Understanding and Leading Change: A Case Study of Marks and Spencer

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UNDERSTANDING AND LEADING CHANGE

Executive Summary
The current report has been developed based on determining the needs and for the leading
changes for organisational growth. Change is inevitable in the existing competitive
environment. The organisations operating in the current competitive environment need to
incorporate change in order to survive the challenges and barriers in their path. it is seen that
most of the change that took place are dependent on changes in organisation structure. these
organisational changes in structure are in turn dependant change in products and services,
changed organisational model.
The following assignment is based on the topic understanding and leading change. it presents
an in-depth understanding of influence of change on the organization. in order to demonstrate
the understanding and leading change, Mark and Spencer, the UK-based organization has
been selected in this context. This report highlights the impact of the large scales changes
have upon the operation as well as strategy of the organisation. Apart from that, an analysis
of effect of changes on the organizational behaviour within the selected business has been
depicted. Based on the findings, measures have been proposed that could be incorporated by
Marks and Spencer to mitigate or minimize the impact on its business with the help of
relevant concepts, theories and models.
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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................4
LO1: Comparing impacts of changes on organisational operations and strategy (M1).............4
Types of organisational changes............................................................................................5
Drivers of changes..................................................................................................................5
Dealing with changes...........................................................................................................11
LO2: Evaluating influences of the changing drivers over organisational behaviour (M2)......12
Impacts of changes on organisational behaviour.................................................................12
Drivers of changes for Marks and Spencer..........................................................................12
Responding to the change-related drivers............................................................................13
LO3: Determining barriers to changes and impacts on leadership decision-making (M3).....14
Imposed Organisational Changes.........................................................................................14
Adaptive and Constructive Changes....................................................................................15
Schein's Organisational Culture Model................................................................................16
Leadership and Decision-making.........................................................................................16
LO4: Implementation of leadership approaches to initiate changes (M4)...............................16
Situational Leadership and Organisational Changes............................................................16
Initiating Changes................................................................................................................17
Theories, Concepts, and Models related to Changes...........................................................18
Conclusion and Recommendations..........................................................................................20
References................................................................................................................................22
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Introduction
Business perspective of the current world has come to an increased edge of high-level
competition. In that case, every organisation may have to select an effective leadership
approach. With the help of that, the respective organisation may have encountered the needs
of bringing in changes in the organisational operations. As per the business operations of
Marks and Spencer, it has been seen that Marks and Spencer is operating with democratic
leadership approach, which increases organisational adaptability with respect to changes. In
accordance with this, it can be said that the respective organisation may have to enhance the
leadership skills and changing abilities of the company, which may have helped the
organisation to comprehend with the current competition in operating market. However,
changes are needed due to increased level of competition in the retail industry of the UK. The
following report is going to focus on the organisational changes, relative barriers, and aspects
of implementing changes.
LO1: Comparing impacts of changes on organisational operations and strategy (M1)
Organisational changes have been known as the determinants of efficiency of that business.
In the case of organisational growth, changes can be considered as the major needs for the
respective organisation. Organisational changes can be initiated in different aims and
purposes. These have been identified as follows:
1. Improvement of employee performances
2. Increasing organisational efficacy
3. Inspiring diversity in the organisational environment
4. Enhancing business profitability in terms of enlarged base of consumers
Organisational position and perceptions of the management system may have greater level of
impacts on the changes taking place in that respective organisation. In order to bring in
changes in an organisation, it can be said that the business may have to develop the working
environment so that the employees may have become more adaptable to changes. In
accordance with the words of Morgan et al. (2017), it has been known that with the help of
adaptability level of the employees, every organisation can effectively execute changes as per
the created proposal.
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Types of organisational changes
Organisational changes can be segregated into five major types, which have been identified
as follows:
● Wider organisational changes
● Transformational changes
● Unplanned changes
● Personal changes of the employees
● Remedial changes
In accordance with an effective strategy of changing environment in an organisation, it can
we say that the stagnation in the business can be removed. In addition, Fernie and Sparks
(2018) have stated that business improvement and evolution of the operational functionalities
can be enhanced. In addition, productivity level of the employees can be increased, which
may have helped the respective company to increase financial inflows.
Drivers of changes
Changes are major aspects for a business to to make the pathway of growth wider. In that
case, has been known that changes appear in an organisation through the influences of
external environment as well as internal environment related to the organisation. These two
environmental structures have been considered as the drivers of organisational changes.
External Environment
Environmental factors Impacts on the business Ultimate Impacts
Political factors ● Lower level of
political stress and
threats
● Higher level of
political stability
● Controlled security
Therefore the political factor
has positive impacts on
Marks and Spencer
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in the UK market
(Burnes and Towers,
2016)
● Text regulations
effective and amount
of tax is very little tat
is 5.4% of the
adjusted profit
● Liver administration
is solving 3rd
consecutive term
Economic factors ● Inflation rate,
employment rate,
interest rate, and
GDP are higher
(Carayannis et al.
2015)
● Economic
performance of
Marks and Spencer is
growing 9 to 10%
per year
● Deleterious pressure
over consumer
spending
● Increasing level of
liberalisation with
respect to trade
policies (Neil et al.
Economic scenario of the
UK is positively affecting
the respective business
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2016)
● Government
intervention in
execution strategy
● Skill level of the
workforce is higher
in the operating
market
● accessibility and
availability of core
financial
infrastructure
● Re-entering
performance of
Marks and Spencer
has increased the
market penetration
by two to three tier
Socio-cultural factors ● Presence of
multicultural
customers in the
market
● laser interest of the
customers is working
as re-entering
strategy
● Power structure of
the relative societies
● Higher standards of
Socio-cultural impacts on
Marks and Spencer is
positive
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living
● Education level of
the relative societies
is higher
Technological factors ● faster disruption in
supply chain model
due to technological
innovations
● Partners of supply
chain are empowered
● Distribution channels
are made effective
with the help of
technological
advancement
● Security for the
intellectual property
and assets
Technological implications
are helping Marks and
Spencer for business growth
Table 1: PEST Analysis for Organisational Changes in Marks and Spencer
(Source: As Influenced by Neil et al. 2016)
Analysis
In case of United Kingdom, it has been observed that the political ground is not suffering
from political stresses and threats. This represents that political stability of the UK is higher
which is helping the business of retail industry to increase tips efficiency and productivity.
Apart from that, the current labour administration is serving the third consecutive term. As
the taxation policy in the UK is effective, the respective company is able to earn a huge return
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on tax. However, after Brexit, the retail businesses of UK have suffered a huge financial
downturn.
Economic scenarios of the UK for retail businesses have presented that Marks and Spencer
has acquired a large market share in operating market of the UK. With the help of that, it can
be said that the business is earning are you scale of profit from the market. Custom agreement
and market performance both are increasing economic inflows of the company up to 10% per
year.
In accordance with the demographics of the UK, it can be said that the execution and strategy
of the retail sector are re-entering strategy for the business. As the education level and
standards of living are higher in the UK, it can be said that the market demand is higher for
the respective business, which is increasing profitability of the organisation.
Technological advancement is helping Marks and Spencer to increase the security for
intellectual acids, patents, data, and confidential information. Apart from that, flow of
productivity, employee performance, entire organisational performance, and many more have
been made faster. On a brief, it can be said that technological implications have helped the
respective business to increase its profitability as well as market performance.
Internal Environment
Strengths
● Clear and effective brand image is
owned by Marks and Spencer
(Corporate.marksandspencer.com,
2019)
● The company inspires for
innovations
● Marks and Spencer have their private
labels
● More than 80000 employees in the
company have been outsourced from
the global platform
Weaknesses
● Marks and Spencer is unable to
penetrate the foreign market in a
successful way
● customer satisfaction is not that
much high which is lowering down
the brand loyalty and increasing
band switching (Birkin et al. 2017)
● Scalability of the supply chain is one
of the greatest weaknesses of that
company
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(Corporate.marksandspencer.com,
2019)
● Multicultural presence has make the
company diversified
● multiple channels have been helping
the respective company to regulate
the entire stores over the global
platform
Opportunities
● large base of subsidiaries of Marks
and Spencer is the greatest strength
● Business environment of retail
industry is convenient in the UK
market
● Capitalisation for the company is
higher due to oo ew coherent
working environment
Threats
● Higher rate of threats, due to
presence of numerous substitute
● Increasing rate of competitors in the
retail business of the UK market
● Pure competition from Zara, Tommy
Hilfiger, Uniqlo, Gap, Benetton
United Colours, and many more
● Bargaining power of the customers is
higher for the retail business in the
UK
Table 2: SWOT Analysis for Organisational Changes in Marks and Spencer
(Source: As Influenced by Birkin et al. 2017)
Dealing with changes
In order to deal with the changes, the respective organisation may have to develop an
effective strategy with the respect to increase the adaptability level of the entire organisation.
In that case, it can be stated that the organisation may have to involve every people of the
company in the development programmes. With the assistance of that, the people may have
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developed their evolving attitude, which may increase the adaptability of the respective
people. In order to manage the organisational changes, Marks and Spencer may have adopted
the following strategies of change management:
● Clearly defining the changes as well as aligning them with the business objectives
● developing a sound communication strategy that can help the leaders and managers to
communicate with the subordinates
● Forecasting the impacts and the relative outcomes of organisational changes at
operational level
● implementing a supporting structure for the employees so that they can comprehend
with the changes
● Measuring the processes of changes to examine whether it is aligned with the business
policies or not
● Providing adequate training and development programs to the employees of the
company
Bohner and Arnold Change Impact Analysis
Bohner and Arnold have jointly propounded two classes of impact analysis with respect to
organisational changes, wider credibility as well as dependency impact analysis. Traceability
impact analysis is used to represent the link between needs, specifications, captured tests,
design elements, and significance related to organisational changes (Carayannis et al. 2015).
These are helpful to initiate change and making the scope of changes wider. On the other
hand, dependency impact analysis appears at the level of detailed visibility impact analysis.
In the case of software design, dynamic algorithms, and static algorithms, dependency IA is
implemented. This can help to create the structure of dynamic performances and program
behaviour related to changes.
LO2: Evaluating influences of the changing drivers over organisational behaviour (M2)
Impacts of changes on organisational behaviour
Organisational changes have greater level of impacts on the behaviours of both the
organisation as well as its employees. As it has been known that organisational changes may
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have changed the entire environment, employees may feel insecure about their jobs. In
relation to this, it can be said that organisational changes may have psychological impacts on
the employees. These impacts can be segregated into both positive and negative impacts.
Positive impacts
● Team dynamics can be made more effective
● Employee productivity can be enhanced
● Experiences and skill sets of the employees can be improved
● adaptability skills of the employees can be enhanced
● Coordination and communication among the employees may become more
transparent
Negative impacts
● Job security related questions can be appeared among employees
● Employee turnover and absenteeism can be increased
● Employees may feel less valuable and less interested to their works
● Employee behaviour and coordination may have been affected adversely
Drivers of changes for Marks and Spencer
In accordance with the PEST analysis for Marks and Spencer, it can be said that external
market has greater level of impacts on organisational changes and its outcomes. Factors of
external environment may have helped the respective organisation to protect the needs of
changes in accordance with the current competition of the operating market. These may have
laid the concerned business to take the initiation of changes and father execute in the
organisational environment. As it has been seen that tax regulation has it a lower amount of
tax on the profit of retail businesses, Marks and Spencer is earning are huge rate of profit
margin. With the help of that, respective business is contributing to the national, local, and
regional market economies (Martínez et al. 2017). Thus, the GDP level of the respective
region has been found as increasing consistently. apart from that the educational level and
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