HNBS 317: An Analysis of Understanding and Leading Change Report

This report, based on HNBS 317, delves into the multifaceted aspects of organizational change and leadership. It begins by examining the impact of change on organizational strategy and operations, using ASDA Stores Limited as a case study. The report explores the drivers of change, both internal and external, and their influence on leadership, team, and individual behaviors. It evaluates measures to mitigate the negative impacts of change and applies theoretical models to analyze organizational responses. Furthermore, the report analyzes different barriers to meeting organizational objectives, utilizing force field analysis to understand how these barriers influence leadership decision-making. Finally, it assesses various leadership approaches to dealing with change, evaluating their effectiveness through appropriate models and frameworks. The report provides a comprehensive overview of change management strategies and their practical applications.

HNBS 317 Understanding
and Leading Change

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1. Different organisational examples where there has been an impact of change on an
organisation’s strategy and operations.........................................................................................1
M1. The different drivers for change in each of the given examples and the types of
organisational change they have affected....................................................................................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................4
P2. Internal and external drivers of change affect leadership, team and individual behaviours
within an organisation..................................................................................................................4
P3. Evaluation of measures that can be taken to minimise negative impacts of change on
organisational behaviour..............................................................................................................6
M2. Appropriation of theory and model to evaluate organisational response to change............8
D1.Conclusions and recommendations with valid justifications for planning effectively for
change and applying change impact analysis..............................................................................8
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................9
P4. Different barriers for meeting organisational objectives. change and determine how they
influence leadership decision making..........................................................................................9
M3. Usage of force field analysis to analyse the driving and resisting forces and show how
they influence decision-making.................................................................................................11
D2. Evaluation of the use of force field analysis to meet organisational objectives.................12
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................12
P5. Application of different leadership approaches to dealing with change .............................12
M4. Evaluation of the the extent to which leadership approaches can deliver organisational
change effectively applying appropriate models and frameworks............................................15
D3 Critical evaluation of the effectiveness of leadership approaches and models of change
management...............................................................................................................................15
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................15
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................17

INTRODUCTION
The concept of change has became a general notion which is considered as an useful
aspect that leads towards development (Aspling and Drewell, 2013). Organisational change
involves procedures related to changing organisational technologies, strategies, culture,
processes, work structure and many more. Management authorities of any company carefully
understands all circumstances, plans actions in such manner that helps in leading changes with
the purpose to gain beneficiary outcomes. The report is based on ASDA Stores Limited which is
chain of retail supermarket whose head office are situated at Leeds, United Kingdom. Such
company delivers numerous products as well as services such as clothing, fresh food, banking
along with insurance services across the national boundaries. The report discusses about ways in
which change impacts on organisational operations as well as strategies. It also includes
influences that are drivers of change have on organisational behaviour. It further includes the
ways barriers of change influences leadership decision making along with application of
leadership approaches to change initiatives.
TASK 1
P1. Different organisational examples where there has been an impact of change on an
organisation’s strategy and operations.
Organisations performs various operations in order to deliver quality products to the
market with the aim to achieve sustainable development for longer time period. In an external
market environment, several changes takes place that hampers work structure of any company.
At the same time, various precautions are formulated as well as implemented with the managers
of the firm to deal with changes. For instance, top organisations not only adopt innovative
technologies but also upgrade them time to time as per the requirements of changes in the
emerging market. It is very important for the managers of the company to build effective
strategies that helps in acceptance of change in such manner that results in growth in
international market (Benke and Miller, 2013). Management authorities of ASDA Stores Limited
understands the changes in context to changes in preferences or demands of consumers and
accordingly frames strategies that encourages delivery of products and lead towards change. The
changes in external environment impacts on strategies and operations of the company. Changes
results in different impact such as positive or negative at workplaces. For example, if managers
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of ASDA Stores Limited implements any change in context to strategy or operation then it
impacts on efficiency, productivity and growth of the company. If managers adopt any new
techniques to deliver products then they recruits workforce and formulates effective strategy
such as delivering online services that provides convenience in shopping to clients as well as
operations can be performed in smoother manner. Hence, such change benefits organisation to
cater services to distant locations that results in increasing sales of the products along with
market shares in competitive market. Similarly, management of selected company has
implemented various strategies along with making necessary changes in the existing strategies in
context to operations performed by workforce. They formulated uniform strategies and
development policies for their staff members that results in rebuilding organisational image
because of changed regulations.
Some of the changes between ASDA Stores Limited and Morrisons that impacted on
organisational strategies and operations.
Basis of Comparison ASDA Stores Limited Morrisons
Structural changes Top level management of ASDA Stores
Limited has adopted divisional
organisational structure by changing
from line organisational structure
(Blewitt, 2012). Earlier, when line
organisational structure was used the
decision making powers were in the
hands of few people only but in
divisional organisational structure, the
complete organisational activities are
divided into various departments such
as human resource, marketing,
operational, sales, finance and so on
that resulted in taking wise decisions by
consulting with departmental members.
This change has resulted in huge
impact strategies along with operations
Management of Morrisons
company has eliminated
various levels in their
hierarchy that resulted in
adoption of flat organisational
structure which encompasses
minimum levels of
management. It resulted in
enhancement of coordination
of activities and at the same
time increased burden on
internal management to take
vital decisions.
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of the company.
Changes on strategy The marketers of ASDA Stores Limited
had adopted penetrating pricing
strategy to increase sales volume of
different products. As to remain in the
competition, such marketers along with
managers have switched to another
strategy that is bundle pricing strategy.
Using such strategy, multiple products
are offered to clients in bundle along
with affordable pricing structure that
helps in attracting numerous market
audiences, retaining old clients by
building strong relationships. Thus,
such change impacts on organisational
strategy at great extent.
The managers of Morrisons
company were following
premium pricing strategy in
which their prices of products
were high than competitors.
But with the change in time
period and understanding
customer perceptions, the
organisation has changed it
strategy to penetrating pricing
strategy in which they set
relative low prices during
initial offerings that helps in
attracting customers towards
new or existing products as
well as increasing profit
margin. Hence, such change
impacted on strategy of the
company (Chang, 2014).
Changes in operation With the growing population,
executives of ASDA Stores Limited
has changed its operations from
providing products at stores to
delivering online services. In context to
this, they have increased various
operations such as supply chain,
management of inventory and so on
that increased burden on staff force
abut benefited in satisfying demands of
Managers of Morrisons have
also changed their operational
activities from delivering
products within 7 days to
delivering in 2 days at distant
locations or faster delivery
options. Such change
impacted on workforce as
well as organisational
operations at large extent.
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the customers.
M1. The different drivers for change in each of the given examples and the types of
organisational change they have affected.
Areas of change in context to any organisation includes mission, culture, workflows,
operations, branding, employees, strategies and so on. In relevance to ASDA Stores Limited
drivers of change are organisational structure, strategy, people and operations. There are
numerous types of internal factors for example invest opportunities, communication level
effectiveness, strategic risks, and many more that plays important function in determining
organisational strengths as well as weaknesses (Driscoll, 2017). On other hand, types of external
factors includes political factors, technological factors and so on. All these internal and external
drivers results in change that affects various aspects for example working system, performance
and hence forth.
TASK 2
P2. Internal and external drivers of change affect leadership, team and individual behaviours
within an organisation.
External drivers: These are the external driving forces that occur outside of an
organisation and are not in control of the company. They include changes in technology, political
factors, competition, customer requirement etc. It also considers PEST analysis i.e. political,
economical, social, technological factors which can affect leadership, team and individual
behaviour of people working at ASDA Stores Limited.
Political Factors: These factors determine the extent to which government can influence
practices of an organisation or a specific industry. They include governmental & trading policy,
corruption, trade tariffs, political stability, taxation policies etc. If local authorities have changed
some rules & regulations for retail industry then it will directly impact ASDA Stores Limited as
they will need to comply with them. Along with this they have to change their existing strategies
and implement them in a way that it is understandable to employees. These will not only impact
the organisation as a whole but also to leadership, team and individual behaviour of both
employees as well as customers (Dudar, Scott and Scott, 2017). The company is advised to
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maintain political stability by complying with rules & regulations made by government to remain
in competition.
Economical Factors: These factors determine economic performance of an organisation
which can directly or indirectly affect the activities of a business enterprise. They include
inflation, foreign exchange, interest rates, economical trends etc. When budgets are prepared
considering inflation rates, the estimated amount allocated to the organisation rises immediately.
Due to which ASDA Stores Limited will have to prepare a forecast and assign funds to each
department like production, manufacturing, sales etc. in order to function better & maintain its
position in the industry. With rise in internation trade market, the company is required to address
needs & requirements of people by considering leadership patterns, team work and individual
behaviour of a person or society.
Social Factors: These are the factors that focus on the emerging or social trends in
market. They include factors like cultural trends, change in lifestyle or attitude of a person,
demographics, education levels etc. With changing patterns, ASDA Stores Limited must
consider as well as focus on demand & requirement of product an individual needs. To cope up
with changing business environment, the company should produce goods catering to all groups
in the society. Social factors not only impact organisational goals but also considers leadership
style, team and individual response of clients.
Technological Factors: These factors pertain to innovation & development in
technology by considering various environmental factors like research & development, emerging
up-gradations in technology etc. ASDA Stores Limited goes in line with any new technological
changes in the society by updating their own products & services like coming up with BOGO
offers, modifying the packaging of goods, making the products in every size etc (Götz, 2012).
This will help the company to stand out in front of the crowd by marking up a position in the
society as well as in minds of people. These will also impact leadership style adopted by an
organisation, individual behaviour of employees & customers or team work of various
departments.
Internal drivers: Internal factors are referred to the situations that can be under
controlled by organisational managers and arises within boundaries of the company. Such drivers
are considered as strengths, threats, weaknesses and opportunities that helps in making higher
profits and image in dynamic market. The SWOT analysis of ASDA Stores Limited as follows:
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Strengths Weaknesses
 ASDA Stores Limited delivers multiple
range of products as well as services to
customers living at distant places.
 The managers of such company time to
time takes feedback from customers
and plans further actions.
 The brand has attained a sustainable
position with the help of mergers and
acquisitions with other companies.
 ASDA Stores Limited lacks innovation
along with research and developmenty
as compared to its competitor such as
Tesco, Marks & Spencer and so on.
 The company has restrictive capability
to enter into emerging market due to
the fear of local vendors.
 Such organisation has less global
presence when compared with
competitors.
Opportunities Threats
 The company has opportunity to
venture into developing market such as
India and China (Hruška, 2015).
 ASDA Stores Limited can expand their
operations in new areas such as
furniture, opticians and so on.
 Currency fluctuations, changes in
business cycle, different liability,
employment legislations in other
countries are some of the threats to the
company.
 Price war with competitive retailers is
another threat associated with the
organisation.
P3. Evaluation of measures that can be taken to minimise negative impacts of change on
organisational behaviour.
Organisational managers formulate strategies to accept changes that helps in achieving
sustainable position in the competitive market. Executives of ASDA Stores Limited accept
changes with the help of implementing strategies that enhances motivational level of employees
to accept change and achieve organisational objectives. To minimise the negative impacts of
changes on behaviours of organisation the managers of such firm should adopt the concept of
Burke Letwin Model. The description of such model are as follows:
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Burke Letwin Model: Such model is a combination of twelve elements that helps in
minimising negative implications of change at workplace (Burke Letwin model. 2019). The
elements are as described:
External environment: The top level management along with marketing team of ASDA
Stores Limited carefully analyses the external factors such as economic conditions, competition,
legislation, technological advancements and other factors by understanding their impacts and
performs actions accordingly (Lewis and Allen, 2015).
Mission and strategy: This element describes goals along with future objectives that are
to be attained by workforce of ASDA Stores Limited. Such aspects are framed by executives and
help them in maintaining strong competitive position by minimising negative influence of any
change at organisational behaviours.
Leadership: Selected firm has adopted leadership style associated with task oriented that
helps leaders to maintain cooperation and performing operations in smooth manner by
eliminating negative impacts of change on employees.
Organisational culture: Internal managers adopts organisational culture of ASDA
Stores Limited by implementing same regulations, manners, practices, rules as well as principles
for all staff members that plays significant function in minimizing negative effects of any change
in firms behaviour.
Structure: The retailing chain applies divisional organisational structure in which
recognisable departments as well as formal communication channels plays significant function of
minimising negative impacts on employees behaviour.
System: The management authorities of ASDA Stores Limited have implemented
policies, mechanisms along with procedures that supports employees, facility departments as
well as internal customer support that helps in reducing negative implications of change on
employees as well as organisational behaviours.
Management practices: It is all about managers activities, responsibilities and
behaviours that are important for implementing overall strategies. The management of ASDA
Stores Limited performs practices in order to optimum resource utilisation along with effective
relationship management that are important to deal with negative impacts of any change at
workplace.
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Working Climate: The working climate of ASDA Stores Limited is associated with
cooperation between workforce, rewarding facilities, employee experience and hence forth.
Providing favourable working climate to staff members reduces impacts of change on business.
Task and skill: Such element encompasses job description alignment as well as
requirements of tasks with expertise of staff member. Placing efficient employees with effective
skill for the desired task helps recruitment team of ASDA Stores Limited to deal with negative
effects of change.
Values and needs of individual: Human resource department of such company
understand and meet the demands or expectations of workforce in context to compensation,
responsibilities, work life balance and their role at workplace helps the organisation to carefully
manage impacts of changes (Lorg, 2018).
Motivational level: this type of element is associated with setting objectives as well as
stimulating employees to improve their motivational level to accept the change that will lead the
business in reducing negative impacts of change on organisational behaviours.
General along with individual performance: Such element considers performance
level of individual employee at departmental level as well as organisational level. Such
performances are measured by managers of chosen business by considering turnovers,
efficiency, productivity, customer satisfaction, quality requirement and many more. The higher
performance level indicates the sign of reduced impacts of change on organisational behaviours.
Thus, adoption of such change model ensures successful change at workplace by
reducing negative consequences of change on employee as well as organisational behaviours.
M2. Appropriation of theory and model to evaluate organisational response to change.
To evaluate the organisational response towards change, management of the company
should apply concept of Burke Letwin Model that will help in understanding as well as
interrelated relationship between twelve elements that are motivation level, mission and strategy,
management practices, task and skill, external environment, individual needs and values,
organisational structure, working climate, individual as well as general performance, system and
many more. If all these elements are effectively applied at workplace then they helps managers
to reduce the impacts of changes on organisational responses.
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D1.Conclusions and recommendations with valid justifications for planning effectively for
change and applying change impact analysis.
By examining the organisational changes, it has been concluded that changes plays
essential function in developing organisation at competitive market. The key drivers of changes
impacts on structure, operation along with strategies of ASDA Stores Limited. In order to deal
with changes it has been recommended to provide training as well as development programmes
to employees that help will help in enhancement of skills as well as knowledge. It will further
help in planning activities in effective manner at the time of change (McColgan, 2013). The
another recommendation to managers is that they should communicate necessary information
regarding changed strategies that will help in analysis and understanding impacts of changes.
Managers of the company should apply Burke Letwin Model to deal with negative results of
change on workplace.
TASK 3
P4. Different barriers for meeting organisational objectives. change and determine how they
influence leadership decision making
Any kind of change in an organisation including requires implementation of such
alterations on the part of management as well as its acceptance on the part of their employees. At
its core, ASDA considers its workforce as a driving force behind the corporate performance and
success achieved by the company over the years. It is important for the management to decide
whether to take a pre-emptive and proactive or responsive and reactive pathways for introducing
change in the organisation. This is mainly dependent on the type of change, its magnitude in
terms of how many departments or organisational levels it is deemed to impact play an important
role. Thus, implementation of change and decision-making go hand-in-hand. Keeping this in
mind, different barriers to change and its causation on leadership decision-making have been
analysed through the analysis of a theoretical framework (NHS England, 2016). This has been
explained as under:
 Barriers to Change:
Bringing about organisational change has never been that easy for any business manager.
In the context of given case scenario, ASDA's management needs to first identify the critical
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areas that may be affected directly as well as indirectly by introducing alteration to the existing
system. These may be classified in the following manner:
 Fear of Unknown:
These barriers arise at an individual level and may relate to the human nature of fearing a
change. Such resistance may include acquired or developed habits, parochial self-interests,
misunderstanding, economic implications as well as low tolerance of change. This is due to the
fact that employees get comfortable with the existing systems so much that they fear that any
type of new alterations may result in deprivation of programmed responses that assist in dealing
wit life's complexities. Also, developing job insecurities is another rationale which gives rise to
change resistance within individuals. For instance, recently, ASDA faced loss of paid breaks due
to introduction of Flexible Contract which created an uproar among its workforce comprising
60% of employees who opted against this arrangement (Short-Changing Staff, 2019). This was
mainly due to the fact that uncertainty arose among the staff, specifically women, which resulted
in increasing resistance to change for ASDA Stores Limited management to deal with.
 Shifting Structures:
Such barriers arise due to structural inertia that may cause upheaval in the existing balance or
stability maintained in an organisation. Changing how people perform the tasks assigned to them
may cause problems and resulting in creating a resistant force across various organisational
levels affected due to such shift. For instance, in 1991, ASDA suffered financial trouble which
forced their board of directors to bring in external help from Archie Norman and Allan Leighton.
These individuals challenged then existing chain of command by directly interacting with store-
level employees rather than managers who were supposed to receive an advance notice before
such visits (Campaigning for Change, 2019). As a result, subordinate power increased in such
times and reduced the influential hierarchy on a temporary basis.
 Force Field Analysis Model:
This concept was introduced by Kurt Lewin in 1940s. According to this framework, it is
crucial for the management to weigh the driving as well as restraining forces which are related to
the organisational changes. The term 'Force Field' includes interaction between two forces viz.
Forces For Change and Forces Against Change. These have been depicted in the illustration
below:
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