Organizational Change and Leadership: A Report on The Red Cross

This report examines organizational change and leadership, using The British Red Cross Society as a case study. It explores the drivers and impacts of change on organizational strategy and operations, differentiating between internal and external factors. The report analyzes the changes experienced by The British Red Cross, including strategic transitions, and assesses how these changes affect leadership, team behaviors, and individual actions within the organization. It identifies internal factors like poor communication and leadership styles, and external factors such as customer needs. Furthermore, the report investigates barriers to change and their influence on leadership decision-making, discussing different leadership approaches to deal with change and evaluating their effectiveness using change management models. The report provides insights into how the British Red Cross Society can minimize the negative impacts of change on organizational behavior and achieve its strategic goals.

UNDERSTANDING AND
LEADING CHANGE

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
Introduction to drivers and impacts of change and how it affects organizational strategy.........1
P1.Different organizational changes that had impact on organization's strategy and operations
.....................................................................................................................................................2
Assessment of different drivers for change in organizations and types of organizational
changes affected..........................................................................................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
P2. Internal and external drivers of change affects leadership, teams and individual behaviors
in The British Red Cross Society................................................................................................4
P3. Measures to minimize negative impacts of change on organizational behavior of The
British Red Cross Society ..........................................................................................................5
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................7
P4. Different barriers for change and how they influence leadership decision making in The
British Red Cross Society ..........................................................................................................7
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................9
P5. Different leadership approaches to deal with change ..........................................................9
Evaluation of extent of leadership approaches to deliver organizational change.......................9
Critical evaluation of effectiveness of leadership approaches and models of change
management..............................................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Organizational change is the management theory that focuses on the changes of an
organization's strategies, processes, structures, stages models, product changes, technology and
culture which it undergoes in evolving process (Lawrence, 2015). Organizational change is
moving at an increasing pace in the global economy and due to latest advancements in
technologies, mergers, acquisitions, increased competition in international trade and commerce,
political and economical factors and customer perspectives are forcing organizations to undergo
transformations by embracing changes for its survival in the market. The report on understanding
and leading changes is prepared to understand the importance of large scale changes that impact
strategies and operations of The British Red Cross Society UK. British Red Cross Society is a
body of worldwide humanitarian network which was formed in 1970 and is a registered charity
organization in UK. The assessment will analyse the changes in British Red Cross that affects
behaviours within its operations and services along with recommendation of certain measures
that can be implemented to minimize negative impact with relevant models and theories.
TASK 1
Introduction to drivers and impacts of change and how it affects organizational strategy
Strategic guidance to process of innovation is mandatory for organization to develop firm
into a learning platform which is continuously expanding its ability to create organizational
change through continuous learning that will enable it to survive in the changing business
environment by fulfilling potential needs. Internal and external forces of changes are the major
drivers that affects organizational strategies of organizations (Clarke and Persaud, 2011). Internal
forces are factors or elements that organization has control like the resources, capabilities,
inventions, desires etc. Whereas external factors are those which are beyond the control of an
organization that are not easy to manage that includes elements like economics, politics,
legislations, customers, competitors, investors, technology etc. Adapting and embracing these
change requires organizational changes that includes various management issues (Managing
change in organizations, 2013). Organizations need to implement various approaches and
models or strategies to adapt to these changes that have a serious effect on the organisation.

Compare ways in which change impacts on The British Red Cross Society's strategy and
operations
P1.Different organizational changes that had impact on organization's strategy and operations
Organization change occurs when an organization makes transition from its current state
to planned future situation that involves process of planning and implementing changes entire
firm to reduce employee resistance and cost while maximizing effectiveness of innovative
efforts. Organizations experiences various positive and negative effects in its strategies and
operations when undergoing strategic transition of organizational changes (Bingham and Main,
2010). The various organizational changes adopted by organizations in UK are as follows:
British Airlines is the largest airline of UK, which was created in 1974 from BEA,
BOAC, North-east Airlines and Cambrian Airlines with 215 aircraft's and 50,000 employees
which was oversized. The oil crisis of 1970 contracted their large customer base and its huge
staff resulted in financial losses. It had to develop a reputation for services due to the crisis as it
identified that organization was operating inefficiently and were wasting valuable resources.
Inefficient and inadequate administration and governing processes forced British Airways to
implement change as it was the driving factor that affects the organisation directly in its
operations and activities. The change influenced organization to adopt a new organizational
structure where non performing and low productive employees were replaced with skilled and
talented individuals. British Airways as a part of its organizational restructuring changed their
policies, procedures, rules, regulations and situations according to their changed objectives ,
mission and vision. British Airways restructured their organization entirely as the reorganization
was necessary to increase profits by reducing workforce to 39000. The organizational change
focused on eliminating unprofitable routes and modernisation of fleets and it reported highest
profits in its industry by 1984 (3 EXAMPLES OF ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE DONE RIGHT,
2017). The restructuring process of the entire organization was to prepare the firm for upcoming
changes even in the employee backlashes and negative issues on lay-offs the management
always communicated frequently and effectively to manage change. Need for structural
reorganization was necessary in British Airways due to the lack of operational efficiency,
employee turnover and unprofitable routes and low performing flights services and fleets that
were removed with an aim of achieving higher profitability. British Airways followed an

instructive and inspiring organizational change strategy by placing employees first and assist
them in upheaval for their roles and future of the organization with effective communication
processes.
The British Red Cross Society has been supporting individuals and communities to
withstand, respond and recover emergencies since 150 years. The organization is planning to
adapt an organizational change through a strategic operation to mobilise the power of humanity
so that every individual gets the help they need in crisis (Hallinger and Heck, 2010). To achieve
certain goals they need to implement an organizational change that are as follows: To reduce the
distress and improve recovery following emergency in UK The British Red Cross Society need
to focus on emergency response, ambulance support and first aid events. For enhancing Red
Cross and Red crescent movement capacity to reach to people across the world they plan to focus
on disaster management capacity, international humanitarian laws, chronic hunger issues etc.
The British Red Cross Society is aiming on a transformational organizational change as the
charity organization is focusing on rendering emergency care to the society of UK by
implementing several strategies for change. As the need for emergency care and services of
people in UK are rising which is forcing The British Red Cross Society to incorporate
organizational change for attaining goals aimed at welfare of the community.
As a part of the organizational change The British Red Cross Society develops strategic actions
to achieve their goals by:
 Putting people in crisis as major element in every operations and services
 Focusing on resources and its effective utilization
 Adapt advance technologies to help people and generate insights (Brown, 2012)
 Attract, recruit and employ right individuals to deliver The British Red Cross Society's
services
The British Red Cross Society plans a transformational change targeting organization's
strategy of refusing to ignore people in crisis which is present situation and direction of
organization. The leaders are concerned about the cultural, climactic and technological
progressions while devising organizational change strategies that supports their operations and
business.

Assessment of different drivers for change in organizations and types of organizational changes
affected
Organizational change drivers are factors that brings change in the entire organization
that compels the firm to alter their actions and operations to cope with the external and internal
factors that have impact ion the firm. Inadequate existing administrative process of British
Airways were a driving factor of change that need to operate with changing rules and situations
that resulted in an organizational change. Improper utilisation of resources resulted in a powerful
change in organization to achieve effective resources use. The structural change was necessary
due to lacking operational effectiveness and unprofitable routes and fleets were removed with the
aim of attaining profitability. The British Red Cross Society is focusing on the transformational
organisational change as the successful charity organization is focusing on opportunity to render
services to the society of UK by implementing various strategies (Fagerström and Salmela,
2010). Due to the rising need of emergency care and services of people in UK is forcing the
charity organization to incorporate an organizational change for achieving various goals that are
aimed at welfare of community.
TASK 2
Evaluation of influences that drivers of change have on organizational behaviour
P2. Internal and external drivers of change affects leadership, teams and individual behaviours in
The British Red Cross Society
Turbulent business environments and rapid changes forces an organization to implement
an organizational change that might be influenced by internal and external factors which has an
impact on the leadership, employees and team behaviours. It has a huge effect on the success or
failure of The British Red Cross Society and managers and leaders of the organization need to
recognize and respond to these forces that affects the operations and processes of organization.
Organizational culture is the ultimate aspect that affects The British Red Cross Society's ability
to compete and respond successfully to changes in the external environment that can be attained
with a unified employee and workforce structure which is the major strength element of the
charity organization (Quinn and et.al., 2012). Some of the internal and external drivers of change
that affects the leadership, team and individual behaviour in The British Red Cross Society are as
follows:

Internal factors Poor communication: Effective communication by managers and leaders with team
members and staff are necessary for The British Red Cross Society to carry out its
emergency services rendering to the needy community of UK. The employees must be
given chances to express their views, ideas and knowledge that will make the operations
of the organization more smooth and flexible.
 Leadership: Managers and leaders play a major role in influencing behaviour of
workforce in The British Red Cross Society and it's their responsibility to set directions
for team members by guiding the staff and volunteers by interacting and involving with
them in work. Strong motivation and inspiration will create dedication and feelings of
importance in minds of employees that will benefit the organisation in delivering its
services to the public and attain its goals and objectives (Fyke and Buzzanell, 2013).
Leadership is the major administrative process of The British Red Cross Society to
monitor the team by engaging with groups to discover insights of employees and fulfil
them to support lacking performance. The leaders interact with teams, individuals and
groups within British Red Cross Society to analyse the attitude and behaviours of
employees for determining the leadership style to be applied for leading and managing
workforce towards the achievement of organizational goals of service rendering in an
improved and effective manner. The leaders have a great impact on implementation and
adaptation of change within the organization due to its close interaction with the
employees, operations managing of organization and leading the processes and activities
of The British Red Cross Society in an efficient manner. Technological changes: Changes in equipments, advance information processing and
automated systems, work processes and other technologies that are changing rapidly has
a major impact on the leadership and workforce behaviour of The British Red Cross
Society. Adapting the latest technology will influence the subsystems in The British Red
Cross Society which will make the managers and leaders manage the work of
organization in an efficient manner as the employees will find it easy to perform tasks
with support of advance technologies that firm need to adapt as a part of organizational
change

External factors Customers: The need for emergency care of UK are rising and attitude and needs of
people are changing which The British Red Cross Society need to consider while
delivering care services to them (Van der Voet, Kuipers and Groeneveld, 2015). This
factor compels The British Red Cross Society to implement innovative offerings for
meeting the changing requirements of society for attaining organization's goals through
organizational change. Employees and management of The British Red Cross Society are
aiming at rendering effective care experience rendering services as per the needs of
people as they are the primary consideration of this charity institution. Leadership of The
British Red Cross Society aims at managing and dividing work and employees to the
needs and requirements of customers to achieve the organization's goal of refusing to
ignore people in crisis.
 Competitors: There are several rivals to The British Red Cross Society who renders
emergency care services to community that has a direct impact on the firm's operations
and activities. Unpredictable customers who have varied behaviours tends to shift or
move towards other service providers which the management need to study and learn to
adapt to changes without impacting organization (Internal & External Forces That
Influence Employee Behaviour, 2018). The British Red Cross Society's leaders and
managers need to unite the workforce and volunteers by informing them regarding
organization's goal so that satisfying and happy customers and loyalty can be gained by
rendering effective and innovative care services to society (Parsons and Cornett, 2011).
P3. Measures to minimise negative impacts of change on organizational behaviour of The
British Red Cross Society
Organizational change occurs due to various reasons that are internal and external that
has several impact on the organizational behaviours of The British Red Cross Society which
need to be minimised for attaining operational effectiveness and implementation of
organisational changes within the institution. Effective change management plan will support
The British Red Cross Society in smooth transition of organizational change ensuring guidance
to employees to avoid negative staff attitudes and behaviours. These negative impacts include

The British Red Cross Society and its employees. The various measures to reduce the negative
impacts of change on organizational behaviours of The British Red Cross Society are as follows:
 Employee mental stress is a major impact of change on organizational behaviour of The
British Red Cross Society as they tend to become tensed and stressed due to the change in
existing organizational operations and systems (Salmela, Eriksson and Fagerström,
2010). Physical symptoms from stress of work, perceived unfairness, lack of untimely
communications, fear of changes etc., need to be investigated and corrected that can
reduce the effect of change on employees.
 Employee morale gets affected due to organizational change that can be attained with a
strategic communication plan to make them understand regarding the restructuring or
reorganising that The British Red Cross Society is planning to implementation
 Change might not be always an equal progress that The British Red Cross Society must
emphasize by concentrating on culture of the organization for continuous improvement.
For alleviating the negative impacts of organisational change with several measures listed
above The British Red Cross Society can follow and implement the Kurt Lewin Change Theory.
According to this three step model; Unfreeze, Change, Freeze The British Red Cross Society can
attain a high level change approach that renders its managers and leaders a framework to
implement change effort that is sensitive and made seamlessly. The leaders of The British Red
Cross Society can be able to make radical changes in organization, minimize disruption of
structure and operations of institution and ensure that change is adopted permanently. As per this
theory, leaders can unfreeze ready to change by making people to attain perspectives on daily
activities, habits and implement new ways to achieve objectives (Thomas and et.al., 2013). In the
next step the implementation phase or the change where the employees are given adequate time
to take new jobs and responsibilities that entails time and allocation of resources to attain
effectiveness. In the last step leaders and managers of The British Red Cross Society can freeze
or making it stick by implementing the change permanent that will render employees the
opportunity to engage in new organization change and take its fuller advantage.
Recommendations to The British Red Cross Society to take planning effectively for change
and apply change impact analysis

The British Red Cross Society is experiencing change constantly as it is a charity
organization engaged in society development that are affected by customer demands,
technological advancements, reorganization etc., and need to implement these changes to exist in
the market by attaining productivity and effectiveness. Change impact analysis is done by The
British Red Cross Society to identify the potential consequences of change or estimate needs that
are to be modified to accomplish goals of the organization that are to be created, modified or
discarded to attain the effective offering of care services to people (Malenfant, 2010). Removing
communication barrier is a major plan to be implemented by The British Red Cross Society to
affectively interact and exchange information in business that will ease organisational change
delivery. Monitoring and managing of resistance, dependencies and budgeting risks need to be
planned and calculated to avoid risks on investments returns, eliminate fear of unknown and aid
leadership with anticipatory tools to enable smooth operations of The British Red Cross Society.
TASK 3
Determining how barriers to change influence leadership decision-making
P4. Different barriers for change and how they influence leadership decision making in The
British Red Cross Society
Organizational change affects the business of The British Red Cross Society that may
range from employee restructuring to merger and acquisition with other bodies or institutions.
There are several barriers and challenges to change that are likely to affect the reorganising
activities of The British Red Cross Society and influence leadership decision-making in the
organization. Ineffective leadership can be a barrier that may occur if employees are not
embracing new changes for which The British Red Cross Society's leaders need to provide staff
with benefits and render training to educate them on need of organizational change. Ineffective
communication is another barrier that can happen in implementing organizational change as if
management of The British Red Cross Society didn't communicate the new innovations with
staff may lead to disruption and feelings of uncertainty (Lawrence, 2015). Resistance of
workforce to organizational change as they find it comfortable with the present manner and
major changes in The British Red Cross Society makes them upset and find it hard to learn the
new jobs and responsibilities. Ineffective planning is a major barrier of change that might cause
the failure of organizational change of The British Red Cross Society that may lead to more

consequences. Undue complexities as the organizational change is a lengthy process acts as a
barrier to reorganising of The British Red Cross Society.
Force field Analysis to analyse the driving and resisting forces that influence decision making
in The British Red Cross Society
Force Field Analysis is a frame work for analysing the factors that influences a situation
and is a development in social science that looks at forces that are driving movements towards a
goal or movement blocking of an objective (Clarke and Persaud, 2011). This is a change
management technique which was developed by Kurt Lewin for use in social situations and can
be used as a business tool when planning a major organizational change. The British Red Cross
Society uses this instrument to represent the changes to be implemented and analyse the driving
and resisting forces that influences decision making in the organization. Driving forces of The
British Red Cross Society are those factors affecting the situation of rising need of emergency
care in UK supporting its goal of refusing to ignore people in crisis (Morrison. M., 2007). They
tend to initiate this change and keep going to render care services to people of UK. The decision
makers of The British Red Cross Society are enabled with the driving forces identified through
Force Field Analysis that renders them a visual image of the summary of factors that may impact
the success of organizational change which the organization decides. The positive factors that
facilitates change include the new employees or volunteers, latest technology, market changes,
competition, economic changes and administrative processes. The restraining forces are the
resisting factors that decreases or blocks the progress towards organizational change of The
British Red Cross Society (Bingham and Main, 2010). These factors tend to decrease the driving
forces that includes the fear of employees in new change management, organizational inertia,
risk elements, personal loss concern, group resistance etc.
Evaluation of force field analysis to meet objectives of The British Red Cross Society
There are different methods or ways to adapt force field analysis to meet the objectives of
The British Red Cross Society by overcoming the resistance forces which are as follows:
 Educating and communicating the employees and workforce within The British Red
Cross Society can help to achieve the goal of organization to deliver effective emergency
care services to the society of UK. By achieving a mutual trust between employees and
management that are achievable through group discussions, training and development,

face to face interactions or formal group presentations will enable The British Red Cross
Society to attain its business objective of rendering care services to all without refusing.
 Leaders of The British Red Cross Society need to facilitate and support the organizational
change being implemented that involves listening to ideas and viewpoints of members,
being approachable, and guide staff to make the work environment more productive and
enjoyable. This increases motivation among employees making them dedicated to render
service to people of UK with an increased desire and loyalty towards the organization
(Hallinger and Heck, 2010).
 The British Red Cross Society can identify the hindrances that lie ahead after
implementation of organizational change with force field analysis as early plans can be
made to strengthen the forces supporting The British Red Cross Society's strategic
actions and reduce the factors that are restraining it.
TASK 4
Leadership approaches to a change initiative
P5. Different leadership approaches to deal with change
Leadership style or approach is the method of rendering direction, guidance, strategy
implementation and motivating employees within The British Red Cross Society to facilitate
effective organization operations. The organizational change of The British Red Cross Society
are mainly aimed at leadership processes that is necessary to understand the behavior of
employees and there are various approaches of leadership that leaders can implement to attain
objectiveness of organization efficiently which are as follows:
 Transformational leadership theory followed by the leaders of The British Red Cross
Society is aimed at initiating changes in organization, teams and individuals by
motivating employees and setting more challenging expectations to achieve higher
performance of delivering care services to people in UK (Brown, 2012).
 Laissez-Faire Leadership applied by the leaders of The British Red Cross Society does
not exercise control on their employees or volunteers directly as the talented workforce
need only lesser supervision in rendering care services to communities of UK.

Evaluation of extent of leadership approaches to deliver organisational change
Effective leadership development initiatives of The British Red Cross Society are aligned
to their strategic vision to attain goals and mission of organization to deliver effective emergency
care to people of UK without refusing. Leadership qualities are necessary for organizational
changes as its is the most important to handle resistance of employees, eliminate confusion, and
explorate commitment to organization. The leadership approaches implemented by The British
Red Cross Society enables the organization and leaders unite in a single culture that would assist
the firm to deliver effective care services which are its major aim or goal (Fagerström and
Salmela, 2010).
Critical evaluation of effectiveness of leadership approaches and models of change management
Effective leaders and leadership style assists The British Red Cross Society and its
employee to render quality services to the community of UK in a cost efficient manner. With a
clear mission of rendering emergency care to all without refusing British Red Cross Society's
leaders allows better communication in organization to share vision, strategies and direction for
the charity institution. Managing change in British Red Cross Society involves preparing
individuals to work in a varied manner and motivating them to change their behavior and attitude
to match with the organizational change that is being implemented. Leaders of the British Red
Cross Society are abler to understand the situations and assess accurately and respond quickly to
changes. They apply accurate and efficient leadership approaches or models to manage the
organizational change and situations to become more successful in rendering services to public.
CONCLUSION
Organizational change is the inevitable factor or element for The British Red Cross
Society to implement to cope with the changing competitive environment that are influenced by
various factors. The report on Understanding and Leading change discussed the several drivers
and impacts of organizational change and their effect on organization's strategy. It also explained
the drivers of change and impact of change and effects it has on The British Red Cross Society's
strategy and operations. The assessment also elucidated how organizational change affects
leadership, team and individuals behavior in The British Red Cross Society.

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