BBMM603: Change Management Report - Sparkies Limited Case Study

This report analyzes the change management challenges faced by Sparkies Limited, an electrical products company struggling with traditional mindsets and increasing market competition. The report identifies problems, such as outdated organizational structures and the need for new product designs, and explores the reasons for change, including the pressure from domestic and foreign competitors. It examines potential barriers to change, like departmental resistance to new policies, and evaluates change model alternatives, including Lewin's Change Model and the Action Research Model. The report proposes the Action Research Model as the most suitable approach for Sparkies Limited, emphasizing its collaborative nature and ability to reshape the organizational culture. The report highlights the importance of involving senior leaders and stakeholders to ensure successful implementation, ultimately aiming to improve production capabilities and adapt to evolving market demands. The report also discusses the importance of employee involvement and rewards to help the company implement the changes and become successful in the long run.

Running head: CHANGE MANAGEMENT
CHANGE MANAGEMENT
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Executive summary
The paper aims to discuss about the change management system in Sparkies Limited.
The main problem with this company is the traditional mind set up of the employees as well
the management of the company has affected the capabilities of the production teams to work
following new ideas and designs for the products. This is why the new companies both
foreign as well as domestic are gaining competitive advantage by providing new type of
products to the customers hence increasing the expectations of the market This report has
discuss the problems of the company in detail, found out when the changes are necessary for
the development of the company and pointed out the barriers or changes faced by the
company if it initiates the change process. This is the reason why the coma needs it
incorporate the model of change mainly the action research model that cam effectively save
the company from being lost in the high competition in the market by finding out all the
necessary factors for change and implement those effectively. This report has also discussed
about the theories like action research model and Lewin’s Change Model to understand
which process the company’s higher authority can follow to implement the needed changes
of the organization.

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Table of Contents
Executive summary....................................................................................................................1
Problem Identification:...............................................................................................................3
Reasons for Change:..................................................................................................................4
Possible Barriers to Change:......................................................................................................5
Change Model Alternatives:......................................................................................................5
Lewin’s Change Model:.............................................................................................................5
Action Research Model:.............................................................................................................6
Change Model Proposed:...........................................................................................................7

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Problem Identification:
The company namely Sparkies Limited, has been working in the electrical products
market for long eighty years. This company has an in depth knowledge about the demands
and nature of the market as it has experiences as the manufacturer as well as retailer for such
a long time. However, there are some very important issues that the company faces in the
recent years relating to the production as well as supplies of the electrical products in the
market. The teams starting from human resource to production, have found out that the
company has been experiencing a tremendous pressure in the last few years which has
affected the internal situation of the organization. Due to the fact that the company has been
exposed to the market competition and after globalization, many of the organization from
other countries have entered the market. This is the reason why the company has not been
able to face the pressure of the competitors and could not utilize the demand and loyalty of
the customers properly.
The challenge of the competitors therefore had grown heavy for the company within a
limited period of time. In addition to this the company also faced problems when the
domestics companies stated to gain advantage in this market. This is due to the fact that these
new companies have the technological advantage and fresh impetus to set new goals and
capture the market which empowered their human resource to achieve the goals.one the other
hand Sparkies Limited is more traditional in nature which the barrier for any type of change
or introduction of the new policies.
This traditional mind set up of the employees as well the management of the company
has affected the capabilities of the production teams to work following new ideas and designs
for the products. This is why the new companies both foreign as well as domestic are gaining
competitive advantage by providing new type of products to the customers hence increasing
the expectations of the market. On the contrary, Sparkies Limited may have a certain base of

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loyal customers, does not ascribe with the new and innovative ideas for product designing. In
addition to this, the company’s internal culture is also suffering as the collaboration and team
work capabilities of the departments are not as expected. The inert departmental
communication is worse than expected.
Reasons for Change:
As mentioned before, the company though have the experience in working in the
market for more than half century but does not possess the needed equipment for adopting the
change in the external factors of the business. This is the reason why the new employees aim
to be an important part of change. They want a drastic change in the organizational structure
and most importantly the strategies of the company. As the company has a long successful
past, the organizational structure is maintained which has not changed with time. This
traditional outlook of the company has affected its growth in a negative way. The new
employees are eager to see change in the management and the policies that might be
supportive for the growth of the company in the past but have now lost their relevance in this
current global business situation. Along with the organizational culture, the reasons for
change is the inefficient for the company to beat the competitors in the market. The change is
being supported by the employees in the different departments so the design thinking process
can be effectively implement in the departments. Starting from the HR department, the
recruitment process will be based on the new and updated methods so that the best candidates
in the organizations are chosen who will be able to absorb the change process and contribute
in the process of designing new types of products. Similarly, the manufacturing department
needs new equipment for the empowerment of the employees. The change is needed to face
the competition hence develop the new ideas, energy and new spirit for making the company
great.

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The new and dynamic CEO of Sparkies Limited Martin Griffin who has been hired to
bring the change in the company has aimed to keep the basic structure of the company to be
similar so that the all the employees both the new and old can take part in the change
mechanism. The change is needed in the production and service offering to the markets as the
demand of the customers have en changing with time and the incorporation of the
technology. As the company offers the electrical products, it needs to have the best and most
effecting equipment so that it can attract the new customers in one hand and keep the loyal
customers to their trusted brand. In addition to this, the collaboration among the departments
in reviving the business has become essential.
Possible Barriers to Change:
There are several challenges of implementing these changes in the organization.
Different departmental heads present their issues in the meetings where the human resource
department refers to the issues of carefully set job categories through which the entire
structure of the company performs, will be destroyed if the changes in the human resource
department is brought in. Similarly, the finance department has created barrier referring to the
change in the policy of allowing the sales agents to make huge refund may create issues.
According to this department, if the company refunds in such a huge measure, would create
scope for the unethical actions of the sales persons as well as the customers they will take
advantage of this process. In the other hand, the legal department of the company pointed out
that the initiative to provide information to the sales people about the future products will
invite the industrial spying that may negatively affect the operation of the company.

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Change Model Alternatives:
Lewin’s Change Model:
This particular model is a planned approach to the change management. According to
this particular model, the change for any organization is complicated journey and mostly
invites different stages of transitions before attaining the stability. There are three stages of
this model which includes unfreezing, change and freeze (Bridgman 2016). Undressing in the
first step of the transition as well as the most critical stage in entire process of the change
management. This step involves improvement of the readiness and willingness of the people
for changing through fostering the realization to move from the comfort zone to the
transformed situation (Bamberg and Schult 2018). This involves making people aware of the
need of the changes as well as improving the motivation for the accepting new methods of
working in a better manner for better result. During this particular stage, effective
communication paly essential role for getting the needed support as well as involvement of
the people in the change process.
The second stage of this model is he transition stage that involves the reception of
new method of operating. It is such a stage where the people of the organostions are actually
unfrozen. Only after this, the actual changes are implemented. Throughout this particular
stage, the careful planning, efficient communication method and encouragement of the
involvement from the persons to endorse the changes becomes necessary. This is however
believed that in this particular stage of change is never such easy (Bakari, Hunjra and Niazi,
2017). This is due to the fact that there are uncertainties related to the success of this stage.
Hence the people are afraid of the outcomes of accepting this change process.
The thirds stage is Refreezing the situation. In this particular this stage, the employees
of the organization can move from the change or transition stage to a more stable states that
can be regarded as state of stability or equilibrium (Hussain et al. 2018). This particular stage

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of refreezing of the change is the final stage where people are mandated to accept as well as
internalize new ways for working (Bakari, Hunjra and Niazi 2017). They accept the change
as the part of the organization life hence establish the new relationships.
Action Research Model:
The action research model facilitates the organizational changes through the method
of collaboration and the involvement of the client in the throughout process of designing,
intertwining and evaluating the organizational needs then implement the changes (Van 2016).
In the case of Sparkies Limited, this mode can help by strengthening as well as reinforcing
new changes through finding different ways of working. Unlike the Lewin’s Change Model,
this particular model follows seven steps for changing the actions or the structure of the
organization. In order to get the best result of this change, the employees need to be
rewarded, and provided with all the need as well as positive reinforcements (Mertler 2016).
They will also need the supporting policies along with the structures that can effectively help
in the reinforcement process of the changed way of working.
Change Model Proposed:
In the case of Sparkies Limited, the action research model will be the perfect change
model that will somehow convince the stakeholders an employees to understand the need for
change. This particular model that seven stages which include, entry, contracting, collecting
data, giving feedback, strategic planning, designing interventions and evaluating
interventions. This is the process based on which the company will be able to provide a
systematic approach for solving the challenges (Morales 2016). The professionals related
with the change process will conduct the interventions geared towards the improvement of
the business situations. Secondly, the process will be help the organization to analyses the
issues then design the appropriate interventions. Thirdly it will foster a culture of learning

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and promote collaboration among the employees effectively (Wu, Li and Fang 2017).
However, the company needs the involvement of the senior leaders as well as other critical
stakeholders which will help to keep the projects in the right track hence result in gaining
greater engagement in change process. The reason why this particular model has been taken
is Sparkies Limited needs to reshape its organizational culture (Mertler 2017). This will be
effective as the capabilities of the production teams to work following new ideas and designs
for the products are essential and this particular model will definitely help the company to
develop itself through change (Karakos et al. 2016). The model is essential to strengthen the
leadership of Sparkies Limited as this is the backbone of the change process of the company.
Moreover, this model will help to align the actions with the strategies of the organization
(Kostaris et al. 2017). Finally, this model is perfect for the implementation of change as it
will hl the company to improve the performance of the employees at each and every level.

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References:
Bakari, H., Hunjra, A.I. and Niazi, G.S.K., 2017. How does authentic leadership influence
planned organizational change? The role of employees’ perceptions: Integration of Theory of
Planned Behavior and Lewin's three step model. Journal of Change Management, 17(2),
pp.155-187.
Bamberg, S. and Schulte, M., 2018. Processes of change. Environmental psychology: An
introduction, pp.307-318.
Bridgman, T., 2016. Unfreezing change as three steps: Rethinking Kurt Lewin’s legacy for
change management.
Hussain, S.T., Lei, S., Akram, T., Haider, M.J., Hussain, S.H. and Ali, M., 2018. Kurt
Lewin's change model: A critical review of the role of leadership and employee involvement
in organizational change. Journal of Innovation & Knowledge, 3(3), pp.123-127.
Karakos, H.L., Fisher, B.W., Geller, J., Lunn, L., Palmer, N.A., Perkins, D.D., Mihaylov, N.,
Partridge, W.L. and Shields, S., 2016. The Field School in Intercultural Education as a model
for international service-learning and collaborative action-research training. Academics in
action, pp.167-190.
Kostaris, C., Stylianos, S., Sampson, D.G., Giannakos, M. and Pelliccione, L., 2017.
Investigating the potential of the flipped classroom model in K-12 ICT teaching and learning:
An action research study. International Forum of Educational Technology and Society-.
Mertler, C.A., 2016. Action research: Improving schools and empowering educators. Sage
Publications.
Mertler, C.A., 2017. Action research communities: professional learning, empowerment, and
improvement through collaborative action research. Routledge.

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Morales, M.P.E., 2016. Participatory Action Research (PAR) cum Action Research (AR) in
Teacher Professional Development: A Literature Review. International Journal of Research
in Education and Science, 2(1), pp.156-165.
van der Hoorn, B., 2016. Discussing project status with the project-space model: An action
research study. International Journal of Project Management, 34(8), pp.1638-1657.
Wu, C., Li, N. and Fang, D., 2017. Leadership improvement and its impact on workplace
safety in construction projects: A conceptual model and action research. International
Journal of Project Management, 35(8), pp.1495-1511.