Leading Workplace Change at Sainsbury's: A Case Study

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Leading Workplace Change

Leading Workplace Change
Table of Contents
Introduction...............................................................................................................................................3
An overview of the company...................................................................................................................3
Task 1: Comparing methods by which change influences operations and strategies of a company. . .4
P1: Comparing various organizational examples where change impact operations of the company......4
M1: Different drivers of change and its impact on the organization.......................................................4
Task 2: Evaluating the change factors that impact organizational performance.................................5
P2: Assessing the methods by which change factors affect group and leadership..................................5
P3: Assessing the approaches that can be used to reduce the negative influences of change................6
M2: Impact of change models and theories to evaluate the company's response to change.................7
D1: Recommendation to plan a change in the company.........................................................................8
Task 3: Define how to change barriers impact the decision-making of an organizational leader.......8
P4: Explaining the various change obstacles and their influences on leadership decision-making.........8
M3: Implementation of force field analysis on organizational decision-making......................................9
D2: Application of force field analysis on the company.........................................................................10
Task 4: Leadership models in workplace change process....................................................................11
P5: Various leadership styles in workplace change procedure..............................................................11
M4: Evaluating the extent of leadership models to deal with the change.............................................12
D3: Evaluating the efficiency of leadership theories..............................................................................12
Conclusion................................................................................................................................................14
References................................................................................................................................................15
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Leading Workplace Change
Introduction
The project is concerned with the change management of a particular company. The selected
business firm is Sainsbury’s. It is a supermarket company from the United Kingdom. A change
in a supermarket business is a way of moving the organization from the present circumstances to
a better position in the competitive market. Moreover, a developmental change happens inside
the workplace for the improvement of organizational processes and procedures. For example,
changes like development and improvement of the payroll system or redeploying on the
marketing structure. An organization experiences two types of changes in the workplace. The
first one is a transitional change which deals with the process of replacing the major
organizational activities with the new ones. The second one is a transformational change which
deals with the fundamental shift of business operations. Basically, change management is led and
managed by organizational managers and leaders.
An overview of the company
Figure 1: An image of Sainsbury’s market
The selected company Sainsbury’s is the third major supermarket organization in the UK.
Besides, the company was originated by John James Sainsbury in the year 1869. During the year
1922, the organization has become the largest seller of groceries product. Due to the change in
modern technologies, a change is inevitable for the company and therefore Sainsbury’s should
also deal with a change management system for the development of their production level and
accomplish competitive advantage (Azeez, 2014). Moreover, Sainsbury's can experience an
opportunity to grow its business and allow the staffs to learn new abilities and competencies for
achieving an increase in productivity level.
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Leading Workplace Change
Task 1: Comparing methods by which change influences operations and strategies of a
company
P1: Comparing various organizational examples where change impact operations of the
company
Example 1: In the year 2004, the company Shell was experiencing a crisis regarding oil reserves
that beat its offer expense. The circumstance was bothered by the surprising departure of Sir
Philip Watts who was the group’s chairman of the company. A movement around the world,
regulated techniques were identified. These, if exhibited, would influence more than eighty Shell
working units. While the changes were crucial to survival, the management exhibited ostracized
right now as specific countries stayed to lose market share. The change process in Shell was
unknown and it’s required a steadfast confirmation to focus on getting an appointment from
everyone included in the change process (SUGARMAN, 2010).
Example 2: During the year 2008, Santander expected to set up a post in the British banking
division, its approach was to choose a case of heritage driven British financial foundations like
Bradford and Bingley, Alliance, Leicester and Abbey National. The chairman of the company
Emilio Botin felt that the legacy in these British financial associations, since 1849, had
surrendered them unequipped for change and, accordingly, unfit to progress and create. In
January 2010, Santander UK was moved against the savage economic as well as banking
environment. In obtaining these traditional British financial associations and uniting them under
the Santander brand, Santander intended to isolate its instilled systems and change them into an
impressive retail bank (Blokdijk, 2012). By 2013, it had become as one of the country's driving
retail banks and one of the greatest dealers of mortgages.
M1: Different drivers of change and its impact on the organization
For the Sainsbury’s Company, the organizational change is based on four factors such as
political, economic, social and technological. Impact of these changes can be determined by
PEST analysis:
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Leading Workplace Change
Political Change: The political factors in the UK sway the execution of Sainsbury. Today, the
UK government makes commitments and commitments of the purchasers are very high. This
impacts customer attitudes and hence business conditions experience remarkable weight. Despite
of the political issues, the organization has had the ability to help suffering improvement on
account of its long heritage of offering extraordinary service and product quality at centered
expenses (Creasey and Taylor, 2018).
Economic Change: As a consequence of widespread unemployment as well as high price of
merchandizes, the demand for organization’s merchandizes would decrease which in turn would
cut the manufacture of food products. Consequently, it would increase the food prices as well as
unemployment. Due to the rapid change of economic environment, organizations like Sainsbury
needs to upgrade and develop their facilities and processes for competing with the international
market.
Social Change: In the present market, customers will all in all lean toward one-quit shopping.
This infers they need to have all of the things open under one housetop. Sainsbury by displaying
food items have, all things considered, benefitted by this framework (Czichos, 2015).
Additionally, other social components, for instance, growing female workforce and longevity in
the masses has realized a lessening in domestic meal production.
Technological Change: Moreover, most of the companies can sell or retail its products and
services online and for that, the competition is increasing. However, the introduction of new
technological products helped the management team to reduce the production cost and bring
improvement to the product and service quality. In this way, the organizations are accomplishing
competitive advantages.
Task 2: Evaluating the change factors that impact organizational performance
P2: Assessing the methods by which change factors affect group and leadership
External Drivers
Change in technology inside a workplace impact the team and leadership. Technological change
has a powerful impact on every aspect of organizational activities. First of all, change in
technology inside the workplace of Sainsbury helps the leaders to accomplish their objectives of
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Leading Workplace Change
providing work flexibility to their employees (Zalan, 2010). The modern business environment
of the United Kingdom is decentralized and the teams no longer needed to be cooped up together
in the same building or under the same roof where the meeting is held. The implementation of
video calling facilities and use of projector screen helps the business of Sainsbury to hold
conference meetings under the same roof. Secondly, the introduction of new technologies helps
the leaders to move their training process and HR activities to a new level. With the help of
dedicated software application, each of the employees can monitor and chart their own learning
path and submit reports to the leaders.
Internal Drivers
Market innovation is another internal drivers of change in the workplace. Within market
innovation, product innovation plays a substantial role in increasing the excellence and quantity
of organizational performances. When Sainsbury’s top level management decides to conduct an
internal organizational change, then the leaders have to make strategies and formulas to develop
and upgrade an existing product or develop a new one (Lambertini and Mantovani, 2010).
During a product innovation process, the leaders of Sainsbury’s employ particular core value
propositions with their services and products and implement the same as the fundamental drivers
to endear clients as well as strengthen relationships.
P3: Assessing the approaches that can be used to reduce the negative influences of change
There are various strategies that can be implemented in a supermarket company to decrease the
adverse influence of change. Organizations like Sainsbury’s are concerned with the reduction of
adverse influence of change in the office to ensure alienated employees at every entry level are
treated with self-esteem as well as admiration in the change procedure. Some of the strategies are
listed below:
No surprise plan: The workers of Sainsbury intellect when there is dubiousness in the business,
predominantly with respect to modifying and cost-cutting process (Karp and Helg⊘, 2010).
Open communication and transparency would help the supermarket to make trust among the
employees and stakeholders. Moreover, the management should inform at first that modification
is in the air and it will offer employees an opportunity to prepare reasonably and really for
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Leading Workplace Change
modification and an unrivaled stage for turning and pushing ahead once the modification have
happened.
Provision of career changeover support: For the best, talented and self-assured specialists,
amazing occupation hardship is a disagreeable, overpowering and troublesome life involvement.
Working with a career advisor allows the employees to consider their characteristics, clear up
their purposes and progress a system that would empower them to arrive quicker in an affiliated
job (von Stumm and Ackerman, 2014).
M2: Impact of change models and theories to evaluate the company's response to change
Lewin’s Change Management Hypothesis
According to Lewin’s Change Management Hypothesis, change is the foundation of a particular
organizational development. This specific model has three stages like unfreeze, change and
refreeze. The three stages are described below along with a diagram:
Figure 2: Lewin’s Change Management Theory
Unfreeze: It is the initial step of this theory which is concerned with the organizational
preparation to accept that a change is inevitable. Organizations like Sainsbury’s have to
breakdown the existing status quo before the management can build up a new operating process.
The initial change is difficult and stressful and the company needs to go through a lot of
processes before making the change happen.
Change: After the unfreeze step, organizations like Sainsbury’s starts to resolve the uncertainties
and look for new methods to perform their business activities (Burnes and Cooke, 2012). In this
step, the leaders of Sainsbury makes use of change curve which is concerned with the particular
issues of personal transition in a changing business circumstance. Here, the management makes
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Leading Workplace Change
use of time and communication. These two are the major factors by which change can make
easily.
Refreeze: Exactly when the changes are happening as intended and employees have got a better
grip on the better methodologies for working, the supermarket company is set up to refreeze.
Besides, the external signs of the refreeze are a consistent firm’s chart and an unsurprising job
depiction. The refreeze process similarly needs to support employees and the company that
supports change (Hossan, 2015). This infers guaranteeing that the changes are used always and
that they are joined into an ordinary business. With another sentiment of robustness, delegates
feel beyond any doubt and comfortable with the better methodologies for working.
D1: Recommendation to plan a change in the company
In order to accomplish an effective change in the company, the management of Sainsbury’s
should implement change management training for the leaders and managers. The supervisors
and managers of the supermarket company play a significant role in managing change. Besides
that, the increase in motivation of the employees is the result of the manager's influence over
them. As soon as the supervisors and the managers are on board, the team that is concerned with
the organizational change prepare their strategy to prepare managers to effectively coach their
workers through the change. The managers need to provide guidance, mentoring and training to
the employees in order to increase organizational productivity (Hurn, 2012). For example,
Sainsbury's has decided to make a change in their selling process. Apart from food products, the
management has decided to sell clothes and accessories online. The managers of Sainsbury’s
needs to provide internet and website development training to the employees who will develop
their online selling website.
Task 3: Define how to change barriers impact the decision-making of an organizational
leader
P4: Explaining the various change obstacles and their influences on leadership decision-
making
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In this section, various change barriers are discussed along with their impact on the leadership
decision-making procedure. For the development of a successful strategy for organizational
change, the management of Sainsbury's needs to identify the types of barriers that the
supermarket business may experience. Some of the barriers are discussed below:
Inefficient communication: An inefficient communication in the workplace can lead to serious
organizational issues. Moreover, a poor and inefficient communication inside the workplace
could lead to employers indeterminate about their value and roles for the company. Suppose
taking an example, if the managers of Sainsbury’s fails to inform the employees about the new
policies and regulations of the business, then the employees may break the rules without
knowing it. Due to this, a conflict situation may arise in the workplace (McFarland, 2014).
Lack of management support: Due to the lack of management support, organizations like
Sainsbury’s experiences a reduction in employee productivity. At effective companies, the
workers have plenty to keep them busy with full of job activities. Having managers distract them
into time-wasting actions cuts into efficiency and workings against the bottom line (Bruggen and
Wierenga, 2016).
Negative attitudes of employees: During a change process, the organization may experience a
negative attitude of employees and due to which the management may face barrier issues.
Negative attitudes of employees include taking credit of other’s activities, mocking with race and
gender, workplace discrimination, littering as well as abusing handicapped privileges. This
results in a decrease in employee's performance and the organization may lose some of their
potential customers.
M3: Implementation of force field analysis on organizational decision-making
In order to prevent organizational barriers, Sainsbury's can make use of force field analysis. This
tool is used for creating decisions inside the workplace during internal workplace issues. This
particular model was shaped by Kurt Lewin in the year 1940 (Daniel, 2015). Moreover, force
field analysis is a powerful tool of gaining an all-inclusive outline of the various forces acting on
a particular change issue in the supermarket business. The initial step of this analysis is to agree
with the area where change will take place. The effectiveness of force field analysis is described
below with the help of a diagram:
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Figure 3: Force Field Analysis of Sainsbury’s
According to the figure shown above, the forces for change are customer demand regarding a
new product, advance the speed of manufacture, increase output volumes and maintenance of
increased cost. The forces against the change are loss of worker overtime, unconfident staffs to
use innovative technology, the environmental influence of new methods, costs and disruptions.
Sainsbury's balanced force field analysis consists of an extra segment of the company’s control
over a situation. Suppose take an example, attempting to improve accomplishment in increasing
productivity and customer satisfaction, the workplace is referred to list all the ultimate instincts
and limiting forces (Parsells, 2013). Then it rates each force by its eminence and by the
measurement of control it applies over that force. The net total is then calculated and a table
made. This assumes for each force, the higher the total of importance and control, the more
persuasive the workplace should have in attempting to address that force. Similarly, if
Sainsbury’s can find a couple of forces that elucidate others, the ampleness of its exercises will
be increasingly important.
D2: Application of force field analysis on the company
The implementation of force field analysis inside a workplace can lead to a successful change
management strategy. Organizations like Sainsbury can get a visual summary of different forces
against and for a specific organizational change with the help of force field analysis tool. Then,
the management can collect all the information regarding organizational change and take choices
to process the change. Besides, a force field analysis tool helps the management of Sainsbury to
recognize the barriers that lie ahead so that the management can create a plan and reinforce the
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forces supporting the decisions (Beblavy, Maselli and Martellucci, 2012). After making
decisions, the management can take actions in order to reduce the force that is preventing
organizational change. With the help of force field analysis diagram, the management of
Sainsbury’s can simply communicate among the employees and break down communication
obstacles. Additionally, this specific tool helps the leaders of Sainsbury's to assist the team in
developing a common understanding of the subject. Consequently, all the team members who are
present in the change process get a clear concept of the opinions as well as the opinions
associated with the circumstances.
Force field analysis also has some limitations and the management needs to know before
applying this tool in a change management process. In this analysis, every group should have to
participate in the change process so that everyone in the company receives every information
related to change. Moreover, this tool has a bad impact on team dynamics and teamwork
(Raineri, 2011). The analysis may divide the group into two halves. One half will support for
change and another half will support against change.
Task 4: Leadership models in workplace change process
P5: Various leadership styles in workplace change procedure
In order to deal with the change management process, the leaders of Sainsbury’s should use
some of the commonly used leadership hypothesis. The leadership styles are described below:
Transformational leadership: During the year 1978, the idea of transformational leadership
was invented by James MacGregor (Bass and Riggio, 2014). According to this leadership theory,
an individual may exhibit specific behaviors and traits so as to motivate and inspire a team that
needs a change. Moreover, the traits and behavior consist of intellectual stimulation, charisma,
individual consideration as well as inspirational enthusiasm. The organizations can develop and
grow individual skills of employees with the implementation of transformational leadership
model. Besides that, these leaders obligate themselves to selfless principles and bring into line
their personal ideologies and morals with that of the organization.
Situational Leadership: Situational leadership model is implemented in the workplace during
the change process. During a change process, the organization may experience various issues
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with the employees like the reduction of employee's morality towards work or rise of conflict
among the employees (McFarland, 2014). The situational leaders support the employees to work
towards organizational goals and achieve competitive advantage during a change process. An
inspiring and supportive work atmosphere can help increase productivity. The foremost duty for
a manager or supervisor is to upsurge productivity for the supermarket business firm.
M4: Evaluating the extent of leadership models to deal with the change
Impact of situational leadership on organizational change
The fundamental benefit of situational leadership is that it enhances the awareness of current
organizational circumstances. During an organizational change, the change is disturbing and the
workers become indeterminate about their positions in the enterprise. Some of the employees
fear of losing their job and some of them thinks that their current position may get change after
the change process takes place (Blanchard, Zigarmi and Zigarmi, 2013). This leadership model is
a people-oriented style and the leaders become honest with their teams. Moreover, the situational
leaders working under a change process exercise good communication competencies in the
workplace and provide the workers with appropriate information regarding the change. The
information also includes objectives to fulfill the organizational mission and goals.
Impact of transformational leadership on organizational change
During organizational change, the employees of Sainsbury's needs motivation and inspiration to
deal with the changes. The transformational leaders are responsible for implanting motivation
and inspiration among the employees. According to transformational leadership theory, the
leader of the business firm has to act like a role model and behave like a prototypical individual.
Sainsbury's can accomplish a great teamwork development and thus the management can achieve
an increase in organizational productivity (Marshall and Broome, 2017). The procedure of
transformational leadership goes by means of internalization were the followers tend to receive
the visions and concepts provided by their leaders.
D3: Evaluating the efficiency of leadership theories
The efficiency of transformational leadership
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