Change Management: Leadership Strategies in JD Sports Post COVID-19

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of change management and leadership strategies within JD Sports, focusing on the impact of organizational change on strategy and operations. It compares JD Sports with Zumiez, highlighting differences in their approaches to changes brought about by COVID-19. The report evaluates internal and external drivers of change, such as political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental factors, and their effects on leadership, individual, and team behaviors. It also details methods to minimize negative impacts of change, including employee participation and Kotter's Eight-Step Change Management Model. Furthermore, the report explores barriers to change and applies different leadership approaches to effectively manage change within the organization. Desklib offers solved assignments and past papers for students.

Understanding and Leading Change

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
P1 Compare different organisational examples where there has been an impact of change on
an organisational strategy and operations...................................................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................4
P2 Evaluate the ways in which internal and external drivers of change affect leadership,
individual and team behaviours within organisation..................................................................4
P3 Determines the ways to minimise negative impacts of change on organisation behaviours. 6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................8
P4 Explain different barriers for change and determine how they influence leadership decision
making in Organisation...............................................................................................................8
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................10
P5 Apply different leadership approaches to dealing with change in Organisation.................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................15

INTRODUCTION
Change is important for companies as without change business losses their competitive
advantage and unable to meet the needs of customer. The change brings growth opportunities for
organisation by producing new ideas and increasing commitment. It is a complex process that
brings transformation and alteration in overall working environment of company (Upchurch,
2020). The change management process includes change in strategy, technology, hiring new
employees, introducing new products and services, changing the way of selling and producing
products and closing down departments. COVID 19 has created a great impact on the business
activities due to which they face severe loss. The chosen organisation for this report is JD Sports,
it is a public limited company that sells sportswear accessories and clothing. The project is based
on understanding and leading change in which the impact of change on an organisational strategy
and the ways in which internal and external drivers can affect individual, leadership and team
behaviour with company. The report also covers the method to minimise the negative impacts of
change, barriers for change and different approaches of leadership to deal with change.
TASK 1
P1 Compare different organisational examples where there has been an impact of change on an
organisational strategy and operations
Organisational change includes the action which is taken by company in order to change
their culture, technologies and internal process. There are various types of organisational change
such as mission change, strategic change, operational change and technological change.
Organisation change is important in business as it helps in growing and succeeding in market
(Ruben and Gigliotti, 2019). The Organisational change can occur due to governmental policies,
social changes, changes in market demand, change in technology and competitive innovation.
Comparison of JD Sports and Zumiez
Basis JD Sports Zumiez
Overview JD Sports is a British sports
fashion retail company in
England that deals in clothing
and sportswear accessories. It
Zumiez is an American
clothing company which deals
in clothing, jewellery and
sports accessories.

is a fashion-sports retail
business which was founded in
1981 by John Wardle and
David Makin.
Changes occur JD Sports implements various
changes due to COVID 19
such as changes in HR Policy,
way of working, hiring process
and going digitally.
Zumiez mainly focused on
changing its operation
activities such as they have
added extra security check up
while entering into outlet.
Initiative The initiative which is taken
by JD Sports in order to
implement changes are
providing training and
development opportunity and
measuring the change process
in effective and efficient
manner.
For implementing the changes,
Zumiez clearly define the
change and also align it with
business goals. They also
develop effective
communication strategy in
order to conduct the screening
of guest.
Aim The aim of JD Sports is to
meet the targets by focusing
on health and safety of
employees and customer in
COVID 19.
Aim of Zumiez is to fulfil the
need and demand of customer
and employees for improving
the growth and profitability of
business.
Product or Services JD Sports offers clothing and
sports wear accessories to their
customer by maintaining
proper safety due to crisis.
Zumiez provides clothing,
jewellery, centering on action
sports such as BMX,
motocross, skateboarding and
snowboarding.

TASK 2
P2 Evaluate the ways in which internal and external drivers of change affect leadership,
individual and team behaviours within organisation
SWOT Analysis
Strength:
The strength of JD Sports is that they have strong supply chain unit due to which the raw
materials for producing the goods are never late. Company has also implemented automation
technologies in order to operate the activities in more efficient manner. Through automated
technologies, organisation also eliminate and minimise the wastage (Strobel, 2015). The other
strength of JD Sports is that they are going digitally in order to promote their products and
services.
Weakness:
The weakness of company is that they sell only few products in their brand due to which
it becomes difficult to gain competitive advantage in market. JD Sports also follows old work
culture.
Opportunities:
One of the opportunity which must be gained by JD Sports is increasing its presence on
social media sites as it helps in reaching to maximum number of audience.
Threats:
The threat for JD Sports is its lack of skilled workforce and intense competition. It is
important for the company to focus on hiring skilled workforce so that they can contribute their
best performance in attaining the goals and objective of business. The competitors of JD Sports
are skechers, Cole Haan and Zumiez.
PESTLE Analysis
Political factor:
Political factors creates a great impact on the performance and productivity of business, it
is important for JD Sports to keep close eyes on the government regulations and industry
changes in order to predict the latest trends. The government of UK is encouraging companies to
adopt digital tools and technologies in order to enhance the GDP rate and growth rate of
business.
Economical Factor:

The exchange ate of UK can create an huge impact on the growth of JD sports, it is
important to identify the exchange rate of country in order to run the business in significant
manner. In UK, the skilled level of workforce is moderate to high in service sector. JD Sports
can attract more and more skilled labour in UK in order to enhance the business efficiency.
Social Factor:
Social factor also creates an impact on the productivity of business, it is necessary for JD
Sports to understand the societal norms and attitude of customer in order to enhance the
customer base and increase the profitability of business.
Technological Factor:
For remaining competitive in market, JD Sports must focus on adopting latest technology
so that they can improve the experience of customer. The brand is focusing on creating strong
presence on digital platforms in order to attract maximum customers and enhance their reach.
Legal Factor:
There are various business laws which are imposed by government, it is important for JD
Sports to follow the laws in order to stay away from any legal disputes and conflicts. The laws
are environmental law, employment laws and data protection laws.
Environmental Factor:
In UK, there is a strict norms regarding the waste management, it is necessary for
company to reduce the wastage and carbon footprints. It helps in reducing the negative impact
from environment.
JD Sports has implemented various changes in organisation due to COVID 19, they make
changes in HR Policy, new ways of working, going digitally and virtual events will continue.
Change Internal
and
External
Impact on
leadership
Behaviour
Impact on team
behaviour
Impact on
individual
behaviour
Measures to
Minimise
negative
impacts
HR Policy Internal
drivers
The new HR Policy
creates a huge
impact on leadership
behaviour as leaders
have to
The behaviour of
team also get
changed due to
implementing
new HR Policy as
The
individual
behaviour
also get
influenced by
The negative
impacts while
implementing
HR Policy can
be minimised

communicate to
their followers and
work accordingly.
The human resource
department of JD
Sports focuses on
changing the HR
policy so that their
employees gets
benefits during
COVID 19 and work
with safety at the
time of pandemic.
it helps in
encouraging
positive working
environment in
pandemic and
also they get
opportunity to
work remotely.
HR Policies
as employees
can avail the
benefits of
health and
leave
policies.
by
communicating
reasons for
change and
offering them
opportunities
for output.
Hiring
skilled
workforce
External
drivers
The skilled
workforce helps in
leading the team and
also engage
employees in work.
Through hiring
skilled workforce,
JD Sports can
encourage the
morale and
motivation level
of team due to
which they give
productive output.
The skilled
workforce
helps in
increasing
the
performance
and
efficiency of
company and
also it creates
an impact on
the individual
performance
by offering
appreciation
and rewards.
While hiring
the skilled
workforce it is
necessary for
company to
create a culture
of learning and
also provide
positive
atmosphere.
Going External Going Digitally Going digitally It also creates The negative

Digitally drivers affects the
leadership behaviour
of JD Sports as
leaders can save
their time by
viewing the number
of task achieved by
employees in real
time.
creates an impact
on team
behaviour as they
have to
communicate and
interact with
employees and
customers
digitally.
a positive
impact on the
individual
behaviour as
they can
create a
social bond
with
employees
and stay
connected at
the time of
COVID 19.
impact of
digital
technology can
be minimised
by monitoring
and limiting the
use of
technology.
Virtual
events
External
drivers
Virtual events also
influences the
leadership behaviour
as they have to
encourage and boost
the motivation level
of employees at the
time of pandemic so
that they can
contribute their
productive output.
Virtual events
also creates a
huge impact on
team behaviour as
they have to keep
their online
customer and
employees
focused so that
JD Sports can
discuss their
business strategy
and activities in
COVID 19.
The virtual
events also
influences
the individual
behaviour as
they have to
attend the
online
meeting and
accomplish
their task
virtually. The
employees
have to give
their best
performance
while
interacting
In order to
minimise the
negative impact
of virtual
events it is
necessary to
plan the
meetings and
encourage
employees to
participate in
virtual events
and give their
valuable
suggestions.

with
customer and
increase the
sale of JD
Sports.
P3 Determines the ways to minimise negative impacts of change on organisation behaviours
Measures to minimise negative impact on JD Sports
Participation of employees:
It is one of the way through which company can reduce the negative impact of changes in
JD Sports. While implementing the change it is necessary to involve their employees so that they
can produce their thoughts and opinion in meeting (Mádková and Procházka, 2015). The leaders
of JD Sports must encourage their staff to participate in decision-making process as it helps in
making them important part of JD Sports.
Address the impacts of changes:
The manager of JD Sports must ensure that their employees must know the impact of
changes. It is the responsibility of managers to provide clear information of changes and their
impact on organisation and individual whether positive or negative.
Define the changes:
The new changes in COVID 19 should be define to employees in order to minimise the
conflicts and reduce the miscommunication between employees and managers. Manager of JD
Sports must state the changes in clear manner so that they can know the need of change and
understand how to implement the changes.
Kotter's Eight step Change Management Model
Kotter's Eight step Change Management Model is used by company in order to introduce
the changes in business. The manager of JD Sports must understand each stage of model for
implementing and designing the change. There are eight step of change management model they
are as follows:
Create a Sense of Urgency:
In JD Sports, manager has to identify why the change is necessary, they must highlight
the potential threats regarding the changes in future (Kroll, Kelly and Rates, 2019). It is the

responsibility of manager to involve employees in decision making process so that they can
know what the changes are taking place in pandemic.
Build the Change team:
JD Sports must build strong team in order to implement the change process in effective
and efficient manner. The manager must identify the right skills and personality of employees
that can drive change within Organisation. They must create powerful change coalition that can
work as a team and ensure that there must be influential staff from various departments.
Form a strategic vision:
The manager must develop strategic vision by determining the core values and strategies
for realising the change. It is necessary to describe the vision effectively so that employees can
work with concentration and dedication to achieve the goals and objectives of JD Sports.
Communicate the vision:
It is essential to communicate the change in vision to their employees so that they can
connect with vision and aims to achieve it. The manager of JD Sports must handle the issues of
employees with involvement and honesty (Giuseppina and et. al., 2020).
Remove barriers to change:
JD Sports must ensure that the process and structure of business must be aligned with
their vision. It is necessary to check the barriers that could create an impact on changing the HR
Policy and working style of JD Sports.
Focus on short-term wins:
Organisation must focus on creating short term wins in change management process by
creating short term targets and achieve it in early stage of change (Archer, 2015). JD Sports
must reward employees on the basis of their contributions and performance.
Maintain momentum:
JD Sport must focus on continuous improvement by analysing the past experience and
making changes accordingly in order to gain success. It is important to improve the individual
performance so that they can contribute their best and perform better in Organisation.
Anchor change in corporate culture:
Company must ensure that change becomes important part in working culture and visible
in every organisational aspect. JD Sports must gain support from their staff to implement the
effective change management process.

TASK 3
P4 Explain different barriers for change and determine how they influence leadership decision
making in Organisation
COVID 19 brings a negative impact on business due to which they are implementing
change management process for sustaining in Market for long run. JD Sports also adapts change
management in order to provide better quality of products and services to its customer by adding
safety measures (Mathu and Scheepers, 2016). Company is focusing on providing products and
services that doesn't harm the customers. In order to understand the change management process
in effective manner
Force field analysis: Force field model is implemented through which JD Sports can identify the
root of causes and take action accordingly. The model was developed by Kurt Lewin which was
used in businesses for communicating and making decisions related to company. JD Sports must
implement force field analysis by describing the plan for change, identifying forces for change,
forces against change, assign scores and apply the model. Through force field analysis, JD Sports
can encourage the honest reflection on underlying the roots of problem and its situation. The
analysis presents negative as well as positive situation so that company can easily comparable
and considers the aspects of making desired change (Clemmons-Brown, 2020). JD Sports must
conduct force field analysis by brainstorming all possible forces inside and outside the company
that helps in working for and against the solution, assess the strength of each forces, place the
forces in force field and discuss how to increase the forces for change. Force field analysis helps
in providing framework for addressing complex process. By implementing the force field
analysis, organisation can describe the current situation and also conclude the outcomes of taking
no action. In order to implement forced field analysis, company must describe their plan. It also
helps in examining the whole situation and also shows the risk of changes. For implementing the
force field analysis, JD Sports must focus on engaging their employees so that they can provide
accurate information which is required for conducting analysis.

There are few steps which must be implemented by JD Sports they are as follows:
Describe Plan for Change:
The goals for the change is to cope up with the issues faced by JD Sports in COVID 19.
Through the plan, company can bear their loss and also sustain in market for long run. The
Changes which is implemented by JD Sports during COVID 19 are changes in HR policy, way
of working, hiring policies.
Identify forces for change:
JD Sports has different organisational structure which is developed for accomplishing
business goals and objectives. Driving forces includes the things, events and situations that could
influence the operating activities of business. Driving forces are divided into two parts they are
internal and external forces. The Internal forces includes the situations, events and things that
takes place within company. It includes strategic, structural, process oriented, employee morale
and technological Change. External forces includes things, events and situations which occurs
outside the JD Sports it involves changes in technology, customer requirement and competition.
The driving forces can be managed with reactive and proactive approach. In reactive approach
(Illustration 1: Force Field Analysis, 2020)