ESMT Case Study: Leadership and Change Management at Aesch AG Analysis

This case study examines the challenges faced by Anna Frisch, the newly appointed marketing director at Aesch AG, a leading healthcare industry supplier, in initiating lateral change. The report analyzes the causes and types of change experienced by Aesch AG, considering political, economic, social, and technological factors. It further investigates the organizational, cultural, and social dimensions of the change situation, emphasizing the importance of culture and the links between power, politics, and conflicts. The analysis highlights the resistance to change within the company and the impact of these factors on the implementation of new marketing strategies. Finally, the report provides recommendations for leading and managing change effectively within Aesch AG to improve communication, employee motivation, and overall organizational performance. Desklib provides access to this solution and other solved assignments for students.

Leadership and change
management

Contents
TASK 1: INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................1
TASK 2: INVESTIGATING CASE SCENRIO AND ANALYSING SEVERAL CAUSES FOR
CHANGE AND TYPES OF CHANGE EXPERIENCED .............................................................2
TASK 3: ANALYSE THE CHANGE SITUATION LOOKING INTO ITS
ORGANISATIONAL, CULTURAL AND SOCIAL DIMENSIONS. RECOGNISE THE
IMPORTANCE OF CULTURE AND ITS ROLE IN RELATION TO CHANGE. DISCUSS
THE LINK BETWEEN POWER, POLITICS AND CONFLICTS AND THEIR EFFECT ON
CHANGE.........................................................................................................................................4
TASK 4- RECOMMENDATIONS FOR LEAD AND MANAGE ...............................................6
TASK 5: CONCLUSION................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

TASK 1: INTRODUCTION
The only things that is constant in business environment is change as customers needs
and preferences are constantly evolving. If a company failed to evaluate and implement these
changes in organisation then it might lose its competitive advantage in market. Change
management is a strategic measure and utilization of knowledge, equipments and resources to
effectively face the changes happening in organisation. But it is not easy for organisation and its
employees to adapt to organisational change and sometimes it might impact on their
performances and efforts. Organisational change can be described as the activities a firm
undertakes to modify essential aspects of company, its beliefs, infrastructure or cultures. It is
done to bring revolutionary change in success and growth of company. Change in organisational
level impacts all the individuals and teams of company (Aitken and von Treuer, 2020).
Therefore, it is important for organisation to manage change effectively which can increase
employee morale and drive positive teamwork. These factors have the power to positively impact
productivity and quality of workforce and minimise unnecessary costs. Effectively adopting
changes in organisation facilitates the company to maintain a fix state of development allowing
employees to remain motivated and dedicated while implementing new techniques and
programmes.
The case study provides information about a German company named Aesch AG, which
is one of the leading healthcare industry suppliers that assists institutions of healthcare with
several diagnostic system and information technology system. Anna Frisch is a newly appointed
marketing director of the company who assess that the company demands various change in
order to be more profitable (Choromides, 2018). The aim of this report is to evaluate those
necessary changes and major causes that demands those changes. Aesch AG is facing the
marketing and promoting of its products due to changes in external business environment. The
new CEO attempt to bring required changes in marketing of products and the resistance of
various departments as they fail to see the importance of those modifications has been assessed.
1

TASK 2: INVESTIGATING CASE SCENRIO AND ANALYSING
SEVERAL CAUSES FOR CHANGE AND TYPES OF CHANGE
EXPERIENCED
To accurately assess the changes that may happen in business, all organisation constantly
evaluates the external environment of business so that they can timely alters their existing
strategies to meet the changes of environment (Masenya, 2020). If a company failed to focus on
the macro environment factors, it can miss potential chances of opportunities and risks which can
impact on company's position in industry. With references to Aesch AG, the study of all PEST
factors are explained below:
Political- Government plays an important role in operations of an organisation by
providing them necessary subsidies, rebate, budget for expansion etc. Aesch AG working is
negatively impacted by political factors as the government of Switzerland do not invest as much
in healthcare industry as the firm needs to adopt new devices and technologies.
Economical- Aesch AG faces several economic outbreaks such as more costs & less
revenues and low growth rate in medical facilitates. Many small hospitals have also declared
bankrupt in absence of growth opportunities and government support.
Social- Companies in healthcare industry runs their operations on wide level which
makes them more obliged to follow all the social elements of the world. Aesch AG is one of the
largest suppliers of medical facilitates and has been in healthcare industry for so long that it has
established its presence globally (Clepper, 2018).
Technological- It is important for organisation in healthcare industry to adopt to the
newest technologies to meet the demands of medical emergencies effectively. Aesch AG has
proved to be the global leader in providing diagnostic systems and effective information
technology systems.
Germany is the third largest market of medical devices which makes it important to stay
consistent and relevant by bringing necessary changes to effectively meet demands globally. Yet
the healthcare industry sees lowest growth rates because of various reasons such as high
spending on medical tools, minimum political support, less population growth and low GDP.
With increasing competition, the medical businesses are becoming more competitive. The
hospitals have to manage with their existing techniques as government is not providing necessary
funding so that they can invest in new equipments. These factors started to change the course of
2

decision making and purchasing behaviour of medical companies. Initially, the main decisions
were made by clinicians according to the needs of equipments and machines by various
departments. But in new circumstances, hospital administrators and acquisition departments
importance is rising in purchasing process. Anna Frisch realised the shift in customer decision
with references to marketing activities (Faupel and Süß, 2019). She proposed that marketing
should address the needs of C level and puts less focus on features and advantages of individual
systems. She states that before Aesch AG was technology and engineering driven but now the
emergence have rise that the company should add value to its customer by giving them the
embedded methods which will further help to enhance overall efficiency of hospital. Also the
limited budget provided by VP of hospital to purchase and market specifies factors, triggers the
need for change in Aesch AG.
The major element for which Aesch AG wanted to bring changes in the organisation is
the impact of economic factors. The condition of German healthcare industry is getting worse
day by day which has resulted in deficiency of funds in many hospitals and some hospital even
lead to bankruptcy. In addition to that, cost of acquiring and implementing new technologies
have increased affecting revenues that stresses out management of hospitals to create a balance
between budget and supplies. The growth in spending of large equipments and devices has lead
to low growth rates and GDP level. This demonstrates that Aesch AG should be aware of the
competition in healthcare industry to ensure that they remain the leaders of market and does not
face any challenges due to fluctuating environment (Fleming and Millar, 2019). This means that
Aesch AG management should evaluate and considers the proposed changes by Anna Frinch and
should alter existing market strategies to effectively appeal target market. The specified elements
have given rise to major evolution in decision making process in healthcare firms of Germany
where senior level management must involve in buying decisions.
3

TASK 3: ANALYSE THE CHANGE SITUATION LOOKING INTO ITS
ORGANISATIONAL, CULTURAL AND SOCIAL DIMENSIONS.
RECOGNISE THE IMPORTANCE OF CULTURE AND ITS ROLE IN
RELATION TO CHANGE. DISCUSS THE LINK BETWEEN POWER,
POLITICS AND CONFLICTS AND THEIR EFFECT ON CHANGE
Organisational culture is the aggregation of values, beliefs and expectations that escort
and inform all the tasks of all employees. It creates structure of company and provides basis of
what is need to be done and how. It is important to have culture in companies as it promotes
employees performances, increase their productivity and provides job enrichment. Each firm
have their own unique culture which binds all the employees of diverse backgrounds into one
unit. This highlights the boundaries for employee actions and behaviour that is in line with
values of firm. Organisational change is interlinked to organisational culture too thus effective
change can only be implement in an organisation if all the employees will easily adjust to new
changes (Heathfield, 2019). The culture will enhance workflow and eases the decision making
process as well as it overcome the obstacle of ambiguity. If the organisational change will lead to
strengthens the fundamental values of culture, then the employees are more likely to adopt
changes.
With reference to Aesch AG, Anna Frisch is trying to alter the methods of promoting and
marketing of products in the target market but the changes require necessary permission and joint
approvals from various department of hospital. Aesch AG comprises of seven main departments
which are involved in producing and selling a single product in market. Therefore proposing any
change would need that every department likes the ideas of modifications and adjusts according
to that culture. When Frisch held meeting about discussing changes, only 50% of firm employees
participated in that. The marketing heads of Aesch AG turn their back against her ideas and said
that other things in firm needs more attention. According to case study, Anna Frisch felt
demotivated and rejected after the management denied to consider her proposals. The VP agreed
on the importance of change but denies to pass the necessary budget requirement stating that
other areas are more important (Henricks, Young and Kehoe, 2020). Anna Frisch felt lack of
motivation which have the power to further impact negatively on organisation as she is on high
position of Aesch AG. In absence of motivation in such senior employee of company result in
4

high turnover which means the company have to spend more time and money on hiring of new
marketing director. If all the departments of Aesch AG agree to employ proposed modifications
then it can improve communication in all levels and all areas will strive to adjust their operations
with strategies of market. It will also enhance Anna Frisch knowledge as well as self confidence
as marketing head and she will not hesitate to bring new changes in future also.
Power, politics and conflicts on change:
Power is the ability of an individual to influence the actions of others and getting things
done in the ways they want. Power not always comes with authority, sometimes it can come in
any form. It is important those firms where the higher management is responsible to assign tasks
to junior levels. It is their responsibility to guide employees to achieve company's goals. Power
assists in giving a sense of inclination towards organisation success. In organisation, power is an
individual capability to avoid opposition from others when proposing new methods, be able to
exercise their support and generate results that matches with core objectives of firm. Politics can
be refer as the group-ism among employees and their mutual take on things happening in firm.
Every organisation has its own political structure which allows the delegation of authority by
providing exercise of power (Islam, Furuoka and Idris, 2021). In organisation, politics can be
seen as a measure that facilitates communication of interests, talents or experiences. Power and
politics in organisation can play an essential role in implementing new ideas to operations as
employees are highly influenced by each other opinions. Conflicts can be described as the chaos
created among individuals due to diverse opinions, ideas or thoughts about certain things.
Organisation conflicts is the result of different mindsets and beliefs of employees about tasks,
activities or changes took place at workplace.
In context to Aesch AG, Anna Frisch is the marketing director of company which is a
higher level management position so she operates on high political structure. She is responsible
to transform her ideas and creativity to improve marketing operations. But the other powerful
personnels in Aesch AG disagrees with her as they failed to see her long term vision behind
proposing those changes (Marshall, ed., 2019). One of the reasons that her ideas are not
considered important may be because she is a woman. Over many years, women faces
discrimination at workplace and not provided with necessary credit and promotion they deserve.
The male colleagues find it difficult to listen to their ideas because of the sense of superiority in
them. If instead of Anna Frisch, some male was hired as marketing director, then the employees
5

would have consider their ideas and proposition for changes. The VP would have also sanctioned
the budget required for those changes as they would consider the changes essential to improve
efficiency of firm. Trust and confidence in the person bringing modifications in firm is another
important factor in agreeing to those changes. As Anna Frisch was appoined recently, employees
do not have faith in her ideas. Is she was a part of Aesch AG for longer period, other employees
might be able to see her intentions behind proposing changes in marketing measures. But lack of
trust by employees in her resulted in resistance and disagreeing of her ideas as they think of it as
unworthy.
TASK 4- RECOMMENDATIONS FOR LEAD AND MANAGE
It is recommended to managers of Aesch AG to have a proactive approach in meeting the
varied demands of dynamic and rapidly changing environment. It is advisable for managers to
understand the fact that bringing change is not a job of a one person. It is a collective job where
every employee is a part of change as a little variation in organisational operations influence the
working of all the personnel. At initial stage of bringing change, it is significant to motivate
employees in order to adapt those variations or fluctuations in an establishment. In relevance to
Aesch AG, new marketing executive, Frisch wants to bring many changes but it is advisable to
access the influence of making any variation on employee's behaviour and attitude. As changes
can not be bought in an abrupt basis, it is recommended to Frisch to develop proper plans before
communicating top management for bringing changes. It is also important to take everyone's
opinion in order to keep them on same page. Changes ought to be bought in organisation through
incorporating a influential team of managers (Smith, 2019). Even before making changes,
departmental managers should be trained and make understood the value as well as impact of
bringing variations in organisation. They should be make ready for coping with changes in order
to make understood about employees the positive impact of variation.
It has been imperative to managers that a clear strategy should be set and execute in a
strategic manner for bringing any change in organisation (Putri, Mirzania and Hartanto, 2020). It
is also advised to managers of Aesch AG to clearly communicate vision to employees and should
try to avoid any disruptions made in organisation. It is advisable to Frisch that she should talks to
employees and take their opinion on proposed change as well as also induce the need for training
in them. Various obstacles which came in bringing change needs to be identified and tried to be
curb or minimized. For instance, any employee or group of employees who are not ready to leave
6

their comfort zone, needs to be given priority and tried to amend them in an effective manner.
Other employees also ought to be motivated and inspired by providing them recognition and
monetary benefits for their little achievements. This can be a short win for the Frisch which
needs to be evaluated carefully on a constant basis. It is recommended to Frisch to assess the
training given to managers as they can be proved as the sole pillar for making employees
understand of value of changes in Aesch AG. It is also important to signify changes in varied
employability aspect such as employment engagement and organisational development.
 Employee engagement- It is an crucial aspect which needs to be consider while making
changes. It is recommended to Frisch she should understand that employees have a fear
of coming and working out of their comfortable zone. This fear can hamper their
productivity level as well as deteriorate their performance. This practice also led them to
not to engage in work commitments effectively. Employees engagement can be described
as an commitment which personnel gives in a emotional state of mind for the betterment
and accomplishment of organisational goals on a timely manner (Schell, 2019).
This commitment help managers in motivating their employees and also make them
accountable for the commitments they made (Tang, 2019). In today's environment, employees
are provided with clear goals and required resources like comfortable working space as well as
flexible working hours for securing employee engagement in an organisation. It is advisable for
Frisch to make employee engaged in different aspects of organisational functions so that they can
understand the implication and necessities of bringing change. It is recommended that objectives
and vision should be clearly states as well as known to managers so that they can provide proper
training to their subordinates along with provide motivation to them. This can be done through
creating open and proper communication channels in order to provide supervision.
 Organisational development- Making effective changes helps in development of
organisation in a strategic manner. Organisational development can be understood as a
systematic variations in differential values and attitudes of personnel through evaluation
of current business situation as well as establishment of necessary availabilities for future
(Shulga, 2021). This practice can be further integrated through training and development
programmes in a long run. It is recommended to Frisch to think about the development of
whole organisation through making changes. It is advisable that she should delegate her
proposed strategy, vision and benefits of bringing changes to employees as well as
7

departmental heads. It is recommended that Frisch should assess long term benefits for
making changes in organisation as well as make employees understand about the positive
impact of changes in Aesch AG. It is desirable for organisational managers to evaluate
the needs of bringing changes in Aesch AG which helps them to develop organisational
culture and employee engagement.
It is also desirable for Frisch to approach the top managers with proper strategy for
bringing changes and also the financial benefits. It is not important to bring changes in
organisation, it is significant that all the employees as well as managers should understand the
impact and benefits of variations made (Türkmendağ and Tuna, 2021). This practice helps them
to appreciate and adopt changes whole heartedly.
TASK 5: CONCLUSION
As per the above report and case study it is concluded that there are various reason in
Aesch AG, the VP's rejected all the changes and personal of marketing director. The Frisch
recommends various proposals to make changes in the organisation to achieve the goals and
increase the productivity and profitability of company. But the VP's rejected all the proposal and
refuse to adopt the changes in their working style or performances. The changes is related to
organisation structure, culture and policies to satisfied the customers demands as well as for easy
adaptation the recent market trends. The external factors of health care industry influences the
decision of marketing director to make or implement changes in the organisation. The current
marketing plan of company is focuses on clinicians by the marketing director wants to change
whole marketing plan as per the recent new consumers trends as well as they have to adjusted
their working according to these changes. But the employees and managers refuse to adopt the
suggestion of Frisch as they are habitual and comfortable in working with old marketing plan
and they did not want to change their working style. Also they have male ego for which they
cannot make changes by the recommendation of female marketing director. As they think they
are superior from Frisch as well as if they listen and make changes as per their suggest so it
affect on their ego and image. To make changes and let other employees listen to Frisch opinion
they have to develop trust and good relationship with them. So they listen and follows instruction
which are necessary to achieve the organisation goals successfully. By good communication,
interaction and give information about the benefits of these changes for them, the marketing
8

direction can build trust of male employees. Also, Frisch have to make sure that they use best
and effective plan to implement these changes as well as by involving every employees in
decision making in the organisation. Also, Frisch make sure that every one understand the
changes as well as easily adopt the changes in their performance to achieve organisation goals. It
is also concluded that bringing changes is a not an easy task for an organisation. Employees
should be motivated and inspired to adapt varied changes in a timely manner. Organisational
development can be understood as a combination of values and ethics that an organisation has to
be taken care of by managers for bringing changes.
9

REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Aitken, K. and von Treuer, K., 2020. Leadership behaviours that foster organisational
identification during change. Journal of Organizational Change Management.
Choromides, C., 2018. Leadership and change management: A cross-cultural
perspective. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research.
Clepper, J., 2018. Impact of preparatory leadership change management skill development in
leading sustainable lean change process. Oklahoma City University.
Faupel, S. and Süß, S., 2019. The effect of transformational leadership on employees during
organizational change–an empirical analysis. Journal of Change Management. 19(3).
pp.145-166.
Fleming, K. and Millar, C., 2019. Leadership capacity in an era of change: the new-normal
leader. Journal of organizational change management.
Heathfield, S. M., 2019. Executive support and leadership in change management.
Henricks, M. D., Young, M. and Kehoe, E. J., 2020. Attitudes toward change and
transformational leadership: A longitudinal study. Journal of change management. 20(3).
pp.202-219.
Islam, M. N., Furuoka, F. and Idris, A., 2021. Employee engagement and organizational change
initiatives: Does transformational leadership, valence, and trust make a
difference?. Global Business and Organizational Excellence. 40(3). pp.50-62.
Marshall, S. ed., 2019. Strategic leadership of change in higher education. Routledge.
Masenya, M. J., 2020. Furthering the transformational leadership debate: Four pointers for
university managers as change agents. The dynamics of changing higher education in the
global south. 174.
Morin, J., 2018. Leadership and change management. Scientific e-Resources.
Otto, K., Thomson, B. and Rigotti, T., 2018. When dark leadership exacerbates the effects of
restructuring. Journal of Change Management. 18(2). pp.96-115.
Putri, S. A., Mirzania, A. and Hartanto, D., 2020. The importance of a transformational
leadership model in managing organizational culture. Journal of Leadership in
Organizations. 2(1).
Schell, W. J., 2019. Leadership and change management. In Traffic Safety Culture. Emerald
Publishing Limited.
Shulga, L. V., 2021. Change management communication: the role of meaningfulness,
leadership brand authenticity, and gender. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly. 62(4). pp.498-
515.
Smith, R., 2019. The ‘Police Change Manager’: Exploring a new leadership paradigm for
policing. International Journal of Police Science & Management. 21(3). pp.156-167.
Tang, K. N., 2019. Leadership and Change management. Springer Singapore.
Tang, K. N., 2019. Leadership styles and organizational effectiveness. In Leadership and change
management (pp. 11-25). Springer, Singapore.
Türkmendağ, Z. and Tuna, M., 2021. Empowering leadership and knowledge management: the
mediating role of followers' technology use. Journal of Organizational Change
Management.
10