Analysis of Leading and Managing Change at NEXT plc

This report examines the critical aspects of leading and managing change within the context of NEXT plc, a major UK retailer. The introduction establishes the importance of effective change management and sets the stage for an analysis of internal and external drivers of change, including environmental, technological, and market factors. The report compares NEXT plc's strategic and operational responses to change with those of Marks & Spencer, identifying the impact on organizational strategy and operations. It explores various types of organizational change, such as remedial and transformational changes. The report further investigates how internal and external drivers affect leadership, team, and individual behaviors, using SWOT and PEST analyses to assess the impacts. Additionally, it examines barriers to change and their influence on leadership decision-making, employing force field analysis. Finally, the report delves into different leadership approaches to dealing with change, evaluating their effectiveness using relevant models and frameworks, and offering conclusions and recommendations for effective change management within NEXT plc.

Leading and Managing
Change

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1 Organisational examples where there has been an impact of change on an organisation’s
strategy and operations................................................................................................................1
M1 Different drivers for change in each of the given examples and the types of organisational
change they have affected...........................................................................................................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
P2 Ways in which internal and external drivers of change affect leadership, team and
individual behaviours within an organisation.............................................................................5
M2 Appropriate theories and models to critically evaluate organisational response to change. 6
P3 Measures that can be taken to minimise negative impacts of change on organisational
behaviour.....................................................................................................................................6
D1 Conclusions and recommendations with valid justifications for planning effectively for
change and applying change impact analysis..............................................................................7
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................7
P4 Different barriers for change and determine how they influence leadership decision-
making in a given organisational context....................................................................................7
M3 Use force field analysis........................................................................................................8
D2 Critically evaluate the use of force field analysis in the context of meeting organisational
objectives.....................................................................................................................................9
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................9
P5 Leadership approaches to dealing with change.....................................................................9
M4 Evaluate the extent to which leadership approaches can deliver organisational change
effectively applying appropriate models and frameworks........................................................10
D3 Critically evaluate the effectiveness of leadership approaches and models of change
management..............................................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12
INTRODUCTION

Leading change refers to the collective undertaking which is attained in the respect of
human relationships. It is also termed as a team oriented activity in order to become high
performing teams that works together to adopt and lead changes. For leading appropriate changes
a company adopts effective change management procedure which assists the transitions of
organisation on people in order to understand and accept changes in present business
environment. As changes are happened internally and externally which is wholly depends on the
solution of problems as leading change considered as a leadership style that assists a business for
taking initiatives regarding the changes and moves towards the high growth and success. In this
report NEXT plc is chosen which is a British multinational footwear, clothing and home
products retailer that headquartered in Enderby, Leicester, UK. It was established in 1864 by
Joseph Hepworth and it has approx 700 stores. Under this assignment discuss about the drivers
of changes as internally and externally and their influences on businesses. The barriers of
changes also study that impacts on the leadership decision-making along with the several
approaches for dealing with changes effectively.
TASK 1
P1 Organisational examples where there has been an impact of change on an organisation’s
strategy and operations.
Organisational strategies refers to the sum of assumptions, actions and plans of company
which intends to accomplish the long term objectives of company. It is also considered as a
dynamic plan which maps proper routes regarding the recognition of business vision and objects.
Adoption of effective strategy for an organisation helps in providing benefits regarding the
competitive advantages and financial planning (Muldoon, 2018). In order to get huge
profitability a company NEXT plc requires to adopt changes within the dynamic business
situations and environments to facilitate their products to the customers as per the demand. In
this to know about the influences or impacts of changes n organisational strategy and operation
the comparison between NEXT plc and their major competitor Marks & Spencer are done. It can
be considered as follows:
Basis NEXT plc Marks & Spencer
Environmental
change
NEXT Plc is one of the retail sector
industry which has been affected by
In present scenario, the environment is
being affected with the plans and

the changes in environment. There
are other organisation as well which
is facing the same form of problem.
For the purpose of overcoming from
the problem societal response will
be effective for obtaining the
advantage. It will be necessary for
the management of NEXT Plc to
respond on the factors in the best
possible manner because they are
planning to bring the changes in
strategical and operations.
Impact on operations:
The management of NEXT Plc have
planned to restrict the use of
renewable resources which will
directly help to reduce the footmark
of carbon up to 40% till the end of
2021 and electrical changes by the
year 2025. To reuse the plastics bag
which are not in use for the
consumers which will directly help
to improve the level of efficiency of
the company.
Impact on strategies:
For the purpose of making
environment free from plastic bags,
the management of NEXT Plc will
try to improve the base of customers
by entering into the online market.
policies which are being used by the
business organisation. For the purpose
of overcoming from the problem
people are required to focus on their
decision which they take on daily
basis. Just because of environment
influences, the management of Mark &
Spencer will have to bring changes
within their operations including
strategies as well. This will give idea to
company to reduce the harmful activity
which has a adverse effect on the
society.
Impact on operations:
Here, company has a plan to reduce the
percentage of wastage which are
directly related with emission of carbon
by 50%. Even they are also going with
the concept of adaptation of eco-
friendly products. In addition, focusing
more on waste management techniques
which will allow the organisation sort
out the problem related to environment.
Impact on strategies:
In this, company has brought the
positive changes where they have
planned to introduce the method of
cashless payment. Even they have

This will directly help company to
get some societal advantage.
made the policy where they not try to
use any of plastic bag to deliver the
product.
Technological
change
The current market has been totally
captured by the online marketing
and shopping which means focusing
on online shopping option will be
the better choice for the organisation
to perform better in the market. For
the purpose of giving better
experience in the to customer, the
management of NEXT Plc has
planned to introduce the online
shopping with their personal
websites.
Impact on operations:
For the purpose of investing higher
amount of capital in the online store,
company have shutdown their 21
different store located in different
part. This will also help them to
reduce the overall expenses
(Jayatilleke, 2018).
Impact on strategies:
This will allow the company like
NEXT Plc to perform better in the
The demand of current market is
introduction of retail market and it is
necessary to understand that it does
impact on the performance of a
company. But, company like M&S is
facing different kind of issues in it
which has been creating problem for
them to generate more and more profit.
To overcome from this respective
problem company has focused to
introduce the plan for five years.
Impact on operations:
In present situation, company M&S is
giving focus in “Customer are the
omni-channel by nature” in technique.
Also, to focus more on digitalisation,
the company have done partnership
with the firm which is capable of
promoting the company at a greater
platform (TCS). Whole of this work
will be conducted with the help of
official website of the company.
Impact on strategies:
TO achieve better result, the
management of M&S have introduced

market as more and more
opportunities will be provided to
them to grow themselves with the
market. Here, changes will be
related with the development of
websites and focusing that how
customers can be attracted in online
shopping.
some of the changes within their
strategies where they are also going to
focus on doing retailing through
internet as well as e-shopping (Scott,
2018).
M1 Different drivers for change in each of the given examples and the types of organisational
change they have affected.
All businesses are affected by the internal as well as external drivers which results in the
leading changes so that businesses can survive and sustain for a long period of time in a
competitive environment successfully. Within the context of NEXT plc two types of changes
includes:
Internal: The internal change drivers includes organisational resources, structure, people,
policies, strategies, management as well as culture of company's workplace.
External: It involves the external factors such as government, customers, competitors,
technologies as well as fluctuating demands of customers (Cummings, 2016).
Types of organisational changes: Remedial changes: The company NEXT plc can implements remedial changes while the
entire level of performance of the company declines. As the performance of businesses is
directly linked with the facing monetary distress. So that company bring changes in their
existing policies and strategies which were previously beneficial or profitable but not
these are the harmful for the company.
 Transformational changes: This kind of changes can adopt by NEXT plc in order to
regularly examine their strategies and policies and altered them along with the changes in
business environment so as company able to gain competitive advantages over their
competitors. It considered social climate condition, cultural trends, technological
advancement and so on (Dick, 2018).

TASK 2
P2 Ways in which internal and external drivers of change affect leadership, team and individual
behaviours within an organisation.
There are various kinds of changes that occurs due to the changes in internal and external
situations of businesses that directly impacts on the organisational behaviour of workforce
because the change management effects the employees psychological factors. Different
psychological factors and attributes of all group members influence the team dynamics as the
performance and behaviour of all are impacted (Al-Haddad, 2015). So that to adopts changes
effectively in a team the company NEXT plc can use change management as a strategic
techniques that helps in managing the psychological aspects of all people and adopts changes
successfully. In order to know about the internal as well as external drivers of changes the
company should focus on PEST and SWOT analysis. This will help in analysing the change
affect on individual and team behaviour as well as leadership in NEXT plc.
SWOT:
For analysing the internal business environment of NEXT plc there is the requirement of
conduct SWOT analysis which helps in identifying the strong and weak area of company that
influence the employees and leadership behaviour and performance (Alavi, 2017).
Strengths Weaknesses
 The company has impressive product
innovation that helps in developing new
products.
 The strong brand portfolio is also a
strength of company which assist for
the success of business.
 The financial planning is not done in
effective way as like other companies
or rivals.
 Less investment in new or latest
technologies termed as a major
weaknesses that impacts on people
behaviour and performance.
Opportunities Threats
 The online shopping sales are
increasing more so it provides an
opportunity to the company.
 Huge market competition creates some
kind of threat for the company.
 Continuous technological development
by the competitors creates threats as

 Have opportunity to expand into new
market.
company may lose their market shares.
PEST:
For the purpose of analysing external environmental factors and its impacts a company
NEXT plc can use PEST analysis which helps in examining all the factors and their impacts on
company's operations (Kinchington, 2019).
Political factor Economic factor
As changes to be made by considering political
as well as legal considerations of a country in
which a business operates. NEXT plc has to
consider the governmental regulations as if
they fails to follow they may lead to huge taxes
as well as duties.
It involves interest, inflation, saving rates as
well as buying power of customers. This factor
directly affects the motivational level of
workers because sales of goods are depends on
economic conditions. The company's huge
sales helps in motivating individual to do best
and leaders to manage their staff.
Social factors Technological factor
It considers socio-economic, demographical,
cultural and religion which influence the
workers loyalty and acceptance of policies and
rules of organisation. As it influence leadership
because they need to deal with all members
who have different social backgrounds and
integrated them to work effectively in a team
also.
This kind of factor consists with the increasing
performance and satisfaction of employees as it
is easy to encourage workforce and involved
them to accomplish the company NEXT''S
goals as well as objectives (Upchurch, 2016).
M2 Appropriate theories and models to critically evaluate organisational response to change.
Burke Litwin model of organisational change refers to define and implement better cause
and effect relationship. Moreover, this model anticipate different organisational elements for
determining better change in the organisation. Burke Litwin model was developed in the year
1960, by George H. Litwin and W. Warner Burke. This is useful management tool that is used

for better understand of change in organisation as well as to consider major operations from
perspective of change. With organisational change it is easy for management to develop and
understand model into four different groups and columns. Middle column refers to the backbone
of model as it support remaining three columns by managing and monitoring their roles in order
to delegate them to right department or individual (Beech, 2017). Left column refers to hard
elements that are tangible and also measurable due to which management will perform all task in
effective manner. Similarly, right side of the column consider soft elements that demonstrate as
main abstract of organisation and it is focused towards managing and performing of work as per
right elements like to manage strategy as per structure for completing all task effectively. Last
column refers to complete all task according to working all operations of organisation as a
similar process.
P3 Measures that can be taken to minimise negative impacts of change on organisational
behaviour.
For minimising the negative influences of changes implementation on the behaviour and
performance of people in the context of NEXT plc are discussed as follows: Participative management: In order to reduce negative aspects of changes the manager
of company need to involve their employees in a decision-making process. If the opinions
of staff members are considered in change implementation they they feel happy and
motivated and use their skills appropriately in order to adopt changes (Cacciolatti, 2016).
This will help in better coordination among workers and management as both work
together to achieve high profitability.
 Proper communication: To use effective modes of communication a company NEXT plc
can assist their workers stay updated towards the changes. This will assist the company's
management in order to gather feedbacks from workers and try to resolve it effectively in
order to accomplish organisational objectives and goals (Dickey, 2016).
D1 Conclusions and recommendations with valid justifications for planning effectively for
change and applying change impact analysis.
Change impact analysis is developed by the Bohner and Arnold which identifies the
potential consequences of alterations as well as estimates the need which is to be modified in
order to attain changes systematically (Schedlitzki, 2017). It has been concluded from the above
discussion that several internal and external drives leads organisational changes that are needed

to maintain the business sustainability. The manager have full control over internal drivers while
external factors leads a change into existing strategies. Appropriate adoption of changes at
internal level and technological advancement can assist NEXT plc in gaining competitive edge in
the marketplace. Some of the following recommendations which helps in planning changes
effectively such as:
 Monitor as well as manage resistance, budgeting risk as well as dependencies of changes
implementation.
 Increase workers participation in decision-making while adopting any changes.
 Effectively communicate desired changes to the stakeholders.
TASK 3
P4 Different barriers for change and determine how they influence leadership decision-making in
a given organisational context.
At a time of changes implementation within a business organisation several kind of
barriers are occurred and faced by the company's management that requires to be dealt
appropriately to adopts changes successfully (Doppelt, 2017). Some of the common barriers are
as follows: Unknown current state: Before brining changes it is essential for NEXT plc to do a
proper assessment of their current state in order to examine the need of changes. Ineffective communication: All changes need to be effectively communicated to all
members of NEXT plc so that they can easily accept the changes and use their skills to
met objectives. Complexity: It considered with the complex systems, process and products that are
difficult to understand by employees. This kind of barrier can be damaged quality,
change management as well as employing diligent (Dorac-Kakabadse, 2017).
 Less employee involvement: It is necessary for the NEXT plc to put more concern
towards workers while brining changes so that the employees embrace feeling could be
reduced. The company will focus on listening their ideas and involve in decision-making
which gives assurance towards the changes implementation in effective manner.

M3 Use force field analysis.
The Force Field analysis gives a clear view of change barriers which require to be
handled by a company in order to splitting several factors into the forces in for and against the
changes. Driving and restraining are the two forces in this framework and at the equilibrium
point between two sets of forces, changes will not be required (Espedal, 2017). This type of
framework will assist the manager of NEXT plc in ascertaining the driving as well as resisting
forces within an organisation and minimise the resisting forces so company can implements
changes in desired manner. This will help in making easy and clear decision-making procedure
and effective actions will be formulated to improve the driving forces so that workers can
convinced easily and accept changes positively.
(Illustration 1 : Force Field Analysis - Kurt Lewin)
D2 Critically evaluate the use of force field analysis in the context of meeting organisational
objectives.
The Force Field model gives a clear summary of several forces in favour and against
certain changes which the manager is planning to implement effectively in order to accomplish
goals and objectives. This assists in analysing the influences which occurs while taking
appropriate actions in order to minimise them along with the facilitating strengths to forces
which support change decisions (Sammut-Bonnici, 2015). It also aids in breaking the

communicational barriers in order to provide smooth interactions. Moreover, considering the
workers opinions and thoughts at a time of decision-making leads the clear understanding
towards the subject as well as integrating contributions and efforts of staff members so as the
organisational objectives can be accomplished appropriately.
TASK 4
P5 Leadership approaches to dealing with change.
In order to deal with the changes in an effective way it is essential for the manager of
NEXT plc to use effective leadership approach so that changes are implement successfully (First,
2017). The leadership styles helps in motivating workers to accept changes along with assuring
them that changes will be useful for the organisation as an entire. In order to direct their
workforce for accomplishing the changes in a desired manner the following leadership
approaches can be applied: Democratic leadership: It is considered as a most effective style of leadership that allows
lower level workers to take participate in decision-making process of organisation. As all
employees get equal change to share their opinions and gives suggestions towards the
implementation of changes (Salman, 2017). It is defined as an effective style because it
helps in increasing employee engagement as well as works towards making them loyal by
considering their views in decision-making. This assists in systematic integration of
management as well as individual's so as to made collective efforts in order to
accomplishing organisational goals and objectives. It is ineffective also as it takes long
time to communicate with all employees and it is impossible to consider the opinions of
all individual's which may creates conflicts and dissatisfaction.
 Situational leadership: This is most suitable approach of leadership which helps in
dealing with different situations. The company NEXT plc can adopts situational
leadership for implementing changes successfully on immediate situations that are occurs
in daily routine. It is also considered as a flexible approach of leadership because it
assists in handling several problems. As it is ineffective also within the task oriented
environment of businesses as it focused on immediate needs rather than the long term
goals (Hayes, 2018).

M4 Evaluate the extent to which leadership approaches can deliver organisational change
effectively applying appropriate models and frameworks.
The manager of NEXT plc apply Lewin's change management model at their workplace
which helps in adopting changes effectively and the management assist to under' about the brings
changes in organisational policies and structure (Komives, 2016). As it is classified in three
categories like unfreezing, changes and refreezing. Unfreezing can require to take initiatives and
adopts change procedures by facilitating encouragement as well as motivation to their
employees. After that company can emphasise on changes through which they can adopts
effective styles of leadership and communicate properly individually and in team work. At last,
refreezing includes successful changes which has been applied by staff members to take long
term sustainability which gives high level of confidence and comfortableness at a time of
adopting changes. As it negatively impacts on businesses because it introduce changes in process
and structure required more time and money in order to analyse market conditions and adopting
changes effectively and successfully.
D3 Critically evaluate the effectiveness of leadership approaches and models of change
management.
It can be viewed that situational leadership style is most suitable for the implementation
of changes in NEXT plc. As this is not only improves the participation of workers but also
contribute to develop a safe and friendly workplace environment. As it helps in employee
encouragement and motivation to get high participation in attainment of objectives and decision-
making. In addition, sometimes it creates dissatisfaction among employees so that they are
unable to adopts and implements changes effectively (Maccoby, 2015).
CONCLUSION
It has been summarised from the above report that changes takes place on continuous
basis within every organisation through the impacts of alterations in internal and external factors
of businesses. Several change drivers are presents that directly effect the working of organisation
in positive as well as negative manner. Several approaches, theories, models are adopted by the
company in order to minimise the negative impacts of changes and make effective decisions.
Various leadership approaches and styles are adopts that facilitates huge advantages to the
company at a time of implementing changes in a successful and desired manner.

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