Assignment Sample on Leadership and Change
1. Introduction
The present report contains my self-reflection regarding the organisational change process that I experienced as an employee of the organisation that underwent the change. The organisation will be referred to as X for the purpose of the report. X is a fast-food chain restaurant based out of London. The organisation makes and delivers pizza. The issues that the organisation was encountering included the organisation faced stiff competition from rivals, the company could not generate the target revenues, the pizza delivery framework was not satisfactory, the employees of the organisations were not adept at using technology and this proved to be a barrier to the growth of the company in the world of digitalisation. The present report will discuss in detail the change process, the tools and frameworks used for the change process, the flaws of the change process, and the result of the change process.
2. Recognising the needs for change
Recognising the need for change is necessary for an organisation to embrace organisational change successfully. The leadership of X identified that there is a gap in performance. The leaders recognised that the company is not being able to meet the organisational objectives. Apart from this, it was also noticed that the employees are not being able to cope up with the changing technology and the failure in using technology effectively was contributing to the rising cost, it was also affecting the organisational productivity, the manufacturing process. Apart from this, the elements of external pressure such as the pressure from stakeholders, customers, and competition from rivals also contributed to driving the leadership of the organisation to make the decision in favour of the change process.
3. The Change Process and Reflection
3.1 Selection of the model of change
The primary purpose of the change process in organisation X was to reorganisation the organisation so that the organisation can meet the organisational objectives. The change process in an organisation can be divided into two types- incremental change and transformational change (Van der Heijden and Kuhlmann, 2017). Incremental change refers to a constant and gradual change process and transformational change refers to the alteration of several systems and structure related to the application of technology, system and people of the organisation (Pagoropoulos et al., 2017). The change process that had been required for organisation X was a remedial, transformational change. The leadership and management framework of X decided to apply Kotter’s 8-Step Change Model for the purpose of change. The leadership recognised that employees are at the heart of the change process at organisation X and the employees may go through emotional turbulences due to the change process and for taking care of the emotional need of the employees the organisation decided to hold effective communications with the employees (Day et al., 2017).
3.2 Application of Kotter’s 8-Step Change Model
The renowned change expert John Kotter is credited for innovating the 8-step Kotter’s Change Model. The model was introduced first in his book “Leading Change”. There are eight steps in the model 1) Increase in urgency, 2)buildup of a powerful coalition 3)A vision for change 4) Communicating the vision 5) Empowerment 6) Creating short term wins 7) Building the change and 8) Institutionalising the change (Kang et al., 2020). The table explaining Kotter’s 8 step change model is contained in appendix 1.
3.3 Creating a sense of urgency
The first step is an important part of Kotter’s change model. The creation of a sense of urgency is required to make the employees and other associates understand the need for organisational change. The leadership and the management of company X took certain measures to create a sense of urgency among the employees of the organisation. The measures included identification of the threats that may arise as the result of the change process, identification of the opportunities that will drive the change process, initiating a communication with the employees regarding how the changes will benefit the organisation and the employees and informing about the change process to the relevant stakeholders and investors (Jones et al., 2019). In this stage, as an employee of the organisation, I felt the need to adapt myself to the changing system of X.
3.4 The buildup of a powerful coalition
In this stage, the leader and managers of X communicated to the employees regarding the importance of cooperation and coordination among the employees. The leaders had identified that the absence of communication among the employees is affecting the business operation of the organisation. In this stage, procedures and measures were implemented to build up an effective coalition between the employees involved in the pizza-making process and the employees associated with the pizza delivery process. I, being a part of the manufacturing process of the company felt the need to make an effective professional bonding with the employees of the delivery process.
3.5 A vision for change
In this stage, the reasons for implementing the change was made clear to all the associates of company X. The vision behind the changes was decided. Apart from this, several measures were taken to support the vision behind the change process. The company purchased delivery vehicles with heating oven for customer satisfaction, technical devices such as digital menu card were introduced, in order to lift the burden from the shoulders of the employees, self-checkout machines were bought and other measures were also taken. This stage has particularly been difficult for me. I struggled to adjust myself to the changing vision of the company.
3.6 Communicating the vision
This has been a crucial part of the change process in X. The primary reason behind this is the leadership recognised that the uncertainty associated with the change process may affect the employees psychologically. This prompted the leaders of X to hold several meaningful conversations with the employees regarding the needs for change, the way changes are going to be approached, the benefits of the change process, the positive impact on the employees and the associated risks of the process. Apart from communicating with the employees, the leaders and managers also held a conversation with the stakeholders and investors. This stage helped to get rid of my confusion related to the changing process. The communication and conversation with leaders brought positivity to my mind regarding the change process.
3.7 Empowerment
It has already been stated in the report, the leadership felt the need of making the employees adept at technologies. The employees of X were empowered through a training programme that taught the employees the basic technical and digital skills that are required for the business. By the end of the training programme, the employees were given certificates of recognition for participating in the training. I participated in the training programme and after three months of successful training, I received my certificate.
3.8 Creating short term wins
This had also been an important stage as this stage made the leadership aware that the change process is going in the right direction. At the beginning stage of the change process, X received a few positive feedback from its customers and this boosted the confidence of the employees and catered to the change process. This stage helped me to boost my confidence as well and enhanced my trust in the change process.
3.9 Building the change
In this stage, company X kept experimenting and implementing new changes to find out what works the best for the organisation. This trial and error process contributed to the establishment of organisational resilience. In this stage, I also involved in finding out the effective systems along with my other colleagues.
3.10 Institutionalising the change
In this stage, the change process was incorporated into the company completely. The employees, the associates all embraced the change process in this stage. I became completely sure that the change process is catering to the growth of the company.
4. Recommendation
Experiencing the change process has enriched my knowledge related to how organisations undergo change. I also got clarity regarding what factors might contribute to the resistance to the change process. In my opinions, the resistance comes from the employees if the vision and mission behind the change process are not communicated to the employees in clear terms. Apart from this, the employees need to understand their roles and responsibilities in the change process.
- I recommend to the leadership of organisations going through the change process to communicate effectively with the employees (Odor, 2018).
| Specific | Measurable | Attainable | Realistic | Time-bound |
| Communicating regarding the need, process and benefits of change with the employees. | The participation and willingness of employees are likely to give an idea regarding the effectiveness of communication. | Effective communication with the employees is possible through regular communication workshops, stress management workshops and others. | Holding regular communication with employees regarding the change process is realistic. | It is likely to take around three months to make effective communication with employees. |
- I also recommend organisations to encourage employees to make effective participation in the change process and their opinion should be valued also (Burnes et al., 2018).
| Specific | Measurable | Attainable | Realistic | Time-bound |
| Allocating task based on the skills of employees. | Success can be measured through feedback. | Making the employees participate in the change process is possible through effective communication. | It is realistic. | It is likely to take 2 months. |
Conclusion
The discussion in the present report indicates X underwent an effective change process and the leadership took an effective role in driving the change. Kotter’s eight-step change model proved to be beneficial in guiding the change process. The recommendations indicate communication and making the employees participate in the organisational change process is an effective step.
Reference List
Burnes, B., Hughes, M. and By, R.T., 2018. Reimagining organisational change leadership. Leadership, 14(2), pp.141-158.
Day, A., Crown, S.N. and Ivany, M., 2017. Organisational change and employee burnout: The moderating effects of support and job control. Safety science, 100, pp.4-12.
Jones, J., Firth, J., Hannibal, C. and Ogunseyin, M., 2019. Factors contributing to organizational change success or failure: a qualitative meta-analysis of 200 reflective case studies. In Evidence-Based Initiatives for Organizational Change and Development (pp. 155-178). IGI Global.
Kang, S.P., Chen, Y., Svihla, V., Gallup, A., Ferris, K. and Datye, A.K., 2020. Guiding change in higher education: an emergent, iterative application of Kotter’s change model. Studies in Higher Education, pp.1-20.
Odor, H.O., 2018. Organisational change and development. European Journal of Business Management, 10(7), pp.58-66.
Van der Heijden, J. and Kuhlmann, J., 2017. Studying incremental institutional change: A systematic and critical meta‐review of the literature from 2005 to 2015. Policy Studies Journal, 45(3), pp.535-554.
Appendix 1
Kotter’s eight-step change model
| Increase in urgency | In this stage, the need for the change is communicated and efforts are made to create a sense of urgency among the employees. |
| The buildup of a powerful coalition | Effective coalitions and partnerships are formed to drive the change process. |
| A vision for change | The vision for organisational change is made clear. |
| Communicating the vision | The vision is communicated to the employees and stakeholders. |
| Empowerment | The employees are empowered to drive the change process smoothly. |
| Creating short term wins | This motivates and inspires the employees. |
| Building the change | It is ensured that the change process is not halted abruptly. |
| Institutionalising the change | The change is incorporated in the organisational culture. |
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