Organizational Learning and Change: Strategies for Improving Management

This document discusses the internal and external analysis of Woolworths Group, highlighting areas requiring change. It also provides an overview of change management theories and frameworks, and evaluates possible strategies for improving the situation. The document emphasizes the need for changes in the management team, leadership style, and human resource department.

ORGANIZATION AL LEARNING AND CHANGE

Table of Contents
Introduction to Organization......................................................................................................4
Internal and External Analysis of the Organization and pointing out the areas demanding
change........................................................................................................................................4
Literature Review: Overview of Change Management Theories and Frameworks...................7
Evaluation of Possible change strategies required to improve the Situation.............................8
Recommendation of the most suitable strategies.....................................................................10
Required resources for implementing the identified suitable strategies..................................11
Conclusion................................................................................................................................11
References................................................................................................................................13

Introduction to Organization
Woolworths Group is among the top five companies of Australia and it has grown
into the largest retail business in the country concerning the food and beverage items. The
company is the second largest in the country as per its revenue and the organization has been
known for its services and quality of food. Though the success of the organization has been
wide in nature, it witnessed some loopholes in the company which resulted in huge losses in
the past few years. The deteriorating nature of the company has initiated in 2012 and
gradually it marked the highest loss in 2016. The loss has been the cause of the poor services
provided by the staffs of the retail outlets and this gradually increased due to the lack of
proper and effective management (Bailey et al. 2015). The company carries about 33000
employees and 800 retail stores all over the world which has increased the necessity of
enhancing its management skills and provide the company with some authentic and sensitive
management. The working of the organization follows a hierarchy which initiates with the
supervisor of the retail store who needs to look after the entire store and the staff and with
few managers of the store who manages the staffs. Though the hierarchy has been planned in
an accurate manner, still there is lack of management (Parker et al. 2018). The analysis of
the organization through the SWOT and PEST would help in acknowledging the internal and
the external environment of the organization and thus the requirement of the change or the
area that needs to be improvised would be revealed. The organization learning and change
would be explored.
Internal and External Analysis of the Organization and pointing out the areas
demanding change
Internal Analysis: SWOT
Strengths
 Maintenance of Quality of the products
has been the key strength of the
company and it has helped in sustaining
in the market.
 Initial management has been strong
and sensitive to the scenario (Pulker et
al. 2018).
Weaknesses
 Improper management team and the
leadership style has not been chosen
accurately
 Quality of services has been reducing
impacting the company’s goodwill
 The hierarchy has not been updated
with the change in the concepts and

 Flow of work has been consistent and
the use of latest technology has always
been the part of the organization
the generation of the company
 Lack of motivation in the employees
which impacted their productivity
hugely
 No proper training provided to the part
time workers which impacted the
quality of services
Opportunities
 Carries the capability to become the
top most company of Australia through
exploring its resources accurately.
 Opportunity of ruling in the retail
industry in the international market
exist which could be explored through
enhancing its management team and
the leaders of the company.
 Could enhance its goodwill which
would provide the opportunity of
creating a brand image of the company
which would add to its customer base.
Threats
 The company could deteriorate further
or experience huge losses than in 2016,
if it doesn’t improvise its management
team (Bailey, 217).
 The leadership style needs to be
enhanced too for the improvement of
the entire company.
External Analysis: PEST
Factors Analysis
Political The political scenario of Australia has been
quite stable and this has helped the business
sector of the country to grow gradually. The
stability in the politics provided the
companies with a wide range of
opportunities and these opportunities has
been explored well by Woolworths Group
(Beaumont, 2015). The company grabbed
the opportunity of providing the basic need

product that is food and beverage to the
public of Australia and it grew to one of the
largest retail stores. The political scenario
favoured the concerned company as the
product of the company has been the
necessity good.
Economic The economic scenario of Australia has
been stable because of the stability in the
political scenario. The political scenario
being favourable to the economy, has
provided the country with a gradual growth
in the GDP and the stable growth in the
business also supported the economy
growth (Culley et al. 2015). The GDP
growth rate of Australia averaged to 0.85%
from 1959 to 2018. This has even marked
the highest rate to be 4.40% in 1976. These
factors has favoured the growth of
Woolworths too.
Social The social norm of Australia has been quite
friendly in nature and the free mentality of
accepting what the others are offering has
been in favour of the business. The new
ideas of the business has always been
welcomed by the people of Australia and
the concept of retail stores for the
vegetables and food items has been
favoured too (Bajada, 2017). This helped
Woolworths in gaining the acceleration in
the market and thus, the social factor has
also been in favour of the concerned
company.

Technological The technological tool has been the strength
of Woolworths and it has always been
utilised by the company on the first
instance. The country has also been active in
this field and has provided its business with
the latest technologies which has provided
the companies with the new ways of doing
business and thus, expanding the growth of
the sector.
Areas of Change
On analysing the concerned company through the both prospects that is internal and
external, some areas of improvement has been recognised which could help the company to
grow in a more stable and uniform way. The foremost change is required in the management
team of the company on large scale. The second is the change to be brought in the leadership
style of the company. The third is the change in the human resource department of the
company. These changes are expected to bring about a drastic change in the company
scenario and the growth of the company could be accelerated too through these changes. The
changes, mentioned above are all inter related and needs to take pace at once.
Literature Review: Overview of Change Management Theories and Frameworks
According to Xia (2015), an organization requires to change its management once it
realises that the company is stepping towards the downfall. The downfall of a company could
only be because of the lack of proper or accurate management. It is rightly said by Cameron
& Green (2015), that the organization s resources could be managed in the most effective and
in the maximum way only if it’s human resource is being managed in the most effective way.
This concept has laid down the change management theory that is if the company is
declining, the management team of the company needs to be checked and transformed. There
are multiple theories of change management, but the toughest part is its application which
needs to be done in an accurate manner to get the maximum benefit or else it could work
other way round.

According to Hayes (2018), Kurt Lewin’s three phase model is a systematic way of
implementing the change in the management. The foremost step is the thaw phase which is
the time when the company is trying to overcome the resistant to change. This is followed by
the second phase and that is implementing the changes that has been planned through taking
up the measures such as training and education. The last phase is to refreeze that is the
changes has been finalised and now it has become the policy of the company. This means that
the model works on a trial basis where the changes are tested and if it works well then it gets
finalised in the last phase and becomes a policy of the company.
On the other hand, a model is described by Cummings et al. (2016), name as
McKinsey’s 7-S model where a faceted holistic structure is provided which could be
manipulated as per the needs of the company. The seven strategies that gets implemented
through this model in order to change the management are shared value, structure, strategy,
systems, staff, skills, and style. The model presents seven perspectives to change which could
be utilised by the company in any format which suits the company and is an open ended
model. It has also been mentioned by Gorelick & Zheng (2015), that the model is quite
confusing in nature because of which the model is not applied by many. The reason of
confusion in nonexistence of any systematic approach that is no order is provided for the
seven perspectives which could be followed. The model works in favour of those who are
well in structuring their program in their own way and make it most effective (Wirtz et al.
2016). The model has not been used frequently but those who applied it in their own way, has
actually experienced fruitful results. This makes the model authentic and applicable to those
who carry a wide perspective and a planned approach to change. The change of management
is a wide and broad prospectus and this needs to be assessed through various models and
theories.
Evaluation of Possible change strategies required to improve the Situation
A change in organization and its management may affect have a significant impact on
the overall productivity of the organization. Organizational change management helps in
implementing changes in the organization. The success of an organization depends on its
successful management whereas making concrete changes paves a way for better
opportunities in the future. Woolworths is one such organization that aims at providing best
experience to its customers through its priority services and loyalty programs. As identified
by Mitchell (2015), Woolworths has been facing challenges due to its internal management

and leadership style of the organization. Apart from that the Human Resource Department of
the organization requires a change. These changes are interrelated and making the right
strategies can address the issues altogether. As identified in Woolworths (2019), the
organization is reported to have an improper hierarchical structure which has not been
updated in the recent years but surely requires certain changes. Woolworths has been facing
structural changes which can be identified from the senior employees. The senior employees
left their positions as they started losing trust in the operations of the organization. As it is
rightly said, the motive of every organization is to survive for a longer period of time in the
market, what is the case of Woolworths, its subsidiary companies are struggling to keep their
presence in the market. The management has been failing to deliver the requirements of the
customers. The company has been unstable at times due to lack of managerial commitment
which is impacting the brand name. The organization needs to implement changes in its
internal and external policies and restructure them to win back the trust of the employees.
With time, there have been many other organization s in the Retail Industry which is making
the survival of the organization difficult as these competitors aim at providing similar
products and competitive prices. According to Chung & AAP (2016), in the year 2016,
Woolworths incurred a loss of $ 1.235 billion due to failure in its internal management.
Currently, the company requires short term goals for surviving in the long run. It is no doubt
that Woolworths is one of the most popular retail brand but customers may switch to other
retail brands like Coles and Aldi.
In order to improve the human resource management of the organization, it is
important to satisfy the needs and requirements of the employees. The same situation is with
Woolworths. The strategy of building relationships with customers will require the retail
brand to understand the basic needs of the customers. Along with that, the company can
strengthen its online in Australia and New Zealand market. The investments in multi-channel
customer experiences can be increased. The retail portfolio of Woolworths provides
organization with productivity and growth opportunities. The human resource department can
be improved involving attractive reward system by the organization. If the company can
manage its internal environment, it will be able to sustain the competition. The organization
has been using certain generic strategies of selling the products. Woolworths has used
differentiation strategy to distinguish its products and services from its competitors. The
approach of conducting environmental friendly business has been strategic decisions for
Woolworths. In order to improve the decision making process and pricing strategy, the

organization has to understand the products are to be sold at affordable prices without
compromising the quality. If the organization wants to grow, it requires to maximize its
strengths and minimize the weaknesses. Although Woolworths has increased its capacity and
developed completely into the market, it can still opt for market development to strengthen its
internal management and skills of the business. This strategy can be helpful in opening up
stores in the suburbs in targeted locations. Innovation can also be the key to the success of the
organization. This is because Woolworths can focus on creating innovative products,
designing new process or innovative ways to procure their products. The primary advantage
of these strategies is that it would help the organization to work towards a common goal and
identify new opportunities. By this, Woolworths be able to gather more information about the
competition in the market and the needs of customers. This will allow the organization to
make informed decisions and work towards gaining success thereby improving its internal
and external management. Apart from that, the organization can achieve economies of scale
and create a huge customer base.
Recommendation of the most suitable strategies
Woolworths has been giving tough competition to its competitors in terms of its
services and products. Looking at the current scenario of Woolworths, it is recommended that
organization will require to implement a structured model for its daily operations. The units
incurring losses must be first taken into consideration and the units not making any profits
shutdown rather than spending amounts on running them. This will allow the organization to
focus on saving rather than expenses on improving the non-profit making units. The
organization must look forward to building customer centric policies that would help
retaining the existing customers and attract potential customers. However, the major focus
will be on the existing customers and changing the pricing policies will help to gain a
competitive pricing and sustain the market. As mentioned earlier innovation can be the key to
the success of this retail giant, the organization need to focus on its online sales to add new
customers to the organization. As the consumer profiles are changing, and new trends are
evolving, it is recommended to Woolworths to keep innovating for higher growth levels.
Even though the organization is not making much profits its subsidiaries, creating a
structured plan will be beneficial for sustenance in the market. If Woolworths is focused
towards attaining higher level of growth in its operations, it will receive major commitment
from the customers by creating a sense of trust among them. It is important for Woolworths
to frame its strategies according to the prevailing political conditions of the country.

Supporting the internal management also requires to support the employees of an
organization and therefore, it must support the improvement of skills of the employees.
Different training and development programs will help in providing support to the employees
thereby improving the internal management of the organization.
Required resources for implementing the identified suitable strategies
The resources which are required to determine and identify the suitable strategies with
regard to implementation and application imply the finances and the necessary infrastructure
along with the appropriate people in terms of the goals and objectives of the organization in
question. It would help in the capitulation upon the strategy in an effective and efficient
manner as far as the aims of the organization is concerned (Hayes, 2018). However, the key
element in this matter is the management of the resources in the desired manner thereby
ensuring the allocation of the resources in a proper and appropriate manner. Misuse of the
resources would result in the detrimental effect over the organization to a massive extent
thereby leading to the ineffectiveness and inefficiency in the modus operandi of the
organization overall. It would also lead to the exploitation of resources thereby resulting in
the disastrous outcomes for the organization accordingly. Additionally, the aspects of the
ethics are also to be taken into account in order to implement the suitable strategies identified
in proper and appropriate manner thereby paving the possibility of the meeting of the goals
and objectives by the organization in the desired manner. The resources relating to the
finances would play an important role for the organization as far as the formulation and
implementation of the strategies are concerned by the virtue of budgeting accordingly. It
would help in the investment of finances in the desired manner thereby leading to the
prevention of the misuse of the financial assets of the organization. The availability of the
required infrastructure would help the organization for the attainment of the goals and
objectives in a timely manner thereby implying the qualitative outcomes. The right people are
required in order to imply that the strategy is implemented in a proper and appropriate
manner.
Conclusion
It can be concluded by stating that the concept of organizational change has been
analyzed in an effective and efficient manner. The theories pertaining to change management
in terms of organizational behavior have also been taken into consideration in the desired
manner. The analyses at the internal level have been carried out by the incorporation of the

factors relating to Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT). The analyses
at the external level have been carried out by the incorporation of the factors relating
Political, economic, Social and Technological (PEST). The areas which depict the scope and
opportunity with reference to the changes to be undergone have also been analyzed in a
proper and appropriate manner accordingly. The possible strategies with regard to the
changes have also been analyzed in a proper and appropriate manner accordingly. A literature
review has also been conducted in order to discuss and explains the theories relating to
change along with the frameworks in question. The resources required with regard to the
strategy with reference to the changes have also been analyzed in a proper and appropriate
manner. In a nutshell, the concept of change management at the organizational level has been
considered.

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