Leadership and Management: Ford Retail Group Change Analysis

This report analyzes a change leadership challenge experienced by Ford Retail Group, focusing on the implementation of a new IT system and the resulting conflicts among staff. The report details the context, content, and process of the change, exploring the impact on both the internal and external environments of the organization. It evaluates the effectiveness of the organization's approach to the challenge, considering the diversity of people and values, and analyzes the leadership approach using various models and frameworks, including the 3Cs of change leadership (communicate, collaborate, commit). The analysis also identifies leadership paradoxes and draws conclusions about the outcomes of the change leadership, including the need for improved communication and connectedness. The report suggests the application of the Lewin model to address the identified challenges, proposing unfreezing, moving, and refreezing stages to facilitate change management and employee adaptation. This assignment, submitted by a student, provides insights into change management, conflict resolution, and the application of leadership theories in a real-world business scenario.

Running Head : LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT
Leadership and Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT
Part A-
The selected organization is Ford Retail Group, United Kingdom and the change
leadership challenge found in this organization is the challenge with managing conflicts. The
Ford Retail Group is on the verge of incorporating new IT system that has created conflicts
among the staffs. The information technology is used for gaining competitive advantage and this
s then reason a good range of companies is making investments on the information technology.
The ability to achieve the strategic business goal is extremely important.
The information technology can easily help in improving the organization’s service and
attain excellence having developed new services and products with optimized customer and
supplier intimacy (Anitha 2014). The organization has realized the importance of information
technology. The Ford Retail Group has incorporated a new IT systems in its operations for
strengthen the supplier intimacy in its customer relationship management system or CRM. The
organization has started using SAP software for improving the performance of the supply chain
management along with the customer relationship management.
It is evident that is an interrelated fact. In a particular business setting, change can be
initiated through a new venture, change of policies, growth and many others. The supply chain
department of Ford Retail Group has become a bit conflicted due to the infusion of new IT
systems. The use of this new software has left the staffs with difficulty in adopting it and become
familiar with its terms and conditions (Betancourt et al. 2017). Actual leadership covers well
communication with the team and help them understand the difficult part of the change. When
there is something new incorporated in the organization, it is obvious that the organization will
undergo resistance from the part of the employees and there will be conflicts too.

2LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT
The conflict affects both the internal and external environment of the organization. It
disrupts the schedule and threatens too. The potential impacts of the conflict on then internal and
external environment of the organization are various. The conflict initiated from the
incorporation of new IT system in the company might lead to mental health concerns of the
employees. The members might become frustrated or they might feel that their opinions are
devalued in the organization. In some instances, they also might refuse to attend conferences and
meetings. On the other hand, it might decrease the productivity levels and the members might
lose focus from their goals. It might further impact on the employees and increase the employee
turnover rates. The frustrated members might decide to end their membership. If the employee
cannot cope up with the new change and adopt the new technology, the risk level for the
organization might increase.
The technological change in the company has been incorporated as a larger strategic
change. During implementing the strategic change, the organization should have determined the
members of the organization who could have been threatened by it the most. The stages through
which this strategic change is taking place in the organization are three. They have realized the
need for change, established a new organizational vision and implemented the change having set
up new systems in its support.
PART B-
The idea of change management and the frameworks

3LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT
The organizational change and conflicts are two of the essential topics which the
managers should understand and try to act on for succeeding in the extremely competitive
environment. The organization has tried to manage the change through its leadership approaches.
However, there have been some deficiencies in the approaches itself. The management of change
is more complicated than the change itself. The management of change takes time, efforts,
energy, training and others. This is the reason behind organizations’ coming up with accurately
structured models and frameworks for the management of change.
Role of leadership in change management
A leader is someone who is looked forward by the employee of an organization. The
employees also look at the leaders for clarity, connection and accountability and mostly in the
midst of change. The organizational change in the successful organizations occurs depending on
the managers, leaders having direct authority with people who are going through the change.
Powerful leadership helps the organization to execute the change through their influence
(Cameron and Green 2015). The effective leaders easily acknowledge that all their support is
essential for the success of the change. The role of the readers in managing change is as follows:
Sponsoring- The leaders are supposed to work as advocates for the change in the organization.
They can rather be referred to as the representatives who keep the change in a balanced state.
Role model- The change leaders have to be willing to take the initiative in their hands. They are
also supposed to demonstrate the attitudes and behaviours that are expected of others. The
leaders are also expected to be self-aware and deliberate too.
Decision making- The leaders are supposed to control the resources as budgets, people and the
equipment. They also have the authority to make decisions and motivate the initiative. During

4LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT
the change, the leaders are expected to leverage the decision –making power and select the
options supporting the change. The leaders are supposed to be decisive and set the priorities
which can support the change.
Communication- The leaders further are the face and voice of change. They communicate for
sharing the information and keep the people updated and encouraged. The employees might mis-
interpret the messages received from the management. The leaders must interpret the messages
in the proper way to the employees and they usually are supposed to stay consistent.
The engagement - The leaders motivate the employees to adopt the change having created a
sense of urgency regarding the change. They also show passion and commitment for getting
everything done on time. The leaders participate in the change approaches and understand
people’s need to get motivated and step out of the traditional ways of operation. They also are
supposed to have energetic and empathetic qualities (Hornstein 2015).. They also uphold the
agreements ensuring that others are also doing the same. They try to remove the obstacles for
which the employees fail to adopt the change.
The models and frameworks
The modern organizations face difficulty in leading the change successfully. The change
management researches have demonstrated that the organizational change might fail instead of
putting change management process at its place. The Ford Retail Group has followed the 3C’s of
change leadership. About the 3Cs of the change leadership, they have followed the last two parts
but they have focused less on the most significant part that is communication. The researchers
have found that there are 3 skills which provide the necessary connection between people and the

5LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT
part of change. The 3Cs such as communicate, collaborate and commit unite an efficient
leadership of change..
Communication- According to the communication part in the 3Cs of change leadership, the
leaders must communicate the “what “and “why“ instead of focusing on the change (Erozkan
2013).. The leaders are also expected to explain the purpose of the change and stay connected to
the values of the organization having explained the benefits of the change and its urgency too.
The leaders of the Ford Retail Group somehow had given less focus on the communication part.
Collaborate- The collaboration asks people to plan and execute the change together. The leaders
of the Ford Retail Group had worked across the boundaries, refused to tolerate unhealthy
environment of conflict in the organization and collaborated people to break the silos. They also
brought out the employees to have decision –making and strengthened the commitment to
change. On the other hand, they also concentrated on the employee engagement as an essential
part of the change process.
Commitment- In the change process of Ford Retail Group where there has been an incorporation
of the new IT systems in the form of a new SAP software, the leaders have followed the
commitment part too. The leaders have ensured that the behaviours and the beliefs support the
process of change in the organization. The leaders of Ford have focused on the big picture that
will strengthen the relationships with the suppliers and the customers (Matos Marques Simoes
and Esposito 2014).
As a conclusion, it can be said that the outcome of the leadership of change was that the
employees and the stakeholders are aware of the business context and temporarily calmed down
refraining from the previous conflicts. However, they expect the organization to consider the

6LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT
cultural factors and barriers to adopt the change. Ford is an international company and there is
diversity among people working over here belonging to different countries, values and beliefs It
is evident from the case that the leadership of change lacks proper communication with the key
stakeholders, such as the clients, the board members, the employees and others (Van der Voet
2014).. It needs to communicate the new vision of the organization to help them adopt the
change happily. The organization also needs to gather feedbacks both formal and informal as a
form of communication. In short, the organization needs more transparency and connectedness
with the members to succeed in the change.
I have identified the leadership paradox of a strategic executer. The responsibility of a
leader is to look into the future and draw proper decisions that will solve the problem and
prepare for the future. It needs a strategic mindset along with the ability to interrogate. The
success of the strategy is in the execution and it must be envisioned.
Part C- I would have followed the Lewin Model for change to overcome this leadership
challenge. There are three steps of the model such as Unfreezing, Moving and Refreezing. In the
freezing stage, I would have introduced new information for highlighting an imbalance between
performance and objective having decreased inappropriate values. In the changing stage, I would
have provided proper trainings to the employee to cope up with the change and easily accept it.
In the Freezing stage, I would have locked the new pattern into its place.
The nature of problem that I have been able to identify while catering to the current case is that
the organisation is faced with an issues that has resulted through the implementation of an IT
software called SAP. I have been able to understand that the issue resulted in feeling of
detachment in employees. Furthermore, this has resulted in a conflict among employees and the
latter is characterised by resistance to change. Through various learning experiences I have

7LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT
realised that change management is something that I must have in my repertoire in order or cope
with the issues that have detected. The rarity of the issue was identified by me as a result of
which I have paid due attention to the issues and have decided to cope with the detected issue
using a change management model. The model that I chose to assist me to cope with the
identified issue is the model that was propounded to deal with change management initiatives.
The Lewis model is an assimilation of factors such as Unfreezing, moving and refreezing
(Simoes and Esposito 2014). In order to cope with the said resistance in the organisation, one
would have I would need to treat the situation in a manner that is characterised by the
development of a rationale for the change initiative that has been identified. In this stage I would
need to ensure that I communicate the values to the employees who are being affected by the
issues that the employees are faced with. Furthermore, to treat the highlighted issue I need to
ensure that I change the way the plan is supposed to be incorporated. By carrying the nature of
effort that is taken by while the initiative of the organisation is being communicated. This will be
followed moving. This is a stage that is characterised by initiating efforts in the employees that
helps in effective management of the change that is to be carried out in treatment of the plan that
is to be carried out by the organisation (Van Rossum et al. 2016). I need to ensure that the
employees understand the reason for which the implementation of the plan is necessary. There
will be constant communication from the part of the management that will help the management
in engaging the efforts of the employees in accordance of with the situation that transpired. The
aim of the company should be educate the employees regarding the scope and rarity of the
situation that has transpired. I believe, on communicating the value proposition of the concept
associated with the said motive of the management that inclusion of SAP in the services offered
by the company. Employee engagement is a methods that will help me in term of communicating

8LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT
the value proposition of idea and the plan to be developed by the organisation (Anitha 2014).
After the issue has been dealt with effectively that is the efforts of the employees has been
engaged by the company, the process of refreezing the change intervention needs to be stabilised.
This can be achieved by balancing the driving and the restraining forces of the issue.
Furthermore, there are dilemmas I have come across while designing the plan to cope with the
said change. I was not sure which model to choose for finding the best resolution to the problem
that has been detected. The aim of the reinstating the values that I have been able to develop,
assisted me in terms of development a resolution for the plan that has been mentioned in the
aforementioned section.
There are some factors that determine the flow of operations in a change management plan. The
aim of the change management plan is to mitigate or cope with issues that has been detected by
the management on detection of one issue or another. Following are the factors that must be
presented in the framework of operations of an effective change management plan. Furthermore,
the presence of the latter will help in ensuring the effectiveness of solving the issue that has been
identified.
Support of the executive team is crucial when it comes to the development of an effective plan of
management of change. The support from the end of the executives or the senior management of
the company that is going through the change helps in term of development of the issues that
helps in term efficiently coping with the change management initiative,
Apart from the latter, another aspect that is crucial in terms of determination of effectiveness in
performing task associated with change management is stable and leadership that is uniform in
nature. It helps in terms of leading from the front and showing a direction to the employee
regarding with a said issue (Voet 2014). This should be couple with a vision that help in ensuring

9LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT
that the direction that the latter are moving in is common. Realisation of the mission helps in
achieving the objective of the organisation. Once it is ensured that there is a common vision, the
results will reflect through effectiveness in performance of the company in term of effective
management of the change (Schoemaker, Krupp and Howland 2013). It helps in achievement of
engagement of the employees and also encourages the employees to participate in the said plan.
Participation from the part of the employees ensure that employees have equal accountability in
the tasks that they are performing which thus ensures that employees incorporate actions through
which they are able to mitigate issues that are being faced by the latter. I have realised that I
should encourage the employee and other members of management team to be accountable for
every action that is to be carried out throughout the span of the change management initiative.
Other than ensuring that the latter activities are incorporated into operations of the change
management plan, I need to ensure that there exist communication between the executive or
management team and the employees. According to Erozkan (2013), the communication has
been identified as an aspect that helps in terms of transferring the motives of the organisation to
the employees which finally reflects in the actions that are taken from the part of the employees
which ultimately becomes viable for the achievement of the organisational objective.

10LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT
REFETENCES
Anitha, J., 2014. Determinants of employee engagement and their impact on employee
performance. International journal of productivity and performance management, 63(3), p.308.
Betancourt, J.R., Tan-McGrory, A., Kenst, K.S., Phan, T.H. and Lopez, L., 2017. Organizational
change management for health equity: perspectives from the Disparities Leadership
Program. Health Affairs, 36(6), pp.1095-1101.
Binci, D., Cerruti, C. and Braganza, A., 2016. Do vertical and shared leadership need each other
in change management?. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 37(5), pp.558-578.
Cameron, E. and Green, M., 2015. Making sense of change management: A complete guide to
the models, tools and techniques of organizational change. Kogan Page Publishers.
Erozkan, A., 2013. The Effect of Communication Skills and Interpersonal Problem Solving
Skills on Social Self-Efficacy. Educational Sciences: Theory and Practice, 13(2), pp.739-745.
Holten, A.L. and Brenner, S.O., 2015. Leadership style and the process of organizational
change. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 36(1), pp.2-16.
Hornstein, H.A., 2015. The integration of project management and organizational change
management is now a necessity. International Journal of Project Management, 33(2), pp.291-
298.
Li, M., Liu, W., Han, Y. and Zhang, P., 2016. Linking empowering leadership and change-
oriented organizational citizenship behavior: The role of thriving at work and autonomy
orientation. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 29(5), pp.732-750.

11LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT
Matos Marques Simoes, P. and Esposito, M., 2014. Improving change management: How
communication nature influences resistance to change. Journal of Management
Development, 33(4), pp.324-341.
Schoemaker, P.J., Krupp, S. and Howland, S., 2013. Strategic leadership: The essential
skills. Harvard business review, 91(1), pp.131-134.
Van der Voet, J., 2014. The effectiveness and specificity of change management in a public
organization: Transformational leadership and a bureaucratic organizational structure. European
Management Journal, 32(3), pp.373-382.
Van Rossum, L., Aij, K.H., Simons, F.E., van der Eng, N. and ten Have, W.D., 2016. Lean
healthcare from a change management perspective: the role of leadership and workforce
flexibility in an operating theatre. Journal of health organization and management, 30(3),
pp.475-493.