Leadership and Change Management Report: Davidson Supermarket Analysis

This report delves into leadership and change management, using the case of Davidson Supermarket as a focal point. It examines the challenges faced by the company, including high employee turnover and difficulties in recruitment. The report analyzes the causes and triggers of change, considering both internal and external factors such as economic, social, and technological influences, as well as the impact of Brexit. It explores the types of change experienced, including planned, operational, and strategic changes. Furthermore, the report investigates the organizational, cultural, and social dimensions of change, evaluating the importance of culture and the effects of power dynamics. It concludes with recommendations for leading and managing organizational change, focusing on leadership issues, employee engagement, and organizational development to improve employee retention and overall performance. The report aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of how effective leadership and change management can address the challenges faced by the supermarket and foster a more successful and sustainable business environment.

Leadership and change
Management

Task 1: Introduction.........................................................................................................................1
Aim.........................................................................................................................................1
Structure.................................................................................................................................1
Key issues of the case scenario..............................................................................................1
Background.............................................................................................................................2
Task 2: Causes and triggers of change.............................................................................................4
Analyzing the multiple causes or triggers for change............................................................4
Types of change experienced.................................................................................................5
Task 3: Organizational, cultural and social dimensions of change..................................................5
Analyze the change situation..................................................................................................5
Importance of culture and its role in relation to organizational change.................................6
Links between power, politics and conflict and their effect on change.................................7
Task 4: Recommendations to lead and manage organisational change...........................................7
Reflecting on leadership issues..............................................................................................7
Employees’ engagement.........................................................................................................8
Organisational development...................................................................................................8
Task 5: Conclusion..........................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

Task 1: Introduction
Aim
The aim of this report on leadership and change management depends upon the given case
scenario in which the human resource manager is targeting the social trends that might be
responsible for the problems in the organisation. This can only be possible if the human resource
manager will adopt the proper leadership strategies and an appropriate change management
process in a potential manner so that it can result in effective and efficient working of the
organisation.
Structure
The structure of the report depends upon the given case scenario and the following
discussion is based on the key issues of the case scenario, background of the report, analysing the
multiple causes and triggers for change, types of change experienced, analysing the change
situation, importance of culture and its role in relation to organisational change, links between
power, politics and conflicts and their effect on change, reflecting on leadership issues,
employees engagement, organisational development with proper findings and conclusion.
Key issues of the case scenario
The case scenario is based on the Davidsons which is one of the leading international
supermarkets operating in the United Kingdom. They are facing the problem in hiring and
recruiting of the employees along with the maximum employee turnover rate. HR managers have
investigated why the organization is facing this problem and hence found out the solutions as
well but no positive results came up. Therefore, leadership and change management is
introduced in the company so that the employee retention can be maximized along with the
strategic hiring of the staff for better operations and Management in an organization (Neves,
Almeida and Velez, 2018).
The key issues in the given case scenario are related with the human resource department
which includes the employee turnover rate and problem in hiring and recruiting the skilled
employees. Moreover, HR managers are facing problems in retaining the employees. Companies
facing the high problem in terms of customer complaints due to lack of staff in the stores, they
are complaining that there are not enough tills open and the customers have to queue for a long
time in order for payment. There are large gaps on the shelves where products have been sold
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and new items have not been put in place and moreover the company is not able to find a
member of staff to help if an item cannot be located. To resolve these issues, the HR manager
has taken some solutions as they contacted the local job centres and put advertisements along
with the display at the entrance of stores advising customers of the vacancy and explaining the
benefits of working at Davidsons along with running a large advertisement campaign in local
newspapers. Moreover, in order to retain the employees in an organisation the HR manager has
initiated the new policies which includes the increased holiday allowance after 2 years’ service,
discount on company goods after 1 years’ service and competitive wages typically more than
other supermarket chains in the area.
All these solutions have not worked and there is still the large employee turnover in an
organisation and therefore, further investigation in the organisation is required so that the
strategic management could be adopted in the form of leadership and change management in
order to retain the employees for long time.
Background
Leadership can be defined as the skill in the people who have the power of motivating
others so that they can be encouraged to accomplish the common goal in a potential manner. It
basically shows the function of directing the employees in a strategic manager in order to meet
the company needs and requirements. It is considered as the research area and the practical skill
which is the ability of an individual or a group in order to influence the people and lead them
along with the guidance to idle the individual or the team and the entire organization. In context
of Management. Leadership can be defined as the capacity of management of the company in
order to set and achieve the challenging targets so that the decision-making and the action upon it
can be fast whenever needed that supports the organization to fight the competition and gain the
competitive advantage in the marketplace along with inspiring others to perform at the highest
level to the best of the capabilities (Dzwigol, Shcherbak, Semikina and Vasiuta, 2019).
Change management can be defined as the methodologies and the ways in which the
organization explains and the scribes along with the implementation of change with the internal
and external processes. It is important to develop the structured framework in order to execute
change which can support the organization and make sure the benefits of transition at the time of
mitigating disruption. It is basically a collective terminology of all the techniques to prepare and
support along with the helping individuals or teams in an organization to outperform the
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organizational change in a successful manner. Change management is considered a difficult task
in the company because the employees are reluctant to adopt the change as it distracts the daily
routine of them. Therefore, it is important to implement the change in order to grow and develop
the organization for better expansion and maintain the proper image and reputation in the market.
There is a role of leadership in change management which is needed to support the people
in order to buy their vision for the company. This is a type of communication which is required
to occur consistently without caring of day-to-day issues or serious change programs but it is
important that the message must be clear and consistent. Leaders have a major role in change
management because they are responsible to initiate change in a proactive manner because they
have the capability to take the risk and the ability to manage the best in the organization in a
potential manner (Holten, Hancock and Bøllingtoft, 2019).
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Task 2: Causes and triggers of change
Analyzing the multiple causes or triggers for change
Causes and triggers of change depend on the internal and external environmental factors
which encourage the organizational changes in order to be successful. Such as the political,
economic, social, technological, legal and environmental factors which are outside of the
organization are the major reason in causing the changes. In context of the given scenario, all
these six factors which are pestle analysis is being done on the Davidson that causes change to
the organization.
Political factors which causes change are the Brexit situation because of the lot of
uncertainty due to the changes in policies and regulation along with the large impact on the strict
legislation on United Kingdom food retailers. Economic factors include the fluctuations in the
currency which has created the inflationary pressures and moreover the rise in the oil prices
resulted in the tight budget of household consumers. Social factors include the rise in the age
population which presents the business opportunity along with the growing education and health
of the consumers. Technological factors influence the technology investment which supports the
direction of best effort and making the business cost efficient in order to be responsive to the
customers (Cameron and Green, 2019). Using the digital data in order to identify the emerging
trends and better serve customers. Regular target on the research and development department in
order to build in house software and systems. Illegal characters in clothes, the food safety and
legal standards compliance along with 8000 ethical trade audits and the policies and legal
guidance in order to support the different other regulations. Environmental factors include the
reduction in the carbon emissions along with the poly boxes with the zero waste manufacturing
sites which offer the plastic free fruit and vegetable options.
These were the external factors which caused the change but there are internal factors also
which include the internal stakeholders of the companies such as employers and employees
along with the managers and leaders. It totally depends upon the human resource department in
the form of strategic hiring and recruiting along with the retention of skilled employees and
performance appraisal along with the training and development function (Choromides, 2018).
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Types of change experienced
There are different types of change that can affect the organizations in the positive for the
negative manner such as happened change which is a kind of unpredictable change and generally
takes place because of the impact of external factors. Reactive change takes place in order to
respond to the event for a chain of different types of events. Anticipatory change is executed
with prior anticipation of the chain of events. Planned change is the developmental change which
is executed for the help of objectives in order to enhance the current manager of operations in
order to achieve the goals and objectives (Burnes, Hughes and By, 2018). Incremental change is
executed at micro level which is adaptive in nature. Operational change is a kind of change
which is required when the organization is facing the competitive pressures in terms of quality
improvement and in the customer servicing in order to fight against the competitors. Strategic
change is executed at the organizational level which can affect the different types of elements in
the company as well as the strategy also. Directional change is necessary because of the
increasing pressures in terms of competition and government control and policies in terms of
export and import policies along with the pricing structure and taxation and many more.
Fundamental change is referred to as the reformulating the organizational vision and mission
along with the goals and objectives in a basic manner. Total change is the change in
organizational vision and strategy along with the employee morale and commitment as well as
with the business performance also (Faupel and Süß, 2019).
In context of the given scenario, types of change experienced are the happened change,
planned change, operational change, directional change and total change as per the needs and
requirements of the key issues given in the case study of Davidson supermarket.
Task 3: Organizational, cultural and social dimensions of change
Analyze the change situation
In context of the given scenario, there are different organisational changes that are
executed by the HR manager so that they can increase the employee retention in the company
and strategic hiring and recruitment could take place to higher skilled workforce. For example,
they have contacted the different job centres and implemented the advertisement strategies to
gain and attract talent towards the company. They also have displays at the entrance of the store
so that the customers can have a look at them and advise the people about the benefits of
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working at Davidson. Moreover, they have also executed and implemented the large
advertisement campaign in the local newspapers to attract the unemployed people who are the
job seekers. There are different cultural changes implemented by the HR manager in order to
retain the employees and reduce the employee turnover. For example, they have made the policy
of increasing the holiday allowance after 2 years’ service so that at least employees can retain
two years and serve the organisation. They have also provided the discount on the company
goods after one-year service so that they can retain at least one year in the organisation to get the
discount on the company products. Moreover, they have also changed and increased the
competitive wages which are more than other supermarket chains in the area so that skilled talent
can get attracted towards the Davidson in terms of employment and good culture in the
organisation (By, 2020).
Now they are thinking to adopt the social dimensions of change so that everything can be
completely changed in terms of employee management in order to gain the skilled employees for
a longer period of time and the social change they can adopt by engaging and promoting the
ethical business practices, by forming strategic partnerships with non-profit organisation,
encouraging employees to volunteer, inspiring action with corporate platforms, the abolition of
the transatlantic slave trade, the civil rights movement, the feminist movement, the LGBTQ
rights movement and Green movement (Pugh, 2018).
Importance of culture and its role in relation to organizational change
Culture is playing vital role within organisation so that working factors within premises
can be increased and at the same time development in organisational functions can also be
managed (Hayes, 2018). In addition to this with the help of culture social and economic benefits
can be given so that various opportunities are being inhaled and at the same time individual and
communities may work together for accessing various opportunities within organisation. In the
context of organisational change culture is playing immense role and in this manner positive
change can be taken within business and in similar manner business requirements an be fulfilled.
For Davidson as the company is facing issue of employee turnover and customer dissatisfaction
within billing process then in the presence of appropriate culture these problems can be sorted
out using various strategies and corporation (Putri, Mirzania and Hartanto, 2020). With the help
of powerful culture managers of Davidson may protect their business functions from facing any
issues related to social aspects and this may lead into long term survival as well. Besides this in
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order to gain long term business rapid changes are required to be undertaken so that business
processes can be emerged with gaining higher value.
Links between power, politics and conflict and their effect on change
There is strong connection existed within power, politics and conflicts. With the help of
power capabilities of various people can be enhanced and at the same time their behaviour can be
modified by using politics (Gryazeva-Dobshinskaya and Dmitrieva, 2018). In the presence of
higher level of politics situation of conflicts may be arise and this may lead the business to gain
several aspects of mismanagement. In this manner the organisation is not gaining any positive
aspects when conflicts and situation of politics is arising. Conflicts is the situation of clashing of
opinion or thoughts and this is related with influencing behaviour of individual working within
organisation. In the context of Davidsons as to the company is facing issues within management
in HR department in the field of recruitment. In this manner various conflicts are seen within the
organisation when various situations are tackled and in this manner with the help of power these
situations can be managed and at the same time business objectives can be attained (Galli, 2018).
The major issue within Davidson is related with not finding up the exact locations at shelves so
this is the major situation in which change management is required to be introduced.
Task 4: Recommendations to lead and manage organisational change
Reflecting on leadership issues
In the above case study I have analysed that Davidson is facing various issues related
with leadership and in this manner the company is able to face barriers in succession. Failure to
communicate is the major issue faced within leadership so that to barriers can be inhaled.
Besides this I have analysed that customers have to wait in queue for so long in order to get bill.
This is the reason of leadership mismanagement and for these issues several strategies are used
so that customer waiting time can be minimised. Besides this another issue is related with gaps in
shelves items that are required to be placed so this is also the issue of leadership mismanagement
and similarly this is the major reason that customers have to wait in long queue. At last another
issue is related with facing issue in finding member of staff when some item within stock is not
located. According to me these issues are associated with leadership and required to be solved by
Davidson so that to gain success over market and to fulfil needs of their customers as well.
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Employees’ engagement
Employee engagement is defined as the extent in which employee get feeling of passion
in respect of their jobs. Employee engagement is associated with such activities in which
performing such relationship with organisation. For an organisation employee engagement is
essential as this will lead into gaining high quality of work from employees. With the help of
appropriate employee engagement an organisation may retain top talent and increase overall
productivity of the workplace (Neves and Schyns, 2018). Employee engagement is taken as the
method by HR which is helpful in defining goals of the organisation. In the context of Davidson
as the company is facing various issues linked with HR and in order to deal with the same the
major aspect needed is employee engagement. Staff communication is not appropriate within
Davidson which leads customers to wait long duration of time. Besides this the management
team of Davidson is not able to manage customer complaints and with the help of higher
employee engagement these issues can be minimised and at the same time overall benefits can be
given to the organisation (Tang, 2019). Employee engagement is an intrinsic motivation which is
providing significant edge to employee in order to give them such environment which is helpful
in taking out fuller efficiency.
Organisational development
Organisational development is defined as the aspects which are used within the business
in order to gain long term growth opportunities and significance. This is a mandatory process
which is helpful in gaining higher effectiveness within the organisation so that performance of
employees can be enhanced (Taylor, 2018). The major purpose of organisational development is
to use resources in fuller manner so that various problems can be solved. Organisational
development is the process in which democracy and other actions can be undertaken. In the
context of Davidson the organisation is in need of developing their business so that to allocate
resources in fuller manner and to gain higher effectiveness as well (Henricks, Young and Kehoe,
2020). Organisational development is the process in which several practices are implemented so
that to enhance overall succession.
Task 5: Conclusion
It is concluded that leadership and change management is an important concept to study and
learn in order to apply its applications in the real world organisations as discussed in this report
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in terms of the given scenario of Davidson. If the company had not applied the strategic
leadership and appropriate change management then they would not have found out any
solutions for the employee to manage and handle them for better operations in the organisation.
Therefore it is important to analyse the key issues currently the organisation is facing, it is
essential to examine the multiple causes and triggers for change, it is necessary to determine the
types of change experienced, it is significant to gain the knowledge about the change situation in
terms of organisational and cultural along with the social dimensions of change, it is crucial to
investigate about the importance of culture and its role in relation to organisational change, it is
imperative to assess the links between power, politics and conflict and their effect on change, it
is required to provide recommendations to lead and manage organisational change which
includes the reflection on leadership issues and employee engagement along with organisational
development. hence this report covers all such areas in order to better understand the conception
of leadership and management change.
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REFERENCES
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