Leadership and Change Management in David Jones: A Report

This report examines the change management initiatives undertaken by David Jones, focusing on the application of the Dunphy and Stace model. The analysis begins with an overview of the corporate transformation, highlighting the establishment of an Omni-channel business model, the introduction of new stores, and the development of an online platform. It discusses the impact of these changes, particularly the strategic decisions made by CEO Paul Zahra, such as leveraging space and retaining local suppliers. The report then assesses the leadership style required after Zahra's departure, advocating for a directive leadership approach based on the case study's observations of effective decision-making and the need for clear objectives. The report references several academic sources to support its arguments regarding the effectiveness of directive leadership within the context of David Jones's organizational structure and past performance, concluding that such a style would be most appropriate for continued success.

Running head: CHANGE MANAGEMENT
Change Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Question 3:
Four scale of change models fit the change made by David Jones
According to Dunphy & Stace of change, a more comprehensive approach to change
management in organization as well as consultancy is highly required which significantly
requires a scope for transformation as well as instrumentalism. As per the case study of David
Jones, it can be mentioned that David Jones have gone through a corporate transformation
of four scale of change model. The implemented change includes the establishment of Omni
channel -business in which the newly appointed CEO presented the idea of establishing six
new stores and a wide online platform (Ishitani 2016). The business experienced a massive
change after Zahra took over the operation in 2010.
It was certain that the business environment was being dynamic in nature in which
customers’ needs and market demands are rapidly changing and emergence of online sales
seemed to be lucrative opportunity for the retailers. Thereby, the organisation had to discard
its existing model and innovate the traditional model with expansion and market oriented
products. In order to implement the corporate transformation, Paul Zahra leveraged the
space crunch by keeping the products that customers need. This means that offline stores are
stacked with demand based products such as fashion and beauty products while cutting out
children ware. In addition to this, the transformation of David Jones also included the
retention of longstanding commitment with the local suppliers so that some products are
exclusively manufactured for David Jones. The cost of offline operation including six new
different outlets are backed by reducing the cost of supplies (Aylor 2015). This means that
the long-term commitment with the suppliers enabled the organisation to provide materials at
fixed price. In order to enhance customer experience in the offline market, the organisation
has developed personal shopper program. On the contrary, to establish the online platform, it

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made use of technologies designed by IBM. Thus, it can be mentioned that David Jones has
gone through large corporate change.
Question 4:
Style of leadership David Jones need after Paul Zahra’s departure (Use of Dunphy
Stace model of organizational change)
The case study indicates that the period of 2010 to 2014 under the leadership of Paul
Zahra, David Jones earned 91.8 million along with the increase of 220% in online growth
sales. However, the scenario indicates that David Jones was heading towards massive loss
and falling the behind the race before Zahra but once Paul Zahra in 2010 started leading the
operation, business has gone through massive transition and experienced a massive return.
The scenario gives a clear picture that when it comes to decision-making, Zahra with his
autocratic leadership style brought significant change. Thus, after the departure of Zahra,
David Jones should lead the operation following a directive leadership style which is one of
the significant leadership styles of Dunphy and Stace leadership framework.
According to Buchanan (2017), Directive Style of Leadership may include the limited
participation from employees in decision-making technique associated with organization’s
future. This means leaders take the vital business decision for implementation related to
organizational change. Directive leadership style would be effective for David Jones because
the period 2010 to 2013 turned out the fact that David Jones would perform well when the
business decisions are taken by the leader with the use of his/her experience and expertise
instead of high involvement of employees. Direction and leading of the organisation should
be governed by the leader only. Excessive involvement of employees and subordinates would
create a haphazard event in which implementation of business decisions may take a lot of
time. Hughes (2016) mentioned that a leader with the skills of market forecast can

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effectively lead the business while mass involvement can delay the leading of operation.
However, Fitzgerald (2017) argued that directive leadership may experience employee
resistance in the internal organizational environment. However, this fact may not be
applicable for David Jones, because at David Jones, sole leadership wins over any other
leadership.
The leadership implemented by Paul Zahra’s leadership at David Jones is more about
setting a clear objectives and rules and that are applicable for the subordinates as well. Thus,
with the help of directive leadership, the leaders at David Jones should ensure that
expectations and directions are effectively defined and communicated. Directive leadership
is significantly applicable to David Jones because the past operational scenario indicates that
subordinates are not skilled enough, thereby, CEO Zahra alone proved the organizational
effectiveness by taking some vital business decisions.

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References
Aylor, B.R., 2015. Siemens AG Acquires Dresser-Rand: A Study of Contingency Leadership
Models in Change Management Ease of Transition.
Buchanan, D.A., 2017. Managing Change. The Oxford Handbook of Management, p.343.
Fitzgerald, L., 2017. Theories of Organizational Change: Transformational Change as a
Developed Theory?. In Challenging Perspectives on Organizational Change in Health
Care (pp. 3-30). Routledge
Hughes, M., 2016. Leading changes: Why transformation explanations
fail. Leadership, 12(4), pp.449-469.
Ishitani, M. 2016. Organizational Change: Exploring the contingency model and some
alternative ways, 24(6), 69-76.