Organizational Change Project: Woolworths Change Management Strategies

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of an organizational change project at Woolworths, a leading Australian supermarket chain. It begins with a description of Woolworths and its background in change management. The report then delves into the internal and external factors influencing organizational change, including economic conditions, competition, company culture, and government policies. It provides a literature review of change theories and models, focusing on Lewin's Change Management Model (unfreeze, change, refreeze) and Kotter's Change Management Model (eight stages). The report includes a change intervention table and assesses the implications and effectiveness of the change interventions. It concludes with a summary of the findings and references the sources used. This report provides valuable insights into managing change within a large retail organization.

Running head: ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE PROJECT

ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE PROJECT 2
Table of Contents
Description of organization and background of change management..........................................................3
Internal and external diagnosis for organizational change...........................................................................4
Overview of Change theories and models Literature review.......................................................................7
Change intervention table..........................................................................................................................10
Assess implications of change and effectiveness of change intervention...................................................13
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................14
References.................................................................................................................................................16

ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE PROJECT 3
Description of organization and background of change management
Description of organization
Woolworths is leading supermarket in the Australia nation. It operates in about 995 stores in
across Australia. Woolworths engaged with approximately 1115,000 workforces in its stores, and
distribution store to deliver the quality services, range and convince customers. It also prides
itself to work with Australian producers and farmers to ensure that premium goods are delivered
to consumers. It also acquires about 96% of all fresh fruits and vegetables and 100% of fresh
meat from Australian growers and farmers. It also produces fresh food for people in Australia. It
is one of the top innovative retailers in Australia because it emphasizes on simple and new
modes for customers to shop. Consumers can buy the product on the train, on the way, and at the
home by using the supermarket app (Woolworths, 2018). The prominent characteristics are that
groceries could be delivered directly to the bench of the kitchen.
Background of change management
Change management is the discipline which instructs how the company prepares, equips and aids
a person for successfully adopts a change to drive the organizational outcome as well as success.
Further, when all changes are unique as well as all workforces are unique, then the company can
take action to persuade the people of their individual changes. Change management facilitates a
structured approach to support an individual in the organization to shift their own current states
to own future states (Eason, 2014).
Change management is the techniques, procedure, and tools to manage the people side of
transformation to attain the required business result. Change management entails as the
organization techniques, which could be exercised to enable a person to make effective personal

ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE PROJECT 4
alterations. As a result, a person can adopt the change within the organization (Blanco-Portela,
Benayas, Pertierra, and Lozano, 2017).
(Sources: Lozano, Ceulemans, and Seatter, 2015).
Internal and external diagnosis for organizational change
In the existing business scenario, the business atmosphere is characterized by rapid alteration.
There are certain factors that influence to make changes such as internal and external factor. The
External atmosphere includes several things such as increased globalization, rapid technology,
existing political and regulatory compliances, shorter product lifecycle and innovation. The
internal drives for alteration entail decline expenses out of an organization by superior efficiency
to improve the result, forces to improve the requirement and growth for the higher degree of
organizational pace (Pollack and Pollack, 2015). Moreover, embracing and adapting these factors
of change needs ongoing organizational change. It aids to reduce the management issues.
It is stated that the economy is an external factor, which may also drive for organizational
changes. In Australian economy, Woolworths cannot be able to survive at long-term. Since,

ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE PROJECT 5
customers lose their employment and get the jobs that can barely help them hence they will
spend less on fresh fruits and vegetables, recreation, luxury goods, and new cars. High-interest
rates on credit cards can also discourage the customers from spending. This factor is
uncontrollable hence company should gain understanding about it to address the threats and
opportunities (Georgalis, Samaratunge, Kimberley, and Lu, 2015).
It is analyzed that staff is an internal factor that also leads to make an alteration in the workplace.
Employees are a major part of making changes in the internal atmosphere of the corporation.
Employees should do a good job whether it is selling products to stranger and writing code.
Managers should also be good to handle the lower level workforces and over assessing the other
element of internal atmosphere. Even if each individual is competent and proficient, internal
conflicts and politics can lead to making changes at the workplace (Godemann, Bebbington,
Herzig, and Moon, 2014).
Competition is another external force which leads to making a change in the workplace.
Though, Woolworths is unique but, the company deals with rivalry in Australian retail industry
due to different competitors in the marketplace. When Woolworths will launch new products in
the marketplace then, it will fight against the more experienced companies in the retail industry.
After establishing in the market, Woolworths can face the competition from newer companies
that try to pull the attention of customers. Competition can break or make the company as
Woolworths should focus on making necessary changes within an organization (Waddell, Creed,
Cummings, and Worley, 2016).
Money is another factor that could force the company to make changes in the workplace. Lack of
money can assess whether Woolworths can survive or die even in the great Australian economy.
When a company has limited cash resources then it could create complexity to hire the number

ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE PROJECT 6
of employees, the amount of advertisement that company can buy and quality of equipment. If
the company will have sufficient cash then it will have more flexibility to grow and extend an
organization and endure the economic downturn (Ceulemans, Lozano, and Alonso-Almeida,
2015).
Changes in government policies can have a large impact on the business. The retail industry is a
classic example. Woolworths has required for placing the quality labels on their products and
show the quality of the products in the advertisement. Consumers have fewer places to choose
quality products. The percentage of Australian uses quality products as it could affect the
revenue of company (Grant, 2014).
Company culture can also drive to change within an organization. Internal culture consists of
priorities, values, and attitudes of employees. A cutthroat culture in which each employee
competes with one another generates a distinct atmosphere in Woolworths to focus on teamwork
and collaboration. The culture of Woolworths flows from the top down. The staff of Woolworths
will infer the value based on the type of people that company hire, promote and fire. Hence, the
company should develop the value into workplace culture to make changes (Hottenrott,
Rexhäuser, and Veugelers, 2016).
Customers and suppliers are other external forces that lead to making changes. Suppliers have a
larger impact on the costs. The power of suppliers relied on the scarcity. Furthermore,
Woolworths has a limited option of negotiating with suppliers. Hence, it would face issue to
make changes in suppliers. The power of customers relied on how competition level, product
quality, advertising of Woolworths is different from other company (Kempster, Higgs, and
Wuerz, 2014).

ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE PROJECT 7
Overview of Change theories and models Literature review
According to McCall and Gray (2014), the company should eliminate the execution of
inappropriate and random tools to manage the alteration and implement the change strategy. It
should also emphasize on a feasible action plan. Change management is an enduring process that
takes time, efforts, expertise as well as dedication to implement and run within an organization.
There is also a requirement to focuses on the people and team member of the company who will
be influenced by transformation. Before implementing the well-known and effective change
management models and strategy, a company should initially make framework regarding the
reason for transformation and how this alteration will give benefit to employees.
In support of this, Elsmore (2017) evaluated that different theories of change management are
used by the organization to manage the transformation. Lewin’s Change Management Model is a
prominent model because it builds the knowledge regarding structural and organizational
alteration. This model includes different stages like unfreeze, change and refreeze.
(Sources: Bernstrøm, and Kjekshus, 2015).
According to Cho Park and Dahlgaard-Park (2017), unfreeze is the initial phase of Lewin’s
model which shows the preparation for the transformation. It demonstrates that a company
should be prepared for transformation and reality that change is necessary. This phase is vital
because there are a high amount of people in around the company who attempt to resist the

ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE PROJECT 8
change. It is vital to categories the status quo at the workplace. The key issue is to define the
individual regarding the reason for making an alteration in current procedure and defines the
advantageous of those changes. This phase highlights the core business activity of an
organization.
In favor to this, Horrell Lloyd, Sugavanam Close and Byng (2018) discussed that change is the
second phase of Lewin's model where real transformation is applied at the workplace. This
process may take more efforts as an individual generally spend their efforts to build the new
change and development at the workplace. In this stage, good support with leadership is vital
because these aspects not only drive to move towards the appropriate directions but also
formulate the easier process for their staffs, which are combined with the transformation
procedure. The two elements are necessary for transformation such as efforts and communication
to make the transition in an efficient way.
Campbell Balabanova and Howard (2018) stated that refreezes is the third stage where
transformation has been holding, accepted and implemented by group, individual and
organization for finding a constant position. Therefore, this stage is an alias as refreezing. Under
this stage, staffs and process initiate to refreeze and functions work in a standard way. But, under
this stage, there is a requirement to support the people in order to make sure the changes are
applied in feasible time and after the attainment of objectives. In addition, workforces get to
relax and confident for implemented changes due to obtaining a sense of constancy. In contrast
to this, Pimentel and Major (2014) discussed that another model is Kotter's change management
that is renowned and executed by a company. This theory describes eight phases in which each
of them focuses on the identical approaches associated with responses of people to alteration.

ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE PROJECT 9
(Sources: Baldini, Fini, Grimaldi, and Sobrero, 2014).
According to Urquhart and Wearing (2017), increase urgency is primary stage of change
management model which emphasizes on building a sense of urgency amongst people in order to
motivate them to move towards the goals of a company. Team building is next phase of change
model. This phase is associated with building the team by integrating the different elements like
skills, information sharing and commitment at the workplace.
In support of this, Pimentel and Major (2014) stated that developing a feasible vision is the third
stage of Kotter's change model which highlights to make the feasible vision for transformation. It
is not the only approach to change but also connects the emotional feeling, and innovation with
the business goals. Communication is the next phase of change model where a person relates to
the transition and their requirement is essentials components of Kotter's change management
theory. Moving and empowering the act is next process of change model where a person has a
requirement to assist and eliminates the roadblocks with formulating the feedbacks in a
constructive way.
Horrell Lloyd Sugavanam Close and Byng (2018) stated that focuses on short-term goal are the
sixth phase of Kotter's change management model where the company should focus on short-

ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE PROJECT 10
term goals as well as classifies the objectives into the attainable and small components. As a
result, it is a better option for attaining the goal and objective without different external and
internal forces. Persistence is next process of change model that is a key factor to success. In this
process, the company should not quite during the change process even there are different forces
affecting to the organization. Incorporate change is the last stage of Kotter's change process. It is
vital to reinforce the transformation by making the favorable working environment and
organizing change successfully.
According to Baldini Fini Grimaldi and Sobrero (2014), Kotter's change management model is
step by step model that is easy to incorporate and track. The key reason behind this process is to
adopt the transition and prepares for it as compared to altering itself. But, at the same time, it is
stated that Kotter’s change process is a step-by-step process as no phase could be skipped to
reach at the next stage. The whole process given in this theory could be very time-consuming.
Change intervention table
The
underlying
idea
Description
of factors
affecting
change
comments role and contribution
of the
student/interventionis
t
change level
KCM (Kottler
change
management)
Competition Difficult to
implement
Through this
strategy, interventionist
will be capable to
manage the change
issue at the workplace
Group
Economy Inflexible Through these models, Group

ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE PROJECT 11
Legislation
management,
Design of
Services, and
Selection of
appropriate
architecture
approach interventionist could be
capable to make
healthier environment
in the workplace by
offering managing the
environmental issues
successfully.
Agreement
regarding
organizational
policy and
Enhancing
workforces
awareness
Staff Resist to
change It would support to
reduce the
discrimination by
improving services
Organizational
Economic
security and
Legislation
selection
Money More Time
From the application of
this strategy,
interventionist would
be able to make
healthy lifestyles with
Organizational

ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE PROJECT 12
higher priority
LCM (Lewin’s
Change
Management
Model)
Politics Complex
process Through this strategy,
interventionist would
be capable to deal with
environmentalissues
and personal issues at
the working place.
Group
Enhance the
engagement of
individuals in
cultural value
Company
Culture
Hard to
implement
It could support to feel
the pride to the
employees who are the
part of organization
caused od taking value
to their culture by
organization.
Organizational
Immediate
services,
Encouraging
for feedback,
and positive
responses of
Customers
and
Suppliers
Needs more
time
It would support to
make positive
relationship with
consumers due to
offering quality
product at reasonable
price.
Organizational