Leading Change: Strategies, Drivers, and Impact on Tesco

This report examines the multifaceted aspects of leading and understanding change within organizations, using Tesco and Walmart as case studies. It begins by comparing the strategic and operational impacts of change initiatives in both companies, focusing on technological advancements and market adaptations. The report then delves into the internal and external drivers of change, such as organizational culture, employee morale, political factors, and technological advancements, and their effects on leadership, team dynamics, and individual behavior. Furthermore, it explores strategies to mitigate the negative impacts of change, including effective training, employee engagement, and motivational techniques, while also applying Lewin's Change Management Model to illustrate a structured approach to implementing change. Finally, it analyzes barriers to change and their influence on leadership decision-making, as well as different leadership approaches to navigate organizational changes. The report provides a comprehensive overview of the challenges and opportunities associated with leading change in a dynamic business environment.

Understanding and
Leading Change

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1 Compare different organisational examples where there has been an impact of change on
and organisation’s strategy and operations.............................................................................1
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
P2 Internal and external drivers of change affect leadership, team and individual behaviour
within an organisation............................................................................................................3
P3 Measures that can be taken to minimise negative impact of change on organisational
behaviour................................................................................................................................4
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................6
P4 barriers related to change and there influence on leadership decision-making.................6
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................9
P5 Different leadership approach to deal with changes in the organisation...........................9
CONCLUSIONS............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
The understanding and leading changes is the process in which employees are prepared in
advance about the problems and how to take initiative related to change in the organisation.
Changes are very necessary to meet with external environment. Introduction of new market led
to innovative technology which in turn have put powerful models in the organisation. In order to
meet with these challenges, firms have become more refined in the best practices for
organisational change (Burke, 2017). The world is changing too fast and with this change,
organisation also need to change itself. In this context, Tesco is taken to study as it is one of the
large multinational retailer company. Further in this report, comparison of different organisation
examples and impact of change on its operation, ways in which external and internal drivers
affect the organisation behaviour, determining different barrier that influence the decision of
leadership, and applying different leadership to deal with changes in regard with company will
be discussed.
TASK 1
P1 Compare different organisational examples where there has been an impact of change on and
organisation’s strategy and operations.
It is very essential for the company to implement changes. Different strategies help the
organisation to control the changes. It can be in any form like change in structure of organisation,
process, operational actives or change in technology. To make employees familiar with the
changes strategies are need to be formed. Tesco is a multinational retailer its major concern of
deal is with providing best clothing, furnitures, toys , software to its customers. So the first
company taken is Tesco and another is Walmart wants to implement some of the changes. Both
organisation used here are UK based and are from retail market. Their aim is to implement
changes regarding technology advancement. A extra feature which company can add on its
website is that customer can resale its used products and can exchange it with new one. The
strategies are formed to attract more customers to buy new latest product which will increase
profit of the concern. The operational activities are also need to be reframed related to the change
(Cameron and Green, 2015). The comparison between the companies strategies and operational
changes are discussed below:
BASIS TESCO WALMART
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Strategies Tesco always implement changes in
their business process with the helps
of advance technology. For this, they
also paid maximum attention towards
new business ideas as they make
strategic plan through which firm
operate their activities for home
based products and services. On the
basis of these kind of alteration,
Tesco create their own image in
target make by their own selling
proportion.
Walmart also wants to implement
some of the change in technology
for this they always looking for
developing nation in which they
can operate business services
with different strategic practices.
As Walmart recently paid their
attention towards the analysis of
small and developing companies
so that they can acquire them and
must create their own market
image and value in front of their
target customers.
Operational Tesco has some changes in
technology such as upgraded
payment system, artificial
intelligence into their production
process and so on. Therefore, in
context of changes they are hiring
new employees who has some
knowledge about how to work with a
change. Also, their operations will
work little bit faster and also, it can
can produce more standard quality
products in less time.
As technology are becoming
advance day by day so Wallmart
have performed some
technological changes. Such as
robots which helps them to
restock their shelves, identifying
misplaced goods and tracking the
level of inventory. Through this
their operation become easier as
overstock products can be
tracked and also make sure that
prices are upgraded and many
more.
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TASK 2
P2 Internal and external drivers of change affect leadership, team and individual behaviour
within an organisation
It is very important for the organisation to bring change in policies, technologies and
procedure with time. There are internal and external factors that affect leadership, team and
individual behaviour (de Sousa Jabbour, 2015). Tesco also want to change and for this internal
factors and external factors that are mentioned below:
Internal drivers: It refers to the things, situation or event that occurs within an
organisation. These factor strongly affect the leadership, team as well as individual of
organisation and all are going to face problem in an organisation. In case of Tesco its major
factors into internal drivers of change are as follows:
 Organisational culture: Culture of the firm represents the norms, attitudes, behaviours
and many more of team as well as individuals in job. Tesco corporate culture is focused
towards offering good products to customers. Also, it tends to perform with skilled staff
which are supportive towards firm as well as its operations. It is the internal driver that
help organisation to modify its operations according to culture. Culture of Respective
company has positive impact upon leadership, manager as well as supervisor work
together with team to make their product valuable. Moreover, for group behaviour such
as forward looking culture of organisation many outcome into growth in harmony as
well as good team work within groups of Tesco.
 Employees morale: This considered as the level of strength as well as confidence of
individuals or workers and it is essential for organisation. In case, staff has low morale or
not more concentrated towards work then it will impact functions and functional
activities of the company. In order to obviate this kinds of situations Tesco organise
many programmes to inspire its staff. Few activities are training, arranging motivational
event and many more. For example: If respective company leaders perform strategic
planning for improving workers morale this will maximise their productivity that leads
towards effectual team work. Through this firm can capable to attain objectives in proper
way.
External drivers: These are the things, situation or event that are outside the
organisation but their changes can have a impact on organisation. The leadership, team
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individual behaviour also get affected with this external drivers. So, Tesco, external drivers are
explained below:
 Political factors: This factor includes legislation, trade policies, tax rates and
unemployment rate etc (Drago-Severson and Blum-DeStefano, 2018). Tesco have been
impacted by Brexit. The effect was evident upon company as due to political instability
legislation, policies etc. of country changed wholly. So, it forced selected firm to also
change its policies. Regular changing regulation in firm induced stress into organization.
Also, manager and leaders have to change the firm system and framework on regular
basis which is not an easy task. When country's political situation changed then this will
effect selected company because of that they has to make and adapt new policies which
will impact upon manager leadership style. So, team and individuals should perform
effectively as per the changed policies of the country.
 Technological factor: It is the factors that effect organisational and the leadership
behaviour. With on going changes and enhance demands, Tesco required to bring updated
technologies in order to satisfy the requirements of the clients. As technological
advancement can prove to be great opportunity for Tesco. By forming website and
launching of online payment app more customers can be attracted. It saves both time as
well as labour cost. Also, it will impact individuals as well as team behaviour as it many
resist this changes. Thus, leadership will aids them to transmute it behaviour into
upgraded one and also provide crucial training for adopting technologies.
P3 Measures that can be taken to minimise negative impact of change on organisational
behaviour.
Tesco can reduce the negative impact of change in their organisation. The following are
the ways by which impact can be reduced:
 Providing effective training: With change, It is very important for the employees to
receive training to teach them proper skills and knowledge so that they can operate
efficiently (Galvin and Clark, 2015). By regular training of employees, negative impact
can be minimised. Training can be both on the job or off the job. For example: If Tesco
are providing effective training to their employees so in case any changes occurs such as
in technology and operation then they can ready to adopt the modifications as well as
perform well.
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 Employee engagement: It will help them in understanding the changes which are
implemented in an organisation. The organisation must clear all the employees about the
change and motivate them to work more efficiently. For example: if the employees of
Tesco are participating or engaging into the activities then they should get to know about
the changes and also encourage them to perform accordingly. So, with the help of this
they can perform effectively as it already have knowledge about it.
 Motivation: It is foremost responsibility of company to motivate its employees from
time to time so that they can boos their morale confidence and are able to perform more
efficiently.
Tesco can also apply Lewin's Change Mangement Model which will help the
employees to accept the changes in the organisation. This model was founded by Kurt Lewin in
1940s. His model is known as Unfreeze-Change-Refreeze which refers to three stages that
describes the changes. By understanding this model employees are able to understand the need
for change and are able to work on awareness of the change. These stages are discussed under.
Tesco which is a leading retailer in UK but they are still using traditional technology so in order
to bring changes into technology the respective firm have to adopt some new technology such as
upgraded payment system. Therefore, with the application of this model they can overcome from
the issues that occurs due to the changes these are some stages in this model that are mentioned
below:
 Unfreeze stage: This is the very first stage of this model. In this employees will come to
know about the changes are going to happen in their working. In order to make
employees comfortable, Tesco has to disclose each and every fact about the change in
organisation to its employees. The purpose of change should also be mentioned to the
employees so that they don't face any difficulty while implementing the same. Benefits of
change should also be discussed as this will help them to adopt new ways of working
easily. As per the above mentioned scenario, tesco are facing the problems regarding
payment system so they are going to change their payment system which reduce their
issues of late or error in payment.
 Change stage: It refers to the stage in which employees are moving toward new direction
(Rothwell, Stavros and Sullivan, 2015). At the starting some of the problems are faced by
employees as one is doing for the first time. Management of Tesco must help each
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employees in this hard time so that there confidence is maintained. Employees should be
told about the benefits and importance of the change so that they may try to work best.
For example: If tesco is implementing the upgraded payment system in their firm which
assist them to perform the payment process quickly as well as their customers do not
have to wait for long time. As a result, due to this consumers and company both can save
their time.
 Refreeze stage: This is the final step of the model in which organisation has made
certain changes and employees have accepted the same. In this employees of Tesco have
accepted the change and work in that appropriate direction. Proper motivation should be
provided to them so that that they do not get confuse while accepting the changes. Fro
example: If tesco has adopted the upgraded payment system then they should provide
proper training and guidance to its workers so that they can understand as well as adapt it
effectively and also try to perform well with the new changes. Through this it can reduce
some negative impact late payment.
TASK 3
P4 barriers related to change and there influence on leadership decision-making.
There are certain changes which are very hard for the organisation to follow.
Implementing change was very difficult for Tesco. Changes are very necessary for the
organisation to be implemented (Grootenboer, Edwards-Groves and Rönnerman, 2015). While
implementing any changes, barriers are also in the path. It is very important for the organisation
to break such barriers through effective planning. Barrier which affect leadership decisions are:
Lack of employees involvement: Employees always have a fear of change whether they
will be able to perform with change or not. This will also led to to job complexities as they are
not familiar with the task which need to be performed. Due to lack of employees involvement,
leaders can not get to know about their issues, abilities an so on which will impact the decision
making of leadership in formulating strategies, plans etc. In case of Tesco the leaders plays very
major role to engage their employees in positive way by giving various kinds of motivational
factors such as appraisal, promotions and many more factors helps to engage consumer base.
Legal barrier: While implementing any change, Tesco has to follow the legislation and
norms in that consideration which is very lengthy process and will also led to some pressure
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among the leaders in taking a effective decision. Due to changes in legislation so it will be a
barriers for the firm and also leaders have to make strategies as per the legal modifications
which will effects the decision making of the leadership. Also, it has to influence team to work
accordingly. In context of Tesco while legal issues comes in organisation in that role of leader
rises they give their major decisions such as consulting with legal advisors and find out root
cause of the problem and give ultimate decision about the issue.
Social barrier: The company has to focus on society as well. Change should be done
while keeping society in mind and should not affect any group of people. Here leaders has to go
through all the points whether they are affecting the society or not. So it is essential for leader of
TESCO to develop strategies and plans according to requirements and demands of the society
which is are changing rapidly. By this respective company able to fulfil need and demand of
customers properly. The social barriers are major concern before Tesco because consumers taste
and preferences changes rapidly in that case leader give instructions to their subordinates to build
products and services according to the consumer choice and preferences.
Lack of effective communication: Communication also proves to be the big barrier in
the company by which changes are not accepted. Communication should be very clear and in the
way that could be easily under stable by the employees. Due to lack of communication both
leader and their team are not able to communicate with each other properly because of that it is
difficult for the leaders to understand employees and their behaviours which will impact
decisions of the leadership in making plans, policies and also guide as well as influence them to
perform effectively. Communication is an important tool that helps leader and manager to share
knowledge and information to each other. In case of Tesco their communication structure should
be determined by leaders and subordinates follow it in proper way so that desirable outcomes
should be achieve.
The force field model
It is an important model to study any change in the management. It provide list of
changes that are need to be tackled by the business (Smits and Bowden, 2015). The favourable
forces are:
Step-1
Plan: Tesco is planning to implement new as well as upgraded technology in their
company so that they can produce more standard quality products in minimum time and meet the
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requirements of the customer. In case of Tesco, while implementing changes leader evaluate
each and every attribute and give knowledge to their subordinates about necessity of change.
Step- 2
Forces are in favour for change: These forces want the changes to be implemented in
the organisation and also have impact on the decision making of leader.
 Customer wants: The first force which is in the favour of change is customer wants and
needs. Customers always want something new which is different from others and they
can take advantage for the same (Iles, 2017). The change which Tesco wants to
implement is resale of old product and exchange them with new. As customer always
want to use the product which is new so they also want company to implement those
changes in the organisation. Therefore it is required for leader to take major decision of
changes in their firm on the basis of customer's requirement and need so that they can
provide them quality services easily.
 Profitability : If change is implemented more and more customer are attracted towards
the same which in turn will led to the profitability of Tesco. Thus, it is required for leader
to pay their maximum attention those activities that can modified in some small period
of time as that help in grabbing customer's attention toward the firm.
In that second stage of lewin's changes model leader plays major role to give favourable results
and it helps in describe about advantages to these changes in organisation so leader are very
much important for an organisation.
Step-3
Forces against the change: This are the forces which are against the change in the
organisation. The forces include are:
 Increase in cost: The cost is going to be increase because to implement the change
company need to implement new staff or may be require to form a new department and
also have to provide training for the same. Changes in website is also need to be done
which would be very expensive. Therefore it is a important for leader to take claver
decision that must be cost effective in term of hiring of new staff or implementation of
positive changes.
 Lack of participation of staff: Employees are not always ready to accept the change
because they are not sure whether they can implement the same in their task or not and
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also having the fear of job complexity (Soehner, 2015). Thus, for a leader it is required
to boost moral of individual and can improve their decision making for enhancing their
own participation in business decisions.
Step-4
Assign Score: Due to the major changes in technology the firm can gain more
profitability as well as accomplish their objectives effectively. Also meet the requirements of
their clients. But it also, incur more cost and employees do not want to participate because of
facing difficulties in job.
Step-5
Analyse and Apply: It is analyse that because of changing technology respective firm
can accomplish the demands of the consumers as well as earn more profitability. Also, they have
to invest more money and influence their employees to participate so that they understand the
changes and try to work effectively as per that. Tesco should provide training to its staff about
this so that it can work to accomplish objectives.
While implementing changes leaders are very much important to give proper education to
subordinates and advantages of implementing these changes in proper way so that each
individual can give their best at time of implementing changes.
TASK 4
P5 Different leadership approach to deal with changes in the organisation
To implement changes in Tesco leader uses the different leadership style in different
situation. With change in company, leadership style should also be changed so that strategies can
be implemented in an effective manner. Leadership style are used to motivate the employees so
that they can accept the changes as well as also help organisation in implementing the same.
Leadership style which Tesco follows are discussed below:
 Autocratic leadership style: This is the type of leadership where one member control all
the decision. It means decision is centralised towards the top management. Leaders do
not consider ideas or views of any of its employees or subordinates (Autocratic
leadership style. 2019). This style is applied by Tesco at the beginning when they want
to implement the change but didn't have time to discuss with other co- workers. This
leadership is very effective as employees work according to the leader.
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 Democratic leadership style: It is the type of leadership where subordinates are free to
take their own decision (Kuipers. And et. al., 2014). This is used basically Tesco want to
implement the changes but after concerning all other employees and are having plenty of
time to implement. The leader is only having the final responsibility the main decision is
in the hand of subordinates.
 Strategic leadership style: This type of leadership is not limited to any to top
management only. It is the potential to influence members and also execute
organisational change. In this decision are taken and changes are implemented which
create high performance in team.
 Charismatic leadership style: It is the type of leadership which transforms the
behaviour of other members by effective communication. Tesco use this type of
leadership is used when changes are implemented on the immediate basis .
 Situational leadership style: It is the type of leadership which is most flexible and has
the ability to adapt the changes. Tesco can use this style of leadership as it is best way to
implement at any situation
 Team leadership style: It is the type of leadership which requires corporation among all
the team members. The team should be very cooperative and must have a ability to
understand each other. Tesco use this style when they need afford and team need to work
together so that whatever change is done it can implemented in a correct way.
The model use in leadership approach:
 Leadership with transactional model: Max weber, who was a 20th century german
sociologist who commence extensive study on styles of leadership and divided it into
traditional, charismatic and rational legal or bureaucratic. All these theories and concepts
are very much important for an organisation to bring proper leadership styles in an
organisation. It is one of the most common model used by people across the world.
Certain task were assigned by leader to their employees. It basically focus on improving
their employees and team. Tesco use this model when company want to implement the
change without transforming their employees.
 Leadership with transformational model: Transformational Leadership started with
James v. Downton and further researched by Bernard M. Bass that gives various ways for
success for transformational leadership and that leadership demonstrates towards
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