Leading and Managing Change

This report discusses the extent to which organizations should change according to the current economic climate, the selection of a planned or unplanned approach for going forward, ways in which HR supports planned change approach, major challenges for HR, and strategic approaches for HR to handle change.

LEADING AND
MANAGING CHANGE

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Change is basically the process which eventually results in the change of various
processes, systems, practices etc within an organization and thus impacts its operations in great
way. This change in the organization usually occurs as the result of some internal as well as
external factors. TESCO is predominately the multinational groceries as well as general
merchandise which is being established in 1919 by Jack Cohen and headquartered in England,
UK. It primarily deals in superstores, banks, petrol stations, club cards etc.
This report gives a brief about extent to which organization should change according to
current economic climate, Selection of planned or unplanned approach for going forward, Ways
in which HR support planned change approach, Major challenges for HR and strategic
approaches for HR to handle change.
MAIN BODY
Extent to which organization should change according to current economic climate
Due to the impact of Brexit, there has been the drastic change in the economic conditions
of UK which has led to the decline in various activities. The economic growth of UK has slowed
down since its departure from European Union and thus has resulted in dramatically change in
various factors. The transformation has affected the overall society but the deepest impact has
been on organizations. TESCO is one of the well known organizations which have been affected
to a large due to these changing conditions. TESCO needs to adapt their operations and activities
according to this current change in order to survive and establish its name in wider geographies.
Due to the impact of Brexit, the corporation tax rate in UK has fallen down to 17% and thus has
likely impacted the custom duty as well as value added tax. TESCO would need to alter their
trading system in accordance with this change. TESCO should change the import and export of
their products and services across the world and thus adapt to the new tax policy as this would
eventually reduce their rate at which they pay taxes (Doppel, 2017).
Besides this, since the emergence of Brexit, the unemployment rate in UK has increased
to more than 41.2% which means there are high numbers of people which are still unemployed.

In context to this, TESCO must need to change their policies of recruitment and selection. They
should focus more on outsourcing the talented employees from different countries and states.
Thus they must change their practices and thus also should focus on retaining the older
employees in their organization for maintain its position. One more impact which Brexit has
projected on the economic conditions of UK is the rise in interest rate. Because of the prevalence
of uncertainty of Brexit, the interest rate has raised to more than 0.75%. TESCO should in order
to gain the competitive advantage and survive in this cut-throat competition should adapt to this
change and thus should look for various way for dealing with it. As due to high interest rate,
TESCO would need to pay high amount of their earning for paying the interest thus this would
eventually reduce their profit. Thus, TESCO must find alternatives from where they can arrange
necessary money when needed (Rothaermel, 2017). The company should find various other
borrowers like angel investors who will provide them fund at low cost. Besides this, company
should invest their excess money in the banks in interest-bearing accounts so that during the high
interest rates period, they will get better return and thus can earn a huge amount. Thus, in this
way TESCO should adapt to these changes which are prevailing in UK as this would help them
to reduce uncertainty in future.
Selection of planned or unplanned approach for going forward
There are basically two types of changes which exist in the organizations and thus affect
them in some or the other way. Planned changes are generally the process in which leaders and
managers prior to the occurrence of change devise various strategies, systems and methods to
cope up with the changes which will affect them in negative way. Unplanned changes on the
other hand, occur suddenly within the organization and thus require the members and employees
to react proactively for overcoming these. In order o succeed and expand across the world,
TESCO would need to take planned approach towards the various changes (Rossi, 2019). There
are various planned changes like technological changes, organizational structure changes,
management changes etc. This planned approach would help the organization to prepare in
advance for the inconsistencies. The well-known model for having the planned approach of
change is Kurt lewin model which will help TESCO to design various strategies and will help in
the overall change process.

Unfreezing
In this step, the main aim of the organization is to prepare the employees for the change
and thus breaking their status quo and developing the new way of performing various activities.
For example While changing the organizational structure of the company in view of expanding
to different location, TESCO should first prepare its employees for accepting the change by
interacting with them and communicating the benefits that they will as well as organization will
avail due to this change like new customers, shift from monotonous work to challenging work
(Hayes, 2018 ).
Change
In this step of planned approach, the organization is ready to change and thus plans
various strategies for implementing the change. In short, this is the step in which organization
finally formulate the change and thus breaks the old habits of employees. For example TESCO
should design the new organizational chart which will show the new structure and hierarchies for
new outlet and thus should change its processes and system. The company should implement
change by changing the reporting relationship, devising new recruitment process etc. TESCO
should implement this change as soon as possible to prevent employees doing to their old habits
and behavior.
Refreezing
In this stage the changes that are been implemented are freeze and hence the made
permanent. Once the organizations have implemented the changes, theses are cemented and the
employees are encouraged to demonstrate the new behavior at the workplace which have been
inculcated in them due to emergence of changes. For example TESCO should make use of
rewards and different appreciations certificates for motivating the employees so that they will
exhibit the new behaviors in their work. Besides this, TESCO should freeze their behaviors by
continuously interacting with them and increasing their productivity (Bryan, 2018).
Thus, company should go with planned approach of change as this would help them to
remain aware of the various redundancies that might occur in future and will also help them to

remain prepare for the uncertainties (French and Rees, 2016 ). Like due to change in the
organizational structure which is planned change, TESCO would be able to perform their
operations more effectively and would increase the productivity of their employees.
Ways in which HR support planned change approach
HR plays a vital role in implementing the planned approach to changes and thus directly
helps to support these changes. There are various strategies which the HR of the organization
adopt in order to deal with the changes considering both business strategy and the external
environment
Providing training and development for technology
When there is any type of planned change like technological change then the major
responsibility of HR in TESCO is to make the employees aware of these changes and make them
understand the importance of the same. For example now more and more consumers have now
become technology-driven and thus want the products and services which are highly innovative
as well as meet their needs and demand. This shift of the consumers from traditional to
technology platform has enabled the HR of TESCO to look for various ways through which they
can support these changes and can attract more and more customers. For this, the HR department
can continuously find the ways for hiring the individuals which are skilled and talented and thus
have the potential to innovate (Cameron and Green, 2019). Besides this, they also provide
training and development for their existing employees to make them understand the significance
of new technology and also help them to use technology for attracting more and more customers.
For example the major change in the technology of TESCO is development of innovative
products thus in this HR continuously look for the individuals who can apply their creativity and
thus continuously provide different products to the customers.
Well-through recruitment strategy
The economic conditions are the external factor which impacts the organizations in a
great way. Due to the impact of Brexit, there has been drastic decrease in the unemployment
ratio of the country and thus in this change of lower employment, HR of TESCO overcome the
shortage of workforce by finding ways to recruit the talented employees. The HR department can

outsources the employees from across the world and thus hire skilled employees. To deal with
the shortage of talented workforce in UK, HR makes their recruitment and selection process
more intensive and thus attract the candidates from other states and countries. Besides this, the
HR department of TESCO focuses more on retaining the existing employees and thus endeavors
to get best out of them by providing them with more challenging work and encouraging them to
work hard by rewarding, appreciating them. Along with this, in order to manage the change of
skill shortage the HR professionals emphasize on the strategic and proper workforce planning
prioritizing the various activities. This helps them to increase the talent pool and thus provide
them with competent employees who can effectively manage the uncertainties in future.
Focusing on demographics
The change in demographics is the another significant factor which impact the
organization to a great extent. There has been a shift from old people to young people and thus
there is dramatically change in the pyramid of the age. To support this change of demographics,
HR can determine the tons of ways through which they can attract this young generation having
innovative ideas along with retaining the older employees in organization. Besides this, the HR
designs various compensation packages for the different generation and thus maintains the
diverse workforce. In order to overcome the negative impact of this change, HR of TESCO can
focus on the proper workforce planning ranging from selection and recruitment to the employee
benefit as well as compensation (Alvesson and Sveningsson, 2015). They can give more
emphasis on the effective training and development to the existing employees who are about to
retire in order to increases their productivity as well as can apply effective recruitment and
selection to attract the talented employees. IN short, to handle this shift in demographics, HR can
focus more on the succession planning and hence can support this change.
Coping with competition
The increasing competition in the market is one of the most significant factor for the
organizations and enlarging the customer base is what the primary goal of any business which
consist if their business strategy. Due to the change in needs and demands of the customers with
the advent of technology, there has been a major change in the level of competition within
market and this shift has resulted in race for attracting more and more customers and thus

gaining competitive advantage. In order to deal with the change in competition and to helps
organization gain edge over competitors, HR of TESCO can adopt various strategies and support
this change. They can make their selection and recruitment process more intensive which will
result in inflow of talented employees who can serve customers better. Besides this, HR can
create flexibility for their employees within organization which will result in effective work-life
balance. This better work-life balance will eventually increase the productivity and performance
of the employees. In this way, HR can help to gain competitive advantage and can support the
change in competition.
Effectively communicating
HR can also support the change by inculcating the culture of effective communication
within organization. Whenever there is any planned change in the organization which is an
important component of business strategy for example organizational structure, then HR can act
as communicator and thus can make the employees ready for the change. HR professionals of
TESCO can act as the leaders and thus can lead the project of change in correct direction. For
example in case of the change in organizational structure, HR can be engaged in planning and
the execution of various activities. Besides this, HR can also play the role of educator and thus
can provide the knowledge to the stakeholders for making the m understand the pros and cons of
successful change (Donnelly and Kirk, 2015).
Major challenges for HR
The most relevant theory which eventually explains the various challenges faced by HR
department is the guest model.
Guest model
This model was given by David Guest and thus focuses on the assumption that different
HR managers adopt some specific strategies initially which demand the specific practices and
thus when executed will lead to the favorable outcomes. The outcomes comprises of behavior al
performance, financial rewards. It has mainly six components namely HR strategy, HR
outcomes, HR practices, Behavioural outcomes and financial results. These components consist

of various functions of HR in which they face major and high challenges. The various challenges
faced by them are
Training and development
Whenever any planned change occurs within or outside the organization, then the
significant challenge faced by HR of TESCO is training and development (Cummings, Bridgman
and Brown, 2016). While providing training to the employees regarding the specific change
becomes difficult for HR as it requires high amount of investment as well as time and thus
eventually slows down the decision making process. It becomes complicated for the department
to provide well-through training and thus design strategy for their overall development as some
of the employees who are hard worker does not have much time to attend the training. This
eventually makes the training session ineffective and wastes the money of the organization.
Designing compensation
Another important challenge which the HR of TESCO faces in implanting the change
various changes is designing the compensation for the employees having different nature of work
and responsibility. Many times the HR professionals face difficulty in structuring the best
compensation package for their employees which will eventually motivate them to a great extent.
Besides this, developing the different incentive program for increasing the productivity of
employees also becomes the challenge for HR where it becomes difficult for them to structure
the suitable incentive plan which will be in favor of all the employees. Along with this, providing
the best competitive pay to the employees for retaining them also is major issue for HR of
TESCO and therefore requires their intensive effort (Hickman and Silva, 2018 ).
Managing performance
This is the one of the most remarkable challenge which the HR of TESCO often faces
during the scenario of change. Developing the proper performance measurement and metrics the
employees becomes sometimes complicated for HR and thus this leads to reduced productivity
and overall performance of the employees. Besides this, after implementing the change
managing the performance system requires a disciplined framework and a master plan in which
HR sometimes lacks behind and thus this results in the downfall of organization. HR faces the

issue to understand the processes of performance appraisal at different hierarchical level and due
to this are unable to measure the performance of employees appropriately.
Inculcating co-operation
Developing a sense of teamwork and cooperation among employees at different level is
the most difficult task for HR professionals and thus merges as a challenge for them. Each and
every organization requires employees who can effectively handle the change by working
together and contribute their innovative ideas thus lack of cooperation proves to be a bad omen
for organizations. Enabling the employees to understand the views of each other and motivating
them to work collaboratively is the foremost issue for HR of TESCO (Dick and et.al.,2018).
They are required to design various team building activities which will encourage the employees
to understand the importance of diverse workforce.
Strategic approaches for HR to handle change
The most significant approach which will help the HR of TESCO to implement the
change and bring effective outcomes from this change is the ADKAR model. This is the most
important model or tool which helps the organization to deal with the particular change and
better understand it.
Awareness
In this stage, the employees are first made to understand the need of change and why it is
necessary. The management communicates the pros of implementing the change and cons of not
implementing it. In short, employees are made ready for change. For example, the organization is
bringing change in the technology and shifting focus from traditional method to advanced
technology like IOT, cloud computing. In this, HR can first communicate the employees as how
traditional methods were not meeting the needs as well as how new technology will bring benefit
to company like better track of performance of employees (Jabri, 2017 ).
Desire
In this stage, the management creates the desire and curiosity within employees to
participate in this change process. The employees are being motivated to change their behavior,

attitude towards work and contribute to the change process. For example HR can regularly
communicate with the employees regarding the new technology to prevent their resistance to
change. They can demonstrate how the prior projects which utilized the application of traditional
technology were not successful. This will eventually generate a desire within them to change.
Knowledge
Under this, the employees are made aware of the skills which will be required for
implanting the change as well as the ways through which these skills can be obtained (Suddaby
and Foster, 2017). Learning becomes an important part of this stage in which the management
gains an in-depth knowledge for the skills required. For example HR can regularly arrange a
short training session for the employees regarding the skills that will be required for adopting
new technology like programming skills, database skills, why its is important and how they can
be obtained.
Ability
Potential and ability to implement the skills which are being learned is also important for
the successful implementation of change. In this, when the employees exhibit the learned skills
and apply at the work then the change is considered successful. For example, HR can regularly
engage in two way communication with the employees to see the benefits of the new skills.
Besides this, HR professionals can provide various resources to the employee that will help them
in solving their problem regarding new technology like support team or the internal coach.
Reinforcement
Within this stage, the changes which are being implemented are freezed and thus
cemented so that the employees does not go back to their old behavior. Employees are motivated
periodically to exhibit their changed behavior and thus maintain it at the workplace. For
example, HR of TESCO can design various rewards, incentives and appreciation system for the
employees if they remain successful in improving their behavior and implementing change. Thus
will eventually encourage them to work according to the new technology and does not revert to
old attitude (Wiesner, Chadee and Best, 2018).

CONCLUSION
It has been summarized that due to the impact of Brexit, organization needs to adopt the
changes to a great extent and thus find various ways to deal with this change. Planned approach
is more advantageous than the unplanned approach as in this the organization prior to the
occurrence of change design various strategies and system to manage it thus companies should
adopt planned approach of change. HR plays the vital role in supporting the planned change by
structuring the various strategies and policies like training and development and assist the
organization to avoid uncertainties. The HR professional faces various challenges as result of
wide range of changes like workforce planning, compensation etc. For overcoming these
challenges, they design various strategic approaches which ultimately help them to implement
the change effectively.

REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Alvesson, M. and Sveningsson, S., 2015. Changing organizational culture: Cultural change
work in progress. Routledge.
Bryan, J., 2018. Successfully managing change in the workplace. Corporate Real Estate
Journal, 8(1), pp.53-64.
Cameron, E. and Green, M., 2019. Making sense of change management: A complete guide to
the models, tools and techniques of organizational change. Kogan Page Publishers.
Cummings, S., Bridgman, T. and Brown, K.G., 2016. Unfreezing change as three steps:
Rethinking Kurt Lewin’s legacy for change management. Human relations.69(1). pp.33-
60.
Dick, T.B and et.al.,2018. Fundamentals of leading, tools for managing, and strategies for
sustaining change. American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy.75(19). pp.1450-1455.
Donnelly, P. and Kirk, P., 2015. Use the PDSA model for effective change
management. Education for Primary Care.26(4). pp.279-281.
Doppelt, B., 2017. Leading change toward sustainability: A change-management guide for
business, government and civil society. Routledge.
French, R. and Rees, G. eds., 2016. Leading, managing and developing people. Kogan Page
Publishers.
Hayes, J., 2018. The theory and practice of change management. Palgrave.
Hickman, C.R. and Silva, M.A., 2018. Creating excellence: Managing corporate culture,
strategy, and change in the new age. Routledge.
Jabri, M., 2017. Managing organizational change: Process, social construction and dialogue.
Palgrave.
Rossi, P., 2019. Conflicts in Leading and Managing Change: Towards a Reflexive
Practice. Leading Change in a Complex World: Transdisciplinary Perspectives.
Rothaermel, F.T., 2017. Strategic management. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
Suddaby, R. and Foster, W.M., 2017. History and organizational change.
Wiesner, R., Chadee, D. and Best, P., 2018. Managing change toward environmental
sustainability: A conceptual model in small and medium enterprises. Organization &
Environment.31(2). pp.152-177.