Understanding and Leading Change: A Report on Marks & Spencer

This report examines change management strategies at Marks & Spencer, a UK-based retail enterprise. It explores how internal and external factors, such as structural, strategic, process, and people-related changes, impact the company's operations and leadership. The report analyzes drivers of change, including political, economic, social, and technological factors, and their influence on leadership, team, and individual behavior. Furthermore, it identifies measures to mitigate the negative effects of change management, such as team engagement, effective communication, and proper training. The report also applies theories like contingency and system management to evaluate organizational responses to change, concluding with recommendations for effective change planning and impact analysis. The analysis emphasizes the importance of adapting to changes, fostering customer satisfaction, and achieving organizational goals through proactive strategies.

Understanding and Leading
Change

INTRODUCTION
Changes are inevitable and important for betterment of an organisation. The changes
support the firm to grow and develop and make necessary alterations that are been made within
an organisation. Besides this, changes help firm to make its services more effective, improve
product or service quality and increases effectiveness of enterprise. It helps in good rise in
compatibility and meeting of operational requirements of organisation. For report, Marks &
Spencer (M& S) is chosen as organisation of context (Burke,2017). It is a UK based retail
enterprise. The report will lay emphasis on various organisational examples that lay changes on
strategies. The internal and external changes are been analysed along with various measures to
minimise negative impact of changes on organisation are been discussed. Besides this, various
barriers of changes and how it influences decision making are analysed. Other than this,
leadership approaches are been discussed in range of organisational context.
MAIN BODY
TASK 1
P1. What are the different organisational examples where the changes have impacted enterprise
strategy and operations.
In an enterprise, there are some serious impacts are been placed that are been laid by
changes and are been affected in an effective and significant manner. The firm has to look after
change management approach that will help in rise in customer satisfactions and improving core
performance of organisation. The operation's management and organisation's strategy and
operations lay a deep impact on functioning of employees and how leaders and managers in firm
react to it. Some major types of changes that are taken into consideration by organisation like M
& S are as follows:
 Structural: It is related to improvement of communication process that will be followed
by organisation. It helps in ensuring a positive flow of actions and operations that are
been taken in thought process by business to run its functions (Hillson and Murray-
Webster, 2017). It helps in reduction of complexity and make processes easy to follow
and monitor. The operations and functionalities that are been followed within firm that
are modified according to situations in order to make execution of business activities
more effective and easy.
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 Strategic: This changes involve modifications due to change in external factors that
prevails in market. This will lead to making strategies or re furnish existing one, in order
to meet operational requirements that will help in effective management of different
business actions and set goals and objectives in a very effective manner. This change
strategy is been followed by organisation in order to ensure development of cited retail
enterprise and ensures its effective product development and its quality.
 Process: It involves changes or modification in work processes that will help in rise in
productivity. It leads to rise in efficiency of organisation that helps in management of
actions and activities that are been taken in consideration by retail enterprise. This
improve chances of getting a good result from business activities and utilization of
resources (Rothwell, Stavros and Sullivan, 2015).
 People: In order to bring appropriate modification in enterprise, firm will also look after
placing of highly qualified people and changes their responsibility from time to time in
order to gain an effective rise in compatibility. The placing of new talent brings new
ideas and working concepts which will support in good growth of compatibility and
meeting of targeted goals and encourages adoption of innovation within business
enterprise.
M & S will look after effective handling of operation's which will lead to increase in
customer loyalty level. This will help organisation to adopt effective strategies that will, help
enterprise to grow and develop business operations and meeting of set goals and objectives in a
very effective way. The firm can use effective CRM system which will help in effective
connectivity of firm and supports the organisation to build a good brand image in market. Also,
this changes will also help in rise in compatibility and avoiding of any risk factors that prevails
in market (Burke,2017). This will help in improving production capacity of an enterprise and
will aid to effective growth and development of firm which will help in effective rise of buyers
contentment level and achieving of set goals and functions to a newer level. Or than this, it helps
in increase in positive characteristics and meeting of trade functions and meeting customers’
requirements in a very effective manner, leading to rise in effective revenue generation.
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P2. In what ways the internal and external drivers of changes inpact leadership, team and
individual behaviour within an enterprise.
In effective implementation of changes, micro as well as macro enviromental factors
plays a very deep and crucial role and thus will help in looking through effective management of
operations that are been followed by organisation that helps in effective implementation of
strategic changes in cited retail entity (Uhlemann And et.al., 2015). The internal factors are those
which are controlled by firm while on or hand, external factors are not been controlled within
organisation. The internal assessment of firm is been performed using SWOT analysis while
external factors of M & S will be evaluated by PEST assessment. It will help in setting up of
various changes like leadership, team and individual behaviour etc.
The external assessment of firm is as follows:
 Political: It involves political factors that will be prevailing in UK and will affect
business operations in significant manner. The political factors effectively support in
better assessment of organisations laws and regulations that will helps in effective
management of business activities and thus, will facilitate a rise in compatibility and
determine of policies. The political factors will also affect setting up of tax rate, quality
standards and employment laws that are followed by firm. It impacts behaviour of
workforce (Uhlemann And et.al., 2015).
 Economic: this factor considers the economy of the nations and can get altered due to
market environment. The economy will help in looking after the functions that supports
effective handling of the trade operations and thus will aid in rise of various economic
elements. That are needed to be looked after by the business operations. But, on the other
hand, it has the negative impacts too. The rise in trade tariffs will cause the reduction in
wages and increase the prices of products and services. Thus, in such condition, the retail
enterprise has to tackle appropriate measures to mitigate the loss.
 Social: It is mostly dependent of the organisations work culture as well as the
surrounding. The firm has to improve its product quality in order to fulfil the products
demand. Other than this, the social factors help in fulfilling the demands of customers as
per their cultural needs and implement the policies and action plan accordingly (Feldman,
Hart and Milosevic, 2017).
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 Technological: in the present scenario, technology plays a very crucial part in
completion of the functions that will support in better management of actions and thus
will lead to a good rise in productivity and effectiveness to perform business operations
in a better way. It also helps in improving the customer satisfaction level.
On the other hand, the internal factors will also help in improving the work performance
of the organisation in a better way. The internal drivers of change are:
 Strength: The major strength of M & S is the global presence, uniqueness of product and
services and a good brand image. This help the firm to improve the performance and
meet the operational goals and objectives that are been set to gain a good market position.
 Weaknesses: the major weakness of the cited retail entity is the uncertainty in the actions
of its management. Besides this, the lack of proper management of the technical staff is
the major factor that is required to be taken in consideration by the firm.
 Opportunities: the firm ha the major opportunity to expand its business on the global
level and thus will support a good increase in customer satisfaction that will help the
enterprise to meet its functional objectives in a very effective way (Burke,2017).
 Threat: the major threat factor for the firm is the insignificant rise in competition in local
as well as international market. This can impact the operations and revenue generation of
the firm.
P3: what measures can be taken to mitigate the negative effect of change-management on
organisational behaviour
Various actions are been followed by firm in order to minimise or mitigate the risk
factors that are been faced by the organisation. The external as well as internal factors lay a very
deep impact on the operations. Some factor that will lay negative impact on the operations and
thus are required to be look after in effective thought process which will support a good handling
of business activities and will help in a good rise in customer satisfaction and activities. That are
been followed within the enterprise. Few of the major measures that are been preceded by the
retail business enterprise that will lead to an effective growth in the buyer's contentment level are
as follows:
 Team engagement: the firm will see through better meeting of operational measures
which will aid in the better involvement in business activities and functions which are
been taken in consideration by retail enterprise (Rothwell, Stavros and Sullivan, 2015).
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The involvement of the employee’s or work force within the action's per decision making
of M & S will help the enterprise to come up with more effective and innovative ideas
and operations and will support a good rise in the customer as well as employee
satisfaction level. It will also help in building a good relation between the firm and the
organisation.
 Communication: the communication plays a very crucial and vital role in the setting up
of the effective organisational system and avoiding any sort of negative impact on the
operations within the firm (Hillson and Murray-Webster, 2017). A good and
knowledgable customer satisfaction level will help the enterprise in a better way and thus
will support a good allocation of roles and responsibilities. This approach will also help
in increasing the customer satisfaction as it will help in effective rectification of their
issues and problems that will be faced by the organisation. Besides this, the good
communication will help in effective management of the needs and requirements of the
organisation and avoid the misunderstanding.
 Proper training and learning: the providing of the proper training and learning will
help in good management of the business operations that will help in improving the work
performance and meeting of the targeted operations and activities (Daft and Marcic,
2016.). This will also help in improving the performance of the firm and thus will give
rise to the revenue generation. Also, the employee satisfaction is been improved.
M1 what are the different drivers of changes and the type of organisations that will impact.
The different drivers that affect organisational changes will help in implementation of the
high quality product and services. The external factors like political, social or economic factors,
and the internal elements like strength and weaknesses will help in effective growth in clients
contentment and achieving of the set aims and objectives that will help in effective rise in
performance of cited business enterprise.
M2 which theories and models can be applied to evaluate organisational response to change-
management
M & S will see through the effective management of various operations which will
support in good increase in employee's engagement and functions. In order to mitigate the risk
factors and negative impact of the changes or alteration which are been made with in the firm.
The contingency theory or system management theory can be considered by the management of
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the firm tat will help in good assessment and management of the changes that are been
implemented within a firm (Johnson, 2016).
D1: what conclusiona nd recommendation can be drawn on the basis of the planning of change
and impact analysis
On the basis of analysis, it can be concluded that the proper management of
modifications is very important for the company. The effective planing of changes will help in
good rise in effectiveness of the organisation (Archer, 2015). Some recommendations for the
effective application of the changes is as follows:
 Proper planning is necessary, prior to application of the changes. It will help in good rise
in customer and employee's satisfaction level.
 Once the changes are been implemented, proper feedback and assessment is required to
be placed in order to test its feasibility.
TASK 2
P4: What are the different barriers to the change-management and how they influence leadership
and decision making at a firm.
There are different barriers for an organisation which will impact the overall operations
and activities of the organisation. It will also impact the activities and actions that will help in
effective management of the trade functions. The changes will also impact the leadership of the
managers within the organisation in a very effective way. Some major barriers to the changes
that are been implemented by the firm are:
 Employee's resistance: this is the major factor that will impact the implementation of
the changes that are been followed by the firm (Glass and Cook, 2016). As changes will
involve the employees to come out from their comfort zone, this will make the workforce
reluctant about the adoption of the various changes that will be followed by the retail
enterprise. The employee's avoid facing the change and it the work force of the firm is
not willing to accept the change that will be implemented by the organisation, it becomes
a major barrier or drawback for the firm.
 Lack of knowledge: many times the lack of knowledge and proper idea about the
consequences of the changes that are meant to be implemented by the organisation.
Before incorporating the change measures that are to be implemented in the cited retail
enterprise, the management has to gain the proper idea about the methods of
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implementation, its consequences, time duration and impact it will lay on the company,
employee's and the customer base (O'Donnell and et.al., 2015). The proper gaining of the
operational knowledge will help in good assessment of the actions that will help in
suitable rise in customer satisfaction level. Also, it will reduce the chances of failure of
organisation, improving its performance and thus will support a good rise in customers
and stake holder's trust level (Komives, 2016,).
 Communication Gap: the difference between the sending and receiving part and the gap
between the employee's and management of the cited retail enterprises will impact the
operations that will cause the failure of the changes and the alterations that are been
looked after effectively by the business functions. The firm will look after the effective
handling of the business activities and the alterations that are been followed by the
enterprise. Other than this, due to the communication differences, the overall
performance and actions of the organisation are been affected. The miscommunication
about the effect of changes can cause the differences and conflicts at the work place.
Thus, in this case, the organisation has to look after the better communication process.
 Interpersonal relationship: this will not affect the change management directly but will
lay a significant impact on the business activities that are been followed by the
organisation (Rogers and Marres, 2016). The interpersonal conflict and differences at the
workplace will impact the work performance and thus will cause the organisations to take
certain preventive measures within the firm to handle the business operations and
activities in a better way. This will create an uncertainty and will influence the execution
of the business operations that are been taken in considered by the retail business entity.
On the other hand, a good interpersonal bonding will help in effective management of the
changes to be implemented within the organisation.
Thus, this can be said that the proper management of the changes in business operations
within an organisation are been taken in consideration by the business entity that will impact the
operations which will support a good rise in the compatibility and meeting of the targeted goals
and actions within the firm. Other than this, they will see through the management of the
functions which will support an effective management of the actions and hence, will facilitate a
better rise in customer satisfaction level. Other than this, it will improve the work performance of
the organisation (van der Voet, Kuipers and Groeneveld, 2015).
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M3: using the force field analysis, analyse the driving and resisting force adexplain how it
influences decision making
The force filed model will involve the following steps that will ensure a good rise in
change management system:
Step 1: determining the plan or proposal: this will help in good rise in the customer
satisfaction and meeting of the targeted actions and operations which are been followed by the
firm.
Step 2: identify the impacting forces: this can be the internal or external forces that will cause
the organisation to delay or postpone the changes to be implemented by the organisation
(Espedal, 2017).
Step 3: Identifying the forces which are against the change: it will involve the factors that
will impact the application of the change factors that are to be followed within the organisation.
Step 4: prioritising the force: this will involve the better management of the various operations
that will impact the operations within the organisation. The forces are been placed from weaker
to strong on the basis of their influence on business activities.
Step 5: analysing and implementation of strategies: on the basis of the analysis of the
different forces that are been taken in consideration. This will help in effective implementation
of the changes within the cited retail enterprise.
D2: evaluate in context of organisation for meeting the organisation's goals using force field
analysis.
The force field evaluation will help in good management of the business actions and
activities that will help in proper assessment of the internal as well as external forces that will
impact the business operations of the firm and thus will impact the operations of the organisation
in a better way (Yoder-Wise, 2014). Besides this, it will help in good growth and analysis of the
business operation's and measures that can be taken in firm to handle business activities.
TASK 3
P5: What different leadership apprachs are been taken on consideration to deal the changes in an
organisation.
Leadership or the guidance plays a very vital and crucial role in the actions and meeting
of the targeted goals and objectives that are been followed within the enterprise that will help in
good rise in the effectiveness of the business enterprise. The leaders or the managers will guide
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the work force within the organisation to adopt the specific changes and improve the
effectiveness of the organisation. The leaders and the managers at the organisation will help in
the good management of the business operations that will help in effective rise in customer
satisfaction well as improving the effectiveness of the work force to meet the targeted goals and
actions that are been followed by the organisation (Murphy, 2016). Some major leadership
approaches that are been taken in consideration by the M & S are as follows:
 Autocratic leadership approach: this is the type of leadership where leader holds all the
power and authority of decision making and the opinion of the work force is not been
counted upon. The strictness is necessary and good on the initial stage to make the
employees work in an effective and significant manner. But over powering them and
neglecting their demands and ideas are the major drawback and limitation of this
approach. Also, this approach kerbs the creativity of an employee and causes the limiting
of skills and knowledge. It leads to high employee turnover and dissatisfaction among the
employee's on the basis of sharing of power and advantages in a team.
 Democratic leadership approach: It is known as the participative leadership which
involves all the employees or the work force active within the firm that will help in
improving the performance of the firm. This will include the employees in the decision
making that will cause the better growth and development of the business operations and
activities that will improve the functionality of the organisation. Other than this, it will
help the firm to provide its work force with a good work satisfaction and rise in the
effectiveness of the business entity. Other than this, the democratic approach will
promote the better productivity and thus will help in good rise in productivity and
revenue generation of the firm.
 Transactional leadership approach: In this, the leader will play a very significant role
in the operations that will cause the operations that will cause the firm to sustain in
market. The leader, in this approach, delegates the processes and the activities and thus
allocate the work to the employees as per their skills, knowledge and capability. The
work force is rewarded on performing well while is been punished on the shortcomings
(Nelson-Brantley And et.al., 2018). It involves the effective reviewing of the employees
and provide them with effective appraisals and benefits. This will help in motivating and
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