Leading and Managing Changes at TESCO: A Comprehensive Report

This report analyzes change management strategies at TESCO, a British multinational grocery company. It explores the application of the 'white water metaphor,' examining whether changes were planned or unplanned, and the impact of external factors. The report delves into how TESCO transitioned from a 'calm water' to a 'white water' environment, considering both business strategy and external influences like political, economic, social, technological, and environmental factors. Furthermore, the report assesses the strategic approaches of the Human Resource department in managing this shift, emphasizing the need for flexibility, bottom-up change implementation, and adaptation to sudden market changes. The analysis highlights the challenges of adapting to rapid changes in consumer preferences, the importance of technological advancements, and the influence of various external factors on TESCO's operations. The report emphasizes that TESCO needs to be flexible and adapt quickly to maintain its competitive edge.

Leading and managing changes

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
1. Report for 'white water metaphor' is apparent in TESCO. Likewise, evaluate whether it has
resulted from planned or unplanned approach to change............................................................1
2. In the context of TESCO, evaluate the shift from calm waters to white waters took place,
after considering both business strategy and also external factors impacting on the business. . 3
3. Strategic approaches of Human resource department in handling the shift from clam water
to white water..............................................................................................................................5
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Change is the process of modifying or changing strategies, technologies, process and
culture as well as impact of such changes in a business. Leading change is an ability influence
and motivate others through personal vision, drive and advocacy & to access resources for
building a strong platform for change. In this present report TESCO has been chosen for
assessment. TESCO is a British multinational groceries whose headquarter is situated in
Hertfordshire, England. TESCO is a public limited company where more than 476000 people
are working. TESCO has an operating income of £1280 million. It has many stores where all
products under one roof. This present assignment will focus on 'white water metaphor' is
apparent in TESCO and it has resulted from planned or unplanned approach to change. In
addition to this, external factors impacting on the business will be described briefly.
Furthermore, Strategic approaches of Human resource department in handling the shift from
clam water to white water will also be covered.
MAIN BODY
1. Report for 'white water metaphor' is apparent in TESCO. Likewise, evaluate whether it has
resulted from planned or unplanned approach to change.
In every organisation changes occur either on rapid basis or occasionally. When a
company faces changes on continuous basis like a raft in a raging river is to be managed with the
white water rapids (Day and Shannon, 2015). Changes are always very frequent due to the
environmental conditions, so they are required to be managed all the time.
White water metaphor changes are those which are not pre decided by the company and that
changes just happens randomly. These are not intentional changes, it comes with the changing
environmental and uncertain conditions. Company needs to respond to such changing conditions
in order to stand in the changing conditions and deal with it. Company plans to bring changes for
growth and success but it requires schedules and process to be determined in advance (Turner,
2014). It will be difficult for organisation to implement the process as it will be difficult due to
changing marketing conditions and political along with legal factors as well.
This report is in context with TESCO. Where 55400 tonnes of food has been wasted in a
year in the stores of the company. In the entire waste food 30,000 tonnes of food was edible. As
per the waste advisory body of government, British households throw food around 7m tonnes of
food. Due ti this higher wastage in the stores of TESCO, company has planned to manage waste
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by handling the same. It is a case of White metaphor where the change is unplanned and it is
required to implement it so that wastage can be controlled. It is unplanned due to the sudden
change that has been faced by the organisation. For the same, TESCO looked at its supply chain
to know the areas in detail. It will help in bringing direct working system which will speed up the
process if supply. Hence, this will result in fresh products to arrive in the stores. To bring change
in supply chain, manager of TESCO should keep in mind that plan must be flexible as it can
again be influenced by other internal and external factors. TESCO should design its system such
that it easy to bring any change which emerges constantly. In this situation, TESCO is planning
to increase product life by one day. It will be possible through direct working system. Such
sudden changes in the entire supply chain system makes it difficult for the employees in
adaptation. Company should have such working system that is easily adopted and implemented
by work man. To bring changes suddenly, manager should keep in mind that change must be
initiated from bottom level In the company rather than “top-down” change. As, employees are
the closest to the operation system of company and also know about every single small detail
about the work. Supply chain changes are frequent and can be implemented by motivating staff
members at the time of changes. White metaphor of change says that to successfully implement
the changes it is not necessary to pre determine it rather than it should be analysed and
understood the problems and make changes accordingly. Unplanned approach to change pays
more focus on two way relationship between the changing environmental conditions and
Company working culture.
In the past year, TESCO has also implemented sudden change of Clubcard which helps
the company in getting back to 'rewarding loyalty'. Earlier the company has vouchers which were
giving two times benefits to the consumers. But to gain back the loyalty TESCO has announced
new Clubcard which are three time in value (Palmer, Dunfor and Akin,2016). It is a sudden
change in the stores of TESCO which made angry to people in starting days. As sudden changes
are not easy to accept by the customers. 'White Water metaphor' perfectly defines here in this
situation as this is a sudden change which is implemented by the company. It has been brought
by the company because it will help the organisation in moving forward. Every change is bought
by the management to grab benefits from the same. As gaining loyalty is not only the major
priority of the company. In addition to that, more business can be expanded for the same is also a
reason for brining the change in the company.
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Both the changes of the company in recent time are sudden in nature. TESCO has not pre
planned those changes and implemented it because of the changing conditions and need for its
better work culture (Beech and MacIntosh, 2017). But sudden changes are not always successful
because many employees can argue that it is not appropriate to implement this change. Everyone
has their own thoughts regarding situations and has their own way of dealing with it. It is really
necessary for the company to understand the situation first and see every possible outcome that
can come after brining the change in to progress. After that only changes should be implemented.
It is also depends on the type of business company is having, there are many businesses where
sudden changes can only be implemented. For those working organisation white water metaphor
is majorly used and evaluated.
2. In the context of TESCO, evaluate the shift from calm waters to white waters took place, after
considering both, business strategy and also external factors impacting on the business.
Calm water view of a company for implementing change is that it is crossing a large sea with
calm water in it. The captain knows that where they are heading to because of repetitive trips
they have already been through. Here in this change comes occasionally else everything remains
calm. Previously TESCO has followed calm water technique but it failed to overcome different
situations that are faced by the company on daily basis. So many environmental conditions are
faced by company and for that it has to come up with change in its system and work procedures
so that establishment can cop up with the environmental changes. White water changes are those
which are not pre decided by the company and that changes just happens randomly. TESCO has
been shifted from calm water to white water and it helped the company management in higher
growth. It will give the organisation a path to overcome challenges that are being faced on
regular basis by the company.
TESCO has made some strategies which to run business to attain growth and success. In
today's world customer taste and preferences changes on frequent basis. There are many options
available in the market it is easy for people to switch brands and buy products from other stores.
TESCO has to follow white water metaphor to deal with the changes because taste and
preferences can be changed anytime by the consumer. To attract customers organisation has to
come up with different strategies of dealing in quality goods and services (Hayes, 2018). It will
help TESCO in attracting more consumers because everyone wants quality products and
services. Different business strategies are implemented by manager to deal with the changes that
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come suddenly with changing market conditions. There is always a need in an establishment to
deal with changes in the best possible way. For the same it has to make its working culture less
rigid so that changes can be implemented easily. These sudden changes are not decided in
advance which has to be implemented with the changing needs and wants of consumers. If a
company is using less advance technology than management should plan to change its system
from old to new technology. It is a big change that will be faced by TESCO in order to deal with
the competitive market. In this era, innovative ideas and technology advancement is really
important for the success of an organisation (Ferguson, Hall and Hopwood, 2015). This change
in operation of company is a sudden change for being competitive, but employees needs to be
trained for the same. Training to employees is a sudden change that should be dealt with by
TESCO.
External factors impacting on TESCO
Political factors: TESCO is operating in more than 12 countries. So there are many
political factors that affects the company because of its operation in many nations. TESCO faces
so many situation like different tax rates that prevails in the nations along with that, it plays role
in creating employment opportunities for people. This many changes can be implemented only if
organization switch to white water metaphor. These unpredictable political changes has huge
impact on the working condition of the company. So TESCO should switch from clam water to
white water.
Economic factors: Supermarkets in UK are majorly affected by factors like labour cost.
There are many other factors such as inflation rate of the country. Due to these prices of the
product has to be changed by the company (PESTLE Analysis. 2017). This change in prices of
the products of TESCO is not pre planned. Such sudden changes are white water metaphor
changes which helps the organisation in dealing with change in inflation rate and labour cost
factors.
Social factors: People in a Society always get change with the changing environment.
Their taste and preferences are influenced because of everyone is becoming more aware about
health issues. This results in changing approach towards foods . It affects the business of TESCO
so while consumer comes up with such factors organisation should be prepared for such change
in taste and preferences of customers. TESCO has made some strategies by that a business can
be run and helps in achieving growth and success. In present world consumer taste and
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preferences are the major changes that happen on frequent basis. There are many options
available in the market it is easy for people to switch brands and buy products from other stores.
TESCO has to follow white water metaphor to deal with the changes because taste and
preferences can be changed anytime by the consumer.
Technological factors: Different opportunity comes in the way of companies which can
be grabbed by adopting the same. TESCO has come up with home delivery of products and also
self service points are made so that labour cost can be reduced. To implement all these new
changes they a re required to be analysed first and there result should be checked that how it can
effect the culture and growth of the company.
Environmental factors: All the companies faces high pressure from the government so
that all the issues related to environment can be addressed. These all issues should be taken care
by company in order to give benefits to the society. For the same, TESCO has motivated to its
customers regarding online shopping from TESCO.com so that it can save fuel and also a saving
of plastic bags can be made from the same. These are not the sudden changes this all can be
implemented before as well.
Legal factors: In the year 2016, workers of TESCO has taken a legal action against the
employer because of age and gender discrimination. Many other sudden legal actions are also
being faced by TESCO related to accounting fraud and many more. These all are sudden actions
for which organisation needs to implement the changes for dealing with such legal actions.
Internal factors impacting on TESCO
Strengths: TESCO is a big brand name which has won various awards of excellence and for the
services it provides to its customers. This is the major reason that it is financially strong and earn
revenue on higher scale. This helps the organisation in dealing with the unplanned changes that
occurs in the company.
Weaknesses: TESCO is a retail sector thus, it has various competitors and it makes tough for the
organisation to deal with the change at some point of time. Due to the reason of market
fluctuations and competitive strategies it is tough for the organisation to handle unplanned
changes.
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3. Strategic approaches of Human resource department in handling the shift from clam water to
white water.
Human resource department is that functional unit of company which deals with all the
problems and issues faced by the employees. Major work of HR is to recruit new people,
providing training to the employees and conflict management (Day and Shannon, 2015). But
above all this work, HR plays great role in handling the shift in changes adopted by the
company.
During change processes HR builds the confidence and balanced environment. Every
sudden change in TESCO is to be accepted by HR also because they need to understand changes
in order to give training to employees for the same (Yoder-Wise, 2014). HR of the company
should follow these strategies at the time of change and shift in the policies of the company.
Soft approach: HR of the company should use soft approach while changes happening in the
company (Richardson,2017). That time HR should be polite enough to make employees
understand about the change management. Being cruel to workers does not give any benefits to
the company. It is the duty of HR to make understand about the change to every person working
in the company. HR must have the right tools and innovative ideas while implementing the
change. HR should accept and let the people convey this through meetings and seminars about
changes that has come suddenly and are required to be adopted by TESCO.
Compensation and rewards approach: Evaluate and pay employees based on their work and
performance, not simply for position they are being hired for. Give rewards for organizational
performance, action, better teamwork, cooperation, and duty while performance. It is the duty of
HR to help employees in knowing new skills which they can develop so that they can earn
higher pay and rewards (Mariani and et.al., 2014). Compensation is that system which include
incentives, sharing in profits of the company and skill-based reward to employees who learn new
work and make higher efforts in those skills to work for the organization.
Employees of TESCO are always been trained in a wider range of skills so that they can
contribute more while adopting changes in the company. Their training helps them in giving
more valuable contributions to TESCO. Changes are not so easy to accept by employees but
gaining higher rewards helps them in adopting the same (Anderson,2016). The company
similarly have profit from workers enhanced flexibility, productivity, and commitment. Giving
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reward thus is a strategy of HR department which helps the company in bringing shifts from
calm water to white water.
Selection and placement: It is the duty of HR to hire new people for the vacant position
in the company. While selecting and interviewing new people HR should check the behaviour of
people. Behavioural competencies may have a client concentration, such as the ability to show
sympathy and activity of customers’ feelings and points of view, or a work management focus,
such as the ability to complete tasks efficiently or to know when to seek guidance.
In addition, make the TESCO culture clear by saying that frequent changes are adopted by the
company (Cummings and Worley, 2014). Those who are ready to accept it that change and shift
from calm water to white water is adopted by them. People who are ready to run with the
company for long term and are accepting all the changes will be hired by HR of TESCO.
Training and development programs: HR department of the company provides training
to employees which helps them in learning about work culture and getting knowledge of work as
well as adopting organisational change. This will result in accepting shifts by the employees as
they will be trained like that which will make it easy for them to adopt changes. These are the
path which are provided by the company In order to make the employees adopt the shifting that
happen in working culture of the company.
These all are the strategies which are adopted by HR in order to manage changes in the
company. TESCO has adopted white water due to sudden changes that occur in the company.
This should be implemented by management of the company after consent of HR. As, HR of
organisation only helps in letting all the employees in adopting such changes.
To bring changes all of a sudden, HR manager of TESCO should keep in mind that
change must be initiated from bottom level In the company rather than implementing it from the
top level management of the company. As, employees are the closest to the operation system of
company and also know about every single small detail about the work. Changes are frequent
and can be enforced by motivating workers and members at the time of bringing changes. White
metaphor of change says that to successfully implement the changes it is not necessary to pre
determine it rather than it should be analysed and understood the problems and make changes
accordingly. Unplanned approach to change pays more focus on two way relationship between
the changing environmental conditions and Company working culture.
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Conclusion
From the above report it has been summarized that changes are part of every company. Changes
are always very frequent due to the environmental conditions, so they are required to be managed
all the time. In addition to this, White water metaphor changes are those which are not pre
decided by the establishment and that changes just occur randomly. These are not intentional
changes, it comes with the changing environmental and uncertain conditions. Furthermore, There
are many external factors that affects the organization which requires to be adopted by
implementation of changes in the company. Furthermore, Human resource department of the
company follows different strategies in handling the shift from clam water to white water.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Day, G.E. and Shannon, E., 2015. Leading and managing change. Leading and Managing
Health Services: An Australasian Perspective, 295, pp.405-412.
Turner, J.R., 2014. Handbook of project-based management(Vol. 92). New York, NY: McGraw-
hill.
Palmer, I., Dunford, R. and Akin, G., 2016. Managing organizational change. McGraw-Hill
Education.
Beech, N. and MacIntosh, R., 2017. Managing change: Enquiry and action. Cambridge
University Press.
Hayes, J., 2018. The theory and practice of change management.
Ferguson, P.W., Hall, G.E. and Hopwood, J.D., 2015. Leading and Managing the 21st Century
Research University: Creating, Implementing, and Sustaining Strategic
Change. International Journal of Leadership and Change, 3(1), p.4.
Richardson, D.L., 2017. Above and Beyond: Leading and Managing Organizational Change.
AuthorHouse.
Anderson, D.L., 2016. Organization development: The process of leading organizational
change. Sage Publications.
Cummings, T.G. and Worley, C.G., 2014. Organization development and change. Cengage
learning.
Mariani, M.M., Buhalis, D., Longhi, C. and Vitouladiti, O., 2014. Managing change in tourism
destinations: Key issues and current trends. Journal of Destination Marketing &
Management, 2(4), pp.269-272.
Online:
PESTLE Analysis. 2017. Accessed through. Online. <https://pestleanalysis.com/pestle-analysis-
tesco/>.
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