Web-based research on the organization and its context environment
Discuss about the Organizational Change in Woolworth Company.
This was a desktop search that involved three main key words that includes Woolworth, Organizational change, and leadership. The journals and several other sources were evaluated in terms of the topic and relevance to the problem statement of the paper. The search was carried out within the databases in the cyberspace and all the sources that were found to be relevant were included. The paper found relevant sources to use as indicated in the references section.
Woolworth group is one of the main Australian corporates that have interest in retailing in New Zealand and Australia. It comes second in terms of revenue in Australia and consequently second largest within New Zealand (King 2012). As part of its marketing strategy, the company has been involved in organizational changes that have incorporated corporate social responsibility.
Woolworth has been trying to increase its social responsibility engagement as a way of improving its market niche. Indeed, today corporate social responsibility is being taken seriously by many organizations, especially because of globalization, competition and therefore a deliberate attempt to please and play meaningful roles in the lives of communities is significant. In this quest, many organizations have executed concerted efforts in demonstrating and attempting to respond to both ethical and legal standards, and also by virtue of paying attention and incorporating values that ensure an enhanced welfare of communities and the society at large (Adair 2016). The ways in which this is being executed include among others being involved in charity affairs, money donations, financing community projects, streamlining education and training, and involving the company in such project as water and sanitation, among others (Golan 2008).
There are different organizational change management literatures which are based on different aspects including communication, leadership, strategic management, cultural change to mention but a few. Bumes (2009) work on managing organizational change is related to leadership. In his work he compares different leadership in the management of change. He prefers visionary transformational leadership to be practiced in various departments of the company. Woolworths Group will adopt a leadership style that will empower others, encourage team work, and focus on the customer and quality and one that will ensure that meaningful data to help in bringing up this change is collected.
This corporate social responsibility vision of Woolworth Company has not been so successful in the recent times. This is why it is essential to carry out change process effectively and efficiently to save the organization from costs related to resources, money and time. Lack of adequate commitment from the top leadership can hinder the success of any organizational change (Becker 2009). It is therefore important for the Woolworth organization in the cases study to adopt a leadership style that emphasizes on commitment especially to the heads of different departments. The leadership allows delegation of work to avoid overload of responsibility that make a change to fail. For any task to be completed successful; those involved need to be motivated by being provided with incentives and training to improve on their skills hence their performance.
Background information of the organization
Changes in Woolworth Company in the context of corporate social responsibility has faced several challenges that might affect the marketing strategy it implemented and eventually lose its competitive advantage in the market. Indeed, the main problem that is faced by the company is poor management of the change strategy initiated in the form of corporate social responsibility aimed at marketing the company products. The change that the company is implementing is aimed at an increased involvement in social responsibility as a marketing tool.
Organizational change process is viewed differently by employees and other stakeholders. They view change as disruptive but not as a useful thing likely to benefit a company. Leaders should have the responsibility to convince them to think otherwise. Besides, they can achieve this when leaders communicate effectively (Bumes, 2009). In most organizations employees during transitions tend to speculate about how the change will benefit or harm them. It is therefore the duty of the leader/manager to provide sufficient information to the people involved in the change process (Klimoski & Zaccaro 2011). When specific information is provided to everyone at the same time, the possibility of rumors is minimized. It is therefore important for leader/manager in an organization to communicate the facts. When implementing organizational change program, leaders need to communicate to the people more frequently. This helps in lowering stress and anxiety among the employees (Northouse 2010).
The appropriate post-change situation that is desired should ensure that there is democratic leadership that involves all stakeholders. Further, the company should strengthen its participation in corporate social responsibility. The leaders should always involve the other employees. They should always work together in enhancing the effectiveness of businesses. Therefore, the needs of the employees should be addressed to ensure that they dispatch their duties with due diligence due to the enhanced motivation (Northouse, 2010). Leaders should adapt the role of being servant leaders. This means that they use their skills and expertise in nurturing the employees in an effort to maximize their potential, therefore the need of the employees to grow in terms of their talents and competence is addressed. Leaders should enhance the selfless trait which means they should put the interest of the employees before those of the company. Therefore, in every activity or decision made, the position of the employees should be highlighted to deduce if the decision being made is a positive decision in addressing the needs of the employee or a negative decision which should be shunned and done away with (Whiteman, 2004).
Forces for change relevant and applicable to the organization
The leader should enhance clear communication channels between them and their employees. Thus they the needs of the employees should be well communicated to the leaders (Whiteman, 2004). In this regard, effective actions are taken due to the clear information about the employees’ needs. Therefore, employees’ needs and problems are effectively and efficiently attended to by the leaders. A democratic type of leadership style should be enhanced by the leaders if the needs of the employees are to be addressed properly. This is because the leaders who exhibit this type of leadership style involve the employees in the decision making process hence the employees are able to participate in giving opinions of how activities should be handled in the organization. In this way, the employees’ needs are catered for as they are clearly established in the participatory type of leadership.
The leaders should ensure the safety of the employees and consequently the safety of the work place. This is because of the fact that the concept of safety is one of the vital needs that face the employees. If the working conditions are not conducive, employees appear to lower their output. Therefore, when the safety need is facilitated, employees become enthusiastic as they feel that their needs are part of the company’s best interest. This makes the employees feel part of the business and all the activities undertaken by the employees are performed with due diligence. By enhancing the safety issues, leaders reduce the level of injuries in the organization and also work related ailments. This goes a long way in reducing the level of absenteeism culminating into increased output of the business. Therefore, by addressing the needs of the employees, leaders enhance the success of the business (Klimoski et al, 2001).
The main problems encountered include poor leadership and management. The company lacked clear communication channels which is vital in leadership. Leaders should ensure there is effective communication in the organization structure and that for an organizational structure to be effective, clear communication channels should be instituted to enhance the clear understanding of what is involved the organizational structure. Effective communication leads to the efficiency in the implementation of the deduced organizational structure. Further, another problem faced is lack of team-work among the stakeholders. All the stakeholders should be willing to take part in the organizational change initiated. Finally, Woolworth has also faced challenges posed by e-commerce. The evolution of social media marketing and sales has reduced revenue of the company leading to inadequate resources for its social responsibility encounters.
Key problem issue pertaining to the organization that suggests the need for change
The paper reports that presently, corporate social responsibility is being taken seriously by Woolworth especially because of globalization and competition. Therefore, a deliberate attempt to please and play meaningful roles in the lives of communities. In this quest, many organizations have executed concerted efforts in demonstrating and attempting to respond to both ethical and legal standards, and also by virtue of paying attention and incorporating values that ensure an enhanced welfare of communities and the society at large
Further, the leaders determine the goals of the formulated organizational structure and relate the structure to the function and purpose of the organization. The leader makes an observation of the organizational structure from the tactical and the strategic perspectives. Leaders ensures that conflict of interest is eradicated between the needs and requirements of the business with the organizational structure. Indeed, Woolworth has become a huge player in corporate responsibility due to efficient leadership and management.
To yield sustainable results, organizational change should be managed continually. This is done through carrying out measurement to know its progress. When choosing an effective measurement system, one that is specific, simple to understand, creative and that involves employees and managers should be used. For Woolworth Company to succeed in bringing up change in an organization, the leaders or managers of the company need to recognize what he/she knows about successful change before and during the organizational change process. Understanding the different models of the change process is therefore crucial to achieve this success. Lewin’s three step change model states that change involves a sequence of organization processes that occur over time. According to Foschi and Lombardo (2006), organizational change is not something that will be done within one time, there are steps involved.
The steps that are involved include
- Unfreezing
- Moving
The following three courses of actions are recommended:
In the first course of action which is unfreezing, the leader or manager is expected to understand the current status of the organization to ensure that the change initiated can be implemented for the benefit of the organization. Finally, the management is expected to address any concern raised by the employees or other stakeholders to ensure ownership of the change process.
Moving or change is the second course of action where the leader is required to be communicating often. This is done throughout the period of planning and implementing change as he describes the benefits of this change to the stakeholders. In his communication he also explains how the changes will affect everyone in the organization and make everyone to get prepared for whatever results out of this change. Another important aspect in this step is dispelling rumors. The leader is required to answer questions openly and with a lot of honesty when they arise and deal with them immediately. This will help to allay stakeholders’ doubts about change (Bumes 2004). In the last course of action that is referred to as refreezing, the changes to be anchored on the organizational culture (Whiteman 2014). After this, ways to sustain this change is developed. Here leadership support is highly significant since a reward system has to be created and feedback systems established to motivate the participants in this making this change successful. Similarly, organizational structure is adopted (Foschi and Lombardo 2006). Provision of support and training is essential in this last stage in order to keep every stakeholder informed and supported so that to avoid excuses.
Conclusion
The competitive advantage of any organization is anchored on its ability to implement changes that can ensure it’s ahead of the others. With the implementation of changes in corporate responsibility within Woolworth Group, the organization will be able to benefit from marketing of its diverse products. Finally, it is significant to indicate that the organizational change should involve the stakeholders for ownership and understanding for the common goal of the organization.
Adair, J. C., (2016) Leadership and motivation: the fifty-fifty rule and the eight key principles of motivating others. London; Philadelphia: Kogan Page, Publisher:
Becker, K., (2009) Moral Leadership in Business A journal of International Business Ethics Vol.2 No.1
Bumes B., (2009) Kurt Lewin and the Planned Approach to Change: A Re-appraisal, Journal of Management Studies, 41:6.
Foschi R. & Lombardo G.P., (2006) Lewinian contribution to the study of personality as the alternative to the mainstream of personality psychology in the 20th century. In: Trempala, J., Pepitone, A. Raven, B. Lewinian Psychology. (vol. 1, pp. 86–98). Bydgoszcz: Kazimierz Wielki University Press.
Klimoski J. R. & Zaccaro J. S., (2011) The nature of organizational leadership: understanding the performance imperatives confronting today’s leaders. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
King, M., (2012) Should you buy SCA, Woolworths’ property fund?” The Motley Fool.
Northouse, P. G., (2010) Leadership: theory and practice. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
Whiteman, G. L., (2014) Management skills workshop. Madison: Business & Legal
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