Morrison's Change Management: HR Support in a Changing Climate (MG625)

This report examines Morrison's change management strategies in the context of the UK's economic climate, particularly in response to Brexit. It explores the extent to which Morrison needs to adapt, considering both planned and unplanned approaches to change. The report analyzes Morrison's strategic responses, including its manufacturing and supply chain base within the UK and its approach to importing goods, and evaluates the role of HR management in supporting these changes. The report also discusses the application of Kotter's change management model within Morrison, emphasizing the importance of communication, employee engagement, and strategic alignment. Overall, the report highlights the critical importance of effective change management in ensuring Morrison's success in a dynamic and uncertain economic environment.

Leading and Managing Change

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Extent to which Morrison need to change in the current economic climate................................3
How HR management can support the approach.........................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
Leading change is a collective goal accomplished with the context of human
relationships. It is a team activity in which allies become coalition, which becomes high
performing teams and these teams work together to lead change. With the motive to attain
success in the competitive business arena firms lay high level of emphasis on introducing and
implementing change within an organization. In this regard, manager of the firm employs
changes management practices with the motive to minimize cost and the employee resistance. In
this report, Morrison is taken as an organization. It is a multinational supermarket chain in UK,
founded in 1899. It provides everything from groceries to clothing, home wares, electrical and
many more. This report covers understanding the strategic and operational importance of change
in an organization and also critically evaluating change management theory and strategy and
analysing the factors impacting the organization.
MAIN BODY
Extent to which Morrison need to change in the current economic climate
A no deal Brexit is a serious threat to UK super market. Morrison is the smallest of the
big four retail giants. By doing assessment, it has identified that, in against to the rivals,
Morrison’s have ability in relation to dealing with the condition of Brexit. but it is seen that is in
a better position to tackle Brexit than its competitors. It makes around 25% of everything it sells
including its own labelled products. Morrison is the British farming's single and largest customer
and also the scale of its operation make it one of the largest producer food in the UK (Geng,
2020). Also, all its milk, eggs and fresh meat products are British and its lays focus on spreading
message pertaining to 'buying local' message with the motive to enhance sales. Morrison has
built prominent manufacturing system and supply chain base in UK. This in turn helps company
in coping up the issues that will arise due to Brexit. Morrison is required to import products but it
is not facing issues or difficulties with regards to compliance with tariffs and border checks
regulations.
There are two approaches to change which are planned and unplanned approach. A
detailed description is given below.
Planned approach: This approach is regarded as a strategic move by the organization. It is
implemented with the objective of changing the way of doing business in an organization (Scott,

2018). This can be done in one of the following ways: by changing the product or service,
bringing the change in the administrative framework or by changing the organizational structure.
Unplanned approach: Organization is governed by different factors both internal and external
factors of change. Unplanned approach is regarded as the change which is taking place in an
organization but are not planned or is a sudden intervention. These changes are introduced in an
planned manner.
Morrison has used planned approach to meet with the challenges before its too late.
Morrison has started taking precautionary steps soon after Brexit referendum and it has get along
an Authorized Economic Operator which means that organization recognized as a good operator
by the European Union even after Brexit (Bloom and et.al, 2019). This will help in reducing the
risk of checking the order on border in case of imported goods. But it is highly likely that border
checks will be initiated if the UK leaves European Union regarding not dealing in any matters
and this adversely impact Morrison. This disrupt the existing supply chain which will be a big
problem for any industry importing from the European Union. This also poses a challenging
problem for supermarket business because these stores are based on thousands of products to
deliveries of perishable goods such as fruits and vegetables.
Also, government reports the possible situation which arises under the worst case
scenario that there could be delay for two days at ports. If the situation of the delay arises at the
border then the impact is raised upon the quality of the product will deteriorate which are being
sold fresh because of their short shelf life (Are Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons ready for
Brexit? 2020). And if the situation reflects to be cumbrous and supermarket choose not to stock
the products then it could reduce the options for the customers. The fact that Morrison transfers
more of its goods from UK means that it complies to manage the risk better than most and also
the fact it has secured that the goods which are imported are at less risk after Brexit.
Apart from this Morrison has recently adjusted the deal with Ocado that give permission
it to other UK cities and Morrison is one of the best target for US giant if it wants to enter the
market of UK. This help them in acquisition of Morrison by Amazon has enhanced, since pound
value has fallen due to the Brexit policy, this has reduced the price of UK assets. Approximately
85% of real estate of Morrison is owned by freehold, which is providing property portfolio to
support valuation. All these things has put it in a better position.

So, it can be said that Morrison has applied planned approach to face the negative impact
of Brexit over its business. It is continuously making changes as per the requirement.
How HR management can support the approach
Everyday companies faces number of challenges such as restructuring the organization,
launching a new product and if companies made these changes without making effective plans
that it will result into chaos. Strategic management allows companies to be carefully while
managing change. The strategic change management is a process for managing changes in an
organization in a structured and thoughtful way to achieve organizational objectives (Managing
Organizational Change. 2020). HR plays a crucial role in change management by initiating and
leading the change. The HR department of Sainsbury performs various functions in relation to
communication, implementation and monitoring the major changes. HR professionals acts as a
point of contact to assist employees. In addition, HR also coordinates meetings about the change
and other related initiatives. HR also plays a crucial role in change management by calculation
return on investment post implementation by identifying the KPIs.
There are several models that can be used for managing change. The most widely used
models for change management is John Kotter's change model. A detailed description is given
below.
Kotter's change model
creating urgency- for doing transformation it starts with leader analysing the whole
scenario and the changes taking place in the environment. It is the responsibility of leader to
explain all the important changes and opportunities which are relevant for growth of company
discuss it with employees. This makes sure that there is a need for change and Sainsbury makes
sure that people to understand it.
Building a directive alliance: at the end of urgency the leader try to establish a team
with with high potential and power so that they can be able to lead the change. This group needs
to have substantial authority, credibility, leadership abilities and expertise. This coalition needs
to work together for achieving common goals. Sainsbury ensures that an efficient team has been
formed.
Initiating and formulating aims: for becoming successful clear vision is necessary to
be crafted and for motivating the employees so that they work in proper and effective

manner (Rajan and Ganesan, 2017). Creating an effective vision takes time and can be a
complicated process. Sainsbury makes sure that everything is properly created.
Enlist a volunteer army: Once the vision is created it is the responsibility of the
members to communicate the same to the employees of the organization and also explaining how
the change will benefit the business and the employees as well.
Enable action by removing barriers: The change leader should identify and remove
barriers, to empower employees to support the change. Four important obstacles are: formal
organizational structure which makes it difficult for employees to act, lack of requisite skills,
supervisors who discourage action towards the changes and personnel and information system.
Generate short term wins: Enduring changes takes time which sometimes makes
employees feel discouraging to employees at all levels. Leaders of Sainsbury should create
conditions that support successes and calls for celebration.
Sustain acceleration: The changes until they are not completely established in the
organization's culture, there always remain a threat of resistance and regression. In this,
everything is consolidated with respect to what is learned from the change which helps the
organization, that is, Sainsbury to improve the change process in the future.
Institute change: The final stage of this model for successful change is linking the two
important component of corporate culture, that is, the norms of the group behaviour and shared
value and also profits, performance and customer satisfaction of Sainsbury.
So, by following the above model will help Sainsbury in dealing with the changing
situation and can properly implement the required changes in the organziation.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from the above that leading and managing change is a very critical
process and is required to be handled carefully. The impact of UK leaving European Union will
affect every industry. Sainsbury has already planned their strategies to deal with the situation.
Also, the HR team of Sainsbury will play a key role in supporting it for implementing the
changes successfully. To understand it well, Kotter's change management model is used which
provides direction to successfully implement change management process. Everything in an
organization is required to be properly coordinated and communicated so that effective actions
can be taken on time, ensuring organizational success.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Bloom, N., and et.al, 2019. The impact of Brexit on UK firms (No. w26218). National Bureau of
Economic Research.
Geng, Y., 2020, January. The Impacts of Non-deal Brexit on the UK Vegetable Market. In 2019
International Conference on Education Science and Economic Development (ICESED
2019). Atlantis Press.
Rajan, R. and Ganesan, R., 2017. A critical analysis of John P. Kotter's change management
framework. Asian Journal of Research in Business Economics and Management. 7(7).
pp.181-203.
Scott, E. S., 2018. Leading change. Leading and Managing in Nursing-E-Book. p.320.
Online
Managing Organizational Change. 2020. [Online]. Available
Through:<https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and-samples/toolkits/pages/
managingorganizationalchange.aspx>.
Are Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons ready for Brexit? 2020. [Online]. Available
Through:<https://www.ig.com/en/news-and-trade-ideas/are-tesco--sainsburys-and-
morrisons-ready-for-brexit--190923>.
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