Leading and Managing Change: Microsoft, British Airways Analysis

This report provides an in-depth analysis of change management strategies implemented by Microsoft and British Airways. It begins with an introduction to the concept of leading and managing change, emphasizing its importance in organizational success. The report then compares the two companies, examining the impact of change initiatives on their respective structures and performance. A significant portion of the report focuses on identifying internal and external drivers of change, utilizing SWOT and PEST analyses to assess the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, as well as the political, economic, social, and technological factors influencing each organization. Furthermore, the report explores measures that can be taken to minimize the negative impact of change on organizational behavior, drawing on systems theory, continuous improvement models, and the Burk Litwen Model. It also addresses different barriers to change and their impact on leadership decision-making, concluding with an examination of various leadership approaches to dealing with change. The report provides valuable insights into the complexities of change management and offers practical recommendations for effective leadership in navigating organizational transitions.

UNDERSTANDING
AND LEADING
CHANGE

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
LO1..................................................................................................................................................3
P1. Comparison of different organization where there has been an impact of change................3
P2. Internal and external drivers of change affecting leadership, team and individual behaviour
.....................................................................................................................................................4
LO2..................................................................................................................................................6
P3. Measures that can be taken to minimise negative impact of change on organizational
behaviour.....................................................................................................................................6
LO3..................................................................................................................................................8
P4. Different barriers to change and their impact on leadership decision making......................8
LO4..................................................................................................................................................9
P5. Different leadership approaches to dealing with change.......................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Leading and managing change can be considered as a program that lays emphasis on
assisting people spark personal and organizational change. In this process organization can
successfully lead and implement change (Doppelt, 2017). Present report will lay focus on two
companies, one is Microsoft and other is British Airways. Microsoft is an American
multinational technology company which has been headquartered in Washington, United states.
British Airways is the flag career airline which has been situated in United Kingdom (Al
Barwani, Flores and Imig, 2018). Present report will lay emphasis on comparing two different
organization going through change. It will also provide different internal and external drivers of
change. Assignment also emphasise on ways to reduce negative impact of change.
LO1
P1. Comparison of different organization where there has been an impact of change
Change impact analysis has been given by Bohner and Arnold, in which they have described
the potential effect of change on different organizations. Below is the comparison of two
different companies who have successfully implemented change in their organization. These are
as follows:
Impact of Change implemented by Microsoft: Organizational change is one of the
riskiest, most earth-shaking things a company can do. But a successful reorg can set an
organization on the path to future success like nothing else can. Bohner and Arnold change
impact analysis has focused on the risk which is being associated with change. It has been
analysed that CEO Microsoft was facing a really tough time with Google taking dominant
position in an online world and Apple gaining massive success in selling mobile products. So
Microsoft in order to remain in market has thought about restructuring its organizational
structure. Thus, this restructuring has assisted them in reducing the internal competition which
has been faced by firm. In the process of change company has implemented the policy that
employees of firm will only work on achieving common gaols (Sundberg and et.al., 2017).
It has been analysed that Satya Nadella motivated workers to only think about mission of
organization and be flexible so that they are not much affected by change going in organization.
He thought of collaborating Microsoft research group Bing, Cortana and Information platform.
They have the goal to bring more innovation in line of Microsoft. Objectives of Microsoft
included reinventing productivity and process of business, engaged in building intelligent cloud

platform, and also being involved in using personal computing. The impact of change has
resulted in Employees having low morale and less engagement in firm. Also workers have been
lacking a positive sense of purpose. It has been analysed that future of Microsoft does not look
brighter with their ongoing restructuring but still they have been known for their achievement.
Impact of change implemented by British Airways: British Airways has been one of the
largest airline company which is being operating in United Kingdom. Because of the 1970’s oil
crisis, firm has gone through loss of huge amount of consumer base and financial loss. This has
hampered their goodwill and also travellers considered company as the terrible airline company.
In order to overcome this situation British Airways Chairperson Lord King thought of
restructuring the organization (Klev and Levin, 2016). He reduced the workforce from 59
thousand to 39 thousand, so that unprofitable routes can be eliminated and the fleet could be
modernised. Company has also appointed new marketing expert by which they are able to
increase their profit in coming 10 years. The impact of change has been so massive that at while
going through changes employees were really disappointed and also many of them have lost their
job. Before change actually begins company provided the reason to all workers about the
restructuring and why it is beneficial for company. Company has been transparent about all
decision they were taking, so this supported them in creating employees trust.
Bohner and Arnold change impact analysis has also supported British Airways in knowing
about the effect of change on utilization of resources. British Airways in order to create
employee loyalty during the time of change has also provided employees with rewards and
incentives which has supported them in not facing situation of layoffs and also it has assisted
them in reducing the negativity which was previously pertaining in organization. Restructuring
has helped British Airways in being the most successful airline, they have marked $284 million
profit which was highest in last 10 years (Jasim, Pinnington and Suseno, 2018). This success has
only been achieved by British Airways by providing workers with full support during the critical
time and also be being transparent and honest in their working. Lord King the new chairman also
made use of open communication, in order to overcome the problem.
P2. Internal and external drivers of change affecting leadership, team and individual behaviour
There are various internal and external drivers of change that has affected hugely both the
organizations. It includes the following:

SWOT analysis of Microsoft
Strength: Microsoft is one the leading software company, they have been market leader
from past so many years. It is one of the most reputed brand with high consumer loyalty. Being
the most prominent in software industry leaders and team members of Microsoft has been
engaged in working towards providing better cloud computing experience to individuals. They
share the highest brand equity in world of digitalization (Rossi, 2019).
Weakness: It has been analysed that Microsoft is not as innovative and creative than their
competitors. Leaders and team members working in company are not able to bring more
innovative new ideas to enhance consumer experience. They have also not been recognised as
world’s popular web browsers (Bernstein and Linsky, 2016).
Opportunities: They have the opportunity to invest in most popular areas which interests
everyone that is artificial intelligence and cloud computing. In this leadership is affected as
employees lack training to operate this software’s.
Threats: Microsoft has a huge threat from their competitors that is Google, Firefox. So
leaders must be involved in bringing out new ideas for growth.
PEST analysis of Microsoft
Political: Microsoft can be affected by when there is no stability in international market,
so leaders and team members must be engaged in bringing out strategies by which they can be
easily adjusted in changing market.
Economic: Company can increase their profit in high growth developing countries,
leaders can boost sales of Microsoft over emerging countries by targeting middle class income
group who have high disposable income
Social: In this, Microsoft have opportunity to create better attitude of consumer towards
Leisure activities like for example leaders can invest their time developing computer gaming
products to satisfy leisure demands of customers (Al Barwani, Flores and Imig, 2018).
Technological: Company is trying to make use of updated technology for which leaders are
providing training to employees
SWOT analysis of British Airways
Strength: Consumer loyalty has been their biggest strength, to maintain this leaders of
British Airways has prepared consumer flyer programme in which they provide complementary
files to their loyal consumers. It has created positive attitude of customers towards them.

Weakness: It has been analysed that company lacks prominent position in international
markets, they only have leading position in domestic market. So leaders and team members must
be involved in bringing out new innovations and conduct better training program to become
leaders in international market.
Opportunities: It has been analysed that expanding Heathrow Airport can become a great
opportunity for British Airways, as by this company can offer more flights. If this expansion is
successful then company had to recruit more staff members, so leaders must be involved in
providing better training to workers (Klev and Levin, 2016).
Threat: Adverse weather condition can become a threat for company and also Brexit has
affected British Airways badly. Leaders must think about the better strategies to reduce impact of
Brexit.
PEST Analysis of British Airways
Political: British Airways has been highly affected by the Brexit, there cost related to
maintaining infra-structure has been increased after Brexit. Leaders and team members must
involve in making effective utilization of resources to reduce cost.
Economic: Interest rate and fuel prices was lower in year 2016, so leaders of British
Airways to attract more consumers and increase flight services has offered flyer programme.
Social: In year 2016 and 2017, there were strikes in France related to traffic controller
which led to delay inflight services of British Airways. Leaders and team members were back
then engaged in thinking about ways to not lose consumer base (Scott, 2018).
Technological: Due to bad weather, there might occur digital disruption so leaders have
thought about developing better techniques to reduce this complexity.
LO2
P3. Measures that can be taken to minimise negative impact of change on organizational
behaviour.
It has been analysed that during change process there are various negative impact that has
surrounded both the organization, in order to overcome it various measures can be taken by
Microsoft and British Airways. It includes the following:
Systems theory: This theory lays special emphasis on every employee that is working in an
organization that they perform to their full potential. In order to minimise negative impact which
is surrounding Microsoft, leaders and team members of company according to this theory must

be involved in making every worker in firm understand about the benefits of restructuring. They
must make workers comfortable in changing environment. Thus, this will support Microsoft in
building effective behaviour that will also help them in increasing profitability in ever changing
environment.
British Airways in order to minimise the complexity and negative behaviour during
restructuring organization must get involve in predicting the employee’s behaviour according to
systems theory (Cornett, Knackstedt and Deshler, 2018). Leaders and team members according
to this theory must be engaged in motivating workers by providing them support so that their
productivity increases while they are going through change. This will also help them in creating
employee loyalty.
Continuous improvement: In this Microsoft during the time of restructuring must get
engaged in providing better training and learning to employees so that they can come up with
more innovative ideas (Lewis, Williams and Baker, 2020). Leaders and team members must also
get involved in creating employee loyalty through providing employees with better resources so
that it will also reduce operational cost of company. They must have engaged in motivating
workers to share their ideas openly so that change can be implemented easily.
British Airways in order to minimise negative impact of change must involve in
motivating workers to keep a pace with even small amount modification which is been adopted
by organization. Leaders and team members also need to make employees understand about the
benefits of taking ownership, so this will be beneficial for them during the time of change as this
feeling will create loyalty in mind of workers and they will not leave firm.
Burk Litwen Model: This model focuses on the external environment that can affect
company during the time of change. Leaders and team members of Microsoft must have
engaged in analysing the rules and regulations of government that can hamper their strategy of
restructuring. They must also make employees aware about the ill-effects of political and
economic environment (Lam, 2017). Also this model focuses on leadership aspect, Microsoft
must make sure that leaders during the time of change provides full support to workers in order
to create loyalty. Leaders must also be engaged in making organization culture better, during the
time of change they needs to lay emphasis on values, believes and thoughts of employees
working with them. An organisation’s culture includes both explicit and implicit rules, including
regulations, practices, principles and manners. Burk Litwen model focuses on that leaders must

make mission and their objectives clear in front of workers, so that there only goal must be to
achieve them.
British Airways in order to minimise negative impact of change must lay emphasis on
making the working climate better according to Burk Litwen model. They must make sure that
whil restructuring employees feel comfortable. Rewards given to them by leaders in the situation
of change supports British Airways in motivating workers, this will also support and satisfy
employees. It is very essential for growth of organization. During restructuring leaders and team
members analyses the needs and expectations of every employee and make sure that everyone is
allotted with task according to their skills and abilities. Employee loyalty is being promoted by
this. Company must also get involved in measuring performance of workers at both employment
level and organizational level so British Airways can analyse whether they are beneficial for
them or not. It saves their operational cost.
LO3
P4. Different barriers to change and their impact on leadership decision making
As change is really necessary in dynamic environment, British Airways has gone through
major change. They have re-structured their organization. But during the implementation of
change, company has faced different barriers, this can be explained through following models:
Force Field analysis: This model emphasised that there is an imbalance between driving
and restraining force because of which company is going through changes (Doppelt, 2017).
Figure 1 Force field analysis

(Source: Force field analysis, 2015)
Driving forces: British Airways has gone through change because of the oil crisis in 1970
has caused them a huge financial loss. They have also lost their customer base because of it. This
has happened because of the reason that they do not have an updated technology which can
preserve oil. So here technology has become their driving force that has led them to adopt
change. Also King Lord has analysed that other companies such as Virgin Atlantic has not been
highly affected by it, and their competitors were at peak of earning profit. So King Lord the
leader of British Airways got engaged in improvising the condition of British Airways. So here
the personal interest was the driving force which has driven company to adopt change.
Restraining forces: Before implementing change new chairman of British Airways
communicated all the results which can be faced by them if their strategy of restructuring failed.
So fear of failure was the restraining force which was acting as a barrier for company. In order to
not face this situation leader were engaged in doing open communication so that they can
analyse problems faced by employees.
Schein’s organisational culture model: This model emphasised that while implementing
change British Airways needs to have deeper understanding about the thoughts, values, attitudes
of employees working in company. Leaders and team members can have brought up policies,
rules and regulations in which they must mention that no individual will be involved in dis-
respecting or hurting the sentiments of other worker (Cornett, Knackstedt and Deshler, 2018).
This can make organizational culture better during the time of change. Making organizational
culture better will also help them in successful completion of task and also employees are better
be able to perform their responsibility.
Self-efficacy perception: Perceived self-efficacy can be belief of individual about their
capabilities to produce desire results. Implementing change in organization requires lots of self-
confidence, so employee might lack confidence and this can act as barrier in bringing alteration
in British Airways. Self-efficacy is closely linked to motivation, so leaders must involve in
enhancing confidence level of employees by providing them support. This will improve the
results of outcome which is being thought by organization. They can also motivate workers by
making them aware about the goals of firm, so that workers put more efforts to achieve them.
Employees who believe in coping with their abilities can give better result to British Airways.

These workers will have no fear of failure and also change linked with re-structuring can be
implementated successfully.
Situational resistance: This can also be one factor which can act as barrier for British
Airway while implementing change. This type of situation only occurs when leaders of company
are not congruent on their ground. It can also happen that leaders of firm are not involved in
providing support to employees. Situational resistance can only be overcome in British Airways
when leaders give full assistance to their teams. They must get engaged in making use of open
communication so that if resistance comes in firm, they know the reason why and try to solve it.
This can assist them in growing and properly implementing the re-structuring process. It can also
be raised in British Airways when top management is not involved in fulfilling demands of
workers. This can lead to dis-satisfaction among employees and they might not get adjusted to
change environment. Operational growth of firm is affected by this.
LO4
P5. Different leadership approaches to dealing with change.
There are various leadership approaches that can be used by British Airways so that they can
deal with change effectively. This includes the following:
Situational leadership: In this leadership style, leaders and managers adjusts and fit their
style according to situation pertaining in British Airways. Leaders are involved in changing their
style and followers do not change their style of working. This is beneficial for organization when
they are going through re-structuring as employees because of this aspect will not have to suffer
more. In this theory leaders also work as coaching leader as they work on improving the
capabilities and skills of employees according to their needs. This style is more beneficial to
individual who do not have any limitation and are open for any change. To handle change
effectively in British Airways leaders must also motivate workers to take their own decisions,
this increases their satisfaction level.
Kotter’s 8 Step change model: Making use of this model supports British Airways in
managing change effectively. It has 8 steps and it includes the following:
Creating Urgency: In this leaders must make employees aware about the problems that is
being faced by British Airways. They need to make workers know about the requirement of
change.

Form a powerful Coalition: To properly implement change in British Airways it is very
necessary for leaders to have support of their team members, only this can bring them success.
Create a vision for change: Leaders need to make clear to their employees about British
Airways mission of implementing change. This can reduce chaos existing in firm.
Communicate the Vision: Open communication can be used by leaders to make vision clear
of company, by this they can analyse problem if there is any.
Remove obstacles: In order to build the base, obstacles pertaining British Airways must be
removed for future growth.
Create short term wins: Employees must be rewarded even if their short term objectives are
being achieved. This will increase satisfaction of workers.
Build on the change: In this leaders must analyse what other steps can be taken in order to
improve the change which has been implemented.
Anchor the changes on corporate culture: In this stakeholders must be kept on board and
they must be encouraged even after change has been successfully implementated.
Change through strategic communication: It means the change which is being
implemented must be strategically communicated, only this will help in satisfying the long term
organizational goal of British Airways. Leaders can get involved in communicating the steps
they are going to take while implementing change. They must also get involved in doing
strategic planning about the restructuring process which firm is going to implement. This can
help firm in making improvement and also updating the techniques that they are going to use
while implementing change. Company also must brain storm various strategies which is
available to them for better adaptation of changes. This can support growth.
Lewin’s change management model: This model creates a perception that change is very
essential and needed. It includes following steps:
Unfreezing: In this stage it is essential for leaders of British Airways to make their team
members aware about how important change is in their organization. The most important
element in this is to communicate employees about change being imitated (Yrjölä and et.al.,
2019).
Changing: In this step organization will go through behavioural changes in employee, so
leaders need to cope with workers and make them adjust to changing environment.

Refreezing: It is the step where change in British Airways has been implemented
successfully. Company need to take follow-up in this last stage.
CONCLUSION
From the above study, it has been summarized that organization has been engaged in
implementing change. Companies have re-structured their firm according to changing needs and
demands of the environment. To minimize negative impact of change, they have been involved I
making organizational climate better, for this firm have rewarded employees. Rewards are being
paid in monetary and non-monetary way. This has also created employee loyalty during the time
of change (Bennett and Rowley, 2019).
Microsoft has made their mission clear to every worker, they have the goal to improve cloud
computing process in order to gain competitive advantage. British Airways during the time of
restructuring was being transparent, they share all information related to decision which they
were going to make (Klev and Levin, 2016). Both the companies have been engaged in updating
their technology so that they can grow in dynamic environment. This has attracted more
consumers towards them and it has boosted their revenue aspects. They have also motivated
employees to come up with new and innovative ideas in order to grow.

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