Unit 17 Understanding and Leading Change Assignment Sample – BTEC-HND-LEVEL 4

Management units prepare students to predict, plan and implement changes in an organizational context. Students will be able to pre-assume appropriate measures to maximize risk mitigation and benefits related to organizational changes. On completing the assignment, students will be able to support senior-level management.

It helps them to make decisions that affect the financial growth of an organization. The knowledge, understanding, and skill set that students will gain on completing this unit will enhance their career opportunities. It helps them to determine whether to set up their own business or be employed by an organization.

They will be able to contribute towards changing initiatives and considering changes in strategies to mold the resistant forces.

Assignment solutions of Unit 17 Understanding and Leading Change

A company’s financial health is often impacted by changes in its business environment, which is why it is so important to understand what type of risk and how to mitigate it. Some organizations are considering changes in their strategies and plans for sustainability, including looking at how to achieve better results in the global market through organizational changes. This can allow businesses to evolve and grow with regard to sustainability.

Headquartered in London, Marks and Spencer Group is a global retailer that sells clothes, food, and home products. In 1884 M&S was established by Thomas Spencer, and Michael Marks in Leeds, UK. It has more than 959 stores across the UK, of which 615 stores sell only food items.

This assignment explains the changes experienced by M&S while operating across global markets. For that purpose, the report explores case studies on changes in the marketing strategies of the firm. This report provides information related to factors that trigger changes and their impact on M&S.

It likewise explains the effect of leadership on organizational growth and the impact of changes in the behavior of individuals. It states how the effect of changes gets effectively reduced and associated theories and models.

P1: Compare different situations where there has been an impact of change on an organization’s strategy.

This section assesses the change drivers for M&S; change drivers refer to the conditions or factors that are credible for creating differences in the normal functionalities of an organization. Units in organizational management help one to realize that the change driver varies from one business to the other. An organization may have different change drivers, and M&S has the following change drivers:

• Political factors in the UK affect M&S and allow the business to rethink its market plans and approaches.
• The financial vulnerabilities of a country or a state can change drivers for M&S.
• It would not be wrong to state that technological advancements can be the reason behind changes in an organization. A time may come when M&S has to shed its existing technology and adopt new techniques and technology.

Changes in organizational structure

Organizational changes are responsible for affecting the existing strategies drastically. Research proves that changes in situations Allow businesses to develop new strategies and approaches. Taking into account the existing strategies, one can claim that changes in situations require the improvisation of techniques.

Changes are credible for affecting strategies in almost all departments of enterprises. Strategic management may include development and growth policies, changing organizational structure, Employee counts, and modification of policies. In this way, emerging changes affect the Strategies developed to target sustainability and growth in the global market.

Overview of Marks and Spencer case study

Case studies associated with Mark and Spencer’s explicitly mention change drivers, and impacts on changes of an organization. Major findings from the case studies are as follows:

In 2016 the countries in European Union participated in a referendum that was organized in the United Kingdom. In the conferences, the UK left European Union and decided to establish a sole Economy across the world. It was one of the major decisions taken by the UK government that resulted in horrible economic and political conditions in the nation.

How the UK Political relations got affected due to the 2016 referendum.

The case study discloses that the political relations of the UK with other member countries of the EU worsened after the referendum. The majority of the member countries possessed a tough attitude towards organizations based in the UK.

There was an economic downturn in the United Kingdom that adversely affected the Businesses in the country.

Mark and Spencer’s, the popular Departmental Store chain in the UK, experienced vulnerability due to changes in the Socioeconomic and political structure in the nation.

Global Financial and economic crisis in 2007

Mark and Spencer faced a changing situation in the UK market in 2007.

Due to the USA mortgage bubble in 2007, organizations lost much of their business revenue, and depressive Conditions emerged globally that affected the International Organization. Research discloses that Mark and Spencer manage a huge number of outlets in the USA that got adversely affected by the financial crisis from 2007 to 2009. It mandated the organization to bring about changes in marketing strategies to sustain in the competent Global market.

How the economic crisis affected the organization.

Taking into account the economic crisis of 2007, managers in organizations got compelled to shut up their stores momentarily to compensate for their operational expenses. Mark and Spencer had to withdraw some of the products sold by it in markets. It had to replenish the product lines to meet the evolving situations. It was this time that the organization had to develop strategies to reduce the employee count. Reports show that the organization reduced employees to two-thirds of its initial count.

To manage evolving financial conditions, Mark and Spencer develop strategies that incorporate social responsibility. The organization promoted additional responsibilities that would meet the requirements of employees and consumers. It shows that changes in the business environment allowed the organization to face many situations and adopt new strategies.

In 2007 Mark and Spencer were one of the most expensive global brands. Prices of products went critically high, which affected product marketing and sales. Supply chain management got adversely affected by the economic crisis in 2007, leading to several vulnerabilities that necessitated changes in plans.

P2: How do the Internal and external change drivers affect leadership and task force

Internal and external change drivers affect the leadership and task force of Mark and Sponsors in several ways. Following are the ways how external and internal drivers of change affect organizational behavior

• Leadership changes: Change drivers allow the strategic managers of Mark and Sponsors to adopt new policies and strategies for inspiring staff members and achieving optimal performances.

Researchers state that during these changes, companies might face tough competition from their competitors. The situation may arise when companies need to switch from democratic to leadership for forceful implementation of the policies.

• Effect of behaviors: Change drivers influence individual and teams’ behavior, as the teams may resist the changes adopted by strategic managers to improve operations and productivity.

For this purpose, organizations and leaders might need to rethink their approaches for molding the attitude of the individuals towards changing situations.

• Effect of individuals: Taking into account the impact of change drivers towards individuals, reports demonstrate that workers and employers feel less motivated by the changes and have negative feelings or thoughts.

P3: Probable measures to curb the negative effects of changes in organizational behavior

Refusing to change is a very common reaction when employees are asked to try different methods of management instead of implementing a new, personal idea. People often have problems in developing a new concept of how management should work. Instead of going with an idea that involves changing things, people often have trouble accepting the new change and reorganizing those business elements that change necessitates. 

• Effective leadership: It is one of the ways to reduce negative organizational behavior. The report discloses that Mark and Spencer adopt situational leadership to change and implement policies within the enterprise.

Leaders of the enterprises need to outperform and demonstrate best leadership practices, as they get followed by their subordinates or staff members. So, leadership approaches are one of the most effective ways to thwart the adverse effects of changes.

• Apart from leadership approaches, Mark and Spencer’s ought to develop new plans and policies that would motivate employees to adopt best practices. Managers and leaders of the enterprise need to set aside provisions for training, and educational programs that would get the employees familiarized with new policies. Ultimately, it would minimize resistance to implementing changes within an organization.

Organizational changes affect Individuals working in it, and to reduce the negatives strategic managers need to develop programs to prepare for it. Training programs that help them to develop new skills and enhance their knowledge. It helps them to adopt changes in their job responsibilities.

Apart from this, there are several ways to manage organizational changes including complete replenishment and new development. It is all about portraying the practical condition and conveying the same to each employee.

M1: Identify the Change drivers for each of the scenarios mentioned above

From the above case study, students can find that several change drivers empower the strategic managers to adopt new policies; change drivers may include strategies adopted by the UK Government and others. Research demonstrated that political relationships affect the supply chain of Marks and Spencer, Which might necessitate the management to consider more effective strategies in the domestic market. Inflation and rising taxes are drivers of changes within the organization. Such conditions or approaches might compel the organization to reconsider the existing Policies and strategies to survive in the International and Domestic market.

M3: Apply suitable Strategies and policies to critically examine the Organizational response to changes.

Kurt Lewin states that organizational changes need not be complicated always. He proposed a three-stage model that depicts how an organization changes. His theory is easy to understand, practical and simple. The process initiates with the perception that the organization needs to change. Then it moves towards the new Level of organizational changes and encourages the new approach using norms and regulations.

• Unfreezing: This phase starts with the leaders and managers explaining the benefits of adopting changes in practices. Likewise, leaders need to prepare the employees by providing knowledge related to upcoming changes to resolve the conflicts and issues.
• Change: It is the phase where new practice gets followed, and strategies get incorporated.
• Refreezing: In this phase, management considers strategies for regulating the performance of the employees.

P4: Examine the barriers to changes and how they impact leadership decision-making

A Conflict of Interest within the Corporate Governance framework becomes evident when an officer or member of a committee has financial interests that diverge from the organizational objectives.

Conflict of interest causes deterioration in the trust of consumers and stakeholders. It makes the business vulnerable to corruption. Managers need to consider that change

Implementation depends mostly on organizational behavior. While the board needs to understand employee perspectives and make decisions based on the intentions of individuals and teams.

• Violations of Business ethics

It is the responsibility of the members of the committee to make decisions that serve the best interests of stakeholders. Furthermore, it is the moral obligation of the retail chain to safeguard the social well-being of others.

It includes the community of which they constitute. Reducing environmental pollution and abjuring production techniques that don’t comply with the UK labor standards are examples of how corporate governance and social wellbeing interrelate.

• Lack of Transparency

Mark and Spencer need to maintain a precise record of losses and profits and report them to the investors. Minimizing losses or maximizing profits harms the organization’s relationship with the stockholders.

It is because the stakeholders get prompted to take actions based on false evaluations. As such, M&S might need to compensate the regulatory agencies due to a lack of transparency.

• Lack of accountability

Accountability is an integral part of corporate governance. From the top-tier executive to the low-level clerks, each department and level of the company ought to be credible. They need to maintain a report of checks and financial transactions.

In short, stockholders should acknowledge measures taken by each level of the corporation. Without credibility, one division of the organization might affect the company’s overall growth. Stockholders may likewise lose interest in working with the company.

Conclusion

From the above information, we conclude that Management changes are practices that help to increase productivity and profitability within an organization. With leadership approaches, Mark and Spencer can implement change models that would enhance the success rate of the organization.

This report analyzes how the organization manages its operations in the domestic and international markets. This unit describes the effect of changes on individual and team behaviors. This unit likewise mentions the model and principles to reduce the effect of changes within an organization.

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