Understanding and Leading Change.

Understanding and
Leading Change

Table of Contents
Understanding and Leading Change................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
TASK1.............................................................................................................................................3
P1 Compare different organisational examples where there has been an impact of change on
an organisation’s strategy and operations...............................................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
P2 The ways in which external and internal drivers of change affect team, leadership and
individual behaviours in an organisation................................................................................6
P3 Evaluate measures that can be taken to minimise negative impacts of change on
organisational behaviour........................................................................................................7
TASK3.............................................................................................................................................9
P4. What are the different barriers to change and determine their influence on leadership
decision-making in an organisational.....................................................................................9
TASK4...........................................................................................................................................11
P5 Apply different leadership approaches to dealing with change in a range of organisational
contexts.................................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13
Books and Journals...............................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
In today’s dynamic world Change is an essential process which comes in course of every
organisation and how efficiently that change is deled defines the success of that organisation.
Change is a natural phenomenon and will occur so it is better to accept the change and prepare
the organisation accordingly. It is seen over years the organisations that manage change properly
are better players in the market and have gain competitive advantage in the industry. Innovation
in the process, product or service is basic requirement that needs to be fulfilled by businesses. To
understand the change and its impact on the organisation there is study of Marks and Spencer,
which is a multinational company having the headquarters in London. The company deals in
many sectors and their primary sector is clothing (Akingbola, Rogers and Baluch, 2019). The
report is about how different internal as well as external factors impact on leadership and team
behaviour. Also there is discussion of the factors that reduce negative impact in Marks and
Spencer. In the last there is study of leadership approaches followed in organisation.
MAIN BODY
TASK1
P1 Compare different organisational examples where there has been an impact of change on an
organisation’s strategy and operations.
Over the past years many organisations have attempted to find out the different strategies
to adopt the change management. The organisations are looking forward to improving their
performance by sustainable offerings to their customers with high quality standards. The focus of
the organisation is to innovate their methods of serving the customers to ensure productivity and
growth (Belrhiti, Giralt and Marchal, 2018). Below there is a comparison of two organisations is
explains to show the impact of the change on performance of the organisation which can be
explained as follows:
BASIS MARKS & SPENCER JOHN LEWIS
PARTNERSHIP
Structure Marks and Spencer is a
circular based organisation
which focuses on
In relation with John Lewis,
the company mainly focuses
on creating effective

encouraging employees in
decision making process. In
this way, the company
follows team management
and making strategies for the
improvement of the
workplace. This also
encourages effective
communication among
employees and ensures
healthy leadership qualities
in the organisation
(Chlopczyk, 2019). In the
organisation all the tasks are
divided effectively among
the workers according to
their field of specialisation.
This also helps in managing
the demands of different
departments easily in a short
span. This organisation
implements effective
communication channel
between different levels of
the organisation.
communication channel in
the hierarchy of the
organisation. As
communication is the key to
change and this tool will
enhance the proficiency level
of the workers efficiently.
This will also help in the
attainment of organisational
goals and objectives. This
company runs a democratic
structure which ensures
proper participation of all the
level of employees of the
organisation in the decision
making process.
Strategies The change will help the
company in analysing its
current strategies and
implementation of new
strategies for the benefit of
the workers. Marks and
John Lewis company have
their business setup in the
national and international
market across the globe
(Clark and Harrison, 2018).
The company have to adopt

Spencer company also
implement strategies for
reducing the conflicts in the
working environment of the
company to ensure smooth
working. This will improve
the leadership skills and the
promote team work among
the staff members of the
organisation.
the policies according to their
working environment and
that’s why their working and
communication system is
considered slow. As they
deliver the information
slowly but delivers the
effective and feasible
information which is best for
the future use.
Operations Marks and Spencer
operations have smooth
working as the company
have effective and fast
communication process. The
company is ready to face the
challenges associated with
the change management
(Dodd, Achen and Lumpkin,
2018). The company have
hired effective workforce to
maintain their brand value
and which will also help in
increasing the productivity
and growth level of the
organisation. The operations
of the company also depend
on the management of the
company and their managers
who ensure that the work
assigned to the employees
In relation with John Lewis,
the company mainly focuses
on their policies that will
ensure smooth working of
their operations. The
company have the objective
of maintain legal advantage
which will ensure
government support to the
organisation. The company
also determines the capacity
level of the workers and
assign the work accordingly
to keep their workforce
motivated. It is also
important for the company to
set the existing objectives
and make strategies to
achieve them in near future.

are meeting their deadlines
timely.
Considering the above comparison both the companies develop different strategies to
maintain change management across their organisations. Marks and Spencer basically focuses on
the communication channel to achieve effectiveness in their working while John Lewis Company
focuses on getting legal and competitive advantage over its competitors to ensure proficiency
level in their organisation.
TASK 2
P2 The ways in which external and internal drivers of change affect team, leadership and
individual behaviours in an organisation.
There are many drivers of change that impact the leadership, teams as well as individual
behaviour in an organisation (Donald, M., 2019). In relation to Marks and Spencer these factors
have a significant impact on the organisation’s leadership, the teams and even on individuals.
The drives that impact Marks and Spencer are as mentioned below:
 Internal factors: The factors that impact the organisation and internal like change in
organisational structure or employee morale create positive and sometimes negative
impact on Marks and Spencer. These factors are underneath:
 Culture: Most important driver which is internal in the organisation is the culture of the
organisation. This is how people interact with each other the values that they share. In
Marks and Spencer, the administration takes care of the culture to be followed and use
methodologies to deal with such change in the organisation. This helps to maintain peace
in the organisation and achieve what is planned easily.
 Employee morale: The employees are the most important part in an organisation and
they can impact the leadership as well as team working in the organisation (Hislop,
Bosua and Helms, 2018). In Marks and Spencer employees have low morale and are not
motivated towards work so the leaders are planning to give the monetary as well as non-
monetary recognition and appreciate their work to motivate them and work happily in the
organisation, this is how they impacted individual, team and leader of the organisation.

Let’s discuss the factors that are external to the organisation, and have impact on it with relation
to Marks and Spencer. Some of these factors are as follows:
 Political factors: Political factors means there is intervention of government means the
policies made by government and their impact on different organisations. There are many
policies made in UK that impact the business of Marks and Spencer. The policies are
certain and are in favour of Marks and Spencer so it has advantage and is easy to survive
in the market and achieve its goals on time.
 Economic factor: It is essential to study the economic factors of the organisation as they
impact organisations position. It includes inflation rate, interest rate, Gross Domestic
Product, employment rate and change in this factors directly impacts the organisation.
Due to stability in economic conditions ok UK, it is easy for Marks and Spencer to make
policies and follow them. If the employment rate decreases the employees have to face
many problems (Imron, Satria and Puspitaningtyas, 2019). So it is good to have stability
in the economy for smooth functioning of every organisation existing in that country as it
is important for Marks and Spencer. Technological factors: In this rapid changing world technology is the key to success. For
any business to be successful the main requirement is technological advancement.
Innovation always brings competitive advantage. So technology impacts the business in
positive way if made right use of and adversely if not used as per demand in the market.
In context to Marks and Spencer the company always improves its production process to
serve its customers the best. Marks and Spencer make right use of technology and
regularly innovates its product to satisfy the customers with the best. They give proper
training to employees for new techniques that are used by the company so they have
perfect knowledge and work by using their power best.
P3 Evaluate measures that can be taken to minimise negative impacts of change on
organisational behaviour
Companies use various measures that are taken to minimise the negative impact on
organisational behaviour. The main challenge that organisations face is change, so the
well they deal with the change the less are its negative impact on the organisational
behaviour (Mensi-Klarbach and Risberg, 2019). It is the duty of leaders and managers of
the organisation to help employees to cope with change and not let the change impact the

organisation adversely. To deal with change properly the model used by Marks and
Spencer is PCDA. The model helps to plan everything and the check the things in relation
to plan and then act to fill the loopholes. This helps to deal with situations in a positive
manner and prepare the employees for the change and don’t let that impact Marks and
Spencer in an adverse way. So the PCDA for Marks and Spencer is as follows:
Plan: This is the first stage of this model under which plans are developed for achieving the
strategies. The manager makes policies to accomplish the goal set by the organisation. In relation
to Marks and Spence the company uses the model to bring a change in the organisation by
planning strategies to achieve the target. At the time when Marks and Spencer was losing the
customer engagement towards the organisation they made strategies to improve and start making
its digital presence all over to attract more customers and gave them offers to increase the
engagement of customers towards the organisation (Muhammed, Abidi and Dzenopoljac, 2019).
Do: Second is the stage when there is evaluation of different strategies and best among them is
selected. As Marks and Spencer has a global reach each of its strategy should be efficient enough
that it covers all the markets and every region has benefit from the strategy. It is important to
select the best solution or strategy for smooth implementation of the target set. Marks and
Spencer prepare its employees with proper training so they can achieve the desired strategies and
motivate employees so they work efficiently and help in achieving the goals of the organisation.
Check: Changes take place in every organisation and it is important for the managers and leaders
to check whether these changes are having positive impact on the organisational behaviour. In
this stage the actions of company and analysed and their impact is also seen in respect to
individuals as well as teams in an organisation (Oostra, 2016). In Marks and Spencer the
managers after implementing the strategy timely check that is that going in right direction and

are employees able to understand the right way to follow their roles and responsibilities. The idea
of digital platforms was checked timely and the effectiveness of that plan in the organisation was
also checked to see the benefit of the plan in the organisation.
Act: This is the last stage in which the organisation really implements the strategy. Marks and
Spencer used social media platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook etc. to increase its
promotional activity and while performing the action plan they checked its impact on the
employees as well as leaders and to outsiders of the organisation (Price, 2018).
This PDCA Model is helpful for Marks and Spencer to implement a new idea effectively
and to create a positive impact on the individuals of the organisation as well as on the
organisational behaviour in the multinational company.
TASK3
P4. What are the different barriers to change and determine their influence on leadership
decision-making in an organisational.
Managing change is a long process and effective implementation of that makes the organisation
successful. The leader is responsible for managing those changes and letting the implement
smoothly in the organisation. There are barriers which also influence the leadership decision
making in an organisation. It is an important task to manage the changes in the organisation as
they lead top success of the organisation. In relation to Marks and Spencer there are factors that
influence there performance and sale of goods. So these challenges need to be addressed by the
managers to achieve the organisations objective. The issues are discussed below:
 Improper staff engagement: This is a major problem faced by any organisation and it is
very vital for organisation to have the employees engaged. The employees are the one
who work for the organisation and if they won’t be engaged the organisation will not
grow. Employees should fully utilise their skills and knowledge for betterment of the
organisation and this is the responsibility of leader to assure that the team is loyal
towards* the work and if not then identify the short comings and engage them by the
activities that are required (SVANE, Gergerich and Boje, 2016). In Marks and Spencer
they use motivational activities to influence the employees and keep them happy by
having social gatherings and other activities that increase the personal touch among them
and they contribute to success of the organisation. A good leader will always motivate its

team and help employees to work with full dedication in the organisation to achieve the
targets on time.
 Lack of communication: a good communication involves both the parties the one who
conveys the message and the other who listens to the message. The major quality that a
leader should possess is communication as if the message is not understood by the team
this will create problem and will lead to non-achievement of goal of the organisation. It is
important to have a proper flow in an organisation for its smooth functioning and
achievement of its targets. In Relation to Marks and Spencer they follow an appropriate
flow of communication to all the employees who help them to understand the things
better and it also help leader to take better decisions. This shows that the leaders of Marks
and Spencer take appropriate decisions that are required by the organisation which helps
them to achieve the targets set by them (Sveningsson, and Sörgärde, 2019).
Marks and Spencer is using right framework which helps them to achieve the
organisational goals in time.
Force Field Analysis
This model involves a process of designing different strategies that will help in the
implementation of the organisational goals. Marks and Spencer can use this model to ensure that
their leadership abilities get enhanced with the implementation of this model. This model has
many phases which are discussed below:
 Change Force Identification: In this stage the manager of Marks and Spencer will try to
analyse the different risk factors associated with the implementation of the change in the
organisation. It is a continuous process which will help in clearing the obstacles in the
change management of the organisation.
 Change Substance: This is the second stage in this model which involves the substance
as crucial thing for the change management. This ensures formulation of strategies for the
adoption of change across the organisation.
 Assessment of Score: Under this step the manager have to analyse each implemented
strategy and have to give score according to its performance level in the organisation
(Tang, 2019). The effect of organisation must be positive to ensure continuous working
and efficient progress of the organisation.

 Force against Alternate Identification: Marks and Spencer selects the change that can
be implemented in the organisation according to their current requirements. The
operation manager ensures that the change will be implemented smoothly without
disturbing the working actions and workforce will not get affected due to the change.
 Evaluation and Execution: This is the last step which is associated with the execution
and evaluation of change alternatives available. The manager of Marks and Spencer have
to make sure that the change implemented will not harness the working of the
organisation and the productivity level will not get affected due to its implementation.
Hence, these are the different barriers which affects the working of the organisation. This
also affects the implementation of change across the organisation’s hierarchy levels. Marks and
Spencer implement different strategies to ensure smooth decision making process.
TASK4
P5 Apply different leadership approaches to dealing with change in a range of organisational
contexts
Leadership is ensuring the team participation in the decision making process of the
organisation and this is the most difficult change for an organisation to implement smoothly. The
leader and the manager have the duty to guide the employees and workers at the workplace and
ensure that their problems are solved timely. Marks and spencer is an organisation who has
achieved its growth level and it is the duty of the manager to ensure that different change
management strategies are adopted to encourage and motivate the employees at workplace
(Tapscott and Tapscott, 2017). In context with the change management the company has
adopted two kinds of approaches which can be explained as follows:
Democratic Approach: This approach can be defines as a participative approach in
which leader ensures that every worker participated in every level of the decision making
process. This will enhance their abilities in the working environment and encourage a strong
team building at workplace. This will also promote innovation as every worker will introduce
new ideas during their participation in this process. This strategy is used by Marks and Spencer
in the attainment of the long term objectives which will ensures increased productivity and
growth for the organisation.

Autocratic Approach: This approach is also effective in the management of change
implemented at the workplace for the benefit of the workforce. In this approach the workers are
not allowed to participate in the decision making process and the manager ensure discipline
maintenance in the working environment of the company (Weiner, B.J., 2020). This theory
generally limits the power and authority of the employees by reducing their direct involvement in
the decision making process of the organisation.
Lewis’s Model Change: It is an effective model which is used to implement change in
the working of the organisation. This change will ensure effectiveness in the working with the
help of suitable leadership and participation of the workers in the decision making process. This
model has three different approaches which are used by company to ensure that the
implementation of change in the organisation is performed smoothly which can be explained as
follows:
 Unfreezing: This is technique which involves unlocking the change in the organisation.
This is helpful for the manager to bring the innovation and change in the working of the
environment of the company. Marks and spencer can use different sales promotion
channel to drive that sales force for the change management. This will help in utilising
the talents of the workforce at the right place in the right time for the organisation.
Customers will also attract and create a connection with the brand for longer duration
(Wilkin, Ackerly and Stephens, 2016). This will also help in managing the operations of
the organisation in this competitive environment.
 Change: It is the most important and crucial step which helps in the working of the
company. The change will ensure that the current working condition has not any loop
holes and the workers are sincere towards their working. This will also develop strategies
for different departments and levels of the organisation which will manage the change
and ensure that the productivity level of the organisation gets increased continuously.
Marks and Sprncer can use various strategies to implement change across their
organisation to ensure that their competitive advantage will provide the company some
sort of benefit.
 Refreezing: This is a phase which deals with the implementation of the change across the
workplace by adopting different approaches and maintaining the score card of their
performance. With this process the company can refreeze their strategies and build them

according to their requirements in an appropriate manner. This will be helpful for the
manager as they can transfer this information to other to reduce resistance to change
across the workplace in the organisation. This also focuses on individuals who are
helping in bring the change in the organisation for the maintenance of efficiency and
effectiveness in the organisation (Yang, 2017).
Hence, these are leadership approaches implemented by the Marks and Spencer for the
attainment of successive growth level and productivity among its competitors.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be concluded that the company is making efforts towards
bringing change in the organisation. Marks and Spencer is a company who have competitive
advantage due to its goodwill in the industry for delivering the quality services. The company
focuses on serving the customer in an innovative way and for that the company adopts change
management strategy to ensure competitive advantage over its competitors. Furthermore, it is
discussed that the company adopts different leadership approaches to ensure the participation of
the workforce in the decision making process in the organisation. The change management is a
crucial step for the company which is important to encourage motivation for the workers at their
workplace and for the attainment of goals of the organisation effectively.
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