Change Management Strategies in UK Social Media Agencies

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Understanding and Leading Change
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................4
Part A: Responding to change.....................................................................................................4
Assess the different drivers for change using a range of real-world examples to support your
answer......................................................................................................................................4
Using the organisations you have included for your examples, compare how each of the
organisations have responded to the drivers for change, considering similarities and
differences in each organisation’s approach to dealing with change......................................5
Part B: The Impact of change......................................................................................................7
Evaluate the ways in which the internal and external drivers of change may affect the
leadership behaviour, and the behaviour of the teams and individuals...................................7
Evaluate measures that can be taken to minimise the negative impacts of change on
organizational behaviour.........................................................................................................8
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10
Recommendations..........................................................................................................................10
Task 2: Leadership decision making.............................................................................................11
Produce a force field analysis that identifies the driving and resisting forces associated with
change....................................................................................................................................11
Explain the different barriers for change and analyse the driving and resisting forces to
determine how they influence leadership decision making within your selected organization.
...............................................................................................................................................11
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................13
Reference List................................................................................................................................14
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Introduction
The aim of this report is to highlight the concept and significance of change management and the
ways in which it has become integral in today’s dynamic business world. Keeping varying
organizations in mind, the report will discuss the impact that it has on the overall organizational
behaviour and performance. It will identify and discuss various drivers of change and the
different ways in which leading organizations have responded towards it. In addition, it will
discuss the measures that can be taken for minimising the adverse effects of change. It will also
enclose a force field analysis identifying the different resisting and driving forces that are
associated with the idea of change.
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Task 1
Part A: Responding to change
Assess the different drivers for change using a range of real-world examples to support
your answer.
In the organisation, the operations are affected by many external and the internal factors. It is like
the pressure the organisation faces that changes the shape of the organisational structure. The
drivers of change affect the strategies and plans and the design of the organisation. The factors
that lie external can be the customers, technology or the competition in the respective market.
The rest of the factors that affect the business operation can be the social, political or
environmental situations of a specific region. Spin Brands and Media Bounty are the medium
sized organisations that are based in the United Kingdom. The field or areas of operation for both
the companies are the social media. The drivers of change that affect the business operations of
both the organisations are described below:
Customer led drivers- They serve as the basic and the most important factor of change. The
needs of the customer affect the sales of the organisation. The demand, income and the
additional alteration in the preference of the customers affect the operations of the business. In
Spin Brand and Media Bounty, the operations are laid according to the preference of the
customers.
Technology led drivers- The advancements in the technology have been increasing and these
developments affect the operations of the business (Moncrief et al., 2015). In the above-
mentioned organisation, they implement the use of the latest technology to enhance the
operations.
Government led drivers- In the United Kingdom there are many laws that are related to the
functioning of the media industry. The Spin Brand and Media Bounty operate keeping the laws
and policies intact to avoid future hindrances.
Competitor led drivers- In the market there are many competitors in the similar field. Both the
companies plan according to the competition so that they can cater to the changing needs of the
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customers and hold a good market place. They innovate and implement new methods of
functioning.
Using the organisations you have included for your examples, compare how each of the
organisations have responded to the drivers for change, considering similarities and
differences in each organisation’s approach to dealing with change.
Spin Brands and Media Bounty have been recognised as the best social media agency in UK.
They both work by inculcating creativity and understanding the perspective of the job needed.
Working in the social media sector for a very long time they have mastered the art of utilising the
drivers of change as their strength. There are yet differences in their approaches that administer
their operations.
Similarities
1) The companies utilised the technological change to increase their productivity and
generate more funds for the development and growth process. They installed new leads to
track the count of the customers that are inbound to the house.
2) The Brexit caused an impact on the business operations of the organisation (Lloyd,
2019). Both the companies had to revise their approach to match to the social and the
governmental changes that occurred in UK. They raised the cost of the service and
reduced the foreign trade to increase the domestic sales. Doing so helped both the
companies to beat the competitor drivers of change. They build a brand name in the local
market where the competition level was high.
Differences
1) Spin Brands responded to the customer led drivers of change by introducing new
methods and techniques catering to the needs of the clients (Spinbrands, 2019). Whereas
Media Bounty is, the company that brought in the changes to enhance the quality of the
work produced. Spin Brand was all about installing new techniques and Media Bounty
just enhanced their existing techniques to fulfil the needs of the customers.
2) Spin Brands is focusing more on the outbound by improving the quality of the work from
the marketing team. They installed new software to track the performance of each
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employee. Media Bounty has been using the inbound by utilising the artificial
intelligence to expand the potential of the business. This way, both the companies were
able to cater to the technology driven changes.
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Part B: The Impact of change
Evaluate the ways in which the internal and external drivers of change may affect the
leadership behaviour, and the behaviour of the teams and individuals.
The process of change is one of the most vital systems, which is directly linked with the overall
functioning, and productivity of organizations. Internal and external drivers influence leadership
skills and the overall team behaviour in organizations in various ways. These drivers can be
discussed as the following:
Change effect on overall team dynamics
Dynamics are hugely influential for all organizations as it helps in maintaining its overall flow of
productivity and functioning. Team dynamics are connected with the different physiological
forces, which helps in interpreting the overall team personality (Al-Haddad and Kotnour, 2015).
It is crucial for Spin Brands as this makes it easier for the teams to communicate with each other
and form effective decisions. Appropriate leadership and team management has a huge role to
play in building proper team dynamics.
Psychological change
Psychological changes occur when an organization is able to deliver appropriate results and
attain positive organizational behaviour for making a breakthrough. Organizations always strive
to boost their performances. This aspect may be developed with appropriate implementation of
the strength and skills of the entire workforce (Babalola et al., Euwema). Leaders always
encourage changes that help in dealing and overcoming any sort of challenging scenario.
Commoditisation as one of the primary drivers of change
Commoditisation is one of the most important drivers, which changes the functioning and overall
scenario in an organization. For example, social media has hugely influenced business today as
everyone remains connected through the different social media platforms. Organizations these
days use innovative advertising campaigns for reaching out to their customers. Social media is
one of the strongest platforms today and it has the ability of influencing the functioning of
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organizations in the market. These factors have a huge influence on the leadership styles and
overall team performances within an organization (Allen, 2018). Leaders in Spin Brands have to
develop their leadership styles continuously in order to adjust and adapt with the growing needs
and developments of the market to sustain and function effectively among other competitors.
Evaluate measures that can be taken to minimise the negative impacts of change on
organizational behaviour.
Changes may often bring in adverse impacts on the overall organizational behaviour and it would
be crucial for the authorities to ensure that proper steps are taken to control such situations.
These measures can be discussed as follows:
Communication and coordination: It is crucial for the leaders to ensure that there is effective
coordination and communication within the team so that each member is able to voice his
opinion and advice the teams regarding overcoming of common problems (Chuang et al., 2016).
The leader must see to it that each opinion is given due respect as it is through these discussions
that positive solutions can be reached.
Constructive change
Constructive changes are often implemented by organizations to change and boost the overall
organizational structure in order to attain the organizational goals and objectives. Constructive
changes are usually implemented by organizations keeping their goals and current strategies in
mind and with the aim of achieving greater turnover in the future (Ghasabeh et al., 2015). For
example, it is crucial for organizations such as Media Bounty to gather appropriate information
regarding the market before taking any important business decisions. This process of market
research would help the organization in minimising the negative implications of change and
assist it in gaining a better competitive edge in the market. Entrepreneurs must be an active part
of the implementation processes and ensure that the organization remains effective in handling
the changes and its impacts (Richards, 2015).
Adaptive changes
Organizations like Spin Brands and Media Bounty often implement frequent adaptive changes
for improving their performance and overall production quality. Effective leadership has a huge
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role to play in each organization, as the leaders help the organizations in facing huge problems.
They assist the team members in executing the tasks appropriately and ensure that they work in
perfect coordination and collaboration. Organizations may recruit an outstanding team leader
who has effective leadership traits and the ability to tackle any kind of challenging situations
(Hillson and Murray-Webster, 2017). Newer job roles help organizations in developing their
functioning and becoming enriched and more competent for the hugely competitive business
market.
Organisational response to change is one of the most significant issues that must be considered
by the authorities. In doing so, Lewin’s change management model may be considered. This
model states that the change process entails developing the idea that the change is required, then
progressing towards the desired behaviour and then congealing the new behavioural pattern as
the norm. Organizations like Media Bounty must take into account the different risk factors in
order to bring in the appropriate changes. It would have to divide the change process into three
distinct parts such as unfreezing, changes and freezing and this would enable the organization in
making huge profits (Holten and Brenner, 2015). The leaders in Media Bounty would have to
implement the positive changes and assist the team in its integration. This would ensure that
changes are effectively utilised and the team is made capable of working in newer ways.
Figure 1: Lewin’s change model
(Source: Researchgate.net, 2019)
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Kotter’s theory significantly emphasises on the change process and is used for evaluating its
impact on business (Chappell et al., 2016). In following this model, the leaders of Media Bounty
would have to create a sense of urgency regarding the need for change and form effective
coalitions for supporting the primary organizational activities. They would have to remove all
obstacles that might obstruct the change process and anchor the change within the overall
company culture. By implementing Kotter’s theory, the leaders in Media Bounty would be able
to attain higher success in the enormously competitive and dynamic market.
Conclusion
It can be concluded from the discussions made above that change initiation has become crucial
for the growth and sustenance of organizations like Media Bounty. Changes may imply some
kind of internal or external forces required to develop the operations and functioning of
organizations. These usually comprise of changes such as strategies, planning, products and
services. External and internal drivers of changes modify and develop the primary structure of
organizations.
Recommendations
In the hugely competitive business environment today, it has become important for organizations
to assess the risk factors associated with change implementation. The leaders in Media Bounty
must see to it that an effective work culture is maintained where the employees would feel
motivated to offer their best efforts in order to accomplish the common goals of the organization.
Individual perceptions and opinions must be respected and valued and this would help in solving
challenging situations in a better and more efficient manner. It would be useful for Media Bounty
to implement new technologies that would help it in its change process. This would ensure that
the organization is able to create and sustain its unique market presence and make huge profits.
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Task 2: Leadership decision making
Produce a force field analysis that identifies the driving and resisting forces associated with
change.
It would be crucial for Media Bounty to assess its change process carefully and understand the
various impacts of the changes. Force field analysis can be understood as the process whereby an
organization would be able to predict future changes. In order to have positive changes within
the organization, the authorities in Media Bounty would have to ensure that the driving forces are
strengthened. These changes in Media Bounty would be influenced in various ways. Utilising of
force field analysis helps in determining the forces that would influence the various changes.
These may comprise of insufficient skills and knowledge, inoperative structures, processes and
habits.
The restraining forces may be understood as the barriers that obstruct the change process. They
have a huge influence on the change processes. On the other hand, driving forces imply those
forces that are supportive towards the changes and strive to bring in the positive effects. Driving
forces help leaders in taking important business decisions regarding the organization and its
employees. It makes the leaders aware of the different issues that are associated with the changes
(Western, 2019). This makes the leaders increasingly capable of applying the necessary changes
and eliminating potential barriers effectively. The leaders in Media Bounty must emphasise on
developing emotional intelligence and self-awareness and this helps in understanding the forces
that are at work. The behaviour of the workers would help the leaders in identifying the different
restraining and driving forces at work.
Explain the different barriers for change and analyse the driving and resisting forces to
determine how they influence leadership decision making within your selected
organization.
In order to initiate a successful strategy aimed at constructive organizational change, Media
Bounty must identify and assess the barriers that might be faced in the process. Some of these
barriers have been discussed below:
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Organisational complexity
Within Media Bounty, complexities may include different kinds of complicated processes,
systems and products that contribute and support the change process. The leaders must develop
the ability to adopt effective measures for accomplishing superior and more effectual projects by
controlling and reducing these complexities.
Ineffective communication
Lack of communication makes it difficult to conduct change processes effectively (Jalagat,
2016). This has become one of the most frequent barriers and therefore Media Bounty must
ensure that the employees have appropriate communication skills for interacting with their co-
workers. Communication would help the employees in Media Bounty to establish a stronger
connection within the team which would eventually help in achieving higher development.
Lack of employee engagement
This is another major barrier in the change process. For example, the employees in Media
Bounty might be apprehensive towards the change, as it would involve major changes in their
regular routine. The leaders must engage the employees in a constructive manner and explain the
impact of these changes and its significance (Kazmi and Naarananoja, 2017).
Force field analysis helps the authorities to find out ways in which the obstacles may be dealt.
Media Bounty would use this model for assessing all the stages that are required for successful
implementation of the change method. This analysis helps the leaders in differentiating between
the driving and restraining forces inside the organization. It helps the leaders to identify the
various barriers and challenges that may be of external or internal nature. They would be able to
identify the situations of conflict and crisis. The first step would be to assess the current situation
and build the policies for institutional changes (Nahum and Carmeli, 2019). Thereafter, the
leaders must try to identify and establish the kind of weight each force carries. Equilibrium can
only be attained when the weight of restraining forces and driving forces are equal. Following
this, it becomes easier for the organization to accomplish its long and short-term objectives.
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