Unit 2 Understanding and Leading Changes Level 5 Regent College

Task 1

P1 Various organisational operational strategies after making alterations in an organisation

Working according to the current market situation always helps the company in making proper decisions so that they can fulfil the demands of its end customers accordingly. Therefore, Marks and Spencer is operating its business in an effective manner and as a result they are enhancing the sales and profitability. Setting up a small target and objectives will not only motivate the employees but also encourage them in performing the task in a better manner ( Bin Taher Krotov and Silva, 2015). Company has incorporated latest tools and technologies for manufacturing excellent quality products. Changes can be seen in context with sales and profitability as by making some alterations in their strategies they have enhanced their productivity and growth. Therefore, Marks and Spencer has gained a superior position at market area.

Changes may sometimes provide benefits but it can have negative impact, so, it is important that company accept modification after going through the current situation of the organisation. Other than this, there are some factors that must be considered by the firm like environmental, economical, political etc., as they play some or the other role for the organisation so that they can operate their business in an effective manner (Brazer and Bauer 2011). Marks and Spencer is taking reviews and feedbacks from its customers and it is helping them in delivering right products to their consumers.

Henceforth, as compared with other rival companies, M&S is providing better services because of which they have sustained a good position in United Kingdom. Thus, comparison between Marks & Spencer and ASDA is given below so as to understand in a better manner.

Marks and Spencer: Company was found in the year 1884, and currently they have around 979 stores in which 615 are only food selling shops in United Kingdom. Approximately, 84,939 number of people are working in this organisation and they are helping them in generating more and more revenues (Brisson-Banks, 2010).

ASDA: It is a British supermarket retail company and operate its business in around 642 stores in different locations. As a result the organisation was second largest supermarket chain in UK according to the market shares published in the year 2014.

 

Strategies	Marks and Spencer	ASDA
Competence	Changing scenario must be looked out by an organisation form time to time so that they can have an overview about the current situations. It will help the company in providing services as per the needs and wants of customers. Marks and Spencer is making their products unique and for this they are hiring people who are experts in designing. This is enabling them in pulling more and more customers towards their organisation.	Basically, ASDA is also dealing in the same field and they are operating their business by providing suitable products as per the demands of its customers. For attracting maximum number of people they are giving discount coupons and offers. This is helping them in increasing their sales and productivity. Other than this, they have implemented latest machineries and technologies which is helping them in giving appropriate services. Â
Strategies which are related to pricing	Change in fashion is creating a problem in making appropriate strategies for a long period of time. Therefore, managers of Marks and Spencer are going through the market situation and with the help of expert personality the are making strategies and plan of action. In some of the products they have cut down the prices which is aiding them in increasing their sales and profit.	As ASDA is not so popular like Marks and Spencer. Thus, they are considering the strategies that are implemented by other organisation so as to have an idea about the current scenario and work accordingly.
Advertising Strategies	There are some of the common advertising strategies that most of the company adopt like Marks and Spencer are giving commercial advertisements in Television as well as in radio. Other than this, they are using billboards and roadside hoardings for displaying their particular products that company wants to launch along with different schemes. Apart from this, Marks and Spencer is using social media as number of people love to share information through this medium.	ASDA, for pulling the attention of number of people they are using same kind of strategies for advertisements. Company is broadcasting innovative commercial ads in different television channels. Unlike this, they are publishing their information in newspapers, magazines and social media as well.
Process	For manufacturing a quality product every commodity has to through the certain steps for example: for making a fine fabric first the company will gather raw material from different sources and then convert this for making a final products that can be delivered to its end customers. For this Marks and Spencer is using latest tools and technologies so that they can provide better facilities to its end customers.	ASDA is providing maximum amount of services and facilities by manufacturing goods and product as per the clients so as to satisfy the needs and demands. For example: they have developed commodities for making their customer's life easier and according to this they are producing commodities. Â

Thus, for having an effective growth the company has implemented some changes in the process of strategies as they are now manufacturing products as per the needs and wants of customers. Henceforth, they are also focussing on stores in different locations and for this, they have developed different departments (Brundrett and Duncan, 2011).

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P2 External and internal drivers of changes that affects leadership, team and individual behaviour

Leadership: It is considered as a trait that lead and guide other individuals so that the entire team can achieve the goals and objectives in an effective manner. A good leader encourage and motivate the whole squad in order to maintain a healthy environment this help them in creating a mutual understanding between employees. They encourage individual so that they can push their limits in order to achieve the set targets and objectives in specific time frame. Leaders of Marks and Spencer is implementing a proper activities that are related to team building as a result it is helping them in developing a strong team.

Internal Drivers: This includes certain factors like finance, working environment, managers, employees relation all these have an impact on business environment and influence the company. Therefore, it is important that Marks and Spencer consider all the elements before implementing all the strategies. Other than this, it is prime duty of managers t make sure that a healthy environment is given to all individuals where workers can perform their task in an effective manner. Marks and Spencer is generating a huge amount of money by delivering right quality products to its customers as a result it is helping the organisation in sustaining a better position at market area (Coronel, Moreno and Carrasco, 2010).

External Drivers: Market share of Marks and Spencer's economy is totally depends upon this factor. This can have affect the business operations as it can have an impact on firm in a negative or in a positive manner. Economic policies and rules formulated by government are the two main factors that comes under this. Therefore, it is essential that Marks and Spencer makes strategies by determining all the elements so that company doesn't have to make more changes for the betterment of the organisation.

Leadership linked with drivers of change

Leadership traits are those which differs form person to person it depends upon the knowledge they acquire during their childhood or so on. Leaders boost the morale of every member of the team so that they can accomplish the task. As the company Marks and Spencer is a renowned organisation and to manage the entire corporation it is the prime duty of leaders, that they give appropriate training to their fresh candidates and existing employees on a regular basis in order to provide excellent services to its customers. It will aid them in sustaining the loyalty of customers and gradually increase the sales and productivity. Apart form this, leaders shows appropriate path through which they can achieve the set targets and objectives (Ellenbogen, Berger and Batjer, 2010).

Goals and Objectives of a leaders:

Roles performed by a leader is not an easy task as they have to look around for various factors and circumstances that can affect the entire process of business operations. Some of the goals and objectives are given below:

Authority: Power of authority is not given to every person as performing with lot of responsibility is not an easy task it requires a person who is skilled and have ample amount of knowledge. If the team faces any difficult situation than they are the one who manage the problem and generate an easy way to resolve the issue. Although leaders have some sort of authorities but they support the squad in every worse circumstances.

Control: As available resources are very less so it is important that employees optimise the limited resources in an appropriate manner (Foltin and Keller, 2012). Therefore, it is prime duty of leaders to keep an eye on the performance of workers so that all the wastage can be controlled. Other than this, Marks and Spencer can hire eligible candidates who are very skilled in their work and perform the task in an effective manner.

Ability of Showing the correct Path: It is considered as an basic role that leaders perform, after considering all the aspects they chose an appropriate way that can give the organisation maximum benefits.

P3 Measures taken for minimising the negative impact of change on organisational behaviour

Change is the factor that can affect the business operations in a positive or a negative manner. Therefore, it is important for Marks and Spencer to identify those alteration elements that will provide them maximum benefits. Thus, by encouraging the employees leaders can motivate their worker to perform in such a way that all the negativity can be transformed into positive outcomes. Henceforth, it is essential that to determine the psychological impact of change on individual in order to make alterations respectively (Fullan, 2014).

Modification in business activities can create a huge impact on the behaviour of employees as they may not accept the changes that are done by the organisation as a result a decrease in sales and productivity can be seen. Therefore, it is important that a proper plan and strategies are made so that an appropriate steps can be taken.

Creation of pathway: For attaining the goals and objectives it is important that an appropriate communication between employees are made so that superiors deliver all the message to its workers in an effective manner. It will help them in adopting suitable way for completing the task. Marks and Spencer has incorporated advanced communication devices through which they can interact with employees anytime from every where. Therefore, managers should inform the respective roles and responsibility for getting an effective results.

Explantation of the whole plan: Making and executing plans for getting appropriate results is very important. Both these elements are fulfilled by managers. Along with this its their role to explain the plan in an effective manner so that all the clarifications can be done. A transparency must be maintain between worker so that they doesn't hesitate in expressing their views in front of superiors. It will help them in making changes in their plans if the idea are innovative and unique in nature (Hintz and Bahia, 2013).

Active participation in meetings and seminars: This is considered as one of the best possible way through which all the negative impacts can be eliminated. Therefore, managers of Marks and Spencer must conduct meetings and seminars on a regular basis this will help the management in having effective interaction between employees and supervisors.

Managing the plan along with its implementation: Every person at workplace is special and they perform their roles in an effective manner. Company should appoint skilled person who can help Marks and Spencer in making appropriate plans which they can implement for having benefits in future proceedings. Therefore, it is important that person who is making strategies and plan of action must be very focused.

Henceforth, Marks and Spencer should make schemes with the help of others so that their consent is also included. For this, they are optimising analytical tools which is helping them in making alteration and modifications respectively. M&S is using Bruke Litwan model for accepting the modifications that are according to the external and internal factors. This is providing better results and outcomes to the organisation (Keppel and et. al., 2012).

Task 2

P4 Different barriers of change and its influence on decision making

With the change in course of time chances of conflicts can rise and it is the prime responsibility of managers to sought out all the problems that can act as a barrier in business operations. The basic problem that a company can face is of cultural differences as there are many person who come for different areas in order to get a suitable job. Apart from this, it includes external and internal factors that can affect the firm in a positive or a negative way. As a result organisation may not develop a mutual understanding between its employees.

Frequent changes in external and internal environment may affect leaders in making appropriate decision making this may include product alterations, raised prices, supply chain, implementation of new technologies and many more. Time and space provided to the organisation is the another factor that must be considered by the enterprise so that they can deliver the product to customers in a proper manner. For this, company can look out for best opportunities which they can grab for attaining their set targets and objectives in best possible way (Latham, 2013).

Self-efficiency perception and resistance to change:

If any company wants to adopt certain changes for their organisation in order to get effective results it is important that they take views because every person has a different perspective of looking the situations. Some may not accept the modifications as they feel like it will have a negative impact on their work. Therefore, they might oppose the situation and gradually it may leads to barrier, changing this perception can be very difficult for managers to handle. Therefore, making alterations in somebody's perception can a very difficult task.

Apart from the another problem that can arise while performing the whole business operation is implementation of new technologies. In current market situation many new and advanced technologies have raised because of which employees may find it difficult to understand it in a better manner. So, it is essential that company provides proper training programmes about how to operate these complicated machineries (Lawrence, 2015).

Force Field analysis

This model was introduced by Kurt Lewin and he mainly focussed on the fact that conflicts always arises while making some changes and alteration in any business activities. Leaders faces problems when they want to take tough decisions as the plan must be with the concern of everybody's in the company. This will help them in maintaining a proper environment at workplace.

Situational resistance to change

This kind of leadership style helps the organisation in making appropriate decision according to the current situation that is present in the environment. This is very helpful for completing the task in a limited period of time but some of the employees may not agree with this and they can take this as a burden on themselves (Mayfield, 2014).

Task 3

P5 Different approaches of leadership while dealing with changes

In order to work in an effective manner, managers of most of the organisation implement different concepts and approaches so that they can have an effective growth in their business activities. It helps the organisation in performing their task in an appropriate manner, as per the market situations. Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard are the one who has profound this situational leadership style. This approach states that if company wants their employees to work effectively than superiors must act in an directive and supportive manner. Some of the points are mentioned below that organisation can adopt for effective growth:

Telling: In a company, leaders shows a low supportive behaviour with having high directive action so that they can guide their employees for achieving the set targets in an appropriate way (Mukherjee and et. al., 2012).

Delegating: This shows that leaders are the one who represent both the factor at a very low level.

Selling: Under this, both the elements i.e. supportive and directive behaviour are considered at high level.

Therefore, in the current scenario, leaders for motivating and managing their work must adopt management style so as to perform as per the market circumstances. This assist the superiors in handling the framing out the strategies for their business operations in an effective style. For this, it is necessary that all the information provided by the them are done in an appropriate manner, this will help the workers in performing the task as per the roles that are assigned to them.

Therefore, leaders of Marks and Spencer are using situational leadership for attaining the targets according to the situation and circumstances that are present in the market area. Further to understand it in a better manner Kotter's 8-step model of change is explained and it is given below:

Increase urgency: Under this, superiors mainly interact with all the employees so that they can evaluate in what field the changes are required and for making this possible they can take support of employees. This will assist them in identifying the opportunities and threat that are present in the business operations (Saha and et. al., 2013).

Building a team: In order to achieve their objectives it is important that company makes a strong team who can assist them in attaining the goals and objectives in specific time frame. For this, managers tries to maintain a mutual understanding between employees.

Develop a vision: For considering the core values and setting up a vision company can achieve a superior position at market area. Through this they can utilise all the resources that are available to them (Kotter's 8-Step Change Model, 2017).

Communicating the vision: For achieving the effective results it is essential that all the information is communicated to its employees in an effective manner. Other than this, leaders must make sure that the message is conveyed in a proper way.

Removing obstacles: Under this, company tries to see all the obstruction that can hamper the whole business operations. For this, company can make strategies that can minimise the chances of risks (Salmela, Eriksson and Fagerström, 2012).

Create short term wins: By making short term goals and achieving them company can motivate and encourage their employees in order to accomplishing their task effectively. This will reduce the chance of failure.

Build on the change: Some of the time most of the team fails because they celebrate their victory too early without determining the consequences.

Anchoring change in the corporate culture: This is considered as an important factor as it gives an overview about the alterations whether they want to do it or not. Therefore, Marks and Spencer has implemented latest tools and technologies for getting an effective outcomes (Tang, Lu and Hallinger, 2014).

Conclusion

From the above report it has been concluded that, change in an organisation is very important as it enable the organisation to perform their task according to the current market situations. This help the firm in achieving their goals and objectives in specific time frame. Leaders and managers plays an important role in assisting the changes that are to be done. Therefore, company implement different models of changes for getting an appropriate results.

References

• Aslan, S. and Reigeluth, C. M., 2013. Educational technologists: Leading change for a new paradigm of education. TechTrends. 57(5). pp.18-24.
• Bin Taher, N.A., Krotov, V. and Silva, L., 2015. A framework for leading change in the UAE public sector. International Journal of Organizational Analysis. 23(3). pp.348-363.
• Brazer, S. D. and Bauer, S. C., 2011. Leading Change to Improve Student Achievement: Novice Leaders Take the Reins. Scholar-Practitioner Quarterly. 5(2). pp.168-187.
• Brisson-Banks, C. V., 2010. Managing change and transitions: a comparison of different models and their commonalities. Library Management. 31(4/5). pp.241-252.
• Brundrett, M. and Duncan, D., 2011. Leading curriculum innovation in primary schools. Management in Education. 25(3). pp.119-124.
• Coronel, J.M., Moreno, E. and Carrasco, M.J., 2010. Beyond obstacles and problems: women principals in Spain leading change in their schools. International journal of leadership in education. 13(2). pp.141-162.

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