Organizational Change Management: Case Study Analysis

Running Head: ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE MANAGEMENT
Case Study Analysis
Change management in Wesfarmers

ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE MANAGEMENT
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Wesfarmers................................................................................................................................3
Ethical, social, cultural and environmental factors impacting Wesfarmers...............................3
External and Internal factors that have led to change................................................................4
Role of leader ship in change management................................................................................5
How Wesfarmers communicate change with the stakeholders..................................................6
Results of change process..........................................................................................................6
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................7
1 | P a g e

ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE MANAGEMENT
Introduction
Ethical, cultural, social and environmental factors are some of the imperative factors that
influence the ability of an organization to respond and compete in the business environment.
Eventually, the success of an organization is determined by these factors; since these factors
govern how the organization moves forward and how it is particularly responding to the
external environment. The paper particularly highlights the ethical, social, cultural and
environmental factors impacting Wesfarmers. Wesfarmers is an Australian conglomerate
which interests in New Zealand retail, fertilizers, chemicals, coal, mining, and industrial
safety products.
The paper will highlight the internal and external circumstances and factors that have led to
change in the organization. Internal and external business environments part an imperative
role in the business functioning. The paper will also describe how Wesfarmers approached
the changes and how they managed to cope with the changes in each and every aspect of the
business. Therefore, the report will primarily illuminate on organizational change.
2 | P a g e

ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE MANAGEMENT
Wesfarmers
Wesfarmers was established as a co-operative in the year 1914 intended to deliver services
and merchandise to Western Australian farmers. There were more than 65 local co-operative
companies working as agents for Wesfarmers by the year 1919. In the year 1984, Wesfarmers
was registered on the Australian Securities Exchange and then it propagated into a major
retail corporation (Wesfarmers, 2019b). In the 2016 financial year, Wesfarmers upheld the
position of leading Australian company by revenue; with AU$65.98 billion the company
overhauled BHP and Woolworths. The company is the biggest private employer in Australia
with more than 220,000 employees (Wesfarmers, 2019a).
Wesfarmers have diversified business operations which include outdoor living & home
improvement, office supplies, apparels, and general merchandise, and industrial division with
several businesses in energy and fertilizers, industrial and safety products, and chemicals.
The company has a shareholder base of 490,000 (IBISWorld, 2019).
Ethical, social, cultural and environmental factors impacting Wesfarmers
Ethical factors: Wesfarmers’ principal objective is to manage their diversified business
portfolio with financial discipline and deliver agreeable results to the stakeholders.
Wesfarmers’ business model comprises core values of integrity, culpability, transparency,
and entrepreneurial spirit. The company guides each of their stakeholders, subsidiaries and all
of their associations with a code of conduct. For instance, Wesfarmers audited 4000 supply
stores in Asia to ensure that they are following ethical business practices and they do not use
bribery or bondage. The company found 39 critical breaches, from which they took remedial
actions at 21 factories and from the other 18 factories they stopped placing orders (Klinger,
2015).
Social factors: Australian government parts an imperative role in the growth of Wesfarmers.
Factors such as demographics, cultural trends, and population play an imperative role in the
company’s growth. For instance, Australians prefer to shop in a bulk quantity every week;
therefore, Wesfarmers would have a profitable business with supermarkets and departmental
stores (Wesfarmers, 2017c).
3 | P a g e