Analysis of Business Transformation and Change at Stena Line Report

This report analyzes the business transformation and change management processes at Stena Line, a major UK ferry company, based on the 'Undercover Boss' episode featuring CEO Gunnar Blomdahl. It identifies key factors driving change, such as substandard client services, employee remuneration issues, and flaws in new ferry designs. The report evaluates Blomdahl's transformational leadership style, highlighting strengths like research-driven decisions and a broad view of leadership, while also pointing out weaknesses in measurement methods. It recommends implementing Kotter's 8-step change management model to address identified issues and proposes performance management processes, including 360-degree appraisals and essay evaluations, to measure progress. The analysis provides a comprehensive overview of the challenges and opportunities faced by Stena Line during its transformation journey.

Running head: BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION AND CHANGE – STENA LINE
BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION AND CHANGE – STENA LINE
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The following report attempted a discussion on the change management processes and the
transformation that has been taking place within the company. The report opened with the
discussion on the major factors that have been affecting the change processes within the given
company in discussion, Stena Line. The report further proceeded to analyze the leadership style
that is followed by Gunnar Blomdahl. The report thereafter recommended the implementation of
a model of change management within the company and concluded with the discussion on the
ways in which the success of the implemented model can be measured on a regular basis.

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Table of Contents
Introduction..........................................................................................................................3
Key factors driving change..............................................................................................3
Analysis of leadership style.............................................................................................4
Strengths of Gunnar Blomdahl’s leadership style.......................................................5
Weaknesses of Gunnar Blomdahl’s leadership style...................................................5
Evaluation of Gunnar Blomdahl’s performance..........................................................6
Recommended measures.................................................................................................7
Measurement of progress.................................................................................................9
Conclusion.........................................................................................................................10
References..........................................................................................................................11

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Introduction
The following report attempts a discussion on the change management processes and the
transformation that has been taking place within the company. The report opens with the
discussion on the major factors that have been affecting the change processes within the given
company in discussion, Stena Line. The report further proceeds to analyze the leadership style
that is followed by Gunnar Blomdahl. The report thereafter recommends the implementation of a
model of change management within the company and nears a conclusion with the discussion on
the ways in which the success of the implemented model can be measured on a regular basis.
Key factors driving change
The company in discussion, Stena Line, is one of the major organizations present in the
United Kingdom that deals in the ferry businesses. The company had been facing issues in the
delivery of the services that the company had promised to the employees of the organization. The
CEO had been observed to be undercover in order to examine the services that are presented by
Stena Line to the clientele that it has been serving. The CEO observes the fact that the services
that are provided to the clientele are not up to the mark and standards of services that are
provided to the clientele are below the expected standards (Youtube.com., 2019). These
situations might lead to the conditions wherein the company would face losses in terms of the
clientele that it serves as well as would fail in the attraction of potential clientele as well.
The major issues that have been observed by the CEO refer to the sub-standard client
services, the payment of the onboard clientele at a building site at the sea, the greater flaws that
are observed in the designs of the new ferry that was launched by the company. The CEO further
discovers the fact that the international staff of the organization have been receiving a lower

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amount of remuneration as compared to the minimal wages that an employee should receive
within the territorial boundaries of the United Kingdom (Youtube.com., 2019). The staff of Stena
Line also faces uncertainty in terms of the seasonal contracts of the company and the other moral
factors that are face by the crew who have to stay away from their families in order to earn their
bread and butter. The CEO is deeply moved by the fact that one of the Filipino crew members
had to deal with the demise of his daughter while he was in board (Youtube.com., 2019).
The CEO of Stena Line had gone undercover in his own organization in order to have a
proper overview of the activities that are undertaken by the employees within the organization.
The CEO had spent time onboard one of the cruises that had been acquired by the concerned
cruise company in discussion, Stena Line. The visit of the CEO onboard had led to the revelation
of the discomfort that was being endured by the clientele of the organization despite the claims
on the part of the company that it would provide its clientele with the best quality services. The
clientele of the company has been observed to be dissatisfied with the services that they are
being provided by the cruise company in discussion, Stena Line. The clientele of the
organization has been complaining due to the huge amount of noise that they have to endure
during their voyages due to the repair work that is being conducted on board the cruise. The CEO
further observed the fact that the manager of the cruise lacks the capacity of dealing with the
situations by implementing his presence of mind. The CEO is found to be apprehensive
regarding the retention of the clientele of the organization.
Analysis of leadership style
The leadership style as has been demonstrated by the CEO of Stena Line, Gunnar
Blomdahl, is the transformational leadership style. The transformational leaders are expected to
communicate clearly with the staff of the organization in regards to the set goals of the

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organization as well as the motivation that is required by the concerned employees in order to
achieve the goals that have been set by the organizational management (Ramchandran et al.,
2016). The major strengths and the weaknesses of the transformational leadership style as
implemented by Gunnar Blomdahl are being discussed as follows.
Strengths of Gunnar Blomdahl’s leadership style
The major strengths of the transformational leadership style as depicted by Gunnar
Blomdahl are as discussed below.
 Well-research – The CEO of the company is observed to have been taking active part in
the researches in the matters that are related to the retention of the staff within the
company (Ewest, 2017). The CEO is observed to have been taking active measures to
have a firsthand knowledge of the experiences of the employees who have been serving
Stena Line.
 Expansive view of leadership – Gunnar Blomdahl is observed to have been dealing with
a broader view of the leadership as is being presented within the organization (Warren et
al., 2016). The presence of the CEO within the cruise demonstrates the urge of the CEO
to gain knowledge on the real-life conditions that are faced by the employees as well as
the clientele of the organization (Sosik et al., 2018).
Weaknesses of Gunnar Blomdahl’s leadership style
The major weaknesses of the transformational leadership style as depicted by Gunnar
Blomdahl are as discussed below.
 Questions regarding the measurement – The major limitation of the leadership style
that is being implemented by Gunnar Blomdahl refers to the lack of the proper

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measurement of the effectiveness of the implementation of the leadership style. The style
of leadership that is implemented by the CEO lacks the access to the proper measurement
tool thereby making it difficult to measure the success levels (Hoch et al., 2018).
 Treatment like personality trait – The CEO of Stena Line, Gunnar Blomdahl, is found
to have been treating the transformational leadership style to be one of the major
personality traits that are to be demonstrated by all the managerial members of the
organization (Banks et al., 2016). The CEO expects the managerial members present on
board to use their presence of mind in order to serve the clientele as well as solve the
issues that they might have been facing.
Evaluation of Gunnar Blomdahl’s performance
The performance of Gunnar Blomdahl, the CEO of Stena Line, might be evaluated on the
basis of the article by Kotter (2001) entitled “What leaders really do”. The CEO demonstrates all
the skills of a transformational leader and is known to have been dedicated to wards serving the
clientele of the organization in a better manner. The organizational leader is also found to be
empathetic towards the employees of the organization and is observed to have been relenting to
the proper and justified resolution of the various issues that the staff might have been facing in
their due course of service towards Stena Line.

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Recommended measures
Figure 1: Kotter’s 8-step Change Management Model
Source: (Kumar et al., 2018)
The CEO of the organization, Gunnar Blomdahl, might be advised to implement certain
measures that would help in the resolution of the issues that the company has been facing as has
been reported by the clientele and the employees of the organization.
The CEO might be advised to implement the 8-step Change Management Model as had
been put forth by Kotter. The model consists of eight major steps that are implemented by
Kotter. The steps initiate from the creation of the sense of urgency within the organizational
workforce through the identification and the highlighting of the issues and the threats that the
organization has been facing (Wentworth, Behson & Kelley, 2018). The major issues that have
been observed by the CEO in this case, refer to the sub-standard client services, the payment of
the onboard clientele at a building site at the sea, the greater flaws that are observed in the

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designs of the new ferry that was launched by the company. The CEO further discovers the fact
that the international staff of the organization have been receiving a lower amount of
remuneration as compared to the minimal wages that an employee should receive within the
territorial boundaries of the United Kingdom (Youtube.com., 2019). The next step involved the
formation of the committees that would assist in the development of the changes within the given
company.
The major task of the team would be to identify the various weaknesses within the
company and thereafter design the activities that would help in bringing about a proper change in
the area. The vision and the strategy of the change is thereafter formulated and communicated by
the leader of the organization towards the other employees of the organization in order to deal
with the changes that need to be implemented within the organization (Salman & Broten, 2017).
The next step in the process involves the removal of the various obstacles that are
presented to the workforce of the organization. The concerned change implementers should be
on the look-out for the people who have been providing the barriers to the change that needs to
be implemented within the organization (Hornstein, 2015). The organizational leaders should
then be advised to create the short-time wins that would help in the motivation of the employees
of the organization as well.
The proper motivation on the part of the employers of the organization help in the
increase of the chances of achievement of the goals that have been set by the organization. The
motivated employees are most likely to contribute to the achievement of the organizational goals
that have been set by the organizational leaders. This in turn would provide a greater motivation
to the employees to contribute more to the organizational success rates as well (Small et al.,

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2016). The last and the final step of the model is the anchoring of the proposed changes within
the corporate culture as is present within the organization.
Measurement of progress
The progresses of the company post the implementation of the change management
processes might be measured through the various processes of performance management within
the company. The performance management processes that might be implemented by Gunnar
Blomdahl, the CEO of Stena Line refer to the processes of the 360-degree performance appraisal
and the essay evaluation methods of performance appraisals (Karkoulian, Assaker & Hallak,
2016).
The 360-degree performance appraisal method helps in the development of the
conditions wherein the performance of an employee heavily depends on the feedback that is
shared by the concerned management and the colleagues of the concerned employee. The
implementation of the given method of performance appraisal helps in the identification off the
employee within the organization as well as procures the most fair and balanced review on the
performance of the employee within the given organization (Das, & Panda, 2017). This process
helps in deriving the feedback regarding the employee from not only the employers but also from
the peer groups and colleagues of the person.
The essay evaluation method serves the purpose of a performance-appraisal method that
has been implemented by the organizational management. In this process the managers are
provided with the task of keeping a track on the performances of the employees within the given
organization. In this process, the employees do not receive feedback from the peer groups and
colleagues. This method of feedback helps in the proper identification of the strengths of the
employee as well as highlights the areas of weaknesses that the concerned employee has been

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depicting during his tenure at the organization (Uchenna, Agu & Uche, 2018). The essay
evaluation methods of performance appraisal within the organization helps the concerned
employee to gain a proper knowledge regarding the viewpoint of the organizational management
on the performance that the employee had been providing to the organization.
Conclusion
In lieu of the above discussion, it might be stated that the CEO of Stena Line, Gunnar
Blomdahl, might be able to put forth the necessary changes that are required for the enhancement
of the overall performance of the company in discussion, Stena Line, through the implementation
of the recommended change measures. The CEO might further be advised to implement the
recommended performance management methods in order to implement the proper management
of the performances that are presented by the concerned employees of the organization. This
might in turn help in the development of the competitive advantage within the organization.

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