Business Management Assignment: Change Audit for Woolworths
Question
Task:
Description and Requirements of Business Management Assignment:
1. Use one of the tools provided in the Change Leaders Toolbox to audit or survey an organisation. The audit should report on one of the following:
a. Tool 2 PEST(LE) analysis
b. Tool 3 SWOT analysis
c. Tool 4 Cultural capital & maturity assessment tool
d. Tool 5 Change readiness audit tool
e. Tool 6 Organisational maturity scorecard
f. Tool 7 Mapping leadership methods to change audit results
g. A tool you source and have approved by your lecturer.
2. Analyse and report your findings with regards the organisations preparedness for change or the major changes that will impact the organisation and should be systematically managed under a change project. Be sure to make insights and observations based on the literature provided with this unit and well-grounded academic research you have conducted in support of your findings. This may be based on a case study or organisational profile you have accessed, your own organisation or one with which you can gain sufficient permission to access, or a study your lecturer may provide if you cannot satisfy the other options.
Answer
Introduction
According to Gudeet al., (2019, p. 90), it is stated herein business management assignment that both external and internal audits help the organisation achieve its aims and objectives within the change process through providing an independent assurance about the identified risks that are managed and assessed. Change is considered as a feature for every organisation as they tend to evolve for meeting with the goals and strategies. Hence, the present study emphasizes the concept of change audit for the organisation of Woolworths.
Organisational background
Woolworths is an Australian chain of grocery stores and supermarkets that is mainly owned by the Woolworths Group. It is headquartered in Bella Vista, New South Wales, Australia (Woolworths.com.au. 2020). The company specialises within groceries, magazines, beauty products, household products, baby supplies, stationeries and similar other products. The mission of the organisation has been to deliver the best within the convenience; quality and value for the customers. The organisation is known to employ around 201,000 team members who tend to serve more than 29 million consumers every week. The present organisation can undergo the process of change management by assessing an external audit. This can help in determining the quality of the information that has been generated through the change management program along with assessing whether it is known to be enough for managing the process of change management.
PESTLE analysis
As stated by Thakhathiet al., (2019, p. 265), PESTLE analysis can help to define the strategies of the company through the analysis of different opportunities and threats that can become likely for being confronted through the team of management. Different factors have been evaluated within PESTLE analysis, which indicates a detailed review for the respective factors that can eventually help in determining the factors, which have been likely for impacting the operations and working for an organisation.
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Political factors |
The political factors are referred to as the interventions that have been imposed through the government within business organisations (Lynch, 2019, p. 3). This indicates the big brand of Woolworths to ban a single-use within the plastic that leads to some of the sustainable alternatives that have been both times consuming and cost-intensive. However, the recent reduction and consideration of stable fuel price helped the company in maintaining higher profitability. As Australia consists of a balanced relationship with both the US and China, the impact of the trade war within these countries has been less pressurizing. |
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Economic factors |
As per the views of Wilkinson et al., (2019, p. 520), these factors tend to affect the economy that can eventually influence the working for the business organisations within the industry. For retaining the share of the market, the organisation has initiated different loyalty programs, which have failed in capturing the market. However, its competitor organisation has managed to gain 15% of the market share. The company previously reported its gross loss of profit because of higher stock loss. Nevertheless, as per the recent scenario, Woolworths is prepared for facing any kind of challenges as it has been working for gaining the momentum back, which has been lost for several factors that have affected daily business. |
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Social factors |
As opined by Gibson and Groom, (2019, p. 10), this is known to be different culture and society-related factors that influence the pattern of behavioural consumption of the customers as well as the demand of products or services in the market. People, while moving for healthier options along with quality products, have made the company serve these products within the market, which has increased recently. The respective organisations have managed to capture the changing trend along with working accordingly for satisfying the customers by providing fresh vegetables and fruits that have been regulated by the “Grower Fresh Campaign”. As stated by Pedersen et al., (2019, p. 105), through analysing the needs of the local people from different regions, Woolworths have tried retaining the customers through the introduction of some tailored systems of reward points. |
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Technological factors |
Technological factors are referred to as different advancements in technology, which takes place within the industry along with influencing the business organisations for bringing different technical innovations (Hughes et al., 2019, p. 230). Through a constant transformation for providing better service quality, the organisation has embarked within a journey to be tech-savvy. However, these processes can be considered to be critical regarding the business. However, maintenance of agility and pace can become the key elements for achieving success. The organisation has developed a technological application based on its review, which is "shop and goes" that is developed for the reduction of hassles of the shopping that have been faced by the customers. |
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Legal factors |
The legal factors involve an imposition of different regulations and laws through the government along with some of the higher authorities (Ford and Nolan, 2020, p. 10). The respective factors tend to affect the business organisations along with the behaviour of the customers for the particular industry. It has been evidenced that within the Australian system, it makes use of OFRs for raising the capital through several investors, which can eventually be a roadblock for the corporations that do not focus within the aspect of climate change. Hence, through an increased effort for the mitigation of carbon footprint, Woolworths might not be affected that much. Nevertheless, the organisation follows different rules on a strict basis while avoiding any kind of legal claims over the products. |
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Environmental factors |
As per the views of Chatfield, (2020, p. 5), the environmental factors are known to be the ecological factors which are found to influence survival; growth and operations for the business organisations. Within the program of “Good business journey”, the respective organisations have integrated the advances for trans-critical CO2 systems that are natural refrigerators along with HVAC systems over 14 stores while making an effort for reducing the carbon footprint. The particular system can be considered as virtually eliminating the synthetic refrigerants through the stores thus reducing its carbon footprint and driving the company towards sustainable development. |
Table 1: Pestle analysis
Source: (Developed by the Learner)
Woolworths’ preparedness for embracing the changes
Woolworths has been a notable name within the retail industry, which fulfils the needs of the consumers by various retail outlets. It has been evidenced about the political environment of Australia has been linked with the performance based on the organisation and is seen to get affected through the region of political climate like the other entities of business within the sectors (Bull et al., 2019, p. 97). The political condition tends to shape the environment of business while providing the organisation appropriate opportunities for growth and facilitating its preparedness for embracing sudden changes, owing to governmental policies. In addition to that, the business sector is also known to grow because of the political stability being the foreign investors along with the trading partners who show interest within carrying the business and trading-related activities. The organisation is also known to launch a new concept for the smart stores for making their stores safer through the enhanced surveillance with the help of robots along with iPads consisting of some inbuilt cameras within the self-serve checkouts, to facilitate embracing changes regarding technological advancements, amongst the customers.
The particular organisation has been known to propose a model of subscription, which comprised of monthly and annual fees with the free home delivery for the goods that have been purchased through the customers over the app of in-house development (Gibson and Groom, 2019, p. 10). This indicates that Woolworths has been working for multiple safeties, along with the ease for technology based on shopping and its improvements, however, with this, the future for retail markets has been within the verge for major revolutions. The organisation has been known to be prepared for the factors based within the business and is also internal for the company, which can provide with a competitive edge over the other competitors in the market. Presence of well-trained employees and young employees, who accepts changes readily and can adjust very easily to the changed working systems accounts for the agility of Woolworths to cope up in any market environment and retain their functionality. This strength of the workforce also ensures Woolworths ability to face changes within the business environment, successfully and efficiently.
The strong communication channels amongst the different departments of Woolworths ensure quick and efficient decision-making process, in the face of sudden changes in the economic or social factors in the business environment. Nevertheless, in some cases, different uncertainties can create trouble regarding successful running for business. The online presence of the organisation, for the customers, has also helped in creating brand awareness in the market, which vouches for maintenance of customer demand within the market segment and thus, steady flow of revenue, which would provide the company with necessary finances, to face any change in the business environment. As stated by Pedersen et al., (2019, p. 105), the CSR initiatives by Woolworths, regarding the conservation of environment and reduction of their carbon-footprint prepares them for any changes in laws or policies to be implied by the Australian government, regarding the operations of the companies, on the grounds of sustainability, besides enhancing the experience of the customers. The steady sales and good financial condition of Woolworths ensure its preparedness for embracing changes in technologies and investments in implementing creativity within the organization, as a means of catering to the changing demands of the customers in the market.
Conclusion
To conclude, the present study has evaluated the concept of change audit within the organisation of Woolworths, Australia. Pestle analyses have been conducted in the above discussion highlighting the effect that has been faced by a particular company through the external factors. However, the preparedness of the organisation regarding technological change has been considered in the study, which can impact the change project in both a positive and negative way.
References
Bull, E.R., Hart, J.K., Swift, J., Baxter, K., McLauchlan, N., Joseph, S. and Byrne-Davis, L.M., 2019. An organisational participatory research study of the feasibility of the behaviour change wheel to support clinical teams implementing new models of care. BMC health services research, 19(1), p.97.
Chatfield, C., 2020. Quality Improvement. ABC of Quality Improvement in Healthcare, p.5.
Ford, J. and Nolan, J., 2020. Regulating transparency on human rights and modern slavery in corporate supply chains: the discrepancy between human rights due diligence and the social audit. Australian Journal of Human Rights, pp.1-19.
Gibson, L. and Groom, R., 2019. The micro-politics of organisational change in professional youth football: Towards an understanding of “actions, strategies and professional interests”. International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching, 14(1), pp.3-14.
Gude, W.T., Roos-Blom, M.J., van der Veer, S.N., Dongelmans, D.A., de Jonge, E., Peek, N. and de Keizer, N.F., 2019.Facilitating action planning within audit and feedback interventions: a mixed-methods process evaluation of an action implementation toolbox in intensive care. Implementation Science, 14(1), p.90.
Hughes, C., Maclean, G. and Stringer, P., 2019. How person-centred planning can contribute to organisational change in a school.Business management assignment Educational Psychology in Practice, 35(2), pp.229-238.
Lynch, M., 2019. Failure to manage organisational change–a personal perspective. Loss Prevention Bulletin, 267, p.3.
Pedersen, M.S., Landheim, A., Møller, M. and Lien, L., 2019. First-line managers' experience of the use of audit and feedback cycle in specialist mental health care: A qualitative case study. Archives of psychiatric nursing, 33(6), pp.103-109.
Thakhathi, A., le Roux, C. and Davis, A., 2019. Sustainability Leaders’ Influencing Strategies for Institutionalising Organisational Change towards Corporate Sustainability: A Strategy-as-Practice Perspective. Journal of Change Management, 19(4), pp.246-265.
Wilkinson, K., Boyd, K., Pearson, M., Farrimond, H., Lang, I.A., Fleischer, D., Poole, A., Ralph, N. and Rappert, B., 2019.Making sense of evidence: Using research training to promote organisational change. Police Practice and Research, 20(5), pp.511-529.
Woolworths.com.au. 2020. Woolworths Supermarket - Buy Groceries Online. Available at:
