarding the change and the
goals should have been aligned to the same. This strategy would have helped the company in
determining the value of the change and its after effects. Also, the employees would have been
able to adapt to the change in a much more effective way and the effect would have been
minimised. Once it was clear as to how the change had to be brought in, the probable impacts of
the same should have been analysed. Realistic timelines should have been set in order to achieve
the goals and objectives. A careful action plan should have been developed after a thorough
analysis of the market as well as other external and internal factors that could have impacted the
change the company was planning to bring in. Action Plan helps in minimising the negative
impact of change as the different activities and the way in which they will be carried out can be
planned effectively. The consequences and impacts of any similar change that would have taken
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place in the past should have been considered. And accordingly, a communication strategy
should have been developed by using the most effective channels of communication.
Sports Direct lacked behind in implementing a support structure for the employees in
helping them practically to adjust to the change and therefore build proficient behaviours.
Support through various counselling sessions could have provided which would not only had
helped them regarding how various roles are performed but other things as well (Tirmizi and
Vogelsang, Eds., 2016). Also, the process of changed should also have been measured through
the process of change management which would have ensured existence of continuous
reinforcement opportunities. A change management process could have also helped the
organisation in determining the effectiveness as well as impact of the change that the company
had brought in. Since the nature of the change was big, Sports Direct should have taken into
account the resources and the current workload that the employees already had. Also, the
employees should have been asked for their inputs and suggestions regarding the change that
Sports Direct was about to bring in. A system of feedback should have been implemented
wherein the employees could’ve provided feedback regarding what they felt for the change and
how would have it impacted their roles in the company. This would have helped the respective
company in getting a better idea about if the employees were ready for this kind of change to be
brought in or not. Communication would have acted the key during thus situation and enabled a
free flow of ideas and thoughts across departments and various teams in the organisation.
LO 3
P4 Barriers for change and how they influence leadership decision-making
Organizational change can be defined as a process wherein a company might change its
culture, structure, operational activities etc. In context to Sports Direct, it was seen that the
company came across various barriers that affected the way in which change was brought in. The
different barriers to change and their influence on leadership decision-making within the
company are as follows –
Employee Resistance – Sports Direct acquired Jack Wills, which meant that two
different cultured organizations came together. Most employees within a company do not enjoy
change and are prone to their usual routine. In context to Sports Direct, because the management
of the company did not effectively communicate about the change to the employees, they did not
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support the idea of a change this big. Also, even before the change was implemented, the
employees did not support it. Resistance of employees towards the change also impacted the
decision-making process of the leaders in the company as the final decision to implement change
took more time than expected. The staff members showed resistance because they felt insecure
about their jobs and thought that some other person would replace them.
Lack of Communication – Communication is one of the most essential components for
an organization and the if it fails to properly communicate about the change to its employees, it
is likely that they will not respond to the same in a positive way. Sports Direct should have set
clear expectations and communicated the same to the staff members. The leaders or managers
did not communicate the process of change properly to their subordinates, as a result of which
they showed resistance when the change was brought in the system. The company could have
used various channels to communicate the planning process and timeline by which the change
will be implemented. This would have led to building a trust among the employees and they
would have reacted to the same positively.
Therefore, it can be seen that there are many barriers that can pose challenge to change in
an organization and thus, they should be addressed in an effective way so that the goals and
objectives are achieved.
Force Field Analysis
It can be defined as aa framework that helps in looking into factors that can influence a
particular situation. It identifies forces that either help an organization in attaining its goals or
block the progress. The analysis is an important tool that is used in the decision-making process
so that effective and sound decisions are made by the management. There re two types of forces
that act on a particular situation, namely- driving as well as restraining forces. The forces, in
context to Sports Direct are explained below -
Driving Forces – These are those forces that facilitate and support change within a
company and include a decline in the morale of employees, business processes etc. All these are
factors that drive change so as to help the company in attaining its goals and objectives. For
Sport Direct, these are the forces that could drive change and help it in enhancing the overall
performance.
Restraining Forces – These are those forces that act as barrier and do not promote the
implementation of change in a company. Some factors that come under these forces are changes
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in government rules and regulations, resistance shown be employees etc. In context to Sport
Direct, there were various factors that acted as restraining forces like resistance of employees
towards the change etc. So, in order to avoid or eliminate these forces, the company should have
taken effective steps and made relevant strategies.
LO 4
P5 Approaches to Leadership
Leadership is an important component that significantly contributes towards attaining
goals and objectives in a company. It also helps in making sure that all business activities are
carried out effectively without any issues. Leaders who practise effective styles of leadership are
the ones who support and guide their team members whenever there is a need. If Sports Direct
had effective leaders, it would have been able to effectively plan, bring in change and thus
sustain in the market. The management of the company should have ensured that the change was
brought in the most efficient manner ad without any trouble. This would have further helped in
attaining goals and objectives of the company.
Kurt Lewin's change management model – It is a simple and easy to understand model
about change management which is widely used by organizations across different industries so
as to reduce the overall impact of change. Sport Direct could have made use of this model while
implementing change to ensure that it was brought in effectively. Respective model is divided
into three stages, namely- Unfreeze, Change and Refreeze. In the first stage, Unfreeze, the
company should have carried out meetings with key people of the management so as to identify
the areas where there was a need of change. After this, the change should have been analysed
and monitored by planning various situations. In the last stage, the employees should have
acknowledged the change and adapted to the same reducing any kind of errors.
Change Initiation – It involves properly analysing a particular problem or situation that
needs a change. Then, the culture of the company is changed accordingly so that the necessary
change is encouraged in the company within the employees. This can be done by collaborating
teams across different departments or engaging with employees in a different role. Sports Direct
should have developed a concrete plan in order to closely analyse the changes as well as
strategies in which it could be sustained.
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CONCLUSION
As per this report, it has been summarised that carrying out change in an organisation is a
regular process. This helps a company to survive in a competitive business environment in a
proper manner. Changes helps in carrying out modifications in operational and strategic
processes due to which overall expenses of a firm will reduce significantly. By this, attaining
competitive advantage against rivals will became an easier process for a firm. Other than this,
there are different drivers and barriers to change. These barriers can be overcome by using
different leadership approaches and styles like democratic, persuasive or autocratic leadership.
Also, there are different factors that prevail inside the organisation and can lead to changes in the
organisation.
These changes can include various changes financial management of the firm, morale of
the employees, poor delivery of output, competition among the employees, increased wastage
etc. Technology today, has become a vital component for organizations across all industries as
they are adopting various technological methods that help them in attracting more customers and
also improve their brand image in the market. And with the number of internet users rising at an
increasing rate globally, the companies have the opportunity to expand their presence online on
various platforms, social media being one of them. And various measures can be taken to
minimise the effect of change on the culture as well as functioning of the organisations.
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REFERENCES
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Tirmizi, S. A. and Vogelsang, J. D. Eds., 2016. Leading and managing in the social sector:
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Online
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