M&S: Impact of Change on Strategy, Operations, and Leadership

This report delves into the intricacies of change management within Marks and Spencer (M&S), a leading UK retail brand. It begins by comparing the impact of change on M&S's strategy and operations with other organizational examples, followed by an analysis of both internal and external drivers of change and their effects on leadership, team dynamics, and individual behaviors. The report then explores strategies to mitigate the negative impacts of change on organizational behavior, examines barriers to change and their influence on leadership decision-making, and concludes by applying various leadership approaches to address change initiatives within M&S. The report uses frameworks such as PEST analysis and the PDCA cycle to provide a comprehensive understanding of the challenges and opportunities associated with leading change in a dynamic business environment.

Understanding and
Leading Change

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
LO 1.................................................................................................................................................1
P1. Comparison of impact of change on strategy and operations of M&S with reference to
different organisational examples................................................................................................1
LO 2.................................................................................................................................................4
P2. Impact of external and internal drivers of change on leadership, team and individual
behaviours....................................................................................................................................4
P3. Ways to reduce the negative impact of change on organisational behaviour........................5
LO 3.................................................................................................................................................7
P4. Barriers for change and their impact on leadership decision making in M&S.....................7
LO 4.................................................................................................................................................9
P5. Dealing with change in M&S with applying different approaches to leadership..................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: PEST Analysis.................................................................................................................2
Figure 2: The PDCA (Deming) Cycle.............................................................................................6
Figure 3: Lewin's 3-Stage Model of Change.................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
In today’s era, organisational change has become the permanent feature of businesses
without which to survive for longer span of time is not possible. Bringing changes at workplace
time to time is of utmost of importance as now, there have been vast new markets and innovative
technologies for which suitable alterations in the working style are required (Hayes, 2018). In the
present report, various concepts related to understanding and leading change will be discussed
with reference to Marks and Spencer (M&S) which is UK’s one of the leading brands in retail
sector. Here, a study will be made on impacts of bringing changes at workplace on operations as
well as strategy of organisation. Further, factors that drive change and the way they affect
organisational behaviour will be discussed. Barriers to change will be analysed as well along
with their effect on decision making of leaders. At last, suitable leadership approaches to change
initiatives will be applied.
LO 1
P1. Comparison of impact of change on strategy and operations of M&S with reference to
different organisational examples
Change in business context can be referred as a process and method by which people at
workplace are managed in such a way that set business outcomes will be achieved. Change
management helps in making individuals successful to adopt the alterations in working practices
and in personal transitions.
In Marks and Spencer and Tesco, there are different situations when change in
implemented in organisation. Depending on the type of situation, their impacts on strategy and
operations of organisations are also different which are like:
 Conflict in teams – In situation if there is conflict in between teams, then in M&S, it will
ultimately result in affecting the operations negatively as there will be decrease in the
productivity and so, company will have to bring changes in their strategy (Doppelt,
2017). Reasons behind these conflicts may be mis-match of opinions, diversity, etc.
Rather focusing on rise in productivity and profits, firm will have to make plans with
respect to create a healthy environment at workplace and solve conflict with effective
negotiation and decision making skill. However, on the other hand, in Tesco, if there is
conflict among the members of team, supervisors refer the reason in-depth and check its
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impact. On the basis of same, discussion with members is done and resolution is
communicated. For solving the matter, leader in Tesco make smaller groups and integrate
ideas of both the parties and convince them to come to an acceptable decision.
 Increase in competition – As M&S and Tesco; both are operating in the fastest growing
and highly competitive sector i.e. retail industry of UK, this is mandatory for firms to
bring changes in regular intervals so that customer’s changing tastes and preferences can
be met. For the same, Marks and Spencer brought alterations in operations as it will have
to run work activities according to the changed patterns. It modifies the organisational
strategies with regard to the hiring of talented candidates and building up presence
through digital medium (Pantano and et.al., 2017). On the contrary, due to presence of
intense competition in market, Tesco is bringing differentiation in its products so that
customers can be retained for longer span of time for which it is using highly advanced
techniques which are incurring high productivity at low cost. For example – e-grocers,
use of RFID technique, online mobile payment system i.e. PayQwid.
M1. Different drivers of change and types of changes affected in organisation
To identify the different factors that drive change, PEST analysis will be the best suitable
which in reference with Marks and Spencer is given as below:
Figure 1: PEST Analysis
2
PEST
ANALYSIS
POLITICAL
ECONOMIC
SOCIAL
TECHNOLO
GICAL

 Political factors – M&S is having the benefit of being favoured through EC’s free trade
agreements with which it is enjoying reduction in the sourcing costs. However, firm is
facing high cost structure in markets outside the UK. Thus, in diverse teams of
organisation working at different locations, sometimes conflicts take place due to changes
in policies over there for which company needs to make strategies as per political
environment (PESTEL Analysis of Marks and Spencer (M&S), 2017). Marks and Spencer
is facing the main political issue of changing government and taxation policy with
reduction in sourcing cost because of imposed regulations like free trade policy.
 Economic factors – M&S gets highly impacted due to the discounted pricing of rivalry
firms as it always create threat of switching of customers on other brands while, company
focuses on providing quality product with value. Discounted pricing leads to increase in
competition and so, company needs to bring changes in its strategy. Marks and Spencer is
also getting affected due to conflicts occurring in between firm and small retailers based
on pricing being one of the impacts of Brexit.
 Social factors – Company’s main focus in present era is on creating more equal societies
and building a strong image in the market. However, eating habits of people now-a-days
are changing on constant basis which leads to increase in competition as every rivalry
firm in response to change in tastes and preferences of customers bringing changes in
their products at a high pace. Marks and Spencer has taken various initiatives to help the
communities by cutting its internal costs.
 Technological factors – This factor is also leading to create conflicts among teams of
M&S that are operating at different locations as they all have not been provided with
same technologies depending on the economy of nation (Carnall, 2018). With increase in
technological innovations and information and communication solutions that firms in
retail sector of UK have brought, competition has increased a lot. M&S has improved its
ability to take risk, provide security and compliance with having technology partnership.
Types of organisational change the above factors have affected are:
 Structural – The factors like political, economic, social and technological leads to bring
structural changes in Marks and Spencer which means the way company is running its
operations. Further, these result in bringing changes in organisation’s hierarchy,
management system, chain of command, etc. For example: if a new technology is brought
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in organisation, some manager having expertise from higher level of management will
have to be shifted in departments accordingly to make employees understand the same.
 Strategic – Further, the above factors also create changes in M&S at strategic level which
means to bring modifications in overall goals, mission and company’s strategy. These
factors result in upheaval of the way in which firm is performing its business activities
(Types of Organizational Change, 2016). For example: If there is some new policy
imposed by UK government regarding environmental safety, company’s mission and
strategy will get shifted to take CSR initiatives rather focusing on profits.
 People – Socio cultural sometimes bring changes in a way that attitudes, skills and
performance of employees get affected in a way that either they motivate or demotivate
them. It includes the way employees learn new skills and perform their jobs. As Marks
and Spencer is having diversity in teams because of operating in different nations, it
organises suitable training and development sessions for employees to deal with the
same.
 Processes – With technological factors like in case if there is change in techniques in the
market available, M&S will be required to re-engineer processes so that optimum
productivity can be gained along with smooth flow of work (Van der Voet and
Vermeeren, 2017). For example: Using modern IT systems and free Wi-Fi as well as it
has given customer assistants iPads to help the shoppers.
LO 2
P2. Impact of external and internal drivers of change on leadership, team and individual
behaviours
In Marks and Spencer, there are several internal and external factors which have their
direct impact on leadership, team and individual behaviours. These are like:
Internal factors of change
 Ineffective workplace culture – If working culture in organisation is not effective in
M&S, it will lead to create negativity among employees because of which productivity of
teams and individuals will get reduced. For the same, it will be crucial for the leader to
adopt a suitable leadership style so that a healthy working environment positivity at
workplace can be created (Neves and Schyns, 2018). For the same, he can use
participative style of leadership that will increase the morale of employees. For example:
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By involving employees in important business discussion and in decision making
process, workplace culture with increased morale can be improved.
 Change in managerial personnel – If Marks and Spencer brings change in its managerial
personnel, there will be direct impact on the leadership, team and individual behaviours
as with change in person at leading position, style of leadership will be changed as well.
Further, with change in the style of leadership, behaviour of individuals and teams will be
affected as some people might get influenced with same and vice versa. For example: if a
manager of sales department will get changed in M&S, his way of directing and guiding
others will also get changed.
 Dissatisfaction among employees – In case of lack of motivation, employees become
dissatisfied and so, in this situation, it is the responsibility of leader to arrange some
training and development sessions based on theories like that of given be Herzberg to
update the skills and knowledge of employees that will motivate them as well as he can
also provide monetary (bonus, increment, etc.) and non-monetary (appreciation,
recognition, etc.) rewards to them to increase their morale at workplace (Jayatilleke and
Lai, 2018). This will result in impacting positively on the behaviours of teams and
individuals.
External factors of change
 Change in tastes of customers – As Marks and Spencer is operating in highly
competitive and dynamic environment being in retail sector of UK, there is change in
tastes and preferences of customers in very short durations. For same, it is the
responsibility of leader to bring changes in operations and so, in products and services to
meet customer’s demand for which teams and individuals are also required to bring
changes in their existing working practices (The Driving Forces of Change [Internal &
External], 2017). For example: Bringing new fashion for women and kids like stylish
jackets for winters with bright colours.
 Government policies – In today’s era, government has become very conscious regarding
the quality of products and services provided by firms, especially for food items and so, it
keeps on modifying its existing policies and bringing the new one. For this reason, it is
crucial for leader to keep employees updated with the policies and make them perform
their tasks accordingly. For example: M&S needs to take care of the culture of nation
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before selling clothes there like in India, western clothes like that of being in trend in UK
are not acceptable.
 Globalisation – Globalisation is the most important external factor which is impacting
every firm operating in any sector. Due to this, leaders in Marks and Spencer are required
to make strategies and employees work in such a way that advantage of the deregulation
can be gained and company can grab new markets effectually (Stocker and et.al., 2017).
Teams and individuals working in different locations of M&S are also needed to be
trained and developed as per the needs of customers of that respective country. For
example: Training based on the culture of specific nation is to be provided to deal with
customers over there and offer products considering their values.
P3. Ways to reduce the negative impact of change on organisational behaviour
Different measures are there which can help Marks and Spencer in minimising the
negative effects of change on organisational behaviour. These are like:
 Effective communication – Bringing changes at workplace is always a troublesome task
and management of M&S has to face lots of challenges while implementing the same.
However, if effective communication will be there, to minimise the negative impact of
change will become easy. It is important for management to explain reason and need
behind bringing changes as well as the future benefits of same. It can be critically
assessed that ineffective communication may lead firm to face consequences like
conflicts at workplace as well as chaos and confusion among employees regarding work
that will affect their productivity.
 Training and development – Another measure is to train and develop employees in so
well way that adopting changes in working practices will no longer be a difficult task for
them (Carpenter and Agrawal, 2018). Management of M&S is required to provide
effective training and development sessions to workforce based on the changes to be
implemented so that their existing proficiencies will get improved and they would not
find any difficulty to adopt changes. However, if company will not give due emphasis on
training and development of employees, this will result in reduced productivity and
profits as to adapt the changes, this is crucial for them to polish their skills and
knowledge accordingly.
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 Adopting advanced methods – Further, if company will use the latest and advanced
techniques in its processes, to make employees perform their tasks will become easy. At
present, M&S is not using very advanced methods in all its stores and so, bringing
changes there can be a complex task. Thus, with bringing advanced techniques, negative
impact of change on organisational behaviour can be reduced to a high extent
(Hesselmann and et.al., 2017). But, on the other hand, it can be critically evaluated that
using traditional and old techniques will result in making the organisation unable to deal
with increasing competition in market and so, it will have to leave its position that would
be grabbed by some other rivalry firm.
M2. Theories and models to evaluate organisational response to change
In order to evaluate the response of organisation towards change, systems theory and
continuous improvement model will prove to be helpful which are stated as:
Systems Theory – Systems theory proves to be highly helpful in specifying the possible courses
of actions along with the risks. Also, it tells about all costs and benefits related with bringing
specific change at workplace. This theory will prove to be very helpful for the management of
M&S to understand all pros and cons of bringing changes at workplace and thus, employees can
be made understood in such a way that they will get convinced with the same and perform their
tasks in a systematic way (Systems theory, 2018).
Continuous Improvement Model – Various tools of continuous improvement are there that are
being used by firms. However, the most common and suitable one for M&S is four step quality
model i.e. PDCA (plan-do-check-act) or The Deming Cycle.
Figure 2: The PDCA (Deming) Cycle
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Plan
Do
Check
Act

If company realises any issue in existing working processes and feel need of bringing
changes, this tool will first help in identifying the opportunity under the ‘plan’ phase. Then, in
the next step i.e. ‘do’ phase, company will execute the planned change but on a very small scale.
Further, in ‘check’ phase, results gained in previous step are analysed and decision is taken that
whether it will be helpful for the firm or not (Krüger, 2018). At last, in ‘act’ phase, if the change
was found fruitful for organisation, it will be implemented on a larger scale. However, if the
results gained are not satisfactory, the cycle will begin again.
D1. Conclusion and recommendations with valid justifications
To deal with changes effectually, Bohner and Arnold Change Impact Analysis can be
used which will help the management in identifying the possible consequences that may take
place after implementing changes. Further, this will also assist the management of M&S in
estimating the need to bring changes at workplace. Thus, whatever approach company will apply
i.e. either systems theory or PDCA cycle, the Change Impact Analysis given by Bohner and
Arnold will help in detailing the associated risks with modifications (Hayes, 2018).
LO 3
P4. Barriers for change and their impact on leadership decision making in M&S
Like any other company, Marks and Spencer also has to face various challenges while
implementing changes at people always resist to leave their comfort zone. With these challenges,
decision making of leaders gets affected as well. Some of the barriers for change and their
impact on leadership decision making are given as below:
 Lack of employee involvement – In case if M&S will not involve its employees in the
change process, this is obvious that even the most loyal member of company will not get
ready to embrace a new culture. For the same, leader will require to modify his leadership
as he will be needed to first include opinions of employees for same and assure them that
the change if for their good only.
 Ineffective communication – If there is no effective strategy to communicate the
decision for change in organisation, people will forcefully resist for same as they would
not be having any clear idea regarding how change is going to affect them (Doppelt,
2017). Thus, leaders have to make an effective communication strategy to inform staff
about change rather just informing them.
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 Lack of clarity of the objectives – If employees are not clearly informed about the main
objectives behind change along with its need and benefits, their resistance is highly likely
and so, leaders in M&S have to make employees understand the future goal of company
first and then, their cooperation can be gained.
M3. Analysing the driving and resisting forces using force field analysis
There are many driving and resisting forces on the basis of which management decides
whether to bring changes in organisation or not. With the use of force field analysis, M&S can
analyse its driving and resisting forces as it is a decision making tool used for managing changes
in organisation that was given by Kurt Lewin (Pantano and et.al., 2017). In case if company is
going to bring changes in its existing working practices, application of this tool is given as
below:
Driving Forces
Changing markets (4)
New technology (2)
Competition (3)
Politics (2)
Total = 11
It can be said that while implementing changes in M&S with respect to the alteration in
working practices, major factors because of which it is important are changing markets and
competition. As firm is operating in many nations other than UK, it has to bring change in
operations and strategies as per the culture being followed there. Also, with increasing
competition among rivalry firms, change is mandatory to be brought in company to sustain the
business. Along with that, emergence of new techniques and political environment of nation are
also playing a significant role in driving change in M&S. It has to bring innovation in products
through adopting advanced techniques to beat the competition and change company policies time
to time as per the regulations imposed by regulatory authorities of nation.
Restraining Forces
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Proposed
change =
Replacing
existing
technologies
Proposed
change =
Replacing