Driving Forces for Organizational Change Program - Case Study Example

Change Management Overview Waitrose is considered as one of the largest chain of supermarkets in Britain that deals with retailing of food products.At present, Waitrose has about 332 branches of retail stores all across United Kingdom that makes it the sixth largest retailer of grocery items in the country. However, the company has been trading successfully in Peterborough for several years from within the Queensgate shopping centre and furthermore, it is planning to develop its new store in Peterborough in order to suffice the demands of the customers and potential markets (Waitrose, 2015). The area where the new outlet will be developed is far away from the present store, which will have more departments with wider selection of products. In this context, one of the major challenges to be faced by the company is adopting to change in the new store by the employees, staffs and organizational members. It is therefore very essential to implement an effective change management program that would be beneficial for the company to expand successfully in the new area of Peterborough (Jansson, 2009). Analysis of the Driving Forces for Organizational Change Program More Job Opportunities and More Qualified Employee Developing the new store of Waitrose in Peterborough would provide better job opportunities for the people living in the area as well as growth of the existing employees. Moreover, the expansion of Waitrose in the city would be beneficial for the company, because of the availability of qualified employees in the area that would help in increasing the productivity of the company. The retail chain has already been able to establish a significant position in Peterborough, which is an added advantage of the company to establish successfully in the new area of the same city (The State of Queensland, 2015). Profit and Sales Maximizing Every business establishment operate with the prime objective of maximizing the overall turnover and thereby maximize the profit. It becomes the primary criteria of Waitrose to attract more customers towards its products and services that would help the company in maximizing its profit. In context to the given case study, Waitrose is planning to develop its new retail store in Peterborough with the aim of attracting a broader range of customers that would contribute towards maximizing profit for Waitrose (Authenticity Consulting, 2015). Wider Range of Customers A wider range of customers of Waitrose in Peterborough has developed the company to establish successfully in the area and thus, based on the customers’ demand in the city, Waitrose has been planning to expand its business. There is an increasing demand for the grocery items in the particular area that will allow Waitrose to operate successfully in the new market. As the company has been able to establish successfully in some other parts of the city, there has been an established brand loyalty in the city, which is an added advantage for Waitrose (Lunenburg, 2010). Achieving Economies of Scale As a result of qualified employees and better availability of workforce in the new area, it would help Waitrose in achieving economies of scale. Economies of scale are identified to be achieved when larger amount of products and services can be produced with lower input cost. Thus, there is a great opportunity for Waitrose to decrease the cost if the volume of production is increased. For this, there has to be a high demand for the products and services by the people. However, there are two major factors upon which economies of scale depend, which include division of labour and specialisation. In this context, Waitrose can achieve economies of scale because of the availability of qualified workforce and effective knowledge about the potential market of Peterborough. Moreover, Waitrose can also implement an effective management that would efficiently utilize the available resources of the company. This will in-turn, help the company to lower the cost of production as well as operating costs, which will contribute towards achieving economies of scale (Melbourne Business School, 2014). Community Growing Development of the retail store by Waitrose in the new area of Peterborough would help in the growth and development of the local community by providing them employment opportunities. Establishing the new outlet would require the recruitment of employees. Qualified and experienced workforce can easily be available from the local areas at cheaper rates, which would be beneficial for the company as well as the local people residing in the area. Moreover, Waitrose is one of the largest grocery retail chains in the world and thus, establishment of the retail outlet in Peterborough would create a significant impact on the economic development of the city thereby would help in the community development (The State of Queensland, 2015). Bigger Brand Value and Recognition Waitrose holds the sixth position as grocery retailer in the UK. Waitrose has been operating all across the country with about 332 branches and holds a significant market share in the country. Thus, Waitrose has been successful in creating a significant brand value all across the UK and is among the top brand of retail chain in the country. Waitrose is highly concerned about the satisfaction of the customers and thus, it has been able to create a bigger brand name and recognition. This will help Waitrose in establishing successfully in the new area of Peterborough along with attracting higher volume of customers that will be beneficial for the company (Lunenburg, 2010). Bigger Financial Support from Leaders Establishment of a new store requires huge financial support that becomes a great challenge for the owners of Waitrose. It is therefore very essential for Waitrose to identify the sources of finance as well as the ways to collect finance, so that it does not face any difficulty in successful expansion of the business. In this context, the partners, directors and other leaders of Waitrose plays a very crucial role in determining the financial support for developing the new store. Subsequently, it is very essential for the directors and leaders of Waitrose to arrange for an adequate and effective financial support that would not create hindrances for the establishment of new retail outlet in Peterborough (The State of Queensland, 2015). Ability to Get More Suppliers It is vital for Waitrose to select effective suppliers that would provide high quality raw materials in time as and when required. Moreover, Waitrose is required to establish in the regions where there is an easy availability of suppliers, so that the import of raw materials can be made with less time consumption. This would help to save time and money involved in the transportation system. There should be adequate number of suppliers that should be available in the nearby areas, so that Waitrose should have the choice to choose the best and most effective suppliers among them. In this context, Waitrose has the ability to get more suppliers because of its strong brand name and better management that establishes good relationship with the suppliers (The State of Queensland, 2015). Bigger Opportunities to Grow Internationally Waitrose possessing good brand name and high demand of its products by the consumers possesses higher opportunity to expand its business in an international environment through which it can enhance customer segmentation and thereby maximise the volume of profit. Since, Waitrose has been operating successfully in the UK and established brand loyalty among the customers; it provides an opportunity for the company to expand its business in the international markets through which it can increase the turnover of the business (Innovation Management, 2013). Analysis of the Restricting Forces for Organizational Change Program Costs Costs may be considered as one of the most important factors that may restrain organisational change. For any type of change, there is an involvement of higher costs, which creates hindrances for Waitrose to accept the changes. Similarly, for Waitrose, cost may create resistance to accept changes in the new store. There are various forms of costs involved that includes the cost of training and mentorship cost for training the employees among others. Moreover, the cost of raw materials and labour cost may also be more in the new area that would result to high manufacturing cost, which may ultimately restrain the change (SAGE Publications, 2015). Competitors Competitors are one of the major factors that influence the success of any business establishments or organizations. In context to Waitrose, it is very essential for the company to conduct a thorough competitor analysis in order to understand the existence of competitors in the new area where it is planning to establish the new retail store. Existence of competitors in the nearby area would negatively affect the success of Waitrose. Effective strategies are therefore very essential for the management to implement in Waitrose that would help to compete with the competitors (SAGE Publications, 2015). Fear of Unknown Employees and other members of Waitrose would be resistant to change owing to the fear of unknown in the new organisational environment. It is a common tendency of the employees to resist change even though if it is beneficial. Similarly, for Waitrose, the fear of unknown in the new store of Peterborough would resist the employees to accept the changed organisational culture, which could be a hindrance for the company. Proper counselling of the organisational members is therefore very essential to make them accept the change (Harvard Business School Publishing, 2015). Fear of Loss The fear of loss highly restricts the owners, directors and managers of Waitrose to adopt new changes in an organisation. Change can lead to the loss of employees, salary or even monetary loss. Employees who restrain changes are being found highly unwilling to work with Waitrose and there is a high risk of employee turnover. In this context, there remains a high risk of employee turnover due to organisational change that would not be beneficial for Waitrose in terms of sustainability and profitability (Lunenburg, 2010). Fear of Failure Fear of failure highly restrains adoption to changed organisational culture. What will happen in the future is always uncertain and thus, it is unjustified to fear the future. It always becomes a growing concern among the organisational members along with the owners and directors of Waitrose regarding the success of the new changed organisation. Therefore, being feared of the success of change, the organisational members prefer not to be involved in the organisational change (Harvard Business School Publishing, 2015). Fear of Poor Communication In majority of the cases, it has been identified that due to the fear of poor communication among the organisational members, the employees often restrain to changes. There may be circumstances when the management is unable to build an effective communication with the organisational members and thus due to improper communication, various important information are misinterpreted that highly affects organisational success. In this context, lack of effective communication in Waitrose would act as a hindrance towards sustainability as well as business performances (SAGE Publications, 2015). References Authenticity Consulting. (2015). Driving forces and a new organizational paradigm. Retrieved from http://managementhelp.org/organizations/paradigms.htm Harvard Business School Publishing. (2015). Why change programs don’t produce change. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/1990/11/why-change-programs-dont-produce-change Innovation Management. (2013). The driving forces of change. Retrieved from http://www.innovationmanagement.se/2013/07/18/the-driving-forces-of-change/ Jansson, J. E. (2009). The importance of change management in reforming customs. World Customs Journal, 3(1), 33-43. Lunenburg, F. C. (2010). Forces for and resistance to organizational change. National Forum of Educational Administration and Supervision Journal, 27(4), 1-10. Melbourne Business School. (2014). Leading organisational change. Retrieved from https://mteliza.mbs.edu/Strategy-Short-Intensives/Short-intensives/leading-organisational-change# SAGE Publications. (2015). Organizational change. Managing Human Behaviour in Public and Nonprofit Organizations, 381-428. The State of Queensland. (2015). Five (5) key factors common to success in managing organisational change. Change Management Best Practices Guide, 1-19. Waitrose. (2015). Company history. Retrieved from https://www.waitrose.com/home/about_waitrose/corporate_information/company_history.html Read More