Essay: Analysis Of Planned Change At David Jones - Case Study.

You are an Organisational Development practitioner. You have received a call from a colleague, requesting your thoughts on a OD consultancy he is working on. He would like to hear your thoughts and analysis of a change intervention which is being conducted at David Jones.

Your colleague has provided you with a project file, which is written in a case study format. Click to access the Case Study.

Your task is to read this project file, and provide a response to the questions your colleague has posed to you. In addressing these questions, you will need to demonstrate your superior critical thinking and problem-solving skills and comprehension of change management theories, concepts and processes. 

The questions you must address in your analysis include:

1. Which model of planned change best describes the change process employed by David Jones?
2. Do you agree with the changes being made in this current restructure of David Jones?  If not, why?  Can you suggest any other changes that the CEO should consider?
3. How would you describe the management style of the CEO of David Jones?  What are the potential advantages and disadvantages of this style for the type of change being implemented at David Jones?

Analysis of Model of Planned Change Describing Process of Change Employed by David Jones

The report throws light on understanding the analysis of the planned change which has been employed by David Jones in the company and improve the growth prospects of the company effectively. David Jones is considered to be one of the oldest retailers in history of Australia, however, there are different kinds of issues which were faced by David Jones in current scenario and there has been inadequate kind of growth in the competitive business environment.

The main problem which has been faced by the company is the spending of the customers have been on online purchase and due to the same, it impacts growth of the company negatively. The main aim and purpose of the report is to try and understand the strategies related to planned change that is suitable in evaluating performance of planned change strategies of company along with providing suggestions with the help of scale of change model which will be suitable in fitting the changes effectively.

David Jones is considered to be one of the largest departmental stores in Australian economy and it was established in the year 1838. However, in the last few years, the retail market of Australia has undergone many changes and, in such scenario, the best planned change model which will be suiting David Jones company is Positive Model of Planned Change (Vignola et al., 2017). As per the Positive Model of Planned Change, it pays more emphasis on the positive kind of mentality and it helps in creating emphasis on making future better and analysing the factors that the things which are going in present scenario is not ineffective. As per the respective model, there can be inclusion of perfections which can be suitable for the growth of the company in future in a stable manner (Stephan et al., 2016).

The respective model mainly creates high level of emphasis on performing the different things in an effective manner. In case of David Jones Departmental Store, the company needs to identify the different strengths as they need to magnify their strengths suitably and prepare themselves for the ideal future scenario. As to meet the different expectations of the customers in market, the focus on strength is key element and improve them and not focus on weaknesses and rectifying it (Petrou, Demerouti & Schaufeli, 2018). The positive planned change model mainly creates emphasis on expectancy theory which should be adapted by David Jones for focusing on different areas of the company. There can be improvement of morale of employees as their satisfaction is key element which needs to be incorporated and the social change of employees will never be a problem (Landa & Tyson, 2017).

Analysis and Evaluation of the Changes in Current Restructuring of David Jones

The management of David Jones primarily focuses on technical aspects of business, which neglects the social change. With the usage of the emotional intelligence, the social change can be managed successfully and it will be suitable for reducing resistance to change. The changes which are incorporated in company are demanding in an emotional manner and during the process of decision-making, it makes it successful for managing change and the change can be regulated successfully (Hornstein, 2015). Therefore, in case of David Jones, the positive planned change model is the most efficient aspect which needs to be incorporated by the company as it will be enhancing the guidance towards employees and focus on the different aspects of business to make it finally, emotionally and technologically strong.

I agree with the different decisions which has been made by the management of David Jones and the changes which have been incorporated was required on an urgent basis. The instance of innovative aspect which has been followed by David Jones Management is the incorporation of the boutique hotel at seventh floor of departmental store which is located in Sydney central (Holten & Brenner, 2015). Moreover, the company is mainly focusing on the bridal wear in an efficient manner which is considered to be the most appropriate perspective and they have become the pioneer in the market. Innovation is the main element which needs to be incorporated by the different companies for reaching at a global level. In case of David Jones, the changes which are being made are effective and I agree with the same. There can be other suggestions which can be incorporated by the hotel that includes the opening of the theme based bridal boutique for various segment of individuals (Hassan, Asad & Hoshino, 2016). It will be economical as the different income group individuals can afford the same. The company David Jones can take the inspiration from Aldi supermarket wherein they offer various range of products for various group of customers (Giauque, 2015).

With the help of the respective change, it will be impacting the sales and profitability of the company suitably. There are various celebrity related sponsors and events which makes David Jones effective and it helps them in gaining a strong base of customers. There is upgradation of various services which helps the company in reaching the global level and there has been high level of revenue growth in the market that has been effective for the decision-making process as well (Fernandez & Rainey, 2017). Moreover, there has been inclusion of corporate transformation that has helped the company in bringing change across the company. The process of decision-making should be effective and it will be related to the different ideas which will be beneficial for the future. Through the help of the continuous innovation, the company can incorporate the different values of work and make the company effective.

Analysis of Management Style of CEO of David Jones

With the help of the respective planned change in David Jones, the company has been successful in becoming customer-centric and they have their main focus on satisfying the needs of customers thoroughly (Davidjones.com, 2019). In order to generate continuous improvement, the innovation and the constant focus on the market needs are essential which makes the process effective and improve the growth prospects of the company successfully. The corporate transformation which have been incorporated by the company David Jones is related to the long-term solution which is provided by them. The transformation which is being done in the company should not create and implement the negative aspects which includes laying off employees, selling off the stuffs under extreme pressure (Cummings, Bridgman & Brown, 2016). Proper planning as well as thinking along with transformation are the crucial elements which needs to be adapted by the company for sustaining under pressure and improve their efficiency. There should be a vision for the top-level management of the company which is considered to be the coordinated process and it will be beneficial in boosting sales of the company as well.

From the analysis of the respective case study, it can be analyzed that the style of management which has been adapted by CEO of David Jones is Coercive Style of Leadership. The main aim of the coercive style of leadership of CEO is that they demand immediate compliance with the orders which are being provided by them. The proper utilisation of the collaborative as well as incremental kind of change creates conflicting kind of views as well as ideology in many cases. The CEO of the company tried to analyse the different situations immediately as to understand the entire impact of the tasks which are being done by workers.

Advantages 

There are different advantages of the coercive style of leadership which means that the CEO of David Jones was successful in getting the things done in the fast manner. There is no place for the excuses and it makes the employees work and achieve the goals suitably (Cameron & Green, 2015). Moreover, due to the same, it has created impact on the overall productivity of the company in a proper manner. There is a vision for work which is provided by the coercive leaders such as CEO of David Jones for making the employees understand the same and help them in achieving the goals successfully. As per the CEO of the David Jones, he was capable of keeping the best employees in the most appropriate places for getting the things done and encourages the different employees in achieving the goals.

Disadvantages 

On the other hand, there are various disadvantages of the coercive style of leadership which includes the elimination of innovation and diversity from the employees. The CEO of the company was innovative and he tried to plan the different changes and ordered the employees to implement the changes as per the requirements (Alvesson & Sveningsson, 2015). There is lack of motivation provided to the employees which impacts their enthusiasm and it impacts the productivity of the company at times in a negative manner and creates negative influence on the sales and productivity of the company.

Conclusion

Therefore, it can be concluded that the positive planned change model has been of huge success for the company that has been helpful for the company in improving their effectiveness. With the high level of innovation and involvement of employees and CEO in the process, the change has been successful in creating impact on the organization. On the other hand, the coercive style of leadership which is followed by CEO of David Jones has different kinds of positive and negative impacts on the growth of the company and morale of employees which needs to be changed as it will be helpful for the company to improve their productivity and increase the efficiency level.

References 

Alvesson, M., & Sveningsson, S. (2015). Changing organizational culture: Cultural change work in progress. Routledge.

Cameron, E., & Green, M. (2015). Making sense of change management: A complete guide to the models, tools and techniques of organizational change. Kogan Page Publishers.

Cummings, S., Bridgman, T., & Brown, K. G. (2016). Unfreezing change as three steps: Rethinking Kurt Lewin’s legacy for change management. Human relations, 69(1), 33-60.

Davidjones.com (2019) David Jones- Shop Fashion, Beauty and More (Online) Retrieved from https://www.davidjones.com [Accessed on 20^th October 2019]

Fernandez, S., & Rainey, H. G. (2017). Managing successful organizational change in the public sector. In Debating Public Administration (pp. 7-26). Routledge.

Giauque, D. (2015). Attitudes toward organizational change among public middle managers. Public Personnel Management, 44(1), 70-98.

Hassan, H., Asad, S., & Hoshino, Y. (2016). Determinants of leadership style in big five personality dimensions. universal journal of management, 4(4), 161-179.

Holten, A. L., & Brenner, S. O. (2015). Leadership style and the process of organizational change. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 36(1), 2-16.

Hornstein, H. A. (2015). The integration of project management and organizational change management is now a necessity. International Journal of Project Management, 33(2), 291-298.

Landa, D., & Tyson, S. A. (2017). Coercive Leadership. American Journal of Political Science, 61(3), 559-574.

Petrou, P., Demerouti, E., & Schaufeli, W. B. (2018). Crafting the change: The role of employee job crafting behaviors for successful organizational change. Journal of Management, 44(5), 1766-1792.

Stephan, U., Patterson, M., Kelly, C., & Mair, J. (2016). Organizations driving positive social change: A review and an integrative framework of change processes. Journal of Management, 42(5), 1250-1281.

Vignola, R., Leclerc, G., Morales, M., & Gonzalez, J. (2017). Leadership for moving the climate change adaptation agenda from planning to action. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 26, 84-89.