Change Management Report: Woolworths and Self-Service Kiosk System

This report examines Woolworths' implementation of self-service kiosks as a change management strategy to improve customer service, reduce costs, and enhance revenue. It discusses the rationale behind the change, highlighting issues with the traditional self-service system and the benefits of the kiosk system, such as improved ordering and checkout processes. The report applies Kotter's, Lewin's, and the ADKAR change management theories to analyze the implementation process, addressing potential challenges like employee resistance and the importance of communication and leadership. Ultimately, the report recommends strategies for Woolworths to successfully integrate the new system and achieve its objectives. Desklib offers a wealth of similar solved assignments and past papers to aid students in their studies.

Running head: CHANGE MANAGEMENT
Organizational Change Management
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

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Executive Summary
This current report deals with the implementation of a new change in the context of
Woolworths. However, Woolworths wants to improve their self-service system by
introducing retail self-service kiosk. This automated self-service system is helpful to
reduce error and the cost of manual handling. This system improves the ordering and
checkout system in Woolworths. It has been received that the self-service kiosk is an
effective way to maximize the customer experience along with the profit. Moreover, this
system allows the customers to order product when they are not present in the stock.
Besides the advantages self-service kiosk has some disadvantages. The installation
cost is high and it reduces the need of workforce in an organization. On the other hand,
sudden failure of the machine is another drawback of this system. Apart from this it can
be said that implementation of self-service kiosk will be beneficial for Woolworths to
improve the customer satisfaction level and the revenue.

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction....................................................................................................................4
2. Case description............................................................................................................4
3. Literature on the case study..........................................................................................5
3.1Concept of change management..............................................................................5
3.2 Application of the theories........................................................................................6
3.3 Impact of the change management on Woolworths................................................9
3.4 Analysis of the success and failure of the proposed change................................10
4. Recommendations.......................................................................................................11
5. Conclusion...................................................................................................................12
References.......................................................................................................................13

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1. Introduction
Change is required for every organization to retain the old customers and to
cover the new customers. In order to attract the customers towards the organization
implementation of the new changes in the customer service system is required
(Rosenbaum et al. 2018). Use of technology is helpful to bring changes in an
organization. In the recent years customers are modern and technology oriented. Thus
they prefer quick service from the organization. At present online retailing has been
growing rapidly to satisfy the market demand. Customers prefer online support rather
than the traditional retailing. Woolworths is seeking to adopt new changes in their
organization to satisfy their customers by using modern technology. In order to serve a
better customer service Woolworths needs to establish a self service kiosk in their
stores. This study deals with the change management through the implementation of
self service kiosk in Woolworths.
2. Case description
Woolworths is the eminent retail sector in Australia. They provide groceries and
other retail products to the customers. However, in the recent years Woolworths has
been facing customer service issues. The customers often fail to communicate with the
appropriate department regarding their issues and they have to wait to order product via
online (News.com.au 2018). Apart from this the check out is another issues that is faced
by the Woolworth’s customers. In order to deal with this issue Woolworths has decided
to introduce a change in their organization by introducing self service kiosk
(Woolworths.com.au 2018). Kiosk is a computer terminal includes specialized hardware
and software to provide access to information and application for commerce and
communication. In Australia many retail sectors focus to utilize the technology to
maximize the customers’ experience. Woolworths needs to implement self-service kiosk
as it will enable the customers to order from a shop catalog when the products are not
present in the stock. Therefore, this self service system allows them to deal with issues
regarding the online transaction.

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The traditional self-service check-out includes transaction via cash. This system
is not appropriate and leads the organization to face theft and loss. By using Kiosk self-
service system they will be able to improve their check out process through
implementing a cashless system (Hayes 2018). The major benefit of Woolworths which
comes through kiosk is the improvement in ordering system. The customers will be able
to order their product when they are not present in the stock, which is a big opportunity
for the customers. This scope will enhance the customer experience and influence the
customers to purchase products from this organization. Such self service kiosk allows
Woolworths to carry out self service check out, self ready packaging and automated
ordering system. This automated self service system will help Woolworths to reduce
their annual wages burden. As per the IBIS report Woolworths has increased 1.5% that
is $8.3 billion in the year 2016 by using self-service system. Hence, incorporation of
kiosk will improve the traditional self-service system as well as maximize the revenue.
Such change in Woolworths is effective to attract their customers by fulfilling their
needs. An improved and modern customer service is established by this self-service
system, which increases the customer numbers and improves the brand image of this
organization.
3. Literature on the case study
3.1Concept of change management
Change management refers to a critical discipline of the organization to improve
the likelihood of success and the return on investment. In order to maximize the benefit
and to attract the customers change management is crucial (Van der Voet and
Vermeeren 2017). Change management makes the employees flexible with the new
environment. In the recent years maximum business organizations are focusing on
implementing new changes in their existing system to attract customers. However,
Australian retail sector focuses on implementing new technical system to give a better
customer service to the individuals. In the context of Woolworths it has been seen that
they have established self service to satisfy their customers. However, the traditional
self-service process was not effective to give excellent customer service. Woolworths

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has faced huge loss due to the traditional self-service system. In order to deal with this
issue they have decided to implement self-service kiosk. This proposed change
management system will allow this organization to improve their ordering system and
checkout system. The customers will get a better experience from this self-service kiosk
system. The major objective of this self-service system is to attract the customers and to
enhance the profit. By improving the ordering system Woolworths will be able to
enhance their revenue and by providing modern checkout system they will be able to
attract the customers.
3.2 Application of the theories
3.2.1 Kotter’s Change Management Theory
Several theories are associated with the change management process. One of
the vital theories is Kotter’s change management theory. This theory highlights the
reason of changes in an organization (Rajan and Ganesan 2017). Therefore, How to
implement a change successfully can be analyzed by using this theory. This theory
includes eight steps through which the change can be implemented successfully. The
first step is the creation of a sense of urgency. In order to implement the proposed
change Woolworths needs to create a sense of urgency among the employees, which
will motivate them to accept the new changes in an organization. The next step is to
build a team. In the context of Woolworths they need to build a team to establish a self-
service kiosk. However, skilled employees are required to operate this technical
process. A change can be implemented successfully by selecting knowledge, skill and
commitment (Teixeira et al. 2017).
The third step of the change management is to create a vision. In order to meet
the change management plan it is important to create a vision regarding the change
(Doppelt 2017). In the context of Woolworths the vision helps this organization to share
the importance of change in this organization, which will lead the employees to develop
a clear idea regarding the new change. The next step is to communicate with the vision.
After creating a vision it is crucial to communicate with the vision. Communicate with the
vision refers to communicate with the employees regarding the change. Woolworths

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need to communicate with the employees to reveal the benefits of the new self-service
kiosk for the organization. The next step is get things moving. In order to get thing
moving Woolworths needs to get support from the staffs and remove the barriers from
the implementation of the change management process. Many barriers will come during
the implementation of the proposed change. One of the major barriers is the employee
resistance. Often the employees do not accept the new change in an organization (Levy
2018). Hence, Woolworths needs to deal with the barriers while implementing self-
service kiosk. Therefore, Woolworths needs to focus on the short-term goal rather than
the long-term goal. This will help them to implement the change properly and to gain
success quickly. Therefore, Woolworths should not give up while proposing and
implementing the new changes in their organization. The last step is to reinforce the
change. However, besides implementing the change Woolworths needs to incorporate
the change into the workplace culture.
Figure 1: Kotter Change Management Model
(Source: Doppelt 2017)

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3.2.2 Lewin’s Change Management theory
Lewin’s change management theory is one of the most popular theories that is
followed by many organizations. This theory includes three steps include unfreeze,
change and refreeze. In unfreeze step the preparation of the change is discussed
(Endrejat et al. 2017). By applying this step Woolworths needs to get prepared for the
proposed change. In this step Woolworths wants to share the necessity to change the
existing system in this organization. It has been found that the old self-service system
was not effective and it led the organization to face loss. Thus, it is crucial to make
change in the self-service system. The second step is the change step in which the
change or real transition takes place. This step is time consuming and the staffs of an
organization need to embrace new things in this phase.
In the context of Woolworths they are going to implement a self-service kiosk in
their organization to improve the customer service. In order to give shape this change
Woolworths needs to manage proper resources that include both financial resources
and workforce. One of the most important things in this phase is the good leadership.
To embrace a change in an organization a good leadership is required. In the context of
Woolworths both the internal and external stakeholders should involve in this change
management process. Therefore adoption of the transformational leadership will be
effective to embrace the change as transformational leadership is effective to
communicate with the change management process (Rosenbaum et al. 2018). The last
step of this model is the refreeze step. After the implementation of the change in an
organization it is important for an organization to make the change stable. In this step
the proper monitoring is required and the staffs need to go back to their previous
routine. In Woolworths after implementation of self-service kiosk they need to monitor
this process to understand its effectiveness.
3.2.3 ADKAR theory
ADKAR theory is goal oriented tool to reveal the change management process.
According to this theory the organization needs to focus on those specific activities that
directly related to the change objectives (Gilani et al. 2017). This model includes five

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steps. The first step is the awareness that highlights to generate awareness among the
employees regarding the importance of the change in an organization. Woolworths has
to define the change and to create awareness among the employees. The next step is
desire that means to bring the change and involve in this change management process.
In the context of Woolworths every stakeholder needs to participate in the change
management process.
However, it is important to share knowledge while implementing change in an
organization (Smuts et al. 2017). Woolworths needs to share information regarding their
proposed self-service kiosk. They need to communicate with the employees and deliver
the necessary information to implement the change. Therefore, they can collect
feedback from the internal stakeholders, which will help them to generate new ideas
and to give shape their proposed change. Knowledge sharing is the crucial part of the
change management process as without gaining knowledge it is difficult for an
organization to implement the change. After knowledge sharing it is important to show
the ability to manage the change in an organization. Woolworths needs to incorporate
the change on a regular basis. This will help them to maximize the customer service by
implementing the self-service kiosk. The last step of this theory is the reinforcement. In
order to keep the continuity of the flow of implemented change it is crucial for
Woolworths to monitor the change management process on a regular basis.
3.3 Impact of the change management on Woolworths
In the recent years the retail sectors focus on the implementation of self-service
system to reduce the time. As argued by Lundberg (2017), often the customers have to
wait in a line to pay the bill of the products in the retail sectors. This is a major issue of
the retail sectors, which hampers their customer satisfaction. Hence, implementation of
self-service kiosk will allow Woolworths to reduce the waiting time and it provides an
easy and quick way to the customers to pay their bill during the check-out. However, the
self-service kiosk will reduce the need to wait in a line. Woolworths wants to maximize
their customer experience. As commented by Vakulenko et al. (2018), retail
organizations spend money, time and other resources to train and develop their
employees to serve a better experience to the customers who purchase the products

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from this organization. In the traditional check-out process the customer need the staffs
to pay bill in the counter. This is a time consuming process and creates a negative
experience. Retail self-service kiosk will allow Woolworths to offer a walk-in bill payment
system to the customers. This enables the customers to get a transparent and effortless
way to pay their bill.
As criticized by Lee (2017), often the staffs are distracted from their work due to
complex payment process. This often hampers the productivity. However, retail self-
service kiosk allows the staffs to be more productive. This system saves the time of the
staffs and they are able to concentrate on sales and service. Therefore, such self-
service system saves money and cuts the operating cost of the business (Collier et al.
2017). In the context of Woolworths such implemented change will allow Woolworths to
increase their profit and customer service besides cutting the cost. Kiosk allows an
organization to increase the sell without any error (Fam et al. 2017). This is a major
benefit. However, customers show different behavior when placing order via individuals.
This is often difficult for the organization to understand. On the other hand, when people
order via machine their behavior can be understood easily. Hence, for Woolworth's
application of retail self-service kiosk will be effective to understand the changing
behavior of the customers, which is essential to improve the customer service. Besides
such benefits self-service kiosk has some negative impacts on the business.
As argued by Wei et al. (2017), reduction of the staffs is a major drawback of
self-service kiosk. Implementation of this automation technology reduces the need of
the manual handling as a result, many workers loss their job. Therefore, due to lack of
workforce it is often difficult for the organization to get creative idea to improve the
performance of their business. Woolworths needs to reduce their employees during the
implementation of this new technology as they do not need manual handling. This may
create employee resistance in the organization, which can affect the productivity of this
organization.

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3.4 Analysis of the success and failure of the proposed change
The main objectives of Woolworths are to increase the revenue and to maximize
the customer service. To do this they are going to implement self-service kiosk.
Implementation of kiosk allows this organization to engage the customers at the point of
sale. This boosts the sales of Woolworth. Therefore, this system allows the customers
to get an exciting and easy purchasing experience (Lee 2017). As a result the customer
service will be improved. On the other hand, kiosk can be used for the brand marketing
campaign when it is not used for ordering. This proposed change can be made
successfully by using skilled labor in Woolworths. As argued by Vakeel et al. (2018),
lack of knowledge can hamper the implementation of a change in an organization. In the
context of Woolworths it can be said that they need to manage the technical experts to
give shape to their proposed change and kiosk is a technical process and it needs more
knowledge during its implementation. On the other hand, if the employees are not able
to access the technology properly then the implementation of self-service kiosk will be
failed.
Research shows that maximum customers prefer to place the order via online
and they want self-service as it allows them to view the menu-item images. This need of
the customers can be fulfilled by implementing the retail self-service kiosk. Therefore,
Woolworths will be able to reduce the time and money by implementing self-service
kiosk. This automated system gives benefit both retailers and the customers (Fam et al.
2017). This allows the customers to order and pay the bill quickly, which is a big factor
to improve the customer service. On the other hand, this system is completely error-
free. If Woolworths implements this self-service process then they will be successfully
meet their objectives and the need of the current markets.
One of the major consequences of self-service kiosk is the failure of the machine
(Lundberg 2017). However, retail self-service kiosk is an automated system hence; it
can fail at any time. As a result, the entire customer service can be hampered and the
entire change will be failed. Therefore, the hardware cost is too high and the installation
charge is also high which may affect the implementation of such self-service system.

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4. Recommendations
Use tablet kiosk and iPad enclosure
Woolworths is looking for way to improve their customer service and to enhance
the sale. However, some technical systems are too costly and require more resources.
Hence, implementation of iPad enclosure and tablet kiosk is a versatile method that will
allow Woolworths to make their business operation faster. By combining the software
the customers will be able to browse the retail stock and this software allows the
company to save the money by optimizing both customer’s time and the company’s
time. On the other hand, iPad kiosk improves the customer relation without any face to
face interaction. Therefore, this Ipad kiosk will allow Woolworths to collect real-time data
and customer feedback based on which they can understand the current competition.
Implementation of kiosk within a more traditional POS payment system
Implementation of the kiosk system into the traditional POS payment system will
improve the payment system. Woolworths needs to integrate the kiosk into the
traditional payment system. This will allow the customers to handle the payments by
themselves without relying on the server or the staffs. Implementation of kiosk into a
traditional payment system allows the customers to get the option of self-pay, which will
ensure the top-notch customer service in the context of Woolworths.
Make the screen simple
Often the customers face difficulties when they see a kiosk screen is packed with
options and information. This makes the consumer confused and they are not able to
choose the next option. Development of a simple screen with a single task will be
effective for Woolworths to give easy self-service kiosk system to their customers, which
is easy to access. This will make Woolworths unique in the competitive market while
providing the self-service to the customers.

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5. Conclusion
The entire piece of work reveals the advantages and disadvantages of self-
service kiosk in the context of Woolworths. Self-service kiosk allows the customers to
order the product while these are not present in the stock. This system will boost the
sale of Woolworths. Self-service kiosk helps the retailers to improve their customer
satisfaction level as the customers as able to get real-time information regarding the
products. The customers are able to browse the latest catalog, check the stock and get
detailed product information through this self-service system. Kiosk is popular for
providing fast customer service. The traditional methods are not faster. Hence, kiosk
self-service is effective to provide quick service to the customers. On the other hand,
system failure, high installation cost and reduction of the workforce are the major
drawbacks of this self-service system.

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Appendix
Team Charter
The team objective is to define the change and reveal the importance of the change
management in an organization. Therefore, the team aims to determine the
implementation of the change in an organization.
In order to implement a change the individuals need to contribute more in this change
management. Each individual needs to make a collaborative work to bring change in an
organization. In the context of Woolworths, to implement the proposed change the
individuals need to set a focus and then make a plan to give shape the proposed
change. As for example, the managers need to introduce the change and then
communicate the change properly. To conduct a meeting regarding the change it is
important for the leaders to organize conference on weekly basis. On the other hand, to
resolve the conflicts between the team members it is crucial to use effective
communication. However, effective communication is a good process to influence
people to do collaborative work and to minimize misunderstanding between them. To
bring team diversity collaborative work between the team members is crucial. Therefore
establishment of the interpersonal relationship between the individuals who belong from
different cultural backgrounds will be beneficial to bring diversity in the team.