Leading Change in Organizations: Strategy, Drivers, and Leadership

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of leading change within organizations, focusing on the strategic and operational impacts of change. It examines how change affects the strategies and operations of National Rail and NATS UK, considering both internal and external drivers. The report delves into the impact of these drivers on individual behaviors, leadership, and team dynamics, while also exploring ways to mitigate the negative effects of change. It further investigates the influence of barriers to change on leadership decision-making and assesses various leadership approaches applied to change initiatives. The report utilizes case studies of National Rail and NATS UK to illustrate key concepts, including strategic, structural, people-centric, and process-oriented changes, along with SWOT analyses. It also explores change impact analysis methodologies, such as traceability, dependence, and experiential analysis, to provide a holistic understanding of change management.

UNDERSTANDING AND
LEADING CHANGE

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
LO 1.................................................................................................................................................3
P1 Ways in which change affects an organisation’s strategy and operations..............................3
LO 2.................................................................................................................................................6
P2 Impact of External and Internal drivers on individual behaviours, leadership and teams .....6
P3 Ways to Minimize the negative impacts of Change ............................................................12
LO 3...............................................................................................................................................15
P4 Ways in which barriers to change influence leadership decision-making............................15
LO 4...............................................................................................................................................18
P5 Application of leadership approaches to a change initiative................................................18
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................20
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................21

INTRODUCTION
Leading change in organisations encompasses creation of experiences for employees which
reveal new possibilities and unite them to strategize in order to harness resources to work
efficiently in the marketplace. It requires optimization of culture while investing for business
growth. The project will compare ways in which change affects the strategies and operations of
National Rail and NATS UK. National Rail is the trading name used by the Rail delivery group
with memberships of passenger train operating companies of Scotland, Wales and England.
NATS is the primary air navigation service provider in the UK and undertakes the traffic control
services of 14 airports. The influences of drivers of change on these organisations will be
evaluated and determination of impact of barriers in influencing leadership decision making. The
change initiative will be assessed using various leadership approaches.
LO 1
P1 Ways in which change affects an organisation’s strategy and operations
Any organisation in today's fast-moving business environment has to change with
changing times. Change is a constant requirement as the demographics are dynamic, customer
trends are changing, as well as technology and economy (Ebongkeng, 2018). Businesses which
fail to upgrade themselves as per the requirements of the market can become unable to compete
under current trading conditions and perish sooner than later. Position and perception can
influence the change as positive or negative. Employee attitudes and perceptions directly affect
the bottom line. Unfavourable perceptions regarding decisions can spread within the organization
among workers, negatively affecting morale and impacting productivity (Zingoni and Byron,
2017).
Types of organisational change: -
Strategic: Changes in the strategic operations of organisations to achieve the goals in response
to external environment is necessary. Adjusting the strategy involves a change in the
fundamental approaches in business operations such as target markets, product differentiation,
selling and marketing techniques, global activities, partnerships, joint and overall strategic
orientation (Greenwood and Hinings, 2017).
Structural: Redesigning the organisational structure such as hierarchical authority,
administrative procedures and management systems. National rail has increased punctuality of its
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services for customer satisfaction and aims at ethical policies of operations. NATS, recognises its
needs to attract new skills to support the organisational growth as the overall demographic
evolves with time. These changes have impacted the organisations positively with clarity in
operations.
People: Changing people-centric processes involves communication, motivation, leadership and
team interaction. NATS recognises the need for improvements in training and leadership styles
and invests heavily in imparting all employees with essential skills for the success of
organisation. National Railway uses its vision and mission values in underpinning its training
programme. High quality training, like apprenticeships to Master’s level, ensuring business has
the best engineers and leaders. It recruits and retains efficient employees for a variety of job roles
and has undertaken very ambitious and challenging engineering projects in Europe. These
changes have led to higher employee motivation and retention in both the organisations.
Processes: Reengineering of processes to achieve optimum productivity such as production
process, assembly, delivery of services etc. National Railway has introduced on-the-job training
which helps trainees in fixing signalling issues and maintenance of track, electrification, signals
networks and overhead lines. NATS is innovating easy delivery of Air Traffic Management
services in future and has shifted its model of air traffic management into new ways of working.
The changes in processes have led to increased operation efficiency and customer satisfaction for
both the organisations.
Drivers of Change: SWOT highlights of NATS and National Railway
NATS
Strengths: Technological industry leader in air traffic control, high safety standards of
operations, innovative changes through research and development. The innovations helped in
better management, customer satisfaction and improving goodwill for the company
Weaknesses: Selection and screening procedure of ATCO candidates or Air traffic controllers,
mobile grade job, which implies a need for change in the employment process.
Opportunities: Digital remote towers, Modernisation of airspace, Implementation of TBS
technology which can be used for driving changes in technological infrastructure (Hughes,
2019).
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Threats: UK’s internal and external political uncertainties like Brexit which impact internal
operations.
National Railway
Strengths: Large network of tracks of 20,000 miles in place, commute by trains in key locations
established, transportation is not impacted by road traffic congestion. This has led to customer
satisfaction.
Weaknesses: Political pressures, changes in demand of consumer induces increment of capacity,
Civil work operations impacted by short possessions on bank holidays or nights, workforce
engagement of 80,000 in contrast to employed strength of 35,500. Change in workforce
management is needed for effective operations.
Opportunities: Use of new technologies for identification of faults and new safety measures for
avoiding accidents. Providing training opportunities in remote areas of UK using online
technology. These changes if adopted could help in error management and increase efficiency in
processes.
Threats: Delays/ Cancellations caused by TOC, minimal intervention from DoT or Network Rail,
Companies like Green Line, National Express etc. can take over key routes (Belu, 2018).
Strategies for change: Bohner and Arnold Change Impact Analysis.
Impact Analysis is a quantitative study to analyse the impacts of errors on the other parts
or processes of a configuration. It involves identification of the potential consequences of an
implemented change in an organisation (Cai and Santelices, 2016). The outcomes can improve
predefined requirements. As per Bohner and Arnold, there are three types of IA, namely
traceability, dependence and experiential.
Traceability: The traceability in impact analysis establishes relations between specifications,
tests, requirements, design elements. The scope of change can be monitored. Traceability allows
changes for clarity of process and people. Understanding the effects of change enables
employees and groups to respond more quickly and accurately to change requests. For example,
National railway can implement quality management techniques like just in time and work study
to know the source of error and need for change.
Dependence: In this impact analysis, the links between various process, variants, modules
determine the need and consequences to initiate change and is more extensive than traceability.
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The processes of various departments like HR, operations and management can be linked and
impact of any change will be assessed in context of these and how one change impacts other
departments. For example, a change in HR management can impact the operational efficiency of
NATS.
Experiential: This focuses upon the relation between experience of expert workers on impact of
changes. The pre-existing knowledge and experience gained by workers can help in proper
implementation and suitability of any changes in the organisation. It can help in determining
consequences according to past implications and outcomes (Gupta and Gupta, 2018).
LO 2
P2 Impact of External and Internal drivers on individual behaviours, leadership and teams
Organizational behaviour is highly impacted by some of the forces from outside it whereas
some within it. On the basis of their origin, Forces are divided into 2 main categories- Internal
and External (Oreg and Berson, 2019). Following description shows the impact of these drivers
on two well-known Organizations NATS and Network rails, providing different services in UK.
Every organization needs a change and its effective implementation. It has to update itself time
to time in order to transform its strategies and policies according to the changing needs of the
emerging markets and industry. They must also regularly monitor the forces which affects those
changes and impacts the overall behaviour of the organization.
External
These factors help the organization to examine its inner working and determining its
shape. These are not in our control but affects the working of the organization and create
boundaries in every operation. These also have its impact on the individuals, teams and the
leaders of the organization in performing their tasks.
Political factors
These factors influence the culture of an organization. The government creates many
regulations and laws that can bring operational changes in the companies. The laws restrict the
company to follow them whether they agree or disagree to it (Raza, Khan and Mujtaba, 2018).
NATS is bringing change by being partners with the shareholders and the government. NATS
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must also bring change in initiating its policy named Single European Sky (SES) of the European
Commission which will improve the performance of the employees and their teams. For
example, NATS if wish to initiate a new policy or a programme such as planning to provide
training to its employees in order to bring required change in their skills, it needs the approval of
government policies and to ensure that new policies follow all the laws. The government impose
certain taxes in order to remain politically stable. The trade policies and taxes sometimes resist
the company in bringing the change which becomes the most important factor affecting the
change. This also affect the behaviour of teams as they have no certain goals and targets to
achieve, so they become unable to distribute their tasks and determined for a particular goal.
Network Rail is also changing its services by developing some developing and leadership
programs after realizing the need for improvement in the teams and leaders of the company in
which the government will give its whole support. Therefore, the organizations bring various
changes which can be sometimes facilitated and sometimes be restricted by the laws and policies
of the government. Network railways, whenever plans to bring a change, is affected
economically by the political factors as it needs some materials from outside the countries and
the government impose large taxes on trade which restricts the company to bring any type of
change which needs materials and equipments which can be obtained by trade operations. This
also affects the behaviour of the existing team as the teams require sufficient resources in order
to perform the tasks which does not made available due to higher taxes by government.
Economic
This decides the financial stability of the organizations. Companies are mainly impacted
when the people no longer can afford the services and changes their place of purchase and on the
other hand when the economy is good, the people spend more money for purchasing the services
(Appelbaum and et.al., 2018). The economic condition of the people in UK also affected NATS
and Network Rails both. The NATS bring changes by establishing main programs like SESAR
which deals in operations based on trajectory which will be facilitated by the money done by
customers. The economic drivers bring certain changes in the company such as if NATS decide
to bring certain significant changes in its structure, it needs to be financially stable and for that
the country must be economically stable. This can bring a great change in the policies of the
company in order to invest less due to becoming financially less stable. These also affect the
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behaviour of the teams as they become less focussed towards achieving the organizational goals
and lays much emphasis on their own profits which decreases the overall team performance.
The Network rail also brings changes by increasing its costs because of recovering the
investments done on people and equipment but is decreasing its customer base instead of making
profit. For example, the financially stable people contribute more to the company as the cost of
its services is not affordable by middle class people so the economic condition of the people
must be good in order to increase the number of customers attracted towards its services. The
teams in the company get impacted by the economic factors as they need the payment according
to the performance but the company if became financially unstable cannot pay all the teams with
optimal amount which decreases their loyalty and trust towards the company.
Industry Factors
Every industry faces the impact of its competitors as they are responsible for all the
decisions made in the organization. The companies must adjust according to its competition to
ensure its longevity. The competitors of NATS are becoming more aware of all the updates in
the industry so NATS brought innovation in its services in order to attract the customers
(Khatoon and Farooq, 2016). But the company can differentiate itself among the competitors by
fulfilling the evolving priorities of the customers which has made it a world leader. This will
bring change in the competitive skills of the employees as well. For example, the industry factor
like competitors forced to bring change in the company as the employees need to be much
qualified and skilled and for that company brought changes in its recruitment policies and started
hiring only the qualified and talented candidates which can contribute towards getting the
competitive advantage. These are forcing the teams to enhance their skills as the company
created a fear among the employees as it can fire the employees whose performance is not upto
the mark. This pressurized the employees to give their best and increase their performance.
The Network Rail is making its employees more skilled and experienced by providing them
regular trainings which helped it to enhance its productivity and performance. The competitors of
Network rail are giving tough competition to it which is compelling the company to decrease its
service cost to attract more number of customers. Therefore, this industry factor is becoming the
main cause of change in the pricing strategy of the company. The team behaviour is also affected
by this as the payment of the employees decreased because of the change in the pricing strategy.
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This decreased the employee retention of the company but a greater profit by large customer
base.
Social Factors
These factors mainly comprise the opinions of people and the expectations of the society
which motivates the company for revaluation of its operations. The companies aim to enhance its
image and goodwill among the markets. The companies must follow the cultures in
implementation of all its policies. These factors force the companies to respect the needs of the
society and bring innovations in all its strategies regularly. NATS also found innovative
solutions of air traffic and airport performance under its ATM (Air Traffic Management)
program. For example, the company is forced to adapt itself according to the fluctuating
customer demands. These social drives brought a great change in the training and leadership
styles of the company. The teams are benefited by this change as the leaders started leading them
properly by communicating effectively about the organizational goals and the way to achieve
them. When the people in UK are becoming more aware about their security, the Network Rail
keeps the safety of the society at its central focus which is the main change brought in the
organization. The social drivers also impact the changes in the national railways as the customers
needed more innovation in its services. The company changes its training methodologies and
focussed solely on bringing innovation in the company. It also affects the teams in the company
as they have to implement those strategies which can innovate the company's services and can
meet the demands of the customers.
Technology Factors
This is the most changing and challenging factors among all which helps the company to
bring innovations in its services. In order to maintain a successful and creative company, it must
focus on bringing new technologies according to the trends and demands of the customers and
the market (Mustafa, Nakov and Islami, 2019). NATS has improved a lot after focusing on the
innovation through technology. It is bringing change by implementing the concepts which
deliver SES and its technological strand SESAR by becoming more agile and flexible to respond
to future opportunities. The technological factors also forced it to make its infrastructure
technological. For example, the company has changes the processes performed in the company
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and made it completely technological as per the needs of the market and the customers. This
changed the behaviour of the teams as they had to adapt themselves according to the new
methods but this made easy for them to perform the tasks with the advanced technology rather
than making more efforts in the traditional methods.
Likewise, the Network Rail is also applying change management by making all its employees
know about the technological advances and therefore focuses on hiring the engineers for
implementation of advanced technologies. The technological advancements brought significant
changes in the network rails as the company integrated the advanced technology in all its
services which made the customers more attracted towards it and the company could increase the
price of its services which can earn it a larger profit margin. The team behaviour was equally
supported by it as they also faced fewer problems with all the processes being performed
automatically, but they need to evaluate all the functions for the smooth functioning of the
company.
Internal Factors
These factors are originated within the organization and contributes to the culture of the
same. Whenever there is a group dynamic, the culture plays its role (Ameen and et.al., 2018). It
impacts the individuals, teams and leadership of the organization which will help to navigate the
relationships better. These factors are under the control of the organization.
Employees
These are the people working in the organizations which decides the growth according to
their performance. So, there is a need for the employees to be updated. NATS is bringing many
changes by guiding the behaviour of the employees through guidelines and mandated
expectations (Ozawa, 2019). It is awaring the employees about goals, policies and procedures
regarding the air traffic control. The Network Rail is also changing its hiring process by taking
smart decisions about hiring the employees mainly the engineers who mainly focusses on
achieving the goals of the firm. This affects the firms as well as the teams of the organizations.
Leadership
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This is the most important factor which helps to bring changes in the organizational
culture. Leaders leads the whole team by considering the skills and abilities of every member.
The leadership must be efficient for effective performance of the employees. Good leaders bring
a good change in the organization whereas the bad can harm the firm in any way. Leadership in
NATS is very efficient as the leaders are much efficient and are able to take the decisions
quickly. Therefore, company is bringing many changes like it accepts all the tasks given to it
without any hesitation. The company has full trust on the leaders who performs and make the
employees able to perform the same. On the other hand, the Network Rail has efficient
employees but not good leaders to lead the teams. So, the company is focusing more on selecting
the individuals who can lead the teams.
Capability and Support
The company must support its employees in order to obtain the best results. The
organizations are bringing many changes in order to support the employees (Misch and et.al.,
2017). The NATS is organizing various trainings to the employees to enhance their abilities and
skills which is making its environment more competitive. It provides workshops and seminars in
order to control the air traffic in the best possible way. This helps the individuals, teams and the
leaders as well to perform their tasks easily.
Resources and Technology
Providing all the required resources to the employees makes them motivated and satisfied
thereby creating the environment of the workplace more enthusiastic (Vakola and Petrou, 2018.).
Lack of resources impacts the teams negatively as they become inefficient to use their abilities in
performing the tasks making them frustrated. It changes the environment from motivated to
unsatisfactory one. The NATS is using more advanced technology in order to enhance
performance through innovation. This change is helping it to have a large customer base.
Network Rail is also using updated technology in its services to satisfy the customers thereby
making the department happier and efficient.
The internal factors like Employees, Leadership, Capability & Support, Technology etc. are
responsible for various changes in NATS and Network Rails. The employees if become more
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skilled can perform much better and can give more innovative ideas reagarding various situations
in the company. As the NATS planned to innovate its Air Traffic Management, it needs efficient
leaders and team to guide the employees to work accordingly. So, the company focuses more on
hiring the qualified candidates rather than retaining the ones who does not contribite much to the
innovative strategies. The leaders also leads to certain changes like motivating the employees in
order to perform tasks in order to achieve the organizational goals and objectives. These drivers
also affect the behavious of the teams in the company as the teams will focus more on the
organizational goals as guided by the leaders. Therefore these drivers are responsible for many
significant changes in the organizations.
Therefore, the external and internal drivers of change impact the individuals, leaders and the
teams of the organizations positively and negatively both affecting the overall progress of the
organizationa like NATS and Network Rails.
P3 Ways to Minimize the negative impacts of Change
 The company and the leaders must engage the employees in all the conversations before
taking decisions which will give them a sense of responsibility and value.
 The NATS must give a notice which will be helpful in the smooth functioning of the
organization and the employees (Felipe, Roldán and Leal-Rodríguez, 2017).
 The Network Rail must always create an environment of learning where the employees
learn in each and every step whether success or failure.
 The companies must also provide support for the transition of career which will help the
employees to get motivated and encouraged by witnessing their strengths.
Burke-Litwin Model
This organizational change model comprises of 12 elements which are connected to each
other along with influencing them which are as follows:
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