Report on Change Management, Leadership, and Verdant Leisure

This report examines change management and leadership within Verdant Leisure, a holiday park company. It analyzes both internal and external drivers of change, such as technological advancements, employee morale, competition, and globalization, and discusses their impact on leadership, tea...Read More

UNDERSTANDING AND LEADING
CHANGE

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION .....................................................................................................................................4
TASK – 1.................................................................................................................................................4
PART – A............................................................................................................................................4
Different drivers of change using examples and considering similarities and differences in the
approaches of the firms.....................................................................................................................4
PART – B.............................................................................................................................................6
Ways in which drivers of change affect the leadership, team and individual behaviour in Verdant
Leisure ..............................................................................................................................................6
Measures to minimize negative impact of change on organizational behaviour ..............................7
TASK – 2.................................................................................................................................................9
Force field analysis ............................................................................................................................9
Determining barriers of Change and the ways they influence leadership decision making in Toyota
.........................................................................................................................................................11
TASK – 3...............................................................................................................................................11
CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Talking about organizations, it is being regarded as highly specialized system and
people employing within the firms are pessimistic about changes in their working
environment because they does not want to be in an unexplored zone. It is quite natural in all
human beings and each and every people does not want to leave their comfort zone during the
process of change. However for the firms to sustain and success in the dynamic environment,
change is no longer optional for them (Beer and Nohria, 2001). Concerning this, the present
research study also aims to understand and lead the change within a medium sized firm
“Verdant leisure” which is planning an extensive growth over the next 3 to 5 years. It is a
holiday par company in Scotland and North of England. As a part of management team of the
firm, the main task to is analyse the drivers of change and how these changes affects the
leadership behaviour within the company. The report will also throw light on the measures to
respond to these changes along with effective for barriers change. It will also explain how
change affects leadership decision making in the firm.
TASK – 1
PART – A
Different drivers of change using examples and considering similarities and differences in the
approaches of the firms
Focusing towards change management, it is all about moving from one state to
another state. It other words, change management within the fir includes restructuring,
promotion of cultural change, re-engineering etc. Leading these changes means implementing
new plan and determining fresh opportunities so as to expand the business and make
enhancement in the existing process of operation with the support of the employees. “Verdant
leisure” is a holiday part firm offering holiday options to people as per their budget. The firm
is ever growing and want to expand their reach in varied markets (Lewis, 2011). For this,
leading change is the main requirement of the firm sustain in the market position and develop
business planning and process. Following are some of the internal and external drivers of
change within Verdant Leisure: Capacity of the technology – New discoveries within the area of technology makes
the old one obsolete. Because of this, Verdant Leisure has keep themselves abreast
with the changes in technology. This is very vital element as it helps in shaping the
operations of the business in longer period of time. Considering this change, Verdant
Leisure has also surrounded itself with innovative engineers as well as designers in

order to maintain their competitive edge in the market. They always make effort to
reinforce the aggression in regards with technological knowledge and ability. This has
impacted the operations of the firm. They are now able to perform their tasks easily
and quickly. Similarly, Corus group, a steel manufacturer of UK has also
implemented change with the technological innovations in the steel industry (The
Driving Forces of Change [Internal & External], 2018). Because of this, the
operational efficiency of the firm increased a lot. They have adopted the alternative of
steel such as carbon fibre and aluminium in order to streamline their process and
deliver effective products to the customers. Both the firms have changed their
technology to sustain competitive position in the market. Employee morale – Confidence level of the employees and their strength is quite vital
for the firms. The workforce of Verdant Leisure are not committed towards their job
and are highly dissatisfied with the working environment than the organization is
forced to implement change. Verdant Leisure has introduced various programs and
practices such as employee recognition programs which has boosted the mental
confidence of the workers. On the other hand, Corus group has dedicated workforce
however motivation is lacking in the work situations and there was also a sign of poor
health and safety culture (Watkins and Bernard, 2001). Thus, company has
implemented various safety measures and regulations to increase motivation among
the staff members. The similarities in the approaches are that both the approaches
aims to motivate the staff members however one focuses on physical surroundings of
the workers and other one pays attention on mental level of employees. Competition – Because of rising level of globalization, competition has been
sharpened a lot. New innovation, technology ideas and processes are main elements of
competition. To face competition, each and every firm keeps on changing their way of
carrying out things. For example, Corus group review their system, processes,
techniques and actions regularly to achieve competitive edge in the market. Similarly,
Verdant Leisure also implement varied process better than their rivals so that they can
sustain as a leader in the market. They have change their pricing policy as per the
demand and achieved an edge over others.
 Globalization – Interaction between people all around the world is getting closer day
by day and thus, firms are in great need to keep updated with the trends of
globalization. Pertaining to this, Verdant Leisure has adopted global strategies and has
taken their divisions which are operating at the national level to international level

(Cummings and Worley, 2008). In the same way, Corus has adopted
internationalization strategy and they focused on changing their culture as per the
country in which they entering. Both the firms have adopted and changed their
strategies because of rapid globalization. Verdant leisure has stepped into
international market but followed the culture of home country whereas Corus group
has changed their working culture as per the host nation.
PART – B
Ways in which drivers of change affect the leadership, team and individual behaviour in
Verdant Leisure
External drivers of change impacting the leadership behaviour
Change always take place with a specified goal in intellect and is mostly driven by the
situations. There are many drivers of change such as competition, globalization, technological
changes etc. Irrespective of the type of change, the main aim of the whole process is to lead
the firm towards the future state which is very diverse from the present state under which the
firm carries out their operations (Kotter, 2001). Change can influence the leadership, team
and individual behaviour within Verdant Leisure in several ways. As discussed above, there
are many changes the company has implemented in order to sustain in the market
successfully. This pertains to the fact that change is inevitable in this fast paced world.
Competition level and volatility is increased than even before. Because of the technological
innovation taking place, international level of competition, deregulation of markets and
altering demographics of the employees, it is becoming obligatory on the part of leaders of
Verdant Leisure to help the firm in moving ahead along the right path. Leadership behaviour
is highly impacted by internal and external drivers of change. During the change process,
employees within the firm becomes resistance to change and here the role of the leader is to
leverage the relationship within the team and must address the concern for the workforce on
personal level. More skills and abilities are required so that they can take efficient decision
overtime (Saenz, Gottfredson and Schaubert, 2008). However, external events can also
impact the team behaviour within the company such as actions of the competitors, new
legislation, political upheaval etc. Teams sometimes react in a positive manner to these
changes and unites with each other to work together for a common action. Teams also makes
sure that the firm deal with the changes properly.

Internal drivers of change impacting the leadership
When change comes from the internal source within Verdant Leisure, it is planned as
well as implemented in a systematic way by the firm. Some of the internal sources of change
within the firm are restructuring, new team development, changing the way of work, layoffs
and decision to hire a new manager. Management of verdant Leisure can control these
internal drivers of change up to some extent (Cadwell, 2007). In the changing organization,
efficient leader might not be as straightforward as it looks. The leader in fact is required to
focus on the variety of issues. Firstly, he or she should have a clear vision as well as insight
about the needs of the firms. Further, he should be capable of determining the team players
like change agent, target agent and must create a team. The change should be linked with the
main business processes as well. Strategy must be developed in consensus with the other
team members and direction should be set so that team can work upon it. In addition to this,
sometimes because of these changes, there is communication breakdown which impacts the
individual behaviour within the firm. Employee and other members of the firms are is
affected by the change management of the firm in varied ways. There is no doubt that the
vital influence of drivers of change is the physiological one for the workforce which is being
regarded as the resistance to the new management system. Thus, to facilitate the change
process, it is important to manage these effects carefully (Locander and Luechauer, 2007).
The employees are shock of the news which means that they are going to step into the
process which they does not know and they are afraid of it because the new situation will be
different from the routine one. It also leads to economic fear and uncertainty of the new
situation among the employees and threatens the inter-personal relationship built during the
former life of the organization.
Measures to minimize negative impact of change on organizational behaviour
For a successful change to take place within Verdant Leisure and to minimize the
impact of change on organizational behaviour, a framework for change is being implemented
within the firm such as Burke-Litwin change model. This model strives to bring change in the
performance of the team or firm through creating link amid performance and internal &
external factors that affects the performance (Bull and Brown, 2012). Further, it is based on
evolution of environmental and organizational factors that can be pulled in order to make sure
an effective change. It includes the affecting factors that can be manipulated for the purpose
of having smooth evolution from one phase to another. Burke-Litwin change model includes
12 dimensions which are considered as a key to organizational change.

Figure 1: Burke-Litwin change model
(Kothari, 2018). External environment – It is vital to determine the external factors that might
influence the firm directly and indirectly and these impact should be established
clearly. Verdant Leisure is being affected by various political conditions, laws,
economic situation of different nations and social-cultural factors. Leadership – It is vital for Verdant Leisure to conduct the study of leadership
structure so as to determine the chief role models in the firm. The leadership structure
in verdant leisure is hierarchal. Mission and strategy – The vision, mission and strategy defined by the top levels of
the firm should be examined appropriately in regards with the point of the view of the
employees. The main mission of the firm is to plan for extensive growth in next 3 to 5
years. Organizational culture – The culture of Verdant Lesiure is very supportive and
conductive. Each and every employee follows regulations, implied rules, principles,
customs and values. All these significantly impact the behaviour of the firm, team and
individual as well (Stanford, 2013). Structure – Verdant Leisure should not only study the hierarchical structure but it
should be a function based structure that pays attention on the communication,
authority, responsibility and control structure which exists amid the people of the
firm. Systems – It comprise of different kinds of procedures as well as policies in relation
with the people and other operations of the firm. Verdant Leisure is very focused
towards their employees and adopts various strategies from time to time to motivate
their staff members such as recognition, reward, incentives etc. Even the employees
are allowed to take part in the decision making of the company.
 Management practices – This dimension speaks about the ways managers conform to
the strategy of the organization while dealing with workers and the resources. The top

management of Verdant Leisure considers the welfare and satisfaction of their
workforce. Individual values and needs – Under this dimension, value, opinions and needs of the
workers are explored in regards with the work so that they can determine quality
factors that can enrich and better satisfy the employees. The employee of Verdant
Leisure require job security and interesting jobs. Work unit climate – This dimensions studies what workers think, feel and expect.
Relationship being shared by the employees with other members of the work unit also
plays a vital role in shaping the climate (Northouse, 2010). The departmental climate
in Verdant Leisure is quite friendly and there is good teamwork. Motivation – Determining the motivation level of the employees is essential to
identify their willingness towards achieving the objectives of the organization. The
staff members of Verdant Leisure needs yearly bonus and celebration for
achievements done. Tasks and skills – This aspect helps in understanding the requirements of the job
position, skills and knowledge area so that employees can carry out their work
effectively. Speaking in relation with the Verdant Leisure, there is not succession
planning being done within the firm and there is lack of promotion as well.
 Individual and overall performance – In this, the level of performance of the
employees and organization in the key areas such as customer satisfaction, quality,
productivity, budget and efficiency is taken into consideration. The customers of the
Verdant Leisure are satisfied and employees also feel pride working in this company.
Thus, to conclude it can be said that if Verdant Leisure takes into consideration these
aspects and implement this model than the negative impact of drivers of change can be
minimized effectively. It is an important mechanism that that portrays the variables that
should be taken into account when the firm steps towards predicting and managing the total
behaviour output of an organization at the time of change.
TASK – 2
Force field analysis
It is being regarded as one of the most vital tool for organizational transformation. As
per Wilson, things which are related with work can be intended to have two sets of forces i.e.
one which encourages the situation to take place and the other that prevents the same.

Restraining forces are just like barriers. They prevent movements in regards with
improvement. Some of them are being explained below:
Restraining forces
Environmental impacts
High cost of new technology
Disruption from day to day marketing
operations
No staff overtime
Staff scared of new technologies
On the other side, driving forces are considered as those factors that affects the
situation which are pushing in a specified area. They initiate change and keeps moving ahead
(Filippov and Kalotay, 2011). Some of the driving forces are explained below:
Driving forces
Customers required new information
Rising level of product awareness
Increased marketing costs
Competition
Timely information delivery to customers
Influence of restraining and driving forces on leadership decision making
When these driving forces are argued against restraining forces, a certain level of
equilibrium is being developed. Such state of equilibrium can be increased or decreased by
changes in the relationship amid the restraining and driving force. In the current task, Toyota
Motors is being taken as a case company. The company has its operations in many parts of
the world and they keeps on changing their strategies and operations to cater with the volatile
market situations. Toyota Motors would like to adopt new strategies and technologies in their
marketing operations. It is quite clear that the driving forces are pushing Toyota towards new
marketing products as well as services by making use of web based technologies and internet.
Seeking help from this technology, Toyota can offer their customers a lot of opportunities for
gaining access to have real time information much faster as compared to the traditional
marketing techniques. However, the restraining forces is acting as a barrier. For instance, loss
of staff working overtime is a restraining force for implementing new technology in

marketing operation, as employees have to work overtime to learn web virtually lessons in
order to perform their job (Connolly and Wall, 2011).
Determining barriers of Change and the ways they influence leadership decision making in
Toyota
Change is quite common in the organization such as Toyota which is operating at the
global level which is full of dynamism, volatility and competition. Similarly, resistance to
change is also very common. There are common barriers to change that restrain the firm to
achieve their change management goals such as cultural issues, workforce issues, resistance
to change etc. focusing on the culture of the firm, it is the main factor the organization is
dependent on. Because of change in the management structure, the leaders of the Toyota
Motors are required to make alteration in the culture and diversity being existed among the
employees. Pertaining to this, teamwork will be promoted and will also help the workers in
delivering high level of performance to their customers. Due to changes taking place in the
firm, cultural conflicts are likely to emerge (Mee-yan and Holbeche, 2015). Other than this,
resistance to change is also vital barrier in implementing change at workplace. Workforce
want to work in their comfort zone and does not want to adopt new ways. Because of this,
management of Toyota faces problem related to recover the position of the firm. Here, the
leaders are required to motivate the employees through giving more increment and incentives
to resist change. Because of these barriers, the leadership decision making is highly
influenced. Leaders is required to have excellent leadership to exercise the change
effectively. The focus should be made on effective communication. Leaders should either
takes decision on the basis of dictatorial edicts i.e. consulting with the sub-ordinates or
involving each and every one and then deciding the final outcome.

TASK – 3
Leadership approaches to deal with the change in a range of organisational context
Speaker note: Focusing in relation with the leaderhsip approch in order to deal with the
change, situtaional leaderhsip is being regarded as the most vital one. It is timless and
repeatable framweok for leaders to match their behaviour with the perfromance demands of
the workers which are making an attempt to influence.
Speaker note: This theory is generally based on two important concepts i.e. developmental
level and leadership itself. Further, Blanchard and Hersey has developed a matrix being
illustrated above which includes four styles i.e. telling, selling, participating and delegating.

Speaker note: Focusing in regards with the four styles, the very first is telling where leaders
tells people what to be done. Secondly, selling involves back and forth between the leaders
and the followers. The main idea here is leaders sells their ideas and the group members buy
it into the process. The third one is partcipating, wherein the leader offers less direction and
allows its group members to actively involve in decision making process. Finally, delegating
style focuses on handing over all powers to group members and they only take major
decisions of what needs to be done.

Speaker note: This model offers easy step by step process for managing change with a main
focus on accepting and preparing changes. Further, for development of plan for managing
changes, the firm is required to craft important opportunities to involve people who are ready
to execute alteration in the work procedures and other operational activities. Further, there is
a need to create a vision that should encompass the fact which takes into accout the interests
of all the employees.
Speaker note: This model of organizational change has eight steps. The very first is create
which means a need for change. Second is build which means developing an integral team for
managing change. Third involves form, it includes making a strategy that aligns with the
vision of the firm. Fourth is enlist which simple means encouraging volunteers and involving
them in sensible activities. Fifth is related with enabling which means decreasing ineffective
and unwanted procedures from the system. Sixth step encompasses generate that signifies
setting short term objectives to achieve long term change. Seventh involves sustaining i.e.
managing finances and planning. Finally, the last step is instituting which entails
communictaing the significance of keeping up the change to all the saff members.

Speaker note: For managing changes in the organizational process as well as operation
management of Toyota, McKinsey 7s model can also be used. It has 7 important elements
which are being divided into soft as well as hard areas. Soft areas inlcude style, staff, skills
and share values and on the other hand, hard areas inlcudes structure, system and strategy.
Strategy means a plan being developed by the firm to achieve competitive advanatge.
Structure entails the manner in which the business unis are being organzied. Systems are the
process and methos of the firm which entails the routine activities of the organization.
Furthermore, skills are nothing but the type and number of employees being reqired within
the firm. Style depicts the manner firm is being managed by the higher authorities. Finally,
shared values are at the core of this model which includes the norms and standards which
offers direction to the behaviour of the employees and company’s actions.

CONCLUSION
Thus, to conclude, it can be said that in order to be effective change leader, an
individual should be expert in the concerned business and system. Change management
strategy should be adopted on the basis of the organization and it should be in consistent with
the objectives of the firm. Consequently, change management helps in bringing improvement
in the current operation of the firm which should be dealt effectively by the leaders.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Beer, M. and Nohria, N., 2001. Cracking the Code of Change. Harvard Business Review.
Bull, M. and Brown, T., 2012. Change communication: the impact on satisfaction with
alternative workplace strategies. Journal of Facilities, 30(3/4), pp.135 – 151.
Cadwell, C.M., 2007. How to Be an Effective Facilitator. EBook Edition ed.
Connolly, C. and Wall, T., 2011. The global financial crisis and UK PPPs. International
Journal of Public Sector Management, 24(6), pp.533 – 542.
Cummings, T.G. and Worley, C.G., 2008. Organizational Development and Change.
Florence, KY: Centage Learning.
Filippov, S. and Kalotay, K., 2011. Global crisis and activities of multinational enterprises in
new EU member states. International Journal of Emerging Markets, 6(4), pp.304 – 328.
Kotter, J.P., 2001. What leaders really do? Harvard Business Review, 79(11), pp.85-99.
Lewis, L.K., 2011. Organizational Change: Creating Change through Strategic
Communication. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.
Locander, W.B. and Luechauer, D.L., 2007. Leader as inquirer – Change your approach to
inquiry. Marketing Management, 16, pp.46-49.
Mee-yan, C.J. and Holbeche, L., 2015. Organizational Development: a Practitioner's Guide
for OD and HR. London: Kogan Page.
Northouse, P.G., 2010. Leadership Theory and Practice. 5thed. London: SAGE.
Saenz, H., Gottfredson, M. and Schaubert, S., 2008. The new leader’s guide to diagnosing the
business. Harvard Business Review, 86(2), pp.62-76.
Stanford, N., 2013. Organization Design: Engaging with Change. 2nded. London: Routledge.
Watkins, J.M. and Bernard, J.M., 2001. Appreciative Inquiry: Change at the Speed of
Imagination. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Online references
Kothari, A., 2018. Change Management Processes – Your Essential Guide. [Online].
Available through: <https://tallyfy.com/guides/change-management-processes/ >.
[Accessed on 10thJanuary 2019].
The Driving Forces of Change [Internal & External]. 2018. [Online]. Available through:
<https://cmoe.com/blog/the-forces-of-change-and-informal-strategic-leadership/>.
[Accessed on 10thJanuary 2019].