Unit 17: Understanding and Leading Change in Organizational Contexts

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UNIT 17– UNDERSTANDING AND
LEADING CHANGE
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Table of Contents
LIST OF FIGURES.......................................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................4
PART 1...................................................................................................................................... 5
COMPARISON OF DIFFERENT ORGANISATIONS IMPACTED BY CHANGE..............................5
DIFFERENT DRIVERS FOR CHANGE AND TYPE OF ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE.....................7
WAYS IN WHICH EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL DRIVERS OF CHANGE IMPACT LEADERSHIP,
TEAMS AND BEHAVIOURS OF INDIVIDUALS.......................................................................10
MEASURES TO MITIGATE NEGATIVE IMPACTS OF CHANGE ON ORGANISATIONAL
BEHAVIOUR........................................................................................................................ 11
THEORIES AND MODELS TO EVALUATE THE ORGANISATIONAL RESPONSE TO CHANGE...14
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR EFFECTIVE PLANNING FOR CHANGE USING
CHANGE IMPACT ANALYSIS................................................................................................16
PART 2.................................................................................................................................... 17
INTRODUCTION OF SELECTED ORGANISATION..................................................................17
DIFFERENT BARRIERS FOR CHANGE ANALYSING DRIVING AND RESISTING FACTORS TO
CHANGE BY APPLYING FORCE FIELD ANALYSIS MODEL......................................................18
HOW BARRIERS OF CHANGE INFLUENCE ON DECISION MAKING LEADERSHIP AT APPLE INC
........................................................................................................................................... 19
CRITICAL EVALUATION OF FORCE FIELD ANALYSIS TO MEET ORGANISATIONAL OBJECTIVES
........................................................................................................................................... 20
LEADERSHIP APPROACHES TO DEAL WITH CHANGES........................................................21
EVALUATION OF HOW LEADERSHIP APPROACHES DELIVER ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE
EFFECTIVELY....................................................................................................................... 24
CRITICAL EVALUATION OF EFFECTIVENESS OF LEADERSHIP APPROACHES AND MODELS OF
CHANGE MANAGEMENT....................................................................................................26
CONCLUSION.......................................................................................................................... 28
REFERENCES........................................................................................................................... 29
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Burke Litwin Model................................................................................................. 11
Figure 2: Lewin’s Change Model.............................................................................................14
Figure 1: Force Field analysis model.......................................................................................18
Figure 2: Leadership styles of Apple.......................................................................................21
Figure 3: Kotter's eight-step change management model at Apple.......................................23
Figure 4: Kurt Lewin Change management model.................................................................23
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INTRODUCTION
Change is an inevitable process which alters the patterns of the particular behaviour. For
every organisation to sustain the competitive advantage and overcome the contingencies it
is vital to implement changes effectively and attain the desired state in future. There are
several drivers of change which impacts the organisation and these factors are analysed in
the report which response to the changes. In first part two organisations are selected for
comparison one is Apple and Windows and in last part of the report, the chosen
organisation will be Apple which will be focussed on the leading the changes through
adoption of the leadership approaches and the models to change management.
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PART 1
COMPARISON OF DIFFERENT ORGANISATIONS IMPACTED BY CHANGE
Change
Change can be defined as an activity which brings a difference to the current situation. In
the business sense, change can be defined as a move from one condition to another. A
change can be positive when it helps the business to improve its performance and ease the
efforts but a change can also be negative when it is creating unfavourable circumstances for
the business. Most of the negative changes are brought by factors which are not in control
of the business or by improper planning. Most of the positive changes are brought in
response to an upcoming or existing situation or to seize an opportunity (Hayes, 2108).
Microsoft
Microsoft is an American multinational technology company; it was founded by Bill Gates
and Paul Allen. In the year 2000, Bill Gates was succeeded by Steve Ballmer and the
performance of the company started getting worst. Even in 2014, Microsoft’s share price
was 40% lower than they were in 2000. This led to the change of power in the hands of
Satya Nadella who then redefined Microsoft’s strategy and rebooted organisation’s culture.
Satya Nadella led a series of change in the organisation and redefined Microsoft to become
a growing business (Lock, 2014).
Apple
Apple is also an American multinational technology company which was founded by Steve
Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne in 1976. Apple is known for its revolutionary
technology and innovation like I-phone, I-pad etc. and received huge benefits from the
smartphone market since the beginning. But the changing trends in the performance of
industry are driving Apple’s focus from product division to service division. Apple’s revenue
from product sales started getting lower and its revenue from service hit the all-time high in
the first quarter of 2019.
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Thus Apple put many of its projects like smart vehicles on hold and started focusing on
streaming TV services which are to be launched in 2019. Apple is bringing strategic and
structural change in the organisation by promoting employees from AI and service division
to achieve the benefit of the changing market (Broussard, 2019).
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DIFFERENT DRIVERS FOR CHANGE AND TYPE OF ORGANISATIONAL
CHANGE
SWOT Analysis of Microsoft
STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES
 Loyal customers.
 Reputed brand.
 Simple user interface.
 Lack of innovation.
 High-dependence on hardware
manufacturers.
 Cases of the security breach.
OPPORTUNITIES THREATS
 Options for acquisitions.
 AI and cloud computing.
 High competition in the software
market.
 Frequent changes in customers’
needs.
PEST Analysis of Microsoft
POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT
 EU fined $730 million for violating
trust issues.
 International operations and data
breaches are huge threats.
 Sub-prime crisis of 2008 still has its
effects on the company.
 It had to lay-off 5000 employees
during the crisis.
SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT TECHNOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENT
 Changing preference to smartphones
from computers.
 Demand for more reliable and
versatile technology.
 Continuous technological upgrades
are demanded from the market.
 The life cycle of technologies became
short.
 Demand for more sleek and smart
devices are on the rise (Frue, 2018).
SWOT Analysis of Apple
STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES
 Apple has a very loyal customer base
with 87% brand loyalty in the US and
EU.
 A high-profit margin since it is a
premium brand.
 Effective word of mouth publicity
strategy for promotion and
advertisement of new products.
 Innovative, simple and revolutionary
products.
 Price-conscious customer switch to
other brands due to the high prices
of Apple's products.
 Customers expect frequent updates
since they paid a high price, which
becomes hard to deliver at times.
 The product line of Apple is narrow
when compared to its competitors.
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 High brand value.
OPPORTUNITIES THREATS
 The current distribution system of
Apple is small thus it can be
expanded.
 Apple TV can attract more
subscription and profit if offered
globally.
 Wearable technology is on the rise
and thus providing products like
Apple watch etc. can be profitable.
 A smart vehicle will soon start
moving on the roads thus Apple
should focus on it.
 Other smartphone providers are
having a higher market share and
their share is rising.
 Laptops and other products of Apple
also have low-cost competitors which
makes some customers switch to
other brands.
PEST Analysis of Apple
POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT
 A new tax code signed by Trump will
need Apple to bring the cash which it
had outside the USA and thus will
need $38 billion of tax payment along
with the creation of 20,000 jobs in the
USA. This might create a cash crunch
for Apple in some countries.
 Improving global economic
conditions will offer more demand for
products.
 Low unemployment in the USA and
Britain might bring the sales down in
these countries.
SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT TECHNOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENT
 Increasing smartphone addiction in
people demands cure for this in the
form of other products.
 People are showing more inclination
towards experience than things.
 Rising issues of cybercrimes demand
more secure technology.
 Competitors frequently replicate
innovation brought in by Apple.
 AI is the demand for the future and all
the tech companies want to achieve
the first-mover advantage of it.
Types of Change
Changes in the business context are primarily of two types:
Structural change:
In structural change, organisational hierarchy and the power structure are redefined. In this
type of change, employees working at different levels get their roles and responsibilities
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redefined and subordinates get a clear idea on whose orders need to be followed (Windolf,
2018).
Strategic change:
In strategic change, organisations adopt a new strategy to deal with the situations which are
currently dealt with differently. This change is brought to improve the firm's efficiency and
performance. Most of the strategic changes are brought when the existing strategy does not
provide good results and new strategy can change the situation for good (Piercy, 2016).
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WAYS IN WHICH EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL DRIVERS OF CHANGE IMPACT
LEADERSHIP, TEAMS AND BEHAVIOURS OF INDIVIDUALS
Leadership:
Change and leadership are very closely related, many a time change is leadership become
the cause of change and sometimes a change in becoming the cause for the change of
leadership (By et al., 2012).
In the case of Microsoft, Ineffective strategy and poor performance of the company lead to
a change in the leadership structure and Satya Nadella became CEO who then brought
strategic and structural change in Microsoft.
Individuals:
Change in an organisation can directly affect its employees since they are the most
important part of an organisation (Vakola, 2014).
In case of Apple, when it started to put some projects on hold and started focusing on
services then the employees working in those project has to be shifted to other projects
which change their working (Hoang, 2010).
Team behaviour:
Every change in an organisation is led by a team and directly affects its performance
(Robbins and Judge, 2012).
In the case of Microsoft, when Satya Nadella restructured Microsoft then all the team roles
and power structure changed which had an impact on the performance of the teams.
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MEASURES TO MITIGATE NEGATIVE IMPACTS OF CHANGE ON
ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR
Negative impacts of change can be mitigated by proper analysis of the change and its effects
on the organisation. To help with understanding the effect of the change on an organisation,
Burke Litwin model can help.
Burke Litwin Model
Figure 1: Burke Litwin Model
(Source: Stone, 2015)
INDIVIDUAL AND GENERAL PERFORMANCE
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Individual and organisational performance has to be forecasted and monitored to avoid any
negative impact of change (Spangenberg and Theron, 2013).
MOTIVATIONAL LEVEL
Microsoft and Apple should ensure employees motivation by clearly setting goals and
reward systems.
INDIVIDUAL VALUES AND NEEDS
Apple and Microsoft have to ensure that its organisational needs are in accordance with
employees’ personal needs (Stone, 2015).
TASKS AND SKILLS
Employees’ skills should be updated with the tasks and change at Apple and Microsoft.
WORKING CLIMATE
The working atmosphere should be amicable and cooperative which promotes knowledge
sharing in Apple and Microsoft.
MANAGEMENT PRACTICE
Management practices should be changed based on the changing condition post the change
to ensure that all the employees and tasks of Apple and Microsoft are managed properly.
SYSTEMS
Systems like inventory management system, IT systems, quality management system should
be redefined as per the change in Apple and Microsoft (Burke, 2017).
STRUCTURE
Change in the organisation structure of Microsoft should be managed effectively to avoid
any confusion among the employees about the chain of command.
ORGANIZATION CULTURE
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