Organizational Change Management: Woolworths Industry Interview Report

This report examines the management of change at Woolworths, focusing on the need for intervention due to declining sales and increased competition. The analysis covers both internal and external drivers of change, including sales performance and market pressure. It explores various change perspectives, including the importance of employee training and development. The report also presents an interview with Woolworths' Managing Director, Claire Peters, to understand underlying change assumptions. The report evaluates the implementation of emergent change strategies, including Kotter's change management theory. The effectiveness of change interventions, particularly training programs, is assessed in terms of their impact on employee skills, customer service, and overall business performance. The report concludes with an evaluation of the change process and its impact on Woolworths' ability to remain competitive within the market.

Running head: MANAGING ORGANIZATION CHANGE
Managing Organization Change
Name of student
Name of University
Author note

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Executive summary
Considering the analysis of the report, the major issue that emerged had been the
decline in sales at Woolworths, which enabled the need for management of change with the
help of improving the strengths of employees present in the sales and customers’ services
department. The issues emerged due to the inability to respond to the customers’ queries and
also being unable to provide them with sufficient information about the products and
services, which led to dissatisfaction among the customers. Due to this, the brand image and
reputation deteriorated, which automatically, resulted in sales decline and the company even
failed to compete with the rivalries in the marketplace. The change management would be
possible with the management of training programs and by understanding the needs for
development of employee at Woolworths to make sure that the business performance could
be improved and the company would remain competitive within the business environment
effectively.

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................4
Body of discussions....................................................................................................................4
Change Drivers & Change intervention.................................................................................4
Change Perspectives...............................................................................................................4
Interviewee’s underlying change assumptions.......................................................................5
Planned or Emergent change..................................................................................................6
Effectiveness of the change intervention................................................................................7
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................7
References..................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
The report presents an idea about the need for managing change within the
organisation considering the business organisation named Woolworths in Australia. Due to
the emergence of certain issues experienced within the organisation, the need for managing
change is essential to overcome such issues and at the same time, ensure smooth business
functioning with the management of business functions and processes effectively. The
management of change is essential for the purpose of defining the change and align it to the
business goals and objectives while at the same time, determine the impacts that can be
created with the management of change along with the development of a perfect
communications strategy1. Considering the case study of Woolworths Group in Australia, the
company has been facing major issues including the decline in sales and excessive pressure
from the competitors, which also has made the customers choose from a wide range of
options available in the marketplace other than the products of Woolworths. The topic will
present an idea about the management of change to overcome these issues experienced at
Woolworths, furthermore, ensure implementing a change intervention to ensure sustenance
and competitive advantage too2.
Body of discussions
Change Drivers & Change intervention
There are several drivers of change management within the organisation and there
have been both internal as well as external drivers that responsible for the management of
1 Joe, Tidd, and John R. Bessant. Managing innovation: integrating technological, market
and organizational change. John Wiley & Sons, 2018.
2 Sergio, Fernandez, and Hal G. Rainey. "Managing successful organizational change in the
public sector." In Debating Public Administration, Routledge, 2017. p.20

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change within the organisation. The internal drivers of change include sales management,
skills and competency of staffs while the external drivers have been the increased market
pressure from the other companies in the marketplace along with the reduction of share price,
which has also created loss for the business with the lower sales generation and revenue too.
The internal drivers or forces influencing the change also include high competition within the
industry along with the poor level of satisfaction among the customers due to which, the trust
and loyalty towards the brand have been affected too3. The external factors that have driven
change within the company also could include diversity within the workforce, globalisation,
technological changes and management of ethical behaviours too. Considering the fact that
Woolworths aims at fulfilling the needs and preferences of the customers, failing in that
specific parameter has also been one of the major causes of sales decline and lack of revenue
generation too. The competition has been another major factor along with the management of
sustainability that have contributed to the influence on management of change for the
organisation. The high competition in the marketplace and failing to deliver something
unique along with delayed responses provided to the customers’ queries and concerns have
also affected the revenue generation capability of the organisation. Due to this, the brand
reputation has been affected and this has ensured the need for implementation of change
management and deliver the best possible solutions to overcome the issues and challenges
furthermore.
There is need for change management because of the decline in sales at Woolworths
due to the high competition in the marketplace and also due to the poor performances of the
employees because of their lack of skills, knowledge and expertise. Due to this, not only the
performance of the workforce has deteriorated, but also the sales performance has been
3 Thomas G., Cummings, and Christopher G. Worley. Organization development and change.
Cengage learning, 2014.

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affected, due to the which, the revenue generation is quite low too4. The rationale of the
assignment demonstrates the issues and challenges that are faced by the organisation and thus
require management of change to deal with the complexities and critical situations with ease
and effectiveness.
The objectives of the change intervention are to ensure that the skills, knowledge and
expertise of the employees of Woolworths are improved and also make sure to remain
competitive within the marketplace. The change intervention procedure also should allow for
making changes to the organisational structure and also focus on the management of
sustainability to ensure environment friendly solutions along with delivery of good quality
products and services that can create a positive impact on the environment. This could assist
in creating a positive mind set among the customers as well as enhance the brand image and
reputation for influencing the buying behaviours of customers and ensure greater level of
satisfaction among them as well.
Change Perspectives
From the perspectives of the management of change, the business organisation, i.e.,
Woolworths needs to analyse the market conditions at first, then monitor the workforce
performance and even analyse the external environment consisting of the competitors prior to
the implementation of change management procedure at Woolworths. Woolworths has
experienced decrease in share price and also the performances of the workers have
deteriorated gradually, which has not only reduced the sales revenue for the company, but
also has resulted in inability to compete with the rivalries present within the competitive
business environment5. This has further led to the reduction of sales generation along with
4 Gareth R., Jones Organizational theory, design, and change. Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Pearson,, 2013.
5 M. Afzalur, Rahim. Managing conflict in organizations. Routledge, 2017.

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decrease in profit level too. Due to this, the management of change is needed to bring back
the trust in customers and ensure attraction and retention of new and existing customers
respectively. Due to the sales decline, a major portion of the revenue has not been generated,
which also resulted in failing to meet the demands and expectations of the customers. With
the emergence of multiple retail chains in Australia, Woolworths has faced stiff competition
and this has also created a negative impact on the generation of sales for the organisation6.
To ensure successful management of change perspectives, the business organization
needs to identify the needs, scopes and opportunities, which are needed to be assessed for
survival within the competitive business environment, furthermore, reinforce the change
management techniques to gain the positive outcomes. Woolworths need to bring change by
prioritising on the improvement of performances of the employees and at the same time,
represent the vision and mission along with determining the needs for incorporating change
all throughout7. The employees must be informed about the management of change, which
could further enable them to possess the power of managing changes, thereby, create short
term goals and objectives needed to achieve long term sustainability and competitive
advantage in business as well.
The need to adopt the change management policies and principles is also critical for
sustenance in the marketplace while at the same time, develop trust and loyalty among the
customers towards the brand. The change in internal and external policies along with
structural changes and focusing on the performances of staffs could clearly bring back the
attention of clients and adapt to the recent trends within the industry. This would furthermore
6 Warner, Burke W. Organization change: Theory and practice. Sage Publications, 2017.
7 Craig R., Hickman, and Michael A. Silva. Creating excellence: Managing corporate
culture, strategy, and change in the new age. Routledge, 2018.

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lead to the creation of an urgency for the initiation of the change intervention technique,
furthermore, develop the management of human resources and improvement of technological
aspects too8.
Interviewee’s underlying change assumptions
The interview has been conducted with the Managing director of Woolworths named
Claire Peters. The interview is being conducted for the purpose of making the change
assumptions, furthermore, ensure drawing the benefits and resolve the issues and challenges
experienced by the company due to poor workforce efficiency and high competition within
the marketplace. The interview questions should allow for ensuring attainment of relevant
information and data about the need for change, furthermore, analyse the various issues that
are associated with the management of change to overcome the critical situation.
Planned or Emergent change
The change management plan has been considered as emergent because it could allow
for continuous process of experimentation and adaptation to the new processes and culture of
the organisation. The manager possess power and authority to control the management and
establish a healthy culture where change can be possible and good outcomes shall be derived.
The manager should also interact with the line manager and make the employees informed
about the new policies, principles of change management along with their needs for
development within the workforce9. The present issues must be acknowledged as well and
what could have been the probable causes, based on which, the employees should be engaged
in training programs for gaining the desired level of skills and competency with ease and
8 Gareth, Morgan. Riding the waves of change. Imaginization Inc, 2013.
9Anitha, J. "Determinants of employee engagement and their impact on employee
performance." International journal of productivity and performance management 63, no. 3
(2014): 308.

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efficiency. The controlling behaviour of the management must be let off, rather focus should
be on teamwork by allowing the sales staffs and employees of the customers’ service
department to acknowledge the change management and also allow them to share their views,
individual thoughts and opinions required to facilitate the decision making process10. The
change management plan should be facilitated with the delivery of training and
developmental sessions for the employees, which could also ensure perceptive and insightful
planning required to improve the efficiency of implementation phase, though considering the
fact that the uncertainties and chances of risks must cannot be isolated entirely.
The emergent change could be further facilitated with the management of Kotter’s
change management theory that demonstrated how the management of emergent change
could resolve the issues experienced by Woolworths. At the first phase, according to the
theory, a sense of urgency should be created among the sales staffs and customers’ services
department employees about their needs for development to improve the overall business
functioning11. The development of guiding coalition could also enable making them informed
why they need to take part in the training sessions and get accustomed with the change
management process to be implemented. The establishment of a change vision and strategy
must be done to foster the customers’ services delivery and most importantly, focus on
enhancing the level of satisfaction among the customers. The change vision must be
communicated among the sales staffs of Woolworths, which could make them feel interested
and motivated to take part in the training and development sessions, furthermore remain
10 Sun Young, Sung, and Jin Nam Choi. "Do organizations spend wisely on employees?
Effects of training and development investments on learning and innovation in
organizations." Journal of organizational behavior 35, no. 3 (2014): 400.
11 Jalal, Hanaysha. "Examining the effects of employee empowerment, teamwork, and
employee training on organizational commitment." Procedia-Social and Behavioral
Sciences 229 (2016): 303.

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empowered and encouraged to perform to their potential12. Woolworths also need to generate
short term wins and consolidate the benefits to be attained with the implementation of change
management plan, which could further result in forming a healthy corporate culture where
better collaboration among the staffs would be possible along with better communication
process and team working too13.
Effectiveness of the change intervention
The change intervention at Woolworths would be possible with the management of
training and developmental sessions and programs for the employees, who could understand
the necessity of responding to the customers’ concerns quickly and ensure creating positive
mind sets among them for influencing their buying behaviours. With the help of a good
training program, not only the skills of the team members would improve, thereby, leading to
higher sales generation and profit, but could also foster the development of a healthy work
culture, where communication process is improved and all of them can work as a unit and in
coordination14. The impact of training and developmental programs for the sales staffs and
customers’ service department employees has been immense because they would feel more
interested in carrying out their job roles and responsibilities and even remain motivated all
throughout to perform to their potential. The management of change would be facilitated with
the help of this training and development program while the various principles of change
12 Jalal, Hanaysha. "Examining the effects of employee empowerment, teamwork, and
employee training on organizational commitment." Procedia-Social and Behavioral
Sciences 229 (2016): 300.
13 Greg, Olsen, Chelliah Thirunavukkarasu, Ricardo Craft, and Ganesh Bell. "Recurring
revenue asset sales opportunity generation." U.S. Patent Application 13/844,002, filed May 1,
2014.
14 Wali, Rahman, and Zekeriya Nas. "Employee development and turnover intention: theory
validation." European journal of training and development 37, no. 6 (2013): 570.

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management process must also be followed to ensure managing the organisational values an
ethics, furthermore, ensure proper management of business functioning as a whole15.
The leader must undertake approaches to ensure development of new skills and
capabilities within the employees for adaption and acceptance of change, furthermore, ensure
consistent monitoring of the performances of the sales and customers’ services departments.
Ownership must be created according to the change management philosophy whereas the
messages and information regarding the management of change must be communicated to the
sales department for ensuring that they are able to understand why change is necessary16. This
would create a good work culture and improve the working flexibility, thereby, result in
betterment of overall business performance along with higher sales generation and attainment
of higher profit level too.
Conclusion
Based on the report, it could be understood that the sales level declined largely for the
organisation, i.e., Woolworths because of the poor skills among the sales staffs and also due
to higher response time to resolve the concerns of clients. This led to the inability to generate
the expected sales revenue and also failed to attain competitive advantage. The management
of change was necessary and it could be facilitated with the help of training and development
sessions for improving the skills, knowledge and expertise of the employees of the
organisation, thereby, enhance the overall business performance to generate higher revenue
and ensure attainment of competitive advantage in business too.
15 Jalal, Hanaysha, and Putri Rozita Tahir. "Examining the effects of employee empowerment,
teamwork, and employee training on job satisfaction." Procedia-Social and Behavioral
Sciences 219 (2016): 275.
16 Warren G., Strong, Cody T. Ahlquist, and Shawn A. Hall. "Sales lead generation system for
a company in a service industry and related methods." U.S. Patent Application 13/454,338,
filed October 24, 2013.

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References

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Anitha, J. "Determinants of employee engagement and their impact on employee
performance." International journal of productivity and performance management 63,
no. 3 (2014): 308.
Burke, W. Warner. Organization change: Theory and practice. Sage Publications, 2017.
Cummings, Thomas G., and Christopher G. Worley. Organization development and change.
Cengage learning, 2014.
Elnaga, Amir, and Amen Imran. "The effect of training on employee
performance." European Journal of Business and Management 5, no. 4 (2013): 137-
147.
Fernandez, Sergio, and Hal G. Rainey. "Managing successful organizational change in the
public sector." In Debating Public Administration, pp. 7-26. Routledge, 2017.
Ford, J. Kevin, ed. Improving training effectiveness in work organizations. Psychology Press,
2014.
Hanaysha, Jalal, and Putri Rozita Tahir. "Examining the effects of employee empowerment,
teamwork, and employee training on job satisfaction." Procedia-Social and
Behavioral Sciences 219 (2016): 272-282.
Hanaysha, Jalal. "Examining the effects of employee empowerment, teamwork, and
employee training on organizational commitment." Procedia-Social and Behavioral
Sciences 229 (2016): 298-306.
Hickman, Craig R., and Michael A. Silva. Creating excellence: Managing corporate culture,
strategy, and change in the new age. Routledge, 2018.

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MANAGING ORGANIZATION CHANGE
Jehanzeb, Khawaja, and Nadeem Ahmed Bashir. "Training and development program and its
benefits to employee and organization: A conceptual study." European Journal of
business and management 5, no. 2 (2013).
Jones, Gareth R. Organizational theory, design, and change. Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Pearson,, 2013.
Kulkarni, Pallavi P. "A literature review on training & development and quality of work
life." Researchers World 4, no. 2 (2013): 136.
Lorenzi, Nancy M., and Robert T. Riley. Organizational aspects of health informatics:
managing technological change. Springer Science & Business Media, 2013.
Morgan, Gareth. Riding the waves of change. Imaginization Inc, 2013.
Olsen, Greg, Chelliah Thirunavukkarasu, Ricardo Craft, and Ganesh Bell. "Recurring
revenue asset sales opportunity generation." U.S. Patent Application 13/844,002, filed
May 1, 2014.
Rahim, M. Afzalur. Managing conflict in organizations. Routledge, 2017.
Rahman, Wali, and Zekeriya Nas. "Employee development and turnover intention: theory
validation." European journal of training and development 37, no. 6 (2013): 564-579.
Strong, Warren G., Cody T. Ahlquist, and Shawn A. Hall. "Sales lead generation system for a
company in a service industry and related methods." U.S. Patent Application
13/454,338, filed October 24, 2013.
Sung, Sun Young, and Jin Nam Choi. "Do organizations spend wisely on employees? Effects
of training and development investments on learning and innovation in
organizations." Journal of organizational behavior 35, no. 3 (2014): 393-412.

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Tidd, Joe, and John R. Bessant. Managing innovation: integrating technological, market and
organizational change. John Wiley & Sons, 2018.