Understanding and Leading Change

This assignment explores the impact of change on an organisation's strategy and operations, with a focus on Vodafone and AT&T. It evaluates the drivers of change, the effect of internal and external drivers on leadership, team, and individual behaviors, and provides a SWOT analysis of both companies. The assignment also discusses measures to minimize negative impacts of change and different barriers for change.

Understanding and
Leading Change

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
LO1..................................................................................................................................................1
P1) Comparison between enterprises in context of impact of change on an organisation’s
strategy and operations...........................................................................................................1
M1) Different drivers of change and type of organisational change they have affected.......4
LO 2.................................................................................................................................................4
P2) Evaluation of affect of internal and external drivers of changes on leadership, team and
individual behaviours.............................................................................................................4
P3) Measures to minimize negative impacts of change on organisational behaviour............8
M2) Critical evaluation of theories.........................................................................................9
D1) Conclusion and recommendation....................................................................................9
LO 3...............................................................................................................................................10
P4) Different Barriers for Change........................................................................................10
M3) Force field analysis.......................................................................................................10
D2) Critical evaluation of force field analysis.....................................................................11
LO 4...............................................................................................................................................11
P5) Apply various approaches of leadership........................................................................11
M4) Evaluate the approaches of leadership by using change management model..............12
D3) Critically evaluate the effectiveness of leadership........................................................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Organisational change mainly represents any kind of alteration or change which occurs in
the way of working or operations of an organisation. As organisations are operating in a dynamic
environment thus, change has become a vital part and most common characteristics of all
business orgnisation (Tombetti and Mason, 2019). The orgnisation selected for current
assignment to get better Understanding and Leading Change is Vodafone that is a well known
British Multinational telecommunication company providing IT and telecom services to its
customers. This assignment consists a comparison between impact of change on an
organisation’s strategy and operations along with evaluation of internal and external drivers of
change. Further, use of PDCA model is also made to minimize negative impact of change
together with evaluating different barriers for change through use of force filed analysis. At last,
different leadership approaches are also evaluated to effectively deal with change within an
organisational context.
LO1
P1) Comparison between enterprises in context of impact of change on an organisation’s strategy
and operations
To cope up with dynamic nature of business environment organisation needs to become
more flexible and adaptable to change to remain comparative and sustain the external forces in a
more effective way. The main reasons for change in business operations and strategy of an
orgnisation is associated with change in needs and demands of customers or due to internal
factors to bring better coordination and systematic way of working (Alavi and Gill, 2017). To
develop better understanding about the impact of change a comparison is made between two
enterprises the case studies of which are provided below:
Vodafone- It is a well known British Multinational telecommunication company having its
headquarter in London, England, UK along with services in various other regions of world that
consist of locations from Asia, Africa, Europe, etc. Thus, Being such a large organisation and
having a wide target customers it become more prominent for Vodafone to make regular changes
(Scott, 2018). Thus, Vodafone is coming up with a technical changes and preparing for 5G
technology with new and more better tech development along with a organisational change to
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reduce its operation cost (Vodafone Idea preparing for 5G technology with new tech deployment,
2019).
AT&T Inc.- It is an American multinational telecommunication, mass media and
entertainment company that is having its headquarter situated at Texas, U.S. AT&T is having a
mission to bring customers with the best and most innovative the technology of tomorrow, today
thus, timely technical changes are made by this organisation and now it is planning to come up
with more effective Wireless technologies like 5G and elements like artificial intelligence and
applied technology (Boyatzis and Cavanagh, 2018).
A comparison between these two orgnisation in context of impact of change on an
organisation’s strategy and operations is provided below:
Changes Vodafone AT&T Inc.
Technological
Changes
Impact on strategy:
Vodafone has made significant changes
in its strategies to adopt and implement
change in its technology that consist of
leading additional capabilities and
technology through ensuring a more
better integration of network and IT
(Nadim and Singh, 2019). This new
strategy of Vodafone would lead to
better transforming of its provisioning
and billing to provide more convince to
its customers. Further, To lead vast and
better development of technology a
massive amount of investment is also
made by Vodafone on its network.
Impact on Operations:
Effective implication of technical
change lead a significant impact on
operations of Vodafone as more
effective technical knowledge is
Impact of strategy:
The impact of technical
change on strategies AT&T to
bring more effective Wireless
technologies like 5G consist
of making effective policies
and strategies regarding the
cyber security and safety of
new network along with
improved use of data science
and artificial intelligence
(AT&T, 2020).
Impact on Operations:
A significant impact is lead by
technical change on internal
operations of AT&T as more
emphasises given on regular
technical training and
development of employees to
make them more competent
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required by Employees thus, regular
technical training for workforces is
needed. Further, the technical change
also lead impact in recruitment
operation of Vodafone as more skilled
and technically viable candidates are
hired by Vodafone for success of Its 5G
network.
and sharpen their skills
(Dorac-Kakabadse, 2017).
Further, a new team is also
appointed by AT&T to keep
check on cyber security and
efficiency of its new network
and ongoing innovation.
Organisational
change
Impact on strategy:
Vodafone is coming up with a
organisational change with the main
objective of reducing its operational cost
and enhance its work efficiency for
which Vodafone is creating a wider
group of commercial functions that
brings change and impact its strategies
in order to lead unified communication
among its employees, directors,
managers and customers also (Mackey
and et. al., 2018). Thus, organisational
change lead to impact in strategies of
Vodafone through leading a unified and
direct communication among all
associated parties and wider commercial
functions.
Impact on Operations:
The organisational changes of Vodafone
lead to a positive impact on operations
of Vodafone through ensuring effective
communication to have better decision
making and strategy formulation which
Impact on strategy:
The AT&T is coming up with
an organisational change that
is now more focused towards
innovation along with
corporate social responsibility
thus, all the strategies and
policies made by this
organisation are based on
lading a balance between
profit and CSR to improve
customer’s lives and solve
greatest societal issues.
Impact on Operations:
This organisational change
lead to a significant impact on
operations of AT&T as it lead
to decision making and
operations that ensures
improvement in life of people
and helping communities to
become cleaner, safer and
strong through better
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makes its business operations and
functions more cost effective.
innovation that are more eco-
friendly and minimize damage
to society (Struthers, Tilbury
and Williams, 2017).
M1) Different drivers of change and type of organisational change they have affected
There are various factors that lead to pressure or emphasis on an organisation to make
change which are called as drivers of change. The main drivers of change that lead emphasis on
Vodafone and AT&T to make above stated technological and organisational change are as
follows:
Improvement in Technology- A rapid improvement and advancement is seen in
technology that is creating high level of pressure on Vodafone to bring technical change and
innovation to keep a balance and coordination with level of technology prevailing in its business
environment (Glass and Cook, 2016). Thus, innovation of Technology is a driver that lead a
pressures on AT&T and Vodafone to come up with technical change.
High level of Competition- It is factor that pressurise an organisation to bring more cost
efficiency and betterment in its operation to have enhanced competitive strength thus, Vodafone
brigs organisational change in its operations to become more cost effective. Further, AT&T also
brings organisational change in its operations and decision making to have enhance competitive
strength and better business position (Amis and Janz, 2020).
LO 2
P2) Evaluation of affect of internal and external drivers of changes on leadership, team and
individual behaviours
The internal analysis is conducted in order to assess the availability of resources which
assist the firm in accomplishment of task in a short span of time (Thompson, 2016). The SWOT
analysis of Vodafone and AT&T are presented below:
SWOT of Vodafone
Strength
 Strong presence of brand: One of the biggest strengths is that Vodafone has capture the
large market share and has built customer loyalty through excellent offerings in its
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services as is currently operating in 40 countries which is considered as the great market
share.
 Excellent marketing: The concerned firm has a great marketing campaigns through
ZooZoo advertisements that grab the attention of large number of users across the globe.
Weakness
 Limited in rural areas: The concerned firm is very limited in rural areas which create a
difficult for them due to low connection.
 Increase in debt: Vodafone has adopted the huge debt which in turn affect the revenue
and profitability within the confines of telecom industry (Popovic and Plank, 2016).
Opportunities
 Emerging excellent growth: The respective firm has an around 4 billion users at a global
level which render an opportunity to grow.
 Provide a great network coverage: Vodafone is performing well in the market by
providing better coverage of network which improve the overall operations.
Threats
 Emerging competitors: There are giant number of players of Vodafone such as Jio, Airtel
which hit a big threat for the company as it led to decline in number of subscribers.
 Decline in Profit margin: This results in price wars that minimise the profit margin and
performance in a marketplace.
Swot of AT&T
Strength
 Strong cash flows position: AT&T has great financial performance and cash flows that
allow the firm to emphasise on expansion and diversification of a business (Zimbardo,
2016).
 Enjoy greater economy of scale: The concerned firm has provided with good return on
capital expenditure that allow the firm to enjoy economy of scale in a marketplace.
Weakness
 Lack of training: The employees are not trained properly which hamper the growth and
lead to delay in activities.
 Lack of awareness: The awareness of brand is limited which affect the sales within
telecom sector.
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Opportunities
 New technology: The respective firm emphasise on creating technical awareness by new
innovation and ideas that adds value proposition among the customers.
 Focus on expansion: AT&T emphasise on creating more expansion in different locations
that renders an opportunity to boost its profitability (Mihaljević, 2019).
Threats
 Increase in price of raw materials: The rise in cost of raw materials and also the
fluctuations in rates of currency possess a big threat as it results a decline in profit
margins.
External factors
To evaluate about the affect of eternal or micro drivers of changes on leadership, team
and individual behaviours use of PEST analysis is made for both the enterprises a description of
which is provided below:
External
Factor
Vodafone
(UK)
AT&T
(US)
Political The recent Brexit issues that lead to
more stricter trade policy and increase
in government intervention that is
leading instability in political
environment of UK and making it
difficult for Vodafone to have stable
trade with other countries in Europe,
that is leading a significant impact on
leadership, team and individuals
behaviour of Vodafone as Leaders need
to play a more vital role and
responsibility in taking decisions as per
government norms and also require to
motivate employees and individuals to
operate in a dynamic environment
(Vodafone Group SWOT & PESTLE,
US is having a world second largest
democracy in world thus, its political
environment is much more stable that
lead a positive environment for AT&T
thus, decision making of leaders is
more stable along with leading better
working environment for employees
that lead a optimistic impact on
attitude and performance of teams and
individual employee.
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2019).
Economical The Brexit issue lead to a negative
impact on profitability of Vodafone and
COVID-19 has also affected the
purchasing power of customer, thus
Vodafone needs to make changes in its
strategies that lead a significant impact
on leaders as they need to motivate and
train employees to cope up with this
Global pandemic and Employees also
need to become efficient to provide its
services at lower rate to attract larger
number customers (Tombetti and
Mason, 2019).
Beacuse of current global pandemic,
the economy of US is going through a
slow down and risk of recession has
also increased thus, leaders of AT&T
require to emphasis more on cost
efficiency and also need to build
morale of employees. Further, slow
down in economy and COVID-19 also
lead negative impact on behaviours
and performance of employees.
Social A growing demand for high speed
internet is seen in society of UK and
other target markets of Vodafone that
lead to an opportunity for this
orgnisation to attract larger number of
customers through providing enhanced
and more efficient internet network that
is leading a positive impact on leaders,
teams and employees of Vodafone to
provide better services to customers to
fulfil their needs and demands.
US is having third largest population
in world thus, lead a larger target
market for AT&T who likes to watch
online content and more digital
entertainment thus, lead a optimistic
mind set for leaders and emphasis on
enhanced creativity of team members
and employees to grab this growth
opportunity.
Technological A rapid technological change and
improvement is seen in Markets and
economy of UK that lead a high
pressures on leaders to become more
adaptable to have regular improvement
US is also rich in technical
advancement and improvement that
makes it necessary for leaders to
provide regular training and
development programmes for
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and innovation. It also leads a pressures
on employees to learn new and more
innovative skills and talents to keep a
balance with dynamic technical
environment.
employees to enhance their skills
(Alavi and Gill, 2017). Furthers,
impact is also made on teams and
employees as they also need to
regularly sharpen their skills and
competencies to set a coordination
with technical change and
improvement.
P3) Measures to minimize negative impacts of change on organisational behaviour
Making Change within an orgnisation is quite a complex process that lead both positive
and negative impact on organisational behaviours. Thus, to minimize the negative impact of
change use of PDCA model has been made by Vodafone and AT&T a description of which is
provided below:
PDCA model
Use of PDCA model lead to a framework for having continuous improvement through
effective and systematic implementation and execution of a new change (Scott, 2018). The
Different stages of PDCA model that minimize negative impacts of change through leading
systematic approach for execution of a change are provided below with respect to change made
in Vodafone and AT&T:
Plan- It is the first stage where efforts are made by organisation to identify a problem or
need of change. For this, purpose regular market research and survey is conducted by Vodafone
and AT&T to evaluate about current scenario of market. It has been seemed by both the
orgnisation that a higher demand for fast and safe internet network is prevailing thus, Vodafone
planned for coming up with 5G network where as AT&T emphasis to a new innovation to lead
enhanced cyber-security in its network (Boyatzis and Cavanagh, 2018).
Do- Once the need for change is evaluated the next step is making suitable strategy to
execute a change in more effective and better way. As, Vodafone has come up with a new 5G
network and organisational change to attract larger number of customers and bring cost
efficiency in its operation. AT&T is also making required modification in its technology to make
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it more safe and lead organisational change to ensure suitable growth in dynamic business
environment.
Check- It is the stage where the actual performance and results of above stated strategies
are checked and compared with desired level of performance to minimize the negative impact
and chances of failure. For instance, in case of Vodafone and AT&T regular training and
guidance is provided by leaders to its subordinates to keep a check and maintain the performance
and efficiency level of employees to minimize the risk and negative impact of change (Nadim
and Singh, 2019).
Act- It is the last stage where all the planning and desired modifications are executed in a
practical way. This consists of effective communication with all stakeholders along with
documentation and making of records to evaluate the actual success and failure of strategy and
changes made. Vodafone as well as AT&T are successful in implementing their technical and
organisational changes as they are succeed in attracting larger number of customers for more
innovative, safe and fast internet network (Dorac-Kakabadse, 2017).
M2) Critical evaluation of theories
Use of SWOT analysis lead to better evaluation of internal factors of Vodafone and AT&T
where as PEST reflects the implication of external drivers of change on leaders, teams and
employees of both organisations. It has been evaluated that leaders need to motivate and guide its
employees for better implication of change. Further, use of PDCA model lead a systematic way
for execution of change to minimize its negative impact through leading proper planning,
strategy formulation, checking on performance and effective execution of a change by both
Vodafone and AT&T.
D1) Conclusion and recommendation
A conclusion can be made that the technical and organisational change lead by Vodafone
and AT&T are successful that are based in proper evaluation of their external and internal factors
and drivers of change. Further, a recommendation can be made for both Vodafone and AT&T to
have better use if models like PDCA and other approaches to minimize the negative impact and
risk associated with implementation of a change.
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LO 3
P4) Different Barriers for Change
To make timely changes is vital and required by all orgnisation as it is never be easy to
implement a change or modification within an organisation as various barriers of change are
there (Mackey and et. al., 2018). The various barriers of change along with its influence on
leadership decision-making of Vodafone is provided below:
Lack of support from employees- Rapid changes and continuous modification are resists
by employees as they are more habitual with their traditional forms of working thus, lack of
support from employees is big barrier faced by Vodafone while implementing the new technical
and organisational change. Thus, it creates an influence on leaders of Vodafone as they need to
make better communication and share all required information about advantages of new changes
with employees in order to motivate them for supporting new changes and modification.
Lack of resources- The another barrier faced by Vodafone during implication of technical
change is associated with lack of sufficient amount of resources required to bring modification
and improvement in its network along with high cost of training and developing technical skills
in employees (Struthers, Tilbury and Williams, 2017). Thus, proper planning and budgeting
along with making better decision regarding sources of investment and effective use of resources
is required by the leaders of Vodafone to overcome this barrier of lack of resources.
Ineffective communication- The another obstacle faced by leaders of Vodafone consist of
lack of effective communication that can lead to chaos and confusion at workplace while
implementation and executing change the hamper the efficiency of modification. Thus, proper
ways of communication and effective guidance should be lead by Leaders of Vodafone to ensure
effective supervisions and execution of change without any chaos and confusion to minimize and
overcome this obstacle of change (Glass and Cook, 2016).
M3) Force field analysis
Use of force field analysis is made by Vodafone to effectively evaluate about the driving
and resisting force for its technological and organisational change a description of which is
provided below:
Driving factors- It represents the sum total of forces which are in favour of a change and
drive its success and effective implementation. The driving forces in case of technological
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change of Vodafone consists of demand of new and more fast network of internet by the society
and target market along with access to new and dynamic technology (Amis and Janz, 2020).
Further, the slowdown of economy and increasing demand for more cost effective and cheap
sources of internet lead a driving factor for organisational change of Vodafone that makes its
operations and business function more cost effective to provided services at lower rate.
Retraining Forces- These are the factors and drivers that create obstacles and restrict the
smooth execution of a change. As in case of Vodafone, lack of support from employees,
ineffective communication along with lack of sufficient resources are the main restraining forces
that is hampering and hindering the implication of technical and organisational change in
Vodafone (Popovic and Plank, 2016).
D2) Critical evaluation of force field analysis
It can be evaluated from above force filed analysis that the demand for a fast network in
society and target market of Vodafone is supporting its technical change along with
organisational change to lead cost effective in operations in order to achieve the objective of
enhanced productivity and wider number of customers. Further, it can be evaluated that some
obstacles like lack of resources and lack of support along with ineffective communication us
faced by Vodafone that can be overcome through more effective planning and leading proper
guidance and motivation for employees to achieve the desired objective of improving network
through properly executing technological changes in order to attract larger number of customers
for innovated and high speed internet network.
LO 4
P5) Apply various approaches of leadership
Leadership plays an essential role in an organisation as it has the ability to influence the
behaviour of others by its act and conduct (Parsons and et.al., 2016). The leader of Vodafone
renders a proper advice and training among their staff so as to accelerate their skills and
knowledge base and thus inculcate confidence and determination among them. In the context of
Vodafone, several approaches are presented as follows:
Democratic: This style of leadership emphasises on considering the ideas and
suggestions of subordinates as they promote new and innovative ideas which help in making best
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decisions. The manager of Vodafone invites the opinions and views of staff and appreciate their
efforts that help in attainment of targets within limited time period.
Merits: One of the greatest advantages is that democratic style help in increasing job
satisfaction and boost the morale and trust of employees.
Demerits: Procrastination is one of the major drawbacks of democratic style as it could
lead to delay in overall operations of a company and hamper the growth within telecom industry
(Mihaljević, 2019).
Transformational: This approach emphasises the manager to implement a change in an
organisation by creating a strong vision and its committed team members follow the strategy in a
best possible manner (Fine, 2016). The manager of Vodafone behaves differently in accordance
to prevalent situation as it encourages its team members to work with zeal and potential that
contribute a success in future.
Merits: This approach help leader to promote modifications in a workplace and engage
its team members to accept challenging task and thus create passion and enthusiasm among
them.
Demerits: Lack of communication skills is one of the biggest hurdles in case of Vodafone
which create possibility of conflict and misunderstandings among them.
M4) Evaluate the approaches of leadership by using change management model
The business environment is regarded as dynamic in which changes are taken place at a
fast pace so by looking this, the manager of Vodafone facilitate necessary modifications such as
use an innovative technology and provide a better network coverage and so on which facilitate a
proper growth and improve the overall performance within telecom sector. The leader would
make an appropriate planning by deciding a proper course of action so that it could achieve
target within a short span of time. Also, it involves the active participation of employees by
considering their ideas and suggestion and thus make them feel satisfied and retain them for a
long period of time.
D3) Critically evaluate the effectiveness of leadership
Leadership is influential in nature that promote the growth and help in ensuring greater
success in future. The democratic style of leadership provides an opportunity to subordinates to
express their opinions and views but at the same time it led to conflicts and delay in decision
making because of listening the ideas of everyone in an organisation. The transformational style
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help in promoting a positive atmosphere in a workplace but at the same time it creates difficulty
for some employees to accept the changes taken place in an organisation. The manager of
Vodafone applied Lewin’s change model which are presented as follows:
Unfreezing: The manager of respective firm maker planning for the modification that are
required to be done as it is regarded as essential to promote the growth in a well-defined manner.
Change: In this stage, the leader as well as team members embrace the necessary
changes which provide new directions in a dynamic environment as it helps the firm to achieve a
strong rivalry edge over a marketplace (Doppelt, B., 2017).
Refreezing: This stage involves the proper systematic and new ways of working in a
workplace which provide an opportunity to firm to bring stability and transparency in an
organisation.
CONCLUSION
With respect to above assignment it can be concluded that change forms a vital part of every
organisation that makes it more adaptable and flexible to operate in a dynamic environment.
Further, it can be evaluated that technical changes is made to cater needs and meet expectation of
customers where as organisational change is associated with brining cost efficiency and
betterment in operations. Beside this, use of SWOT analysis is made to evaluate internal factors
of changes where as PEST yield information about external drivers of change. Further,
implication of PDCA model lead to systematic planning and implication of change to minimize
its negative impact whereas Force filed analysis yield information about driving and restraining
force of change. At last, it can be concluded that democratic leadership style ensures better
involvement and participation of employees to properly bring and execute change.
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