Leading and Managing Change: A Detailed Case Study Analysis

This essay critically analyzes a case of leading and managing change, focusing on the organizational-wide changes implemented at Marks and Spencer in response to recent losses and the need for digital transformation. It outlines the changes, including leadership transitions, collaboration with Ocado, and digital initiatives. The analysis employs the McKinsey 7S model to examine the dynamics of these changes, considering factors like structure, strategy, shared values, style, and skills. The essay also explores the role of power and politics, applying structuration theory to understand how employee involvement can shape organizational structures. Furthermore, it discusses the importance of communication and learning in successful change management, and recommends alternative actions to support effective implementation of the changes at Marks and Spencer.

Leading and
managing
change

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................1
Outline of the case ......................................................................................................................1
Analysis of the dynamics of change ...........................................................................................2
Power and Politics ......................................................................................................................4
Communication ..........................................................................................................................4
Learning .....................................................................................................................................4
Interventions ...............................................................................................................................4
Recommanded alternative actions ..............................................................................................4
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Organizational wide change is defined as large scale transformation which affects the
whole company. Leadership plays significant role in ensuring that organization wide change is
successfully implemented. This report is based organizational wide change happening at the UK
based retail company Marks and Spencer. The change being implemented at Marks and Spencer
is outlined in this report along with analysis of the change dynamics by application of
appropriate theories. In addition to this the specific change scenario at Marks and Spencer is
explained in context of various topics such as politics and power, communication learning and
intervention. Finally a suitable set of recommended actions is provided which can support
successful change management at Marks and Spencer.
MAIN BODY
Outline of the case
In he light of recent COVID-19 pandemic and the loss faced by Marks and Spencer in the
retail industry, several organizational wide change are being implemented at the firm in order to
support recovery and growth of the company from the period of loss. By September 2020, M&S
suffered a loss of £87.6 million in its history as a 94 year old publicly listed company (M&S
suffers first loss in 94 years as clothing slumps, 2020). The loss has motivated the company to
implement several industry wide change which are outlined below: Leadership change: The chief executive of Marks and Spencer is being replaced as
Stuart Machin will be taking the place of previous chief executive Steve Rowe. The new
chief executive will perform the day to day responsibilities of leadership and overlooking
the executives committee. The leadership change at Marks and Spencer has been taken in
order to support transformative change of the organization. In addition to the position of
chief executive many the leadership positions at Marks and Spencer will also be changed.
Eoin Tonge will become the chief strategy and finance officer while Kate Bickerstaffe
will become the co-chief executive (M&S unveils new leadership team, 2022). These
leadership changes are organization wide change because they impact the way employees
are supervised and the future direction where Marks and Spencer will be going. Ocado Collaboration: The rise of fast fashion and discount grocery stores has increased
the competition in the UK retail industry. The intense competition faced by Marks and
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Spencer during the pandemic has prompted the company to form a tie up with the online
retailer Ocado. The company has collaborated with Ocado to take its grocery products
online and survive in the age of e-commerce. This is considered an organization wide
change because it directly impacts the way in which company sells its products and
interacts with the consume. This is wise organization wide change made by the company
because it supports Ocado in competing with rising influence of online retailers such as
Amazon and TESCO.
 Digital transformation: The digital transformation at Marks and Spencer is focused on
increasing omni-channel capabilities of the company in order to gain revenue from
physical and digital channels. Omni-channel retailing is centred around providing
consumers seamless shopping experience. The company is taking action to increase
digital data centric capabilities across all of its departments so that the firm is able to
optimally utilize digital technology to compete and gain industry leadership (Never the
same again? M&S has found digital religion at last, but can an 'omni-everything' mindset
translate into a monetized customer base?, 2021).
These three primary changes at Marks and Spencer have been influenced by the loss suffered
during the pandemic along with the need to move in digital direction in order to compete with
retailers with advanced digital capabilities. Marks and Spencer will b able to achieve better
profitability ad increase its profit margins in the UK retail industry if all of these organization
wide change are implemented with proper planning. It is important to understand the different
dynamics affecting these changes so that the implementation of these changes is completed
without any hindrance.
Analysis of the dynamics of change
The analysis of factors affecting change can be understood by applying suitable change
management model which covers every factor associated with implementation of change in a
company. The appropriate change management model which can be used for analysing the
dynamics affecting each three changes at Marks and Spencer is the McKinsey 7S analysis model.
This change management model is utilized to identify and implement changes at a company
(Aubry and Lavoie-Tremblay, 2018). The organizational design at the company is analysed by
applying the change management model and helps asses the well-being of the company. This
model can be applied to examine various factors essential for successful implementation of
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change at Marks and Spencer. The application of this model in case of changes at Marks and
Spencer to analyse dynamics of change is provided below:
Structure
The organizational structure plays an important role in implementing change because the
organizational structure affects the level of flexibility available for implementing change. In case
of Marks and Spencer the organizational structure of the company is flat organizational structure.
The flat organizational structure affects dynamics of change at Marks and Spencer is it provided
more flexibility and stronger communication between employees and leaders. The positive
impact of flat organizational structure at Marks and Spencer is that it supports smooth change in
leadership at the company and also supports the leaders in effectively initiating digital
transformation. The negative impact of flat organizational structure on the changes being
implemented at Marks and Spencer is that it introduces barrier in effectively collaborating with
Ocado which as different organizational structure.
Strategy
This step denotes the strategy adopted by chosen entity to improve its performance and meet up
goals as per the objectives set (Carnohan and et. al., 2021). The corporate strategy of Marks and
Spencer is to restore the M&S business and brand, to deliver long-term, sustainable, profitable
growth for our investors, colleagues and wider communities. This strategy is dependent on
utilizing the advanced technology to achieve market leadership in the retail industry and
effectively face competition from e-commerce brands. The corporate strategy affects the change
dynamics because it influences the ways in which change will be adopted to achieve corporate
strategy. In case of Narks and Spencer the change focused corporate strategy has positive
impacts ion change dynamics as it will welcome any change which supports digitization and
growth of the company. The negative impact of this factor on change dynamics is that it can
increase the risk associated with adopting change as it can create bias for changes which support
digital transformation of the company.
Shared values
There are various values and ethics followed in the organisation for mainlining relationships
among teams and their leaders (Drobyazko and et. al., 2019). Moral responsibility of company is
that the employees working in groups have various challenges faced that are to be understood
and resolved with full cooperation. The shared values at Marks and Spencer are quality, value,
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service, innovation and trust. Overall, the focus of Marks and Spencer is to make aspirational
quality accessible to everyone, through the depth and range of its products. Shared values of the
company impact change dynamics because they guide and influence employees in supporting
adoption of change. The positive impact of shared values of Marks and Spencer on change
dynamics is that it will help the company build solid partnership with Ocado and welcome new
leaders. The negative impact of this factor on change dynamics is that it can hinder effective
digital transformation if the values are not updated to acknowledge the relation between
digitation and quality.
Style
The leadership style adopted for handling of various functional areas of company in areas of
marketing and production. The leadership and management style adopted at the company is
consultative. This means that employees opinions and concerns are considers while decision
making and different parties are consulted before making final decision about the company
(Haas, 2018). The positive impact of this element of change is that it helps the company gain
employee acceptance for major changes which require employee support such as change in
leadership and implementing technological transformation. The consulting leadership style here
will make employees feel valued and included in the change processes and they will be easier to
persuade when implementing change. The negative impact of this element of change is that it can
make the change of partnering with Ocado tie consuming as employees will be consulted for
every major decision while forming a partnership requires some decisions to be made quickly for
strengthening the collaboration with another company.
Skills
The skilful people are the best asset towards growth and efficacy of an organisation (Hakami
Kermani and et. al., 2021). Therefore, Marks and Spenser makes sure that the recruit the best
talent in the organisation with an excellent scientific background and experience about
company's products. Employees with innovative competencies are hired for leading teams in
areas of marketing and production functional areas bridging the gap of communication between
all departments. In case of Marks and Spencer the presence of skilled workforce will provide the
company advantage of easily handling the major organization wide changes such as
collaborating with Ocado and changing the top leadership of the company. This is because
skilled employees will be able to support better communication at the company needed for
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partnering with Ocado and setting up new leaders at top positions. On the other hand current
skills of the employees can also act as a barrier in implementing the change of digital
transformation at the company. This is because Marks and Spencer will not able to develop and
adapt their current skills according to the new technology being implemented at the company
affecting each and every level of employee hierarchy.
Power and Politics
Power and Politics play an important role in managing change in an organization because
the organizational environment related to power and politics affects the ways in which change is
planned, implemented and accepted. The structuration theory can be used to understand the role
of power and politics in change management (Ho and Shimada, 2021). The structuration theory
states that social phenomenon is determined by influence of objective external social structures
and actions of human agents in the light of their subjective interpretation of the world. This
theory puts forward the argument that social structure are drawn by human agents in their actions
by the actions of human in social contexts serve to produce and reproduce the social structure.
This theory as an independent entity from human actions but as sustained by the on-going
reproduction two social actors which can be used to change the current structure office setting. It
is understood from the theory that if certain individuals or group challenged the court then
overtime new structures which are also influential in dictating behaviour from social actors can
be developed which showcases that individuals have the ability to transform social structures
(Lumpkin, Bacq and Pidduck, 2018). In this way this theory puts forward the argument that
social structures of power and politics in a specific organization can be changed by the group
effort of social actors which are the employees recruited at the company. This increases the
importance of involvement of employees in various organizational wide changes at Marks and
Spencer. The organizational wide change of introducing new leaders and implementing new
technology in various functional departments of the company needs to be completed with
acceptance and active involvement of employees across the organizational hierarchy. This
action is in line with the structuration theory because it will support active involvement of social
actors in changing the current power and politics structures of the organization so that new
structures surrounding the newly recruited leaders and technological processes are developed at
the company.
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Communication
Communication plays an important role in change management because it helps businesses get
employees and leaders actively involved in the process of change management and ensure their
full cooperation in case of an organization wind change. Businesses focus on improving
communication during the time of organization wide change because it helps reduce any kind of
uncertainty related with change and helps the company complete the change process in a
systematic and planned manner so that errors or threats to successful change implementation are
eliminated. Different theories and management methods can be utilized for improving
communication at the time of change (Mehrabi-Kermani, Houshfar and Ashjaee, 2019). Total
quality management and business processes redesigning our examples of management practices
which can be used for enhancing communication at the company. Total quality management is
defined as a continuous process of installing and making effective changes two business
practices and processes so that a desired level of excellence can be achieved with various
business processes. Business process redesign is defined as the act of overhauling accompanies
critical business processes in order to achieve a significant improvement in performance
measures such as return on investment and cost reduction. Both of these management strategies
can be applied for improving communication during the time of organization wide change and
can help the company ensure that high quality communication between employees external
parties and leaders takes place when critical stages of change are being completed. In context of
organizational white changes being implemented at the UK retail company Marks and Spencer
total quality management and business process redesign can be utilized for improving
communication processes at the company and assisting in creating an excellent environment for
communication between each member of the company so that any threat or barrier in effectively
implementing change can be quickly eliminated and change objectives can be attained in a
timely manner.
Learning
The primary focus of organizational right change in a company is to achieve improvement in
specific area by changing different aspects of the company (Rana, Bhaskar and Bhaskar, 2020).
Learning is an important part of implementing organizational wide change successfully because
it supports employees in learning new skills and capabilities so that they are able to adapt to
changing environment at the company easily and support institutionalization of change. Different
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learning theories can be adopted to support the learning process during change and ensure that
employees are able to easily accept an integrate change in organizational culture. Behavioural
learning theory is a commonly used learning theory for teaching and learning which can also be
applied during the change management process to support successful completion of change. The
behavioural learning theory states that ideas and behaviours are learned through interaction with
the external environment and human nature is the product of one’s environment. in context of
the changes being implemented at Marks and Spencer, the behavioural theory can be adopted for
successfully implementing change by rewarding employees on the basis of their good behaviour
and active contribution in implementing change. This will enable the individual employees and
others to learn from the external environment and change their behaviours in accordance with the
specific organizational wide change being implemented at marks and Spencer whether it is
leadership change or partnership with Ocado. Another theory which can be utilized by the
respective company in order to implement change is cognitive learning theory. The cognitive
learning theory looks at understanding the ways in which human mind works and how the brain
processes information through internal mechanisms. One of the most effective ways in which
cognitive learning theory can be applied to support learning at an organization is to ask the
employees to reflect on their experience and help them find new solutions to the problems. The
leaders at Marks and Spencer need to build a feedback loop with employees through which they
are able to convey their solutions to various change management problems on the basis of their
reflection. This type of usage of the cognitive learning theory will be beneficial for the respective
company as the firm will be able to eliminate any barriers stopping employees from integrating
and accepting change file also initiating their learning process so that changes at Marks and
Spencer become part of the organizational culture.
Interventions
Successful organization changes are completed with the help of intervention from leaders and
adopting common strategies for change such as training setting up networks and implementing
alternative forms of organizing. Intervention from leaders plays a critical role in successfully
implementing change at a company because it helps provide the employees necessary support for
accepting change while also supervising any threats to successful change implementation
(Samani and Modhavadiya, 2021). It is important that will change management leadership acts
as a coach for employees so that they are able to accept change and game required support to
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adopt their capabilities and skills according to the changes being implemented at the company. In
case of the UK retail organization Marks and Spencer, the firm needs to construct a change
management leadership team which consists of experienced employees who have previously
supported an executive change management at the company. Marks and Spencer needs to
implement policies which make the role of organization change management team similar to a
coach so that employees are able to freely communicate their grievances related to change and
gain the help from leaders in implementing change. In addition to this Marks and Spencer also
needs to ensure that the leadership at change management team understands different external
factors such as diversity affecting change management so that they are able to adopt their
coaching techniques according to the external issue such as diversity to support healthy and
successful change management at the company.
Recommended alternative actions
 It is suggested that Marks and Spencer starts utilizing advanced technology such as artificial
intelligence for supporting change management at the company because it will help the firm
improve communication between leaders and employees and also help the leaders find
solutions for any problems negatively impacting change management.
 It is recommended that marks and Spencer utilize is learning tools such as virtual reality
technology to support employees in learning during the change process. The usage of
virtual reality will help the company support digital transformation while also supporting
employees in learning about change of leadership happening at marks and Spencer. This is a
justified recommendation because it will help the company swiftly initiate the learning
process for each and every employee doing change management so that change objectives
can be attained quickly.
 It is recommended that Marks and Spencer utilizes learning models such as Henry Mumford
learning model so that each individual employee is able to gain learning material according
to their learning preferences and styles. This will improve the learning process at the
company for change management and will also help the firm connect with employees so that
they are able to quickly accept and adapt with changing external environment.
 It is suggested that the respective organization supports active involvement of employees in
change management by giving them rewards and recognition on the basis of their
performance in implementing change so that every employee is encouraged towards
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supporting change. This will create a positive outlook towards change at the company and
will help marks and Spencer reduce any employee resistance towards change.
 It is suggested that Marks and Spencer adults are more authoritative leadership style in case
of making emergency decision instead of using the consulting leadership style so that critical
decisions related to the partnership with okay though are not delete and the change of
successfully partnering with Ocado attained.
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CONCLUSION
From the above report it is determined that change management at a multinational organization is
a complex process which is affected by different factors. The main elements involved in change
management can be identified by applying 7 S model of McKinsey. Change management at a
company is influenced by different elements such as power and politics communication learning
and intervention. Appropriate tools theories and models need to be adopted by the firm in order
to handle change management and support successful change implementation for each of these
elements.
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REFERENCES
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Hakami Kermani and et. al., 2021. Uncertainty Evaluation of Reservoir System Performance
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Rana, S., Bhaskar, P. and Bhaskar, P., 2020. Enablers and barriers to e-government adoption: an
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Management, 12(2). pp.165-189.
Samani, A. and Modhavadiya, N., 2021. Education: A Curse or a Blessing Thoughtful and
Purposeful Education Can Change Everyone’s Life. NOLEGEIN-Journal of Management
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Online
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