Understanding and Leading Change: A Tesco Case Study Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of change management within Tesco, a major multinational company. It begins by identifying key drivers of change, such as technological advancements and shifts in consumer preferences, and assesses their impact through a SWOT analysis. The report examines the effects of change on Tesco's organizational operations, strategies, and leadership behavior. It then applies relevant models, including Lewin's change management model and force field analysis, to evaluate the effectiveness of change implementation. Furthermore, it explores barriers to change and discusses different leadership approaches, offering insights into how Tesco navigates challenges and fosters successful change initiatives. The study highlights the interconnectedness of leadership and change, emphasizing the importance of adapting to dynamic market environments.

Understanding and Leading
Change

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
PART 1............................................................................................................................................3
1 Drivers of change and their impact on organization................................................................3
2 Overview of Tesco...................................................................................................................4
3 SWOT analysis for each driver of change...............................................................................4
4 Impact of change on the organization and its effect on the organizational operations and
strategies......................................................................................................................................5
5 Evaluating that how the changes affects the leadership and team behaviour..........................6
6 Application of appropriate models in order to process the change efficiently.........................6
PART 2............................................................................................................................................7
1 Company introduction..............................................................................................................7
2 Application of force field analysis in order to determine support and opposition of change. .7
3 Different barriers to change and their influence on leadership and decision making..............8
4 Accomplishment of changes....................................................................................................8
5 Advantages and the disadvantages of various leadership approaches ....................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
The change refers to as any type of modifications which the company has to face or
undergo either due to the internal or the external factors which affects the company and its
working. In order to be successful the company has to properly evaluate its environment and
study whether there is any change in the market or not. If there is any change then it has to
implement that change in order to be successful (Doppelt, 2017). The current case study is on the
company Tesco. This is a British multinational company which deals with general merchandise
and the grocery stores headquartered in the city of the Welwyn Garden, United Kingdom.
The present study will discuss about the drivers of the change and their impact on the
organization and its operations. Further it will flash light on the SWOT analysis of the driver of
change. After that it will study the impact of the changes on the organizations and its effect on
the operations, working and the strategies of the organizations. Furthermore it will evaluate and
apply some of the models to apply the changes in the organization. Further it will apply the force
field analysis with intention of analysing the factors which supports the changes. After that it will
analyse some of the barriers of changes occurs while accomplishment of the changes. At last the
report will highlight some of the advantages and the disadvantages of the different leadership
approaches.
PART 1
1 Drivers of change and their impact on organization
The drivers of change are the are referred to as the different factors which brings changes
in the overall industry. These are such factors which forces the industry to bring in the changes
within the company as well. The major drivers of change are discussed below-
Technological changes- the technology is the factor which is continuously and rapidly
changing due to changes in the environment. Every one or the other day new technology is being
developed and invented and employed in the companies. These technological changes drives the
company also to implement the change within the organization. If these latest changes will not
be adopted by the company then the company will become obsolete and will lack the position in
the competitive market (Komives and Wagner, eds., 2016).
Changes in customer life style and preferences- this is also a major driver of change in
the organization. Because of increase in the level of income the standard of living and the life

style of living has been increased. Now the consumers wants more better and good quality of
products. For this the company should consider the preferences and the requirements of the
customers before producing the products. If the preferences of the customers are not met then the
company will lose its market share and the consumer base.
2 Overview of Tesco
Tesco is a British multinational company which deals with general merchandise and the
grocery stores headquartered in the city of the Welwyn Garden, United Kingdom. Tesco has
undergone many of the changes and also some of the changes have affected the working of the
company negatively also. The company works within the limit of the environment and the
business environment is very dynamic and changing. So to deal with these changes and to gain
the advantages of implementation of the change the company has to undergo many changes. Like
for example if the government bans the use of some type of product and if the company uses that
product in the production then it also has to stop the usage of that product. This is a negative
change which affects the company negatively. Similarly there are also some positive changes.
Like for example if the government ha lowered the borrowing rate then it will be beneficial for
the company as it can borrow more money and has to pay less interest.
Changes in Tesco
The company also has to go for many changes to survive in the dynamic and the
competitive market so it also has to implement and adopt many changes either beneficial or not.
The Tesco has announced some changes to be brought in to simplify the operational structure of
the company in order to improve the efficiency of the company (Tesco to simplify operational
structures, 2018). This was done with the intention of giving the line manager an insight to
clearer accountability for the colleagues and the customers.
3 SWOT analysis for each driver of change
SWOT analysis is an analytical tool which is used for assessing the competencies and the
strengths of the company. It is an acronym which stands for the Strengths, Weaknesses,
Opportunities and the Threats. In the above drivers of the changes the SWOT can be done as
follows-
Strengths- these refers to the strong points which favours the company in increasing the
operations of the company. The strengths of the Tesco are as follows-
 It has a very strong system of managing the change within the organization.

 The company uses many different techniques and policies which are used in
implementing the change in the organization.
Weakness- this refers to the weak points which the companies have to face in the marketplace.
The weaknesses of the Tesco are
 It has a very demotivated set of employees when it comes to accepting and implementing
the changes within the organization. The employees resists the changes even without knowing the benefits which the company
may have with the implementation of the change (Hillson and Murray-Webster, 2017).
Opportunities- these refers to some ways or option through which the company can grow and
prosper. The opportunities relating to the changes are by implementing the changes the company can have an opportunity to grow and develop.
Threats- these are the external factors which poses some problem for the company from either
outside the organization or inside the organization. The threats relating to the implementation of
changes are as follows-
 the employees might resist the changes and may quit the jobs.
4 Impact of change on the organization and its effect on the organizational operations and
strategies
Changes refers to any unknown or unplanned change within the business environment
and which affects the working of the organization either positively or negatively. There are many
different kinds of changes which happens in the environment. All these changes have different
impact on the operations and the strategies of the business. The different types of changes and
the impact of these changes on the organization are as follows-
Unplanned changes- these are a type of changes which occurs in the business
environment due to some unexpected changes or events happening in the outside world. These
change cannot be predicted and has to be developed in an organized manner. It includes changes
in the government regulation, any natural calamity affecting the working of the business.
Planned changes- these are the changes which are implemented after the thorough study
of the changes and the impact of those changes. If the impacts are positive then the change will
be implemented (Lopez and Wise, 2015). These changes are also called as the developmental
changes because these changes are made with intention of the developing the organization.

5 Evaluating that how the changes affects the leadership and team behaviour
Changes refers to any variation of any modifications which happens in the organization
either due to the impact of the internal or the external environment which has a great impact on
the working of the business organization. Leadership refers to a process of leading a group of
people or the followers in the direction of accomplishing and attaining the organizational goals.
Both the leadership and the change have a interconnected relationship with each other. Without
one the other cannot work. Because of leadership only the change in the company can be
implemented. The evaluation of changes affecting the leadership and the team behaviour are
discussed in the below points-
 The change requires the leader to make sure that all the employees within the
organization are ready for the application of the changes within the organization.
 It is the major duty of the leader to analyse the changes currently going in the market and
analysing its positive sides and the negatives so that it can be assessed that whether the
changes are to be implemented within the organization or not (McCalman and Potter,
2015).
 Also it is the role of the leadership that it has to ensure that all the employees have
adopted the changes or not and if adopted the changes then they are happy with the
change or not.
6 Application of appropriate models in order to process the change efficiently
The major model used to process or implement the change effectively and efficiently is
the Lewin's change management model. Kurt Lewin evolved this model in the year 1950. This
model follows a three step model process which involves the following phases or the steps-
Unfreeze- this is the stage where the person or the organization unfreezes what was the
earlier practices prevailing before the implementation of the change. It unlearns the previous
learnings and which principles it was following earlier.
Change- this is the stage where the organization or the company implements the new
changes within the organization. The new change is implemented and followed and also if the
change is not well understood and gives time to the employees to understand and implement the
changes.
Freeze- the last step is to freeze the new change and to forget the earlier practices and
policies and adopt the new changes.

PART 2
1 Company introduction
Tesco is a multinational company founded by a British entrepreneur and the businessman
Jack Cohen. The company was started as a stall holder and after that he opened the first Tesco
store in Brunt Oak, London in the year 1929 (Olson and Simerson, 2015). The Tesco plc is a
renowned British international brand which deals with general products and the grocery store in
the form of retail chain. Presently the Tesco is the largest supermarket in UK and has also
expanded by establishing the branches in countries like Turkey, Malaysia, Taiwan, China and
many more other countries. In the year 1995, the company overtook the UK's highest superstore
Sainsbury and because of this it increased the market share of Tesco from 15.4 % to 29 %.
The Tesco also expanded its business with the help of using diversification of the
products and the services and also started opening clothing and apparels brand and has also
started experimenting with the e- commerce.
2 Application of force field analysis in order to determine support and opposition of change
The force field analysis is strategic tool which is used in implementing the change. This
model was invented and developed by a social psychologist Kurt Lewin, in 1940's. This model
working starts by identifying, discussing, analysing and after evaluating, documenting all the
factors which either oppose or support a specific change. This model is applied in the
organization in order to analyse the change and also helps in analysing some of the forces which
either supports the changes and some forces which opposes the implementation of the changes.
In simple words the model analyses the change thoroughly and concludes all the supporting
points that the change must be implemented. On the contrary this model also analyses all the
forces which suggest that the change must not be implemented in the organization. In short the
force field analysis critically analyses the change and outlines its all the advantages and the
drawbacks.
The forces which supports the change are called the driving force because it promotes the
implementation of the change (Galvin and Clark, 2015). On the other hand the forces that
opposes the implementation of the change are referred to as the hindering forces because these
forces demoralise the implementation of the change within the organization. For example if
Tesco wants to purchase a new ERP software then the change manager first will analyse the
change in detail then it will bifurcate all the forces affecting the implementation of the change

into two different heads. One is the driving forces which supports and encourages the change
implementation and the other is the hindering forces which demotivate or discourage the
implementation of the change (Friedrich and Wüstenhagen, 2017).
3 Different barriers to change and their influence on leadership and decision making
The business works in the dynamic environment which keeps on changing frequently.
For implementing the changes the business has to make many efforts and hard work to
implement the changes within the organization. For this the organization has to face many
problems and difficulties. These difficulties or barriers to implementation of change are as
follows-
Fear of unfamiliarity- this is the major barrier to implement the change in the
organization. It means that the organization fears from implementing the changes because of the
reason that the change may impact the organization negatively. It may be possible that the
employees might resist in adopting to the changes effectively.
Lack of communication- this is yet another barrier. The communication may pose a
barrier to the implementation of the change because of the reason that it may be possible that
what the organization intends to change may be misinterpreted wrong by the organization. For
example the company wants to cut the cost of the working of the company. So there may be
chance that the employees may think that for cutting the cost there will be removal of employees
to cut the cost.
Lack of leadership- there are many a times possibility that there are less leaders to handle
the changes within the organization. This act as a barrier in the process of implementation of the
change because if the employees does not understand the change properly then they might resist
in accepting the change. In this situation there is a need of efficient leader who can make the
employee understand the effect of implementing the change.
4 Accomplishment of changes
The change is mandatory to be followed by all the organization whether they wish to do
or not to apply the required change within the organization (Soehner, 2015). Accomplishment of
change refers to as the fulfilment or implementation of the change within the organization. The
change can be successfully accomplished by using the following steps-

 The first step is to ensure that is there any requirement of the change, why do it needs to
be changed. After knowing the need the change is the next is to align the changes with
the goals and objectives of the business.
 The next step is to analyse the change with respect to the organization. This is done to
ensure that what will be the impact of implementing the changes.
 After assessing the impact the next step is to develop a communication strategy in which
the change will be communicated to the employees.
 After that some training will be provided to the employees which will help them in
implementing the change.
 The last step is to measure that whether the change has been appropriately implemented
or not.
5 Advantages and the disadvantages of various leadership approaches
For managing the organization successfully it is very necessary for the organization and
companies to have an effective leader and must work properly and efficiently (Henderson, Gulati
and Tushman, eds., 2015). For being a successful leader the person can follow the different types
of the leadership approaches. The various forms of the approaches of the leadership are
discussed in the following points-
Autocratic leadership approach- this is an approach of leadership wherein only the leader has
the decision making power. This is a leader centred style wherein the leader has all the
authorities with himself and he only instructs his subordinates and the followers.
Advantages
 Because only the leader has to take the decision so the decisions taken are very fast and
timely.
 Also because of the above reason that is single decision maker the work is done speedily
as the decisions are taken on time.
Disadvantages
 As the instructions and jobs are assigned by a single person so there are chances of
getting biased. The success of the organization is totally dependent on the efficiency of the leader. If the
leader is not efficient then it may be possible that the company may go in losses.

Laissez Faire approach of leadership- this is an approach which is completely opposite of the
above approach. In this approach the decision making power lies in the hands of the
subordinates. This approach follows the principles of delegation which allows the subordinates
to take the decisions.
Advantages
 It increases the efficiency of the employees because they are given the power to take the
decisions.
 It increases the morale of the employees and the subordinate as they feel superior and
privileged that they have the power (Hughes, 2016).
Disadvantages
 This approach reduces the involvement of the leader which may increase the differences
among the employees regarding the level of power with the employees.
 Because of the power the competition within the group also increases which is not good
for the company.
CONCLUSION
The environment is very dynamic and ever changing so the organization has to
continuously undergo many changes frequently. A change refers to the any variation in the
environment which affects the organizations working and operations. With the thorough study of
the above case study it can be concluded that managing change is very necessary and essential in
managing the business successfully. The report outlined many drivers of the change and its
impact on the organization. Further it discussed about application of the different model in
implementing change within the organization. Further it applied the force field analysis with
intention of analysing the factors which supports the changes. After that it analysed some of the
barriers of changes occurs while accomplishment of the changes. At last the report highlighted
some of the advantages and the disadvantages of the different leadership approaches.

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Online
Tesco to simplify operational structures, 2018 [ONLINE]. Available through:
<https://www.tescoplc.com/news/news-releases/2018/tesco-to-simplify-operational-structures/>