Effective Change Management Strategies

The assignment provided explores the concept of change management and its implementation within an organizational context. It highlights the challenges associated with introducing changes and the role of leaders in facilitating this process. The document provides a detailed analysis of Lewin's change management model, which is considered effective in structurally executing changes within organizational premises. Additionally, it emphasizes the importance of leadership in aligning employee behavior by communicating the need and vision behind the change.

Leading and
Managing Change

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Case Scenario.........................................................................................................................1
Difficulties in implementation of 'wholesale cultural change' at Barnacles...........................2
Planned approach to implement change at Barnacles............................................................5
Leadership style and business strategy develop route way to future changes........................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Change is an inseparable element of any entity. Leaders and managers in modern era
understand the importance of bringing rapid changes within organisation. This is done to deal
with various situations that arise in corporate world or concerned industry (Alavi and Gill, 2017).
With inflexion of time, there has been significant advancement in technology as well as business
strategies adopted by business entities. To strategically adapt to these situations and stay ahead
of its competitors, leaders bring substantial changes within organisational premises.
This assignment is based upon The Barnacle Bay Country House Hotel which is situated
on the Scottish coast. This organisation is at a small distance from market town due to which it
gains attention from a large number of people. This assignment includes a case scenario along
with the challenges faced by management while implementing wholesale cultural change.
Besides this, a planned approach to implement changes has been discussed. Furthermore,
effective leadership style and strategy have been inculcated for incorporating changes in future.
Case Scenario
The Barnacle Bay Country House Hotel commonly referred to as 'Barnacles' is a lavish
hospitality organisation. It functions in a manner which is aimed at providing luxurious standard
of living for people such that they can be significantly satisfied. The hotel has 100 en-suite
bedrooms, an outdoor swimming pool, restaurant and a nine-hole golf course. This organisation
had been very profitable in past when high-profile celebrities and members of royal families
visited the bar to experience the luxurious scenario of place. The old charm of hotel has faded
with passage of time. However, the enterprise is still deriving profits by focussing upon retention
of customers. Over years, company's major strategy to deal with competitors has been focussing
upon the old clients and satisfying them fully by providing a high-profile living style. Such
guests have been loyal towards the hotel and thus, visit it on a regular basis. Also, the traditional
Sunday lunch menu of restaurant within the hotel is tempting enough to attract local people.
The Barnacle Bay has been functioning satisfactorily with time. One threat that has
emerged for the hotel in last some time is Peacock Hall, a large stately home which has been
converted into a plush, four-star hotel. It is a few miles away from Barnacles and is ready to
operate in marketplace with widespread publicity. This hotel is planning to capture the hotel
industry by introducing facilities like leisure club, ravishing bridal suite, health spa along with
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hi-tech conference amenities. This is becoming a threat for Barnacles and thus, the management
of company is considering about bringing certain necessary changes. These changes are being
brought keeping in consideration the queries and complaints of customers over years.
Difficulties in implementation of 'wholesale cultural change' at Barnacles
Considering the threat posed by Peacock Hall, Barnacles is planning to bring necessary
changes so as to decrease the effects of competition. Management of hotel understands the
significance of bringing timely changes so as to ensure its sustainability in industry for long
duration of time. For this purpose, owner of Barnacles has taken a loan. These funds will assists
in wholesale refurbishment of the hotel. This concept refers to the practice of restoring old items
in a way that they seem to be newly prepared. Through this, the hotel is going to have new
furnishings, décor, carpets along with a newly developed indoor pool with sauna and a fitness
centre. For this, management is planning to consider the option of wholesale cultural change.
This means overall restructuring of organisation's existing culture. It implies the need of
deploying existing staff and activities in an effective manner such that they can facilitate in
bringing upon major changes in the current status of facilities being provided by the entity. As
Peacock Hall consists of lavish facilities, thus it is required by Barnacles to review all its existing
activities and processes so that entity can match their standards. This will help Barnacle Bay to
ensure that customers stay connected with hotel for long term and remain loyal towards brand
after experiencing the facilities provided by hotel once.
Wholesale cultural change consists of various elements of culture like norms, beliefs,
values, people, hygiene, interior, vision and mission of entity (Doppelt, 2017). To deal with
existing competition within market, Barnacle Bay Country House Hotel has to do required
alterations. Considering Peacock Hall which offers high tech facilities, Barnacles has do some
modifications so that customers stay loyal to the hotel. While implementing these changes within
entity, Barnacles might face a number of difficulties and barriers as specified below:-
Ineffective Change Approach: The biggest challenge is lack of a duly planned change
approach to execute wholesale cultural change within Barnacles. If adequate and proper planning
is not done, then it is implied that changes will not take place in a favourable and desired
manner. Change may also become difficult to implement because of old traditions that had been
existing within the hotel since a long time and thus, are embedded within staff. Employees as
well as management have become used to old practices, norms, values and culture. Bringing
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about a wholesale cultural change can be successful only if it is properly planned before hand.
The need and positive outcomes of change needs to be communicated by Barnacles to
workforce. This becomes necessary to gain support and facilitation from employees. Also, it is
essential that leaders within this hotel demonstrate the underlying reasons related to wholesale
cultural change and link it with vision of Barnacles to reflect its significance to existing as well
as new employees. Leaders within Barnacles have considered using “Facilitation and Support”
approach proposed by Kotter & Schlesinger. This approach focuses upon providing training
sessions to workforce to make them capable of understanding and assisting in implementation of
change (Six Change Approaches, 2018).
Barriers of communication: At present, Barnacles consists of 75 employees out of
which 55 employees are of immediate locality and rest are from overseas. As a result of this, the
cultural and national backgrounds of employees are diverse. This leads to cultural as well as
linguistic barriers within the premises. However, since Barnacle Bay is in existence from long
time, so they have got adapted to such situations. Hotel management needs to deploy existing
staff efficiently as well as hire new employees that can assist in bringing about wholesale
cultural change.
Now, when employees will be hired, there are two options available to company. Hotel
management can either recruit personnel from local community or overseas (Fullan, 2014). If
employees are hired from same locality, then 20 employees who were from different localities
will face problem due to language barriers. However, if opposite happens then also this becomes
a problem within the hotel. Conflicts can arise between employees and management due to the
presence of diverse set of languages and cultures. Also, there is a probability that staff may have
diverse assessment of various situations which arise within Barnacles. Besides this, there might
also be a situation wherein some employees facilitate change while some resist it. This might
increase complexity of operations and increase the chances of conflicts within workforce. Also,
various stakeholders of Barnacles may possess contrasting views upon implementation of
wholesale cultural change. Thus, there is a need for management of Barnacles to develop and
implement an optimum communication strategy. Furthermore, when hotel brings such large scale
changes within the culture, this should be communicated to customers as well. This will help in
persuading them to have a stay at hotel and experience its refurbished features. When important
information has to be communicated within the entity, it is required that an effective strategy is
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adopted which is not interrupted by any kind of barriers. When authorities of hotel takes some
decisions then if effective communication do not occur, then this will lead to lack of trust among
employees.
Employee resistance: Employees have become adaptable to existing scenario which
includes hotel's traditions, culture, norms, values and activities. They have become comfortable
in the way Barnacles has been functioning over last some years. They are clear about their role
and how it has to be performed. While implementing wholesale cultural change, there might be
some employees who may resist this plan. Thus, by using Kotter’s 8 Step Change Model, change
leader can successfully bring the change within Barnacles along with ensuring least resistance
from employees. The steps of this change model are defined below:-
Create urgency: At the first step, it is essential for leader in Barnacles to realise that how
eagerly change is required by them. This can be done by creating urgency of change in the
company.
Build guiding team: At next stage, change leader formulates a change management team
who can convince employees that wholesale cultural change is very necessary for them.
Develop a vision: After formulation of change team, another step is to link idea of
change with vision which can easily be grasped by people.
Communicate for buy-in: The next step is to communicate created vision with the
potential people in order to determine success.
Removing obstacle: Here, organisational structure is reviewed to introduce change and
obstacles are removed to successfully execute the same.
Create short term wins: At next stage, it is important for the change leader within
Barnacles to create short wins in order to make people realise that change is beneficial and
significant for them.
Not giving up: It is necessary for a change leader not to get disappointed with quick and
small failure. They should focus on long term victory.
Make changes: At last, it is the responsibility of change leader to communicate the
employees about the success related to cultural change in order to create positive perception of
wholesale cultural change. This will helps staff members in accepting changes in future easily.
Change gives rise to need of training and developing the existing staff to meet the
requirements arising due to increasing competition from Peacock Hall. Employees will now have
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to understand their role again and operate accordingly. At present, the guests are less, so
employees get idle time for refreshment and entertainment. When change is executed at all
departments of Barnacles, new customers will be attracted towards the organisation which would
increase workload of personnel. Thus, it is required that hotel management communicate the
need of bringing such change. Also, it is essential that vision of company is linked to change and
communicated effectively within the hotel so as to gain acceptance and support from staff.
Planned approach to implement change at Barnacles
Due to the strong emerging competition from Peacock hall, Barnacles is planning to
implement certain changes in order to gain competitive advantage in marketplace. The hotel
management has decided to execute a wholesale refurbishment within the entity. This is done
with an aim to attract new customers towards the hotel and tap advantage of low cost strategy
adopted by company (Jones and Harris, 2014). For this, Barnacles is planning to use change
management model so that change can successfully take place within the hotel.
LEWIN'S CHANGE MANAGEMENT MODEL
Lewin's change management model is adopted with a motive of structurally executing
wholesale refurbishment of the hotel. This will helps the organisation in attracting new
customers which will assist in maximising their profitability in long run. The three stages of
Lewin's change management model is discussed below as:
(a) Unfreeze: The first stage of Lewin's change management model ensures that
Barnacles must start preparing its employees for the change. In this context, the organisation has
already analysed that changes are needed in order to be competitive in a business market. For
this, Barnacles has already secured substantial funding from banks in order to refurbish their
hotel which includes new carpets, décor, gym and indoor pool. In this regard, the hotel
management has started looking into core areas of change by comparing its existing service
package with the amenities being provided by their biggest competitor at present, Peacock hall.
This has largely assisted them in recognising ways in which it can stay ahead of rival hotels
operating within same industry. It will ensure that business sustains in marketplace for a longer
duration of time.
(b) Change: This stage of Lewin's change management model refers to embrace new
changes that take place in a business entity. In this regard, The Barnacle Bay is adopting
effective leadership strategies in order to make their workforce familiar with the changes that are
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taken place their operations. It will make it easier for the staff members of Barnacles to identify
the changes that will take place within organisational premises as an impact of wholesale
refurbishment. Besides this, there is a significant need for leaders and manager of Barnacles to
realise that it takes time for change to be implemented in an effective manner.
For this, it is required that a well structured plan is made in advance to bring about this
change within entity. This will allow the hotel to gain a strategic edge in market by adopting an
effective strategy. To make the change successfully take place within the entity and give
strategic advantage to company, it is required that company efficiently adopt communication
strategies so that the benefits of change can be communicated to staff. In addition to this,
reassurance is another key factor. It is often seen that staff is anxious and concerned in relation to
self interest towards change. In this regard, it is essential that leaders within Barnacle consider
this aspect. For the wholesale cultural change to be accepted effectively, it is required that
management pays attention towards gaining support from staff. This assists in gearing the
organisation towards creating a large impact of change upon the overall working. Also,
effectively communicating the vision and mission associated with change will steer forward the
success of Barnacles in the right direction. Thus, it has been identified that communication and
time are the foremost essential elements for this stage to take place effectively and successfully.
(c) Refreeze: In the previous stage, the change has been brought about within Barnacles
in terms of wholesale refurbishment. With this, new carpets, décor, gym and indoor pool have
been introduced into the hotel, its rooms and surroundings. This stage is all about bringing
stability into the company post the embracing and implementation of changes in the hotel. This is
the reason behind calling this stage as “refreeze” (Komives, 2016). At this stage, the
management of Barnacles will make sure that things are getting back to normal and all the
routine activities have again started taking place as they used to happen in past. This requires the
assistance from existing staff as well as the new employees. It will ensure that changes are used
feasibly and implemented in a manner that the objectives attached to change have been achieved.
When stability is achieved within Barnacles in response to the change, existing staff as
well as new employees become comfortable and confident with respect to the new working
structure and strategy. Some other signs of the refreeze are clear and specific job descriptions to
employees and a structural organisational chart where individuals know their roles (Lloyd, Boer
and Voelpel, 2017). Also, this assists in making the employees gain knowledge about the
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business person to whom they are accountable and responsible for their work. Besides this, a
successful change implementation reflects that Barnacles will now gain a substantial share in
marketplace. This will allow them to stay ahead of competitors like Peacock Hall.
Leadership style and business strategy develop route way to future changes
To successfully introduce a change in any organisation, an effective leadership is
required. Such leadership helps in aligning the behaviour of employees towards accepting the
change in a positive manner (Leadership Skills, 2019). Also, this shapes the way in which entity
can adopt the change so as to gain a strategic edge in marketplace. Well executed and successful
changes are one of the biggest challenges that organisations in modern era face. Organisational
change initiatives fail more than they generally succeed, despite the resources put into creating
change management processes. This gives rise to the need of an effective leader who can ensure
that the change is efficiently executed within enterprise.
With respect to Barnacles, top management is planning to bring a major change in entity
in terms of wholesale cultural change. This implies that the hotel will now have a customer
driven approach wherein Barnacles will provide services to best suit the needs and demands of
customers. This will ensure sustainability of business in long run and strive at increasing the
current customer loyalty towards the brand. Also, the new change will assist the hotel in
attracting new customers towards the organisation, thus helping the entity in gaining an edge in
market over its competitors like Peacock Hall.
In Barnacles, Rita should adopt the 3C's of Change leadership to ensure that the new
strategy of bringing wholesale cultural change becomes successful. By adopting this, people and
processes can be aligned to meet the objectives associated with change.
Communicate: The change and its need are required to be communicated to employees
and customers of Barnacles so as to gain acceptance and support from them. Thus, by using an
effective communication strategy, leader within the hotel can explain the purpose of change and
connect it to the organization’s vision. This helps in ensuring least employee resistance within
Barnacles.
Collaborate: Bringing people together in order to plan and execute change is an essential
quality of leader for successfully introducing wholesale cultural change within Barnacles. Also,
management of Barnacles have planned to include employees in decision-making process so as
to strengthen their commitment towards the change.
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Commit: Change leader within Barnacles need to ensure that their beliefs and behaviours
towards the change coincide with those of employees. This is necessary to successfully bring a
wholesale cultural change within the organisation to gain edge over rivals (Van der Voet,
Kuipers and Groeneveld, 2015).
Transformational Leadership
Change leader within Barnacles is going to make use of transformational leadership to
bring certain necessary transformations within the organisation. These will be in the form of staff
of entity, activities and processes being currently used to execute the change. By using this style
of leadership, employees can be encouraged to facilitate and support the introduction of
wholesale cultural change. Change is difficult to be implemented at various organisational levels.
However, leaders who negotiate it successfully by being resilient and willing to move out of their
comfort zone to introduce the change are often successful. They also devote more time to the
change so that it can be successfully brought about in Barnacles. Besides this, a successful
change implementation reflects that Barnacles will now gain a substantial share in marketplace.
This will allow them to stay ahead of competitors like Peacock Hall.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it has been concluded that changes are necessary for both
organisation as well as individuals who are an important part of entity. Also, it has been analysed
that in response to change, employees often feel uncomfortable and demotivated. This gives rise
to the increasing importance of role of manager and leader in change management and
implementation. In such environment, leaders are required to align the behaviour of employees
by communicating the need and vision behind change. Besides this, it has been assessed that
Lewin's change management model is effective in structurally executing the change within
organisational premises.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Alavi, S. B. and Gill, C., 2017. Leading change authentically: How authentic leaders influence
follower responses to complex change. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies.
24(2). pp.157-171.
Doppelt, B., 2017. Leading change toward sustainability: A change-management guide for
business, government and civil society. Routledge.
Fullan, M., 2014. Leading in a culture of change personal action guide and workbook. John
Wiley & Sons.
Jones, M. and Harris, A., 2014. Principals leading successful organisational change: Building
social capital through disciplined professional collaboration. Journal of Organizational
Change Management. 27(3). pp.473-485.
Komives, S. R., 2016. Leadership for a better world: Understanding the social change model of
leadership development. John Wiley & Sons.
Lloyd, K. J., Boer, D. and Voelpel, S. C., 2017. From listening to leading: Toward an
understanding of supervisor listening within the framework of leader-member exchange
theory. International Journal of Business Communication, 54(4), pp.431-451.
Van der Voet, J., Kuipers, B. and Groeneveld, S., 2015. Held back and pushed forward: leading
change in a complex public sector environment. Journal of Organizational Change
Management. 28(2). pp.290-300.
Online
Leadership Skills. 2019. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://www.skillsyouneed.com/leadership-skills.html>.
Six Change Approaches. 2018. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://expertprogrammanagement.com/2018/05/six-change-approaches/>.
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