Organisational Change Analysis: Lakeland Wonders Case Study Report

This report analyzes the Lakeland Wonders case study, focusing on the company's organisational change project initiated by CEO Cheryl Hailstrom to expand into offshore markets and enhance competitiveness. The report examines the reasons for change, including cost reduction and increased market share. It evaluates the adopted change approach and suggests alternative strategies. The PEST framework is applied to analyze external factors impacting the company, and the organizational culture is assessed, identifying adhocracy and clan cultures. Stakeholder mapping is performed to identify key stakeholders and their influence. Finally, the report provides recommendations to the CEO for successful change implementation, including fostering open communication, creating a sense of urgency, and aligning employee objectives with company goals. The report emphasizes the importance of adapting to changing customer preferences and leveraging technology for operational efficiency. This report is contributed by a student and is available on Desklib.

You’ve offered an account of LLW and the proposed change, but it is not like any other
understanding I have come across.
It is important to read and digest the case study, and it is really important to carefully read
the questions required by the assessment.
You have not provided evidence of learning in change approaches, culture definition, and
lightly touch on PEST and stakeholder maps.
I am open to have a conversation with you about resubmitting this assessment, with a
maximum of 50% grade, if you would like to try again. Please contact me on 0400885664 if
you would like to learn more and try again.
Depth of understanding of theoretical
perspectives of change concepts; use of
references to support the argument
3 /14
Application of change theories and models
in the Lakeland Wonders case 3 /16
Quality of recommendations 2 /6
Organisation, structure and presentation 2 /2
Evidence of reading and APA7 referencing
style convention followed 2 /2
TOTAL 12 /40
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Word Count: 2500
Report Title: Assessment item 2 – Case Study (Nature of Organisational Change)
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Table of Contents
1. What are the reasons for the organisational change project for Lakeland Wonders?
What change approach has been adopted by Cherry Hailstorm? Is there a different
approach that might have been better? ……………………………………………………………………
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2. Critically apply either the PEST-based framework or the McKinsey 7S framework to
analyse the need for change in Lakeland Wonders case……………………………………………4
3. What type of organisational culture would you say is evident in the Lakeland
Wonders case? Justify your
argument………………………………………………………………………………………6
4. Prepare to map the stakeholders at Lakeland Wonders. Who are they and where do
they belong on the map as shown in figure 7.1 in your textbook? Justify each of the
stakeholders’ position……………………………………………………………………………………………….7
5. Discuss three major recommendations with justifications that you could provide to
Cheryl Hailstrom, the new CEO of Lakeland Wonders for the success of the change
initiative……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………9
6. References………………………………………………………………………………………………………………11
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Question 1:
What are the reasons for the organisational change project for Lakeland Wonders? What
change approach has been adopted by Cherry Hailstorm? Is there a different approach
that
might have been better?
The CEO of Lakeland Wonders company, Cheryl Hailstrom wants to initiate a change within
the company in order to enhance the operation capacity into offshore markets. The main
reason behind initiating this change is to enhance the competitive position of company by
taking advantage of manufacturing on a larger scale. This will allow the organisation to gain
insight about new technologies as well as cheap labour resources of the country like China.
In addition to this, the establishment of manufacturing units in foreign countries like China
will enable the company to increase its market share which will directly lead to the greater
generation of profits. Moreover, the main reason for implementing this change by the CEO
is to minimise the cost of its wooden toys products so that it can gather the attention of a
large number of customers in the most effective manner.
In order to implement the change within the firm, the CEO has decided to invest more on
adopting aggressive advertisement strategies so that the organisation can target the needs
of customer. Apart from this, the CEO also opted for building new packaging ideas in order
to effectively draw the attention of a maximum number of customers.
The CEO has also said that optimising supply chain channels will allow the firm to make
faster deliveries to the customer even on holiday time and meeting their demands in the
most appropriate manner. Most importantly, for initiating the change management
initiatives, the CEO will change her leadership style by putting more focus on persuading as
well as motivating team members to achieve change objectives in proper manner. In
relation to this, the CEO will also become more open towards hearing the main problems of
people and will also attentively listen to the diverse viewpoints made by its team members.
Moreover, the CEO will also focus on linking the objectives of team members with the vision
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of the company by effectively meeting their expectations and needs. Furthermore, the CEO
will also lay its focus on improving motivation level of workers by giving competitive salaries
and rewards to the outstanding performers. She will also make sure to remove the barriers
of change by enabling team members to know what they love the most about their
workplace. This approach will support the CEO to promote the feelings of positiveness
among the team members.
For establishing the required change in Lakeland Wonders, the CEO needs to create the
sense of urgency to the team members by telling them needs of changes for the company
and its team members. The construction of open communication channels will be the useful
tool for delivering the benefits of change to each worker of the organisation. It will also
allow team members to present their views in the form of feedback leading to an increase in
their loyalty and their vision of organisation.
Question 2:
Critically apply either the PEST-based framework or the McKinsey 7S framework to
analyse the need for change in Lakeland Wonders case.
The PEST framework is a tool which was used by the businesses to track the external factors
of environment of the market. This analysis provides information about the business
direction, the position of the brand, growth targets and risks which can arise in productivity
of the organisation. The PEST analysis on Lakeland Wonders is discussed below:
 Political Factors: These are the factors which are related to the influence of
government on the business. The political factors are tax policies, trade tariffs, fiscal
policy, etc. Lakeland Wonders operates mainly in the US which is very political stable
economy. The company receives the benefit of not changing the strategies and
policies at regular intervals due to the stability of laws and regulations. This helps in
focusing on a particular aspect which leads to increase in the efficiency and quality of
operations. The organisation must examine all the political factors since every
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country possess different political stability and laws to avoid interferences of the
government. It should prepare for facing any situation outside the existing market.
 Economic Factors: These factors are the identifiers of performance of economy and
directly impact the organisation on long term basis. These factors involve inflation
rate, interest rates, foreign exchange rates and economic growth patterns. These
factors are very essential for Lakeland Wonders since these make a direct impact on
the demand, profits, costs and prices. The company needs to take into consideration
the economic factors like increase prices of the wages, transportation cost and
others seriously in making planning to expand its business operations outside the
domestic market. The strategies are prepared after analysing the economic condition
and GDP of the nation where the business is thinking of expanding its operations.
 Social Factors: These are the factors which are related to changing trends, choices
and preferences of the customers in the society. It has been seen that every business
needs to adapt to these changes in the tastes of consumers to be able to frame
policies accordingly. Lakeland Wonders is considering the importance of innovation
and diversification in wooden toy products which helps in catering to a larger section
of society. The company believes in benefiting the society by hiring local workers and
generates employment in the society. There are different changes occur in
preferences of customers of Lakeland Wonders in China. The people of China are
also increasingly concerned of their cultural values.
 Technological Factors: It is related to the technology which plays an essential part in
the operations of business. Lakeland Wonders should adopt new and modern
technology along with other tools and equipment’s in order to enhance the quality
of wooden toy products and also to reduce the overall cost of production. This will
assist the organisation in reaching a large number of customers and to be able to
provide greater experience to the consumers in the market. Technology is very
important for Lakeland Wonders, for it will provide assistance in utilising the benefit
of economies of scale in the outside market. This way the business will be able to
develop a strong and loyal base of customers.
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Question 3:
What type of organisational culture would you say is evident in the Lakeland Wonders
case?
Justify your argument.
Organisation culture can be described as expectations, practice and values which provide
guidance as well as information to action of people to different team members. It is a
collection of traits which makes a company about what it is. In the situation of Lakeland
Wonders case, there should be adhocracy and clan culture. Both of these cultures help the
company to create an environment that will accept the differences and also allow company
to accept different challenges, change and point of view (Erthal and Marques, 2018).
Adhocracy culture is a culture in which the businesses are accepting different new ideas
from employees in their organisation and also giving them rewards for such. It is a culture
that is flexible in nature and it is not inhibited through different policies and procedures.
Focus and emphasis of the business is over the improvement and innovation which allows
them to get growth in less time.
Another culture is clan culture which is also important for business for the purpose of
creating a positive and friendly environment where all people collaborate with each other. It
is a culture that interrelation different groups of people by developing a strong interest and
also by attainment of small as well as family-oriented businesses (Martínez-Caro, Cegarra-
Navarro and Alfonso-Ruiz, 2020). It is a culture that offers values to the employees and
provides them supportive environment.
Lakeland Wonders has combination of these culture which allows them for the purpose of
accepting changes in the business. in order to get success, business needs to adopt timely
changes in their organisation. Both of these cultures will also help to increase the success of
change implementation in business and also for improving the satisfaction of employees. It
is important for the leaders of the company to focus on development of positive culture in
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organisation which will helps them to increase the engagement of customers with the
business.
Question 4:
Prepare to map the stakeholders at Lakeland Wonders. Who are they and where do they
belong on the map as shown in figure 7.1 in your textbook? Justify each of the
stakeholders’
position.
Stakeholder analysis can be described as a visual process for laying out different
stakeholders of the product, idea or project present on a map. It is a visual presentation that
consists of different people to influence their project and the ways in which they connect. It
is a map that is important for business of Lakeland wonders and consists of details for the
stakeholders of the business. There are different stakeholders in business including
shareholders, competitors, suppliers, employees, customers, government and other people
(Elias, 2019). All these people have different interests and the power to create an impact on
the business.
Stakeholder mapping is essential for the business of Lakeland Wonders as it allows them for
purpose of providing success for the project. There are different stakeholders in business
and all these stakeholders are an important part of the business. Lakeland Wonders is
making efforts in order to fulfil the expectations of different stakeholders in their
organisation. An explanation of this analysis in the context of Lakeland Wonders is
mentioned below:
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 Observers: It is one of the categories that has a higher interest as well as less
influence over the business. Employees of the Lakeland wonders company belong
from this category as their income is connected with this component due to which
they are paying more interest towards the activity of the business.
 Players: It is one of the categories that have a higher interest as well as higher
influence over the business. It is a category that includes shareholders as well as
investors of business Lakeland wonders who has an interest in the profitability of the
business and other decision of the company. These stakeholders are key people for
business as they invest their own money. These people also take participate in the
management of the company and can create an impact over the operation of the
business.
 Currently unengaged: These are the stakeholders’ categories that include a lower
level of influence over the business and also has a lower level of interest. It is one of
the important components for businesses to consider in the operation of the
company.
 Latent players: It is one of the categories which consist of lower interest and higher
power in business. It is one of category which includes the government of the
country (Nataliia, Dmytro and Igor, 2018). The government of any country in which
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Lakeland wonders has higher level of power that provides them opportunities for the
purpose of business and also create impact over the business. These government
bodies have a power level of interest in business as they main focus on the
development of their country.
Question 5:
Discuss three major recommendations with justifications that you could provide to
Cheryl Hailstrom, the new CEO of Lakeland Wonders for the success of the change
initiative.
There are different types of recommendations to be offered to the CEO of the Lakeland
Wonders. All these recommendations are made to the CEO in order to increase the success
of the change initiative. An explanation of these recommendations to the company are
mentioned below:
 It is recommended to the CEO to ensure that there is a free flow of communication
in their organisation. It is important for them to understand the problem of the
employees experienced in Lakeland Wonders. It allow the company to include
employees in decision making process and also to get different innovative solution
from them to solve the problem faced by the company and also give them the
solutions to the problems. It is also important for the CEO to explain in clear words
the reason for which they are adopting the changes in their organisation.
 It is also recommended to the CEO of Lakeland wonder to increase the engagement
of the employees in the organisation. For this, business can adopt different initiatives
in the company in order to make employees more involved in the business like
offering them training and development, rewards for attainment of targets and other
ways. It is important for them in order to increase the chances of the success of the
company. It is also important for the CEO to ensure the development of strategies in
order to create the changing mindset of employees. It is important for Lakeland
Wonders in order to meet the needs of employees working in organisation.
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 It is also recommended to the CEO to adopt transformational leadership styles in
their organisation. Leadership is one of the important components that is used by
businesses for the purpose of influencing the action of people and also for the
purpose of motivating employees to give their best. It provides guidance to different
people to work in an organisation towards the attainment of the success and growth
of the business. This leadership allows businesses to convince all people of the
company to accept the changes and also to follow the path of change.
REFERENCES
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Books and Journals
Elias, A.A., 2019. Strategy development through stakeholder involvement: A New Zealand
study. Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management, 20(4), pp.313-322.
Erthal, A. and Marques, L., 2018. National culture and organisational culture in lean
organisations: a systematic review. Production Planning & Control, 29(8), pp.668-687.
Martínez-Caro, E., Cegarra-Navarro, J.G. and Alfonso-Ruiz, F.J., 2020. Digital technologies
and
firm performance: The role of digital organisational culture. Technological Forecasting and
Social Change, 154, p.119962.
Nataliia, D., Dmytro, C. and Igor, C., 2018, September. Modeling of the processes of
stakeholder involvement in command management in a multi-project environment. In 2018
IEEE 13th International Scientific and Technical Conference on Computer Sciences and
Information Technologies (CSIT) (Vol. 1, pp. 29-32). IEEE.
Sperry, R.C. and Jetter, A.J., 2019. A systems approach to project stakeholder management:
fuzzy cognitive map modeling. Project management journal, 50(6), pp.699-715.
Beech, N. (2017). Managing change: Enquiry and action (Australasian ed.). Port Melbourne:
Cambridge University Press.
McNulty, E.,Calcidise, K., Benton, D., Cohen, D. S., & Aversano, N. (2002). Welcome aboard
(but don’t change a thing). Harvard Business Review, 80(10), 32-40.
Davenport, T. H.,Ronanki, R. (2018). Artificial intelligence for the real world. Harvard
Business Review, 96(1), 108-116.
Corfield, A., & Paton, R. (2016). Investigating knowledge management: Can KM really change
organisational culture? Journal of Knowledge Management, 20(1), 88-103.
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