Leadership and Change Management: ASTON LARK Insurance Analysis Report

This report examines change management and leadership within the insurance company ASTON LARK. It analyzes the impact of changes on the company's strategy and operations, comparing ASTON LARK to a competitor, Kingtsure Plc. The report evaluates internal and external drivers of change, including cultural differences, financial management, political, economic, social, and technological factors, and their effects on leadership, team, and individual behavior. It assesses measures to minimize the negative impacts of change, such as employee rewards, training programs, and the application of the PDCA model. Furthermore, the report explores barriers to change using the Force Field Analysis model and how these influence leadership decision-making. Finally, it applies different leadership approaches to dealing with change in organizational contexts. The report provides a comprehensive overview of change management principles and their practical application within ASTON LARK.

Understanding and
Leading change

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
P1 Compare different organizational examples where there has been an impact of changes on
an organization's strategy and operations...............................................................................3
P2 Evaluate the ways in which internal and external drives of change affects leadership, team
and individual behaviour in an organisation..........................................................................5
P3 Evaluate measure that can be taken to minimise negative impact of changes on
organisation behaviour...........................................................................................................6
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................8
P4 Explain different barriers for changes and determine how it influence leadership decision
making in ASTON LARK .....................................................................................................8
TASK 3..........................................................................................................................................10
P5 Apply different leadership approaches to dealing with change in a range of organisational
contexts.................................................................................................................................10
(COVERED IN PPT )..........................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................17

INTRODUCTION
In the complex business environment it is very essential for the organisations to
understand the need of changes in the firm and adopt strategies accordingly. Change is an
inevitable part of organisations (Kotter, 2012). It is essential to analyse issues in the firm and
adopt certain changes which helps them to succeed in future time period. The chosen
organisation in the report is ASTON LARK. It is totally a insurance company which has arund
19 offices all over UK. The project will discuss about the different organisational examples
where there has been impact of change on organisation's strategy and operations, internal and
external drivers of change which affects leadership as well it also covers steps to minimise
negative effects of change. It also determines various leadership approaches which the company
may use in dealing with change effectively.
TASK 1
P1 Compare different organizational examples where there has been an impact of changes on an
organization's strategy and operations
Business are performing their operations and functions with the motive of earning profit,
growth and welfare of the members within the society. Organisations operate in dynamic
environment which needs to adapt changes in order to sustain. Here, are some of the factors like
innovation, technological developments, changes in taxation policy which have impacted the
performance of respective company and forced company to implement changes so that new ways
of performing business operations could fulfil the goals and objectives of organisation in a
definite time period (Doppelt, 2017).
As ASTON LARK is a insurance and there are many organisations in the similar
segment which will affect its profitability. So in order to be best among its competitors it is very
essential for the company to introduce and implement changes to maintain growth and success of
its company.
In order to analyse the impact of changes, organisation ASTON LARK and its competitor
Kingtsure Plc has been considered and evaluation of both the companies are described below-
Changes ASTON LARK KINGTSURE
Structural change Structural change in ASTON Kingtsure is also insurance

LARK is from hierarchical
organisational structure to flat
structure in which there are no
levels of management between
staff and higher authorities.
Strategy-This would help the
employees to increase their
involvement in decision
making process and would
allow them to easily cope up
with change. (Yoder-Wise,
2014). .
company which offers range of
different policies and provide
insurance to business. It has
changed its structure from flat
to hierarchical organisational
structure in which
communication flows properly
from higher level to lower
level.
Strategy- This would reduce
conflict among employees
regarding the work and would
lead to effective performance
of work.
Changes in Technological
factors
Technological change in
ASTON LARK is based on
working on updated software
as well as use of digitalisation
methods which helps them to
record data of every investor
effectively.
Strategy- After analysing the
need of working on update
software company will make
plan to hire knowledgeable
workforce.
Operations- By adopting
advance technology , positive
change occurs in the
organisation and employees
will feel motivated and satisfy
Technological change in
Kingtsure is based on social
media marketing for promoting
their life insurance products in
order to attract large number of
customers.
Strategy- This will help the
organisation to attract more
customers and enhance market
value.
Operations-To conduct various
operations, management hire
new professionals and
organises training classes to
cope up with change.

their job.
From the above discussion it has been concluded that adapting change in the organisation
is very important, in order to cope up with change organisation should consider two things such
as-
 Effective training should be given to employees to increase their technical knowledge on
working with updated software and attracting more customer base.
 Organisation should tackle the changes accordingly in order to maintain healthy
relationship between employees and customer.
P2 Evaluate the ways in which internal and external drives of change affects leadership, team
and individual behaviour in an organisation
ASTON LARK is a l insurance based company in which employees perform their
job effectively to achieve desired goals and objectives. Hereby, their are various internal and
external factors which affects the leadership and behaviour of individuals within the respective
company which are discussed below-
Internal drivers- These drivers are present within the organisation such as financial
management and cultural differences among employees. These are discussed below- Cultural differences- It includes values , behaviour and attitudes of employees. These all
factors affects the performance of team members. Difference in the value and attitude of
the team member can overall effect the performance of team and will ultimately reduce
the productivity of respective company. Hereby, it will create impact on decision making
of leaders for handling team effectively (Salmela, Eriksson and Fagerström, 2012). Financial management- Funds are the backbone of the company in performing business
operations effectively. Lack of funds in ASTON LARK, will directly impact the
performance of individuals in performing the assigned work. Respective company can
resolve the problem by enhancing operational leadership which will help them to improve
performance of individuals and teams in a proper manner.
External factors- These are the factors which are not in control of the company and effects the
performance and productivity of the firm. These drivers are determined by PEST analysis. Political- Change in the political factors such as changes in taxation policy and changes
in rules and regulation may affect public funding (Hrebiniak, 2013). ASTON LARK
should follow the rules and regulations of the government for smooth functioning. These

rules and regulations directly affects leaders decision for dealing with the change in
laws . It also impacts the performance of individual for properly executing their work in
changing structure of business. Economical- These factors include change in interest rate, employment factors, inflation
rate which directly affects the leadership, teams and individuals. Decision of the leader is
effected when there is low interest rates on its insurance policies which reduces the
buying power of customers. Certain strategies should be adopted by leader in order to
attract investors and improve the performance of team within the company. Social- These factors greatly affects the demands and need of the product in the market.
This factor has a significant impact on leadership decisions. When the demand of the
insurance services changes regularly, leader need to modify strategies accordingly in
order to meet investors needs. This would also impact the performance of team to work
differently according to changing needs. Thus increase in demand will also increase the
performance of employees individually.
 Technological- These factors are associated with changes in technology for increasing
productivity of organisation. Change in the technology will allow the leader of ASTON
LARK, to provide guidance and support to the team members for adopting technology in
the performance of work. With this, performance of teams and individuals can be
increased and can enhance their skills and knowledge (Wagner, 2016).
P3 Evaluate measure that can be taken to minimise negative impact of changes on organisation
behaviour
Certain measures are taken by the company in order to minimise the negative impact of changes
in the respective organisation which are as follows-
 As the employees in the respective organisation resist to change as they are comfortable
with all the processes within organisation. They don't readily accept the change. For
reducing the resistance of employees , management of ASTON LARK should provide
rewards and benefits to employees for heir high performance. This would motivate the
employees to work effectively and readily accept the change (Aslan and Reigeluth,
2013). When the change is implemented in the organisation it makes business operations a long
and complex in nature which sometimes become difficult for the individual to adapt. In

such case ASTON LARK should provide effective training to its team members to cope
up with change and perform effectively.
PDCA Model- In order to overcome the negative impacts of change ASTON LARK, used PDCA
model to carry out changes in the organisation effectively. This model comes up with four steps
i.e. plan , do, check, act. These four levels greatly help the managers to determine issues of
changes and appropriate actions can be taken to improve the level of performance. It also helps
the leader in decision making process of change. Planning- In this stage, leaders of the organisation determines the issues or the problems
regarding the change and plans appropriate strategy to implement the change. In context
to ASTON LARK, it plans change for implementing innovative technology in its
business operation by working on updated software which would handle customer data
efficiently. Do- In this leader develops and implements suitable solutions for overcoming the impact
of the issue effectively. In such case ASTON LARK designs efficient training
programmes for all the team members and individuals to enhance their skills and
knowledge to perform task in a effective way (Brown, 2012). Check- In this managers compares the obtained results with the standard results to
measure the impact of the change in respective company. Leader of the respective
company should measure the changes that it has benefited the organisation. After
analysing the impact of the changes leader develops plan strategies according to the
requirements and take the benefit of change accordingly.
 Act- In the last phase, effective ideas and suggestions are addressed for different types of
problems. If the change in the respective organisation is not benefiting the company as
well as individuals, then certain actions should be taken by conducting time to time
market analysis. This would solve the problem and better decisions could be taken and
allow respective company to act in such a way to manage change properly.
This model greatly helps in minimising the negative impact of changes as by making
proper plans to implement changes and thereby checking the impact of the change in the
respective organisation helps them to reduce the impact of change in the oragnisation.

TASK 2
P4 Explain different barriers for changes and determine how it influence leadership decision
making in ASTON LARK
Their are different barriers of change which affects decision making of leadership in the
respective company. With the help of force field analysis model it helps the company to analyse
the driving as well as resisting forces of change.
Force Field Analysis Model
In analysing the implementation of change there are two forces such as driving forces
which helps in sustaining change and the other is resisting forces which are the hindering factors
and doesn't allow change to be implemented in respective organisation. It is a useful tool for the
leaders in effective decision making (Stanleigh, 2013).
Five phases for Force field analysis is described below-
Phase 1- Change proposal- In this phase respective organisation analyses the need for change
and identify the factors that need to be change to bring improvement.
Phase 2- Change force identification- In this phase managers of the respective organisation
analyses risk which are occurring at the initial stages which also helps them to implement
strategies accordingly.
Phase 3- Force against alternation identification- In this phase managers identifies the alternative
to manage the changes properly in the organisation. They determine the areas and presents
alternative to change to manage business operations successfully.
Phase 4- Score assign- Score are assigned to every change implemented and action plan is
implemented to regulate entire process of alteration.
Phase 5- Evaluate and execute- In this phase all change is evaluated by the managers and then
executed in the organisation.
In context to the ASTON LARK, its driving forces for change are-
 Customer demand new services of pension and life insurance.
 Use of advanced technology such as artificial intelligence for competitive edge which
will record data of several customers which enables them to target more individuals.
Resisting forces of change in context to ASTON LARK are-
 High cost for using advanced technology and effective training of employees.

 Lack of employee support within the respective organisation as they are not ready to
accept changes to perform their business activities in different way.
Different barriers of change
Change is required in the organisation in order to sustain and compete against its rivals.
But, there are some barriers to implement change which are described below-
Lack of involvement of employees- At the time of introducing change in the
organisation, employees doesn't involve as they always have a fear of reduction in their
responsibility and importance in work place. So the leader of ASTON LARK should effectively
involve all the employees which will make them feel important as well as generates more unique
and innovative ideas which would be beneficial for company.
In effective communication- When change is introduced in the organisation it should be
communicated to all the employees. Lack of communication about change creates a barrier in
decision making of leader. In effective communication leads to ineffective productivity and
affects business growth. ASTON LARK leaders should effectively communicate with all its
employees and makes them realise the importance and need for change (Hintz and Bahia, 2013).
Undue complexity- Change in the organisation can be long and complicated process
which requires lot of time which sometimes result in failure to implement change successfully.
This problem can be solved by communicating change respectively to all the employees and also
involves them in taking decisions regarding change effectively. Employees should be provided
with enough training in order to cope up with the change effectively.
Analyse the driving and resisting forces to determine how they influence leadership
decision.
In context to ASTON LARK, its driving forces are Customers demand for new services
and the advanced technology which forces the organisation to implement change in the
organisation. It influences leadership decisions within the respective company to plan and apply
different strategies and communicate to all the employees the benefits of changes. It influences
leader to guide and motivate its followers properly for taking the advantage of change .
In context to ASTON LARK, resisting forces of change are high cost and lack of support
of employees which influences leadership decisions. Leader should involve employees during
the decision related to change and explain the benefits of change to them which would increase
their satisfaction level. This type of barrier influences leadership decisions as they are not able to

implement change properly in the organisation and the respective organisation faces the problem
of unsatisfied workforce, this influences leadership decision as because of changes in
technology, business process leaders are unable to take effective decision. (MacKian and
Simons, 2013).
TASK 3
P5 Apply different leadership approaches to dealing with change in a range of organisational
contexts
(COVERED IN PPT )

CONCLUSION
From the above described report it has been analysed that leading change in the
organisation is very important in order to sustain in this complex business environment.
Managers and leaders of ASTON LARK, analyse and evaluate internal and external factors of
changes which directly impacts the leadership style and individuals within the organisation.
Respective company has also taken some measures to minimise the negative impact of changes.
They have also used various leadership theories and models to overcome the problems in
implementing changes which allows the company to increase their profitability and growth.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Kotter, J.P., 2012. Leading change. Harvard business press.
Doppelt, B., 2017. Leading change toward sustainability: A change-management guide for
business, government and civil society. Routledge.
Yoder-Wise, P.S., 2014. Leading and managing in nursing-E-Book. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Salmela, S., Eriksson, K. and Fagerström, L., 2012. Leading change: a three‐dimensional model
of nurse leaders’ main tasks and roles during a change process. Journal of advanced
nursing. 68(2). pp.423-433.
Hrebiniak, L.G., 2013. Making strategy work: Leading effective execution and change. FT Press.
Wagner, W.E., 2016. Leadership for a better world: Understanding the social change model of
leadership development. John Wiley & Sons.
Aslan, S. and Reigeluth, C.M., 2013. Educational technologists: Leading change for a new
paradigm of education. TechTrends. 57(5). pp.18-24.
NHS England, 2016. Leading change, adding value. British Journal of Healthcare
Assistants. 10(6). pp.302-303.
Brown, B.C., 2012. Leading complex change with post-conventional consciousness. Journal of
Organizational Change Management. 25(4). pp.560-575.
Stanleigh, M., 2013. Leading change. The Journal for Quality and Participation. 36(2). p.39.
Hintz, C. and Bahia, H., 2013. Understanding mechanisms leading to asphalt binder fatigue in
the dynamic shear rheometer. Road Materials and Pavement Design. 14(sup2). pp.231-
251.
MacKian, S. and Simons, J., 2013. Leading, managing, caring: understanding leadership and
management in health and social care. Routledge in association with The Open
University.
Foltin, A. and Keller, R., 2012. Leading change with emotional intelligence. Nursing
management. 43(11). pp.20-25.
ONLINE
Force field analysis, 2018. [Online]. Available through: <https://www.change-management-
coach.com/force-field-analysis.html>.