Vodafone: Understanding and Leading Change Report (Semester 1, 2024)

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Vodafone's approach to understanding and leading change. It begins with an introduction to the concept of change and its importance in the business environment, followed by a comparison of Vodafone's strategies and operations with Virgin Mobile, highlighting the impact of mergers and technological advancements. The report then delves into the internal and external drivers of change affecting leadership, individual, and team behavior within Vodafone, discussing resources, innovation, political and economic factors. Further, it evaluates measures to minimize the negative impacts of change, including organizational structure adjustments and technological integration. The report also explores barriers to change and their influence on leadership decision-making using force-field analysis and applies different leadership approaches to dealing with change, critically evaluating their effectiveness. The conclusion summarizes key findings and recommendations for effective change management within Vodafone, emphasizing the importance of adaptability and strategic planning.

UNDERSTANDING
AND LEADING
CHANGE

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1 & M1. Comparison of examples where there has been an impact of change on strategies
and operations.............................................................................................................................1
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................4
P2. Evaluation of ways in which internal and external drivers of change affect leadership,
individual and team behaviour....................................................................................................4
P3 & M2. Evaluation of measures that can be taken to minimise negative impacts of change
on organisational behaviour........................................................................................................7
D1. Conclusions and Recommendations for planning effectively for change............................8
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................9
P4 & M3. Different barriers for change and how they influence leadership decision making...9
D2. Critical Evaluation of use of Force-field Analysis in context of meeting organisational
objectives...................................................................................................................................11
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................12
P5 & M4. Application of different leadership approaches to dealing with change..................12
D3. Critical Evaluation of effectiveness of leadership approaches and models of change.......13
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................15

INTRODUCTION
Change refers to that phenomenon within a business environment which influences as
well as encourages an organisation to shift its operations as well as functions from one state to
another. In other words, change is the transition of a company from its current state to a new one.
It is an inevitable event which is necessary for an organisation to adopt in order to sustain
effectively in a dynamic and competitive environment. Furthermore, understanding and leading
change is important for a firm in order to ensure its long term sustainability within the
marketplace (Doppelt, 2017). The report below is based on Vodafone Plc, which is one of the
most recognised and respected telecommunication organisations within the UK. It is divided into
two parts where the first part covers introduction to the internal and external drivers and impacts
of change on organisational strategies and operations. Moreover, it also includes how change
affects leadership, individual as well as team behaviour. Furthermore, it involves a detailed
evaluation of how impact of change is minimised. In addition to this, the next part of the report
involves application of force field analysis to determine support and opposition for change and
the barriers of change influencing decision making and leadership. Moreover, it covers
application of different leadership approaches to deal with change effectively.
TASK 1
P1 & M1. Comparison of examples where there has been an impact of change on strategies and
operations
It is very crucial to understand the impact of change within a firm and its impact on their
strategies and operations. Moreover, this understanding could be better performed when impact
of change is evaluated on the operations and strategies of two organisation of similar industry.
This would help to gain knowledge about different ways in which change impacted these firms.
The two organisations which could be compared within the same are Vodafone as well as Virgin
Mobile.
Both the organisations have undergone change with respect to their respective mergers.
For instance, Vodafone is currently going through a major change after its merger with Idea,
another effective telecommunication organisation. In context with Virgin Mobile, the firm is
preparing itself for the merger of Sprint and T-Mobile (Boost, MetroPCS and Virgin to survive
merger with Sprint, T-Mobile executives promise, 2019). The former organisation operates this
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organisation and its merger will certainly leave heavy traces within the strategies and operations
of the organisation.
Below is the comparison of how change has these companies' strategies and operations:
CHANGES VODAFONE VIRGIN MOBILE
Organisational Structure Before the merger, the
organisation had a vertical
organisational structures with
several hierarchies within the
structure for each and every
department. However, quite
recently, Vodafone has
announced a new
organisational structure as part
of its strategy post merger. The
impact of this change on the
strategy is that it would help in
quicker decision making
within the company. This new
structure would be rather
horizontal, with reduced
hierarchies and simplified
governance structure
(Vodafone Announces New
Organisational Structure,
2019). The operations would
thus have a positive impact
due to better communication
as well as better management
structure which would provide
the organisation and its
employees with ease of
In context with Virgin Mobile,
the company operated with a
flexible organisational
structure where
interdepartmental
communication was quite
effective and each department
had a better control over the
operations due to better
interrelationships. However, in
terms of operations, the merger
of Sprint with T-Mobile would
reduce the flexibility within
the structure as a firm's control
would be exercised by the
leaders which would be quite
negative for the organisation.
Due to the same, such change
would also have a negative
impact on the organisation's
strategy and the firm would be
required to revise the same in
order to ensure a smooth
working within the
organisation (van der Voet,
Kuipers and Groeneveld,
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functioning within the market. 2015).
Technological Advancements Vodafone has always known
to be a tough and rather
competitive organisation in
terms of technology adopted
by the company. The firm
believed to employ latest
technological inputs in order to
give effective outputs to its
customers within the UK and
beyond. After the merger, the
scope of advancements have
widened seeing the sharing of
resources within both the
companies and better financial
capabilities. The merger has
these companies sign a deal
with International Business
Machines (IBM) regarding
bringing home the
technologies like Artificial
Intelligence and Internet of
Things (Vodafone Idea signs
multi-million dollar IT deal
with IBM, 2019). This change
of strategy has surely impacted
its operations as now the firm
could allow a better
accessibility to its customers in
relation to better connection
and smooth internet
In terms of technological
advancements, Virgin Mobile
previously adopted the
technologies which serves best
to its customers within the UK.
However, within the merger,
the firm, in order to stay
competitive would adopt the
strategy of employing latest
technologies within their
telecommunication network
like Automation and Network
Integration. This would have a
positive impact as far as the
strategy is concerned,
however, might have a
negative impact on the
operations as new techniques
related to training might
disrupt the management of the
organisational employees to
adopt these new technologies
(Glass and Cook, 2016).
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connectivity. Moreover,
internally, the firm would be
hiring new and effective
technical staff and provide
better training to the external
employees which would help
the firm in enhancing its
capabilities within the market.
TASK 2
P2. Evaluation of ways in which internal and external drivers of change affect leadership,
individual and team behaviour
Drivers of change refer to the forces within or outside an organisation which encourage
change within the company (Espedal, 2017). These drivers have a detailed impact on the
leadership, individual as well as team behaviour. Furthermore, each driver of change influences a
significant amount of transition within a firm which allows it to function even more effectively
within the market.
There are two drivers of change: internal as well as external driver. Within Vodafone,
these two drivers have an impact on leadership, individual as well as team behaviour. These
drivers of change, along with their impact are briefly discussed below:
Internal Drivers of Change Resources: One of the most prominent drivers of change is resources. The internal
resources of the organisation include employees, financial management, technologies,
etc. These resources facilitate change within a company and makes it necessary for the
firm to modify its operations to enhance the effectiveness of these resources within the
company. In context with Vodafone, each resource is analysed periodically and changes
are made in order to increase the performance of these elements within the functioning of
the company (Nelson‐Brantley and Ford, 2017). A positive impact of this driver is
witnessed upon the leadership as transformational leadership is adopted by the
organisation to deal with changes associated with its resources. For instance, the firm has
changed its strategy related to financial management post Brexit, where transformational
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leadership played a vital role in enhancing the performance of each resource effectively.
Changes taken in such cases also influence the individual and team behaviour within the
company. For example, the merger induced a change within the organisational structure
which caused resistance within the employees and their morale. Individual and team
behaviour were not positive in relation to this change, as new ways of working have been
introduced in the company for these staff to operate within the new structure (Komives,
2016).
 Innovation: Another aspect which is a prominent driver for change within the company
is innovation. Each organisation is required to innovate its ways, processes and
operations to ensure a long term sustainability within the market. Vodafone, in order to
guarantee its strong position within the market for next few years, have been consistent in
working towards innovating its processes and technologies by introducing Artificial
Intelligence through implementation of chatbots and Integrated Security Service to ensure
safety data (Innovating with Vodafone, 2019). Such innovation affects leadership in a
very positive manner as leaders are required to lead the whole organisation towards new
innovations and processes. However, such innovations could have a positive as well as a
negative impact on all individual and team behaviour. A sense of pressure could be
experienced by individuals and teams to adopt unique ways and work with new
equipments related to the innovation that is planned by the organisation. However, in
terms of team behaviour, a positive impact could also be witnessed with respect to the
innovation. For instance, the returns for which innovations are subjected within the
company could help in increasing morale of employees within Vodafone and enhance
their acceptance and performance.
External Drivers of Change Political Drivers: As far as this driver is concerned, political scenario prevailing within a
nation influences functions and strategies of companies operating within that particular
environment. Within the United Kingdom, each organisation has been suffering from the
aftermath of Brexit, which is an event where UK government signed a referendum to exit
the European Union. This event brought in quite an evident and substantial political
instability within the country and the firms operating within the same. Vodafone, like
many other MNC's were hit back with this event which caused the firm several effective
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changes in their working. This change had a negative impact on leadership as they were
responsible in making the structure of the firm way too flexible to retain their employees
and ensure sustainability of the firm within the uncertain scenario. Furthermore, this
change had also a negative influence on individual and team behaviour as with drastic
and uncertain changes, individuals and teams too experienced a heavy lack in their job
securities in the firm (Alvesson and Sveningsson, 2015). Economical Drivers: These drivers undertake changes in relation to the economic
performance within the country and its impact on the leadership, individual as well as
team behaviour. In context with Vodafone, after Brexit, the country experienced a
downfall in its currency which led to various multinational corporations shutting down.
In addition to this, Vodafone too experienced loss of income and liquidity, which induced
the firm, which induced several changes in their operations and strategies. As far as
leadership is concerned, this change had a negative influence on the same as there has
been a constant pressure and hardships faced by the leaders of the company to retain the
staff despite their worsening economic condition. As far as individual and team
behaviour is concerned, the changes in economic front of the business had both positive
and negative impact. For instance, economic condition of the company affected its niche
markets like UK and Asia, which encouraged the company in merging with firms like
Idea. This allowed the firm in expanding its economic performance. However, on the
negative end, unsettling and downgrading economic performance negatively impacted the
behaviour of individuals and teams in terms of not getting enough financial gains for their
performances (Iles, 2017). Social Drivers: These drivers undertake the social trends which introduces the need to
change in a company. With social and cultural integrations prevailing within the overall
world, customers want services which help them to communicate overseas with ease.
This is perhaps one of the most influential drivers of change for Vodafone. It has a
positive impact on leadership, individual as well as team behaviour. As for leadership, it
would allow management of the firm to employ individuals from different cultures and
work towards providing effective and culturally integrated services to its customers. In
addition to this, this change would also have a positive impact on individual and team
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behaviour as they would be experiencing cultural exposure, along with more
opportunities to grow.
 Technological Drivers: These drivers are related to technology and are almost inevitable
in operations of a company. With rise in technology and its easy access across UK,
Vodafone opted to change its technological inputs and adopt new ones as per the market
demand. This had a positive influence on leadership as leaders trained the employees in
relation to adoption of new technologies. However, there might be resistance at
individual level as it could be sometimes hard to adopt new technologies to work.
However, group behaviour is usually positive as employees within a team experience
collective transition (Hughes, 2016).
P3 & M2. Evaluation of measures that can be taken to minimise negative impacts of change on
organisational behaviour
Within any company, there could be scenario where negative impact of changes could be
more than that of positive. This enhances resistance of the employees within the organisation
regarding future changes and makes them reluctant to their standard ways of working. Within
Vodafone, the principle change which is being focused upon is its merger with Idea Cellular
which would have several impacts within its UK as well as Asian Markets. However, it is utmost
necessary for the company to deal with change in an effective manner and reduce the negative
impact of this change. There are several measures which could be taken by the firm in order
achieve the same. Some of these factors are mentioned below: Communication: The first and foremost measure for the organisation to reduce negative
impact of change is communication. Any change, whether small or big, causes resistance
within the firm and disrupts the management. This lead to ineffective performance and
inappropriate growth. To ensure that such impacts reduce, the most appropriate measure
which the organisation could undertake is to communicate the change to its employees
which would help them in keeping up with the consistency of their positive behaviour.
Furthermore, this would also allow the organisation in enhancing their performance
during change within the company.
 Training: Another measure which could be used by Vodafone in reducing the negative
impact of change on organisational behaviour is through training their employees. This
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would allow them learn new methods and techniques to operate when firm undergoes
change.
Apart from this, it is also essential for an organisation to respond to changes happening
within its structure effectively. It is a necessary approach which would allow Vodafone to deal
with the change in an appropriate way. To attain the same, PDCA Model could be utilised, which
is discussed below: Plan: The very first step in responding to change is planning. This requires Vodafone to
identify their problems as well as analyse the overall market in order to determine all
opportunities which exist within the market with respect to the organisation. All the
required resources, methods, data as well as information which is required for the
company to introduce change within its structure, functions, operations and strategies. Do: Next step for Vodafone is to develop several projects in response to change. This
requires them to train and educate their employees, acquire new resources and methods,
formulate the company's policies, etc. All the strategies and processes which were
devised in planning stage would each be implemented within this stage. As an example,
the strategy of modifying the organisational structure and making it more horizontal
would be implemented in this phase. Check: As the name suggests, the third stage is related to evaluation of effectiveness of
each strategy which is implemented in previous stage. This is a major step which is
important for the company to follow if it needs to cope up and respond towards change in
an effective manner. For this, Vodafone could set up several standards for each of its
changed operations and strategies. Further, the organisation could set up targets. If
achieved, the firm would continue over the strategies and processes, else, it would create
a deviation. This would require the organisation to modify the same in order to achieve
the set standards (Edwards-Groves and et. al., 2019).
 Act: After evaluation, Vodafone would be determining that which plan is most effective
in response to change and out of the all the devised strategies and processes the firm
would be adopting the most apt strategy for the change.
D1. Conclusions and Recommendations for planning effectively for change
It is highly crucial that a company, which is undergoing change plan the same effectively.
To attain this, the organisation must effectively communicate the change as well as apply a
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stepwise approach to deal with the same. As for recommendations, Vodafone must introduce
small and gradual changes that could lead to a bigger change in future that could benefit the firm.
Furthermore, it is also necessary that each step is required to be taken with respect to introduce
healthy practices and best performances during and after change.
However, the firm must also perform Change Impact Analysis to evaluate the impact
effectively. This analysis is mentioned below:
 Determination of the extent to which change is proposed.
 Identification of key differences in transited state than that of the state of origin.
 Emphasis on the possible effects of differences.
 Prioritisation of possible effects.
 Decision making and Action.
TASK 3
P4 & M3. Different barriers for change and how they influence leadership decision making
There are several barriers which is experienced by an organisation during organisational
change. It is essential for an organisation to analyse the same in order to ensure a better approach
in responding towards change. Some of these barriers and their influence of leadership decision-
making is discussed below: Ineffective Communication: One of the most potential barriers to change is when
organisation lack in necessary and essential communication within its structure. For
instance, if Vodafone's top management takes up decision of its merger with Idea without
informing its staff, the firm would be experiencing a resistance and probably backlash
related to the change. This would hinder its approach towards change and might lead to
ineffective implementation of the same. In order to overcome the barrier, an integrated
communications system must be utilised by the organisation which would allow the firm
in enhancing effectiveness of its communication channel.
 Lack of Commitment towards Change: Another barrier towards change is the lack of
commitment. For example, employees within Vodafone might be accustomed to working
in a certain manner, which would be modified or altered after change within its structure,
like the merger. This might reduce the commitment of employees towards change with a
fear of their uncertain and ineffective future performance, thus, causing a barrier for the
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organisation to implement change. The firm must introduce educational and training
programmes within their organisation which would allow them to integrate their vision
with their subordinates effectively (Yardley and et. al., 2016).
To effectively understand driving and resisting forces towards change, the firm could use
Force-Field analysis model which is mentioned below:
FORCE FIELD ANALYSIS was proposed by Kurt Lewin in 1940s. The idea behind this
model is to maintain equilibrium between forces that drive change and other that resist it. This
tool is useful for making decision.
There are several steps to create and equilibrium between forces: Describe plan: The plan of the firm is to become biggest telecom operator, the
Vodafone-Idea merger would be biggest merger in sector. The vision is to meet the
aspirations and empowering youth (Burke, 2017). Identify forces for change: driving forces work towards goal or objectives. These are
positive forces that facilitate change:
▪ Competition: competition facilitates relationship with decision-making to
compete with each other for best results and prevent competitor to choose first.
Competing in competitive environment and use it to make reliable decision
affects decision-making.
▪ Customer Preferences: to keep up with the changing taste and preferences of
customer company has to increase their capabilities and must adapt to changes.
Decision-making is required to put together all relevant marketing strategies to
yield good and high results.
▪ Technology: this will have an impact on company as it will force changes in basic
managerial functions this will in return increase responsibility on decision-making
for management to lead outcomes. Identifying restraining forces: they tend to block or limit the driving forces:
▪ Existing Organisational Structure: it divides operations into departments to create
efficiency in process and empower managers to compare productive and
administrative performance with company goal and this influence decision
making to better focus on results.
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