Bma314 | Development | A Assessment Answers

Introduction

The report will help in the entire analysis of the different kinds of problems and challenges which are being confronted by the respective organization named Woolworths Company which is situated in Australia. Proper SWOT analysis is required to be conducted which will help in analysing the different kinds of internal strengths, weaknesses, opportunities along with threats. The recommendations are required to be provided in which the organizational development theories in enhancing the performance of the organization efficiently.

Overview of Woolworths

Woolworths is one of the largest Australian supermarkets which is based in Australia which started in the year 1924 and the headquarter of the company is situated in New South Wales, Australia. The number of locations wherein Woolworths is serving is more than 995 locations and the number of employees working in Woolworths are more than 111,000 till the year 2016. The revenue earned by the company is A$42.132 billion (Woolworths.com.au., 2018).

Overview of the Case

Woolworths is facing different kinds of challenges in their organization in which this has been noticed that the self-check out system is not available in all the stores of Woolworths and this has become a challenge for them to handle the different purchases which are being made by the customers. Woolworths has been not able to improvise the system of self -checkout and the other competitors in the market such as Walmart and Aldi have started performing self-check out and this has been successful as well.

Challenges Faced by Woolworths

The main challenge which was faced by Woolworths was relating to the theft which occurred in the showroom in which the customer was fined $A326,000 for a self-service checkout con in which the customer scanned the expensive meat as the cheap fruit. The main challenge faced by them was that the company Woolworths was not being able to implement the entire system of self-check-out effectively ("Self-service checkout theft made impossible", 2018).

It was seen that in the respective check-out system, there was no camera which will identify the product and this will identify product and this will automatically enter information of the products which are being sold and there are different stores of Woolworths in which the self-check out system is not available and this is affecting their profitability and losing their customers in the market as well (Hornstein, 2015).

Additionally, this was noticed that the employees were not trained enough to take care of the different mishaps which were taking place in the organization. There was lack of training and development programs which were not being implemented for Woolworths and there was a huge rivalry with Coles as they have implemented the training program to train the employees relating to the automated technological advancements which helped them in managing the sales and analyzing needs of the customers effectively.

SWOT Analysis of Woolworths

Recommendations

There are different strategies which are required to be followed in an effective manner by Woolworths as this will help the company in overcoming the different kinds of challenges effectively. The change management approach is required to be provided in the entire company as this will be beneficial for the employees which will enhance their knowledge on the usage of the self-check-out system in the organization and this will meet the different demands of the customers in the respective organization as well.

Application of Organizational Development Theories and Models in Woolworths

The organizational development is essential and necessary in nature in which Open System Theory can be applied in the different activities performed in Woolworths. In this model, this can be seen and identified that there are three main components which can be used in Woolworths to improve the customer service management and this will allow for the development and change in the organization appropriately (Idris, See & Coughlan, 2018).

As per the Open System Theory, there are basic elements which are required to be taken into consideration which includes:

• Inputs- Human Resources and Energy (Benn, Edwards & Williams, 2014)
• Throughputs- Process of production, Training and Development of Employees
• Outputs- Customer Satisfaction, providing Products and Services which will help in improving the process effective

Application of Open Systems Theory in Woolworths

Woolworths can implement Open System Theory can implement the same in which this will require training of the employees as to make the customers understand regarding the self-check-out system as this will enhance the process more efficiently. There should be implementation of digital marketing strategies which can assist the company in meeting the expectations of the customers as digital transformation can help the company to be more successful in different approaches efficiently (Kaufman, 2017).

Planned Change Management in Enhancing Performance of Woolworths

Change management is essential which is required to be adopted by Woolworths in order to enhance the organizational performance effectively. The main goal of change management process is to ensure that the standardized procedures are effective and is prompt in nature to handle the different kinds of changes (Doppelt, 2017). The digital marketing approach can be used by the company which will help in consolidating the different improvements and innovations effectively. Woolworths needs to understand the different difficulties faced by them in which this was seen and analysed that proper usage of Kotter’s change management model can be applied which will help in forming powerful coalition and institutionalising the different approaches appropriately (Uhl & Gollenia, 2016).

With the implementation of the Kotter’s Change Management Model can be applied by the Woolworths Company as this will assist them in consolidating various improvements along with inclusion of the digital marketing which will allow the customers of Woolworths to shop with ease and this will help the company to gain more competitive advantage in the entire market efficiently. In Kotter’s Change Management Model, this can be analysed that there are various types of changes which will be recorded and evaluated and this will review the entire self-check out system appropriately.

In the past scenario, this was analysed that the performance of the respective organization was not up to the standard and this created huge issues in satisfying the needs of the customers effectively. This kind of situation can be solved in the organization by implementing advancement of technology and this will improve the entire management of the organization efficiently as well (Clegg & de Matos, 2017).

The digital marketing techniques will help Woolworths in understanding the changes in behaviour of the customers as this will provide a brief view on the changes and the technological infrastructure will affect the efficiency, culture and relationships of the business effectively. Moreover, the planned change is necessary to be done by Woolworths as this will assist Woolworths in enhancing the organizational effectiveness in comparison to other competitors in the market such as Coles and Aldi (Goetsch & Davis, 2014).

Solvable and Exceptional Strategies to Affect Change and Development

There are different kinds of exceptional strategies which can be adopted by Woolworths in order to become more technologically advanced and this will satisfy the different requirements of the customers in a positive manner. The different processes which are required to be analysed effectively are as follows:

• Clearly defining the change and then aligning the same to the business goals as this will be effective in nature and Woolworths will be able to gain competitive advantage
• Determination and development of strategy related to communication is essential in nature as this will communicate the same to the customers regarding the technological implications of self-check out system.
• Providing proper and effective training to the employees in the organization as they will be aware of the different kinds of usage of the self-check out system and they can help in informing the customers as well who will be visiting different stores of Woolworths in order to purchase the items and this will make the entire process more advanced and easier for the customers to shop accordingly to their preferences.
• Measuring the process of change is essential which is the other strategy which will assist Woolworths in managing the different demands of the customers and the installation of the cameras in self-check out system is essential as this will assist in managing the overall process effectively and appropriately.

These are the different strategies which can be adopted by Woolworths stores in Australia as to be more competitive in nature in comparison to the other competitors in the market. Woolworths have to be technologically sound and be customer centric, however the digital marketing will make the company more effective in performing the activities in a proper manner as well ensuring that the change which will be done and implemented will last in the company in the future as well.

Role of Organizational Structure and Design in Development of Woolworths

The organizational structure and design of the organizational hierarchy plays a major role in managing the change of implementing effective self-check out system in all the stores of Woolworths in the different places wherein they have their stores. The digital marketing structure and design of the organization will help Woolworths to become more efficient in self-check-out system and this will help the company in becoming successful and they can start this system in all the stores as to gain more profitability and this will increase the overall sales of the company as well.

Figure 1: Management Structure of Woolworths

(Source: Clegg & de Matos, 2017)

However, after installing digital marketing and technological advancements, there will be different changes in the departments and there will be less jobs for different employees in the organization. Woolworths need to change the structure or organization as the higher officials need to post the cash department employees to the head office as this will help in providing career developmental opportunities to the employees and this will improve the morale of the employees.

Conclusion

Therefore, this can be concluded that there are different kinds of strategies of digital marketing along with technological advancement change management which helped the company in becoming more effective and this will assist the company in becoming more effective and gain more profitability in comparison to the other competitors in the market.

References

Benn, S., Edwards, M., & Williams, T. (2014). Organizational change for corporate sustainability. 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.

Carnall, C. (2018). Managing change. Routledge.

Clegg, S., & de Matos, J. A. (Eds.). (2017). Sustainability and organizational change management. Routledge.

Doppelt, B. (2017). Leading change toward sustainability: A change-management guide for business, government and civil society. Routledge.

Goetsch, D. L., & Davis, S. B. (2014). Quality management for organizational excellence. Upper Saddle River, NJ: pearson.

Hayes, J. (2018). The theory and practice of change management.

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.

Idris, A., See, D., & Coughlan, P. (2018). Employee empowerment and job satisfaction in urban Malaysia: Connecting the dots with context and organizational change management. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 31(3), 697-711.

Kaufman, H. (2017). The limits of organizational change. Routledge.

Lewis, S., Passmore, J., & Cantore, S. (2016). Appreciative inquiry for change management: Using AI to facilitate organizational development. Kogan Page Publishers.

Self-service checkout theft made impossible. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.news.com.au/technology/innovation/inventions/new-technology-from-aussie-company-will-make-it-impossible-to-steal-from-selfserve-checkouts/news-story/dd4ed934c1d17242bfd09bc3c4a7624c

Uhl, A., & Gollenia, L. A. (Eds.). (2016). Business transformation management methodology. Routledge.

Woolworths.com.au. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.woolworths.com.au/