Examining Change Management Theories And Practices: Tesco Essay.

Tesco's Approach to Change Management

This report is examining the change management theories, concepts and practices discussed in the course. Moreover, this report is also examining the change management happened in the Tesco recently related with structural change and its impact on organization and on its internal and external stakeholders.  A change management can be described as the approach and way in which a corporation define and execute change within its internal and external operations. Change management basically focus on the broader influences of change as well, directing on how individuals and groups changeover to the novel circumstance.

Tesco is an UK base International Supermarket Groceries and general merchandise retailer which aims to serve clients on daily basis with reasonable, healthy and sustainable nourishment to support them enjoy a healthier quality of life and a calmer manner of living. Former CEO David Lewis and Current CEO Ken Murphy has adopted contingency approach in which managers take decisions based on the situation at hand instead of one size fits all approach.

As per the study of Burnes (2017), it has been sated that Change has developed both pervasive and persistent. Furthermore, study also revealed that to remain competitive corporation will require ‘constant innovations’ and ‘larger variations faster’, appeared simply to be confirming what the most of executive’s trust: that the degree, speed, influence and particularly unpredictability of change are larger than ever previously.

In the year 2018, Tesco announced changes to simplify its operational structures to enhance competence, and deliver line manager clearer responsibility for colleague and client experience.  In this changes, the part of people manager and compliance manager will be removed from big shops and execution centres in the United Kingdom. The character of Customer Experience Executive, existing in 226 shops, will too be removed, providing line managers additional direct responsibility for customer facility, in line with all other Tesco shops. The major plan behind this change management planning of Tesco will perceive the roles of people manager, client experience manager and obedience manager completely removed from the stores floor. Through, this change management process Tesco is putting the major responsibility on the line managers for the customer service and to make the operational structure of the organization simpler and to improve efficiency.

This reason of making the operation structure of organization simpler is that Tesco want to have a tight control over business operations. In the case of Tesco, line manger responsibility has been increased. In the change management decision, the role of people manager and compliance manager has been drawing out from big stores and execution centres in the United Kingdom, though customer experience executives, existing in 226 stores, will also be eliminated, providing line managers extra direct responsibility for client service, in line with all other Tesco shops.

As in its change management strategy Tesco has focused towards simplifying the operational structure. This will directly influence the job of around 1700 employees which will assisted by the Tesco in discovering the alternative roles inside the corporate wherever conceivable. As an outcome of these changes, 900 novel roles with wider responsibilities will be formed as People Associates, Learning Associates and Colleague Relations Partners working crossways manifold sites all over distribution, shops and execution. 

Impact of the Change

According to the CEO of the Tesco these change management eliminate difficulty and will provide a simpler, additional supportive experience for contemporaries and clients. Tesco identify these are problematic changes to make but they are required to safeguard their corporate to stay competitive and set up for the upcoming periods. After taking the decision is focused toward supporting the affected employees over these changes in any ways Tesco can. Tesco also trying to retain impacted employees as conceivable in the new roles company is creating and also in the current vacancies company have.

In the case of Tesco, the main aim of the change management is to simplify the current operational structure of the organization. therefore, Tesco is cutting around the1700 jobs and removing various roles and shifting the major responsibility to Line manager. The major strength of the simpler operational structure is that it allows a corporate to partake more effective and efficient control over the company operation. There is no hesitancy from the side of workforces in a simple operational structure since their orders originate straight from the top, not a division head or mid-level executive a subordinate might question. Corporations take decisions faster with a simple structure since there are no coatings of administration that concepts or requests required to climb before consent. Tesco has removed several roles from their operational structures of the company and putting all the major responsibility towards the line managers and moreover, there are also shifting affected people towards new job roles and in place where organization already have vacancies.

Tesco has adopted the approach of Kurt Lewin which states that fruitful change in corporations must follow 3 steps which are relaxing the status quo, movement to an anticipated end state, and refreezing the new change to make it everlasting. Implementing the approach of Kurt Lewin is comparatively easy to execute, it also helps in motivating the long-lasting change and its gradual method makes momentum (Burnes, 2017). Tesco also have conversation with their employees regarding few operational changes to the way company is planning. Company discloses and be transparent in clearing their colleagues about their plan to simplify and decrease the procedure and administrative responsibility across all of their 153 Tesco metro shops.

Organizational culture is the group of standards, prospects, and practices which guide and notify the actions of all team associates. Think of it as the gathering of personalities that make your corporation what it is. Culture is formed over reliable and authentic behaviours, not press releases or policy credentials. Although it is hard to change itself, culture can be an inordinate enabler of organizational change whether the change includes digitization, quicker product progress, or a systematic letting down of prices or increase or decrease job role and responsibilities. Culture defines designs of behaviour that form a tough pattern by which thoughts and descriptions can be shifted from single generation to other, or from single group to one more (Burnes, 2017). Complete, change initiatives are only implemented and continued regarding half the period. A powerful culture defends the corporation from the environment variations and discusses to its standards the constancy needed to the long-standing existence. These corporations can familiarize quickly to the new changes, discovering in their standards the essential force to struggle. Moreover, culture signifies a dependent set of standards and conducts of acting that are mutual in a community and that incline to continue themselves, occasionally over long ages of period.

Tesco's focus on Simplifying Operational Structure

This change will have a significant impact on the culture of Tesco as it removes around 1700 job roles and creating 900 new job role which will have a significant impact on the organization functioning and process. As this change management of making the operational structure of Tesco simpler will lead to increase the load of work pressure on existing customer and also on the line manager. Tesco while simplifying their change management process has also considered the key elements of cultures which are symbols, language, norms, values and artifacts. Language led to efficient social communication conceivable and effects how individuals consider of thoughts and matters. Main values that differentiate the Tesco comprise of individualism, rivalry, and an obligation to the work ethos.

The social viewpoint on organisational life strengthens the argument that corporations are not rational units where everybody pledges to, and supports to attain, the corporation all-embracing objectives. The power–politics viewpoint puts onward an alike opinion, in conflict that: organisations frequently act unreasonably, that their goals and purposes develop over a procedure of negotiation and influence, that they are collected of contending and moving alliances of groups and persons, and that serious choices have fewer to do with the finest interests of the corporations and extra to do with the finest interests of those making the choices (Burnes, 2017). In the case of Tesco, the CEO has used its power and politics to make every other board member to agree on the simplifying the operational structure of the Tesco. Furthermore, using the power and politics CEO Ken Murphy has announced the decision of removing the 1900 employees form their job roles and shifting them to new roles and vacancies company has. In this change management the operational function and operation power shift towards the line manager which also increase the responsibility and accountability of the line manger has now he have to handle and manager the responsibility of people partner, learning partner, and colleague relation partner and also the colleague administration jobs.

Moreover, politics can perform such an important role in change management that it and resistance to change permit a section of their individual previous to starting to propose for change. Politics and self-centeredness frequently command how individuals’ sense regarding the change to their work or the work that they control (Burnes, 2017).

The major challenge Tesco has putted on the organization while implementing the change management of simplifying the operational structure is that it has putter around 1700 jobs on risks to execute the change in the organization. The Key change being executed, was its purpose to remove people manager and compliance manager roles at its big stores and execution centres. At this point of time Tesco has faced resistance to change in which Tesco has faced with the dispositional resistance. Dispositional resistance to change imitates “a person's propensity to resist or evade making variations, to diminish change usually, and to discover change aversive crossways varied backgrounds and types of change”. Similarly, some of the senior levels of employees are also resisting to change as they are thinking that their method was wrong to simplifying the operational structure (Burnes, 2017).

While implementing the change Tesco has not prepared the strategy for how they will provide the job role to the people who are getting affected by the simplifying operational structure change. After implemented Tesco has facing challenge to re provide the job role. Tesco has announced that they will create new roles and also place some people in vacant position at Tesco but the major challenges is that the number of people being impacted by the decision is around 1700 and Tesco is only able to create 700 positions in the organization which has impacting the job of many people.

Corporate should continuously progress and adapt to encounter a diversity of encounters—from variations in technology, to the increase of novel competitors, to a change in regulations, protocols, or basic economic trends. Failure to do so might lead to inactivity or, worse, let-down. Below mention is some suggestion which Tesco can adopt for their further change management and its improvement:

• The first step for the improvement is Tesco and its leader have to plan for preparing the organization for the change. For a corporation to effectively trail and execute change, it should be organized together logistically and culturally. Previously investigating into logistics, cultural training should be first taken place. In the planning stage, the manager and the leader are attentive on supporting workforces identify and comprehend the requirement for change. 

• After the corporation is ready to hold change, executives should develop a detailed and accurate plan for carrying it about. Tesco should have to plan before the implementing the change. Now Tesco can plan for re providing the job role to the impacted peoples.
• Tesco manager and leader have to discuss together with HRM department regarding how they can provide the job roles in different department of Tesco around its all the stores where the change has implemented and also to the place where some

Conclusion

This report has examined the implementation of organizational change in Tesco which is the operational structural change. This report has concluded the advantages and disadvantage of organizational change. Organizational change provides the organization in simplifying its operations, improve its working culture and the way of producing and providing the good and services to the target customer. The challenges which organization faced are lack of planning and preparation of organization change before implementation.

References 

Burnes, B. (2017). Managing Change. 7^th ed. Pearson: UK