Unit 17 � Understanding & Leading Change in Business Management Assignment Sample

Introduction Of Drivers Of Change And Organizational Impact Assignment.

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Individuals are better able to deal with the difficulties that come with creating and carrying out change when they understand it and are leading it. Understanding market conditions and making required adjustments is essential given how quickly the business environment can change in order to confirm the expansion and profitability of the company. Imperial Brands Plc has been chosen to discuss on the project. In part one of the assignment focuses on the drivers of change and the organizational impact.Imperial Brands Plc. is a multinational tobacco company situated in Bristol, England. The company implements several changes in its management and analyzes the market’s internal and external environmental factors. There are several drivers which impact the change upon the company faces. The change in management can be both positive and negative. The change also affects the leadership, team, and individuals which may enhance the efficiency of the company. There are several ways to reduce the change in management and the impacts. In this study, the effects of change in the Imperial Brandswill be demonstrated, and the way that the organization minimized the change will be discussed.

1.0 An overview of the organization and its change processes

Imperial Brands Plc. is one of the largest multinational tobacco companies. The headquarter of the company is in Bristol, England. Imperial Brandserves its product worldwide. The organization has different products like Cigarettes, Cigars, rolling papers, snuff, and tubes. The organization is implementing a new strategy to transform its business in five years. Their five-year strategy is based on three foundations. They are emphasizingthecombustible market among the most significant markets of the USA,Germany, UK, Australia, and Spain. They are formulating their next-generationstrategy to gather information about the customers and satisfy their needs and requirements. They are recognizing the wide market portfolio to target an extensive range of audiences. They are aware of their capabilities and leadership operations and utilize those strengths to grow the market’s share. Imperial Brandsoffers new strategic priorities and enhances its culture. Imperial Brands’strategy is supported by the comprehensive culture change program which is future-focused, creative, and consumer-centric. In response to a major shift in consumer preferences, regulations, and competition, Imperial Brands PLC has changed from a tobacco company to global consumer goods like a vapor, heated tobacco, and oral nicotine company.

2.0 PEST/SWOT analysis to be undertaken to identify drivers of change

SWOT ANALYSIS:

Strength:

• The Imperial brands issuccessfully enlarging the market share through mergers and acquisitions. The company has joined with several technology companies and over the past few years, it is operating its supply chain.
• The company is maintaining successfully developing new products and innovating new products.
• The company is having a huge level of customer satisfaction.
• To expand its new projects Imperial Brands has a strong cash flow.

Weaknesses:

• The Imperial brands haslimited products and services, so they are not having extensive range of products.
• Imperial brands are not efficient in adopting the technological innovation
• The financial planning has not been done efficiently and properly (fernfortuniversity, 2022).

Opportunities:

• In the UK market, the lower inflation rate brings more stability for the company, which enables lower credit interest rates for the customers of the company.
• The Imperial brands is developing its market share which brings opportunities in a competitive market.

Threats:

• The price of raw materials is increasing which may lead the Imperial brands to a threat.
• The products which are profitable for the company are seasonal but in seasonal change, the demand for that product may affect the profitability of the company.

Imperial Brand has not adapted technology properly which may affect the change of the company. Moreover, the inflation rate is increasing therefore the price of raw materials is also increasing.

PEST analysis of the company:

PEST analysis includes significant information regarding operational challengesconcerningImperial Brands Plc. which will encounter as company’s external environment which has an impact on the company’s growth and profitability. Before joining or making an investment in a specific market, ImperialBrands Plc can properly analyse the factors (fernfortuniversity, 2022).

Political:

There are several factors regarding politics that effects Imperial Brands Plc’s change process such as:

• The current political condition in UK is stable so it is an opportunity for the overall operation of this Imperial brands.
• A tax rate is a major problem in UK that can reduces the overall profit margin of the organisation.

Economical:

• Currency stability and exchange rates in the host nation is good enough so that it will provide the Imperial brands huge business advantages.
• The country’s economic growth rate is good for the organizationand it will provide the organizationwith more competitive advantages during foreign operations.

Social:

• In the UK, a huge number of people consume tobacco, and the supply if products are very less in comparison to the demand so it will provide effective business advantages to the Imperial group.
• Gender roles and social conventions are very transparent so that the company will get enough manpower to manage its operations effectively.

Technological:

• Recent technological improvements made by Imperial Brands will give it extra advantages.
• UK is a developed country therefore the company will get enough technical support and manpower to run the day-to-day operation in an efficient manner.

Also, there are several political uncertainties in the political environment therefore the frequent changes in the environment may affect the performances of Imperial Brands which will be challenging for the company in decision-making. The employment rate of the UK is more than 7.5% which is an opportunity for the Imperial brands to launch premium products. Moreover, the inflation rate in the UK has a continuous growth which may affect the growth of Imperial Brands Plc. These factors may consider as drivers of change regarding Imperial Brands.

3.1 Analysis of the drivers and impacts of change that affected the organizational strategy.

The chief executive ‘Stefan Bomhard’ outlined a five years strategy in the year 2021, to create long-term value for Imperial Brands. Both conventional and next-generation tobacco products are playing better and more reliably according to the new strategic plan. A complete culture change program Is executing more customer-centric, collaborative, and future-focused working practices where everylevel of the organization has supported the approach(imperialbrandsplc,2022). Transforming Imperial Brands is focusing on prioritizing the combustible markets. The company is focused on investment and several resources in the five most crucial markets of Spain, the USA, Australia, Germany, and the UK (Imperialbrandsplc, 2022). These represent more than 70% of the operating profit. With this, the company is focusing on next-generationproducts. The company resets its NGP strategy where the company is focusing on its investment in the European heated tobacco market potential as well as in a few niche vapor industry opportunities. The company is also generating profit from its larger market portfolio. The imperial brand has developed more ways to maximize on its wider market portfolio's potential to expand while generating efficiencies in its management of these markets. For places where it has suitable leadership roles, the corporation is selectively expanding, while exiting a small number of others.

3.2 Contrasting the effects of change and how they have affected the organization imperial brands operations and strategy

A real change is being driven by Imperial Brands Plc., from the talent it recruits and the various ways it works to build a cutting-edge, inclusive atmosphere that encourages everyone to accomplish their tasks in the workplace. When an individual joins the company they will get to see the purpose, behaviors, and vision of several aspects of life in the organizational context. The company demands itself a connection between business strategy and the change in the culture to obtain an innovative and performance-driven environment. The Imperial brands have incorporated technological innovation to gain a competitive advantage (Imperialbrandsplc, 2022). The utilization of cutting-edge technologies will provide the company enhance its brand value. The behavioral change affects the company into the next phase like the company is offering new sustainable growth in shareholder value. The company is driving its value in the global market where the clear portfolio strategy in Africa is offering growth in profit and net revenue.Imperial Brand is committed to decreasing the effect on the climate within its value chain, also by aiming at adaption and mitigation.

In order to transform its business in five years, the organization is putting a new plan into practice. Three pillars form the basis of their five-year plan. The combustible market is being highlighted as one of the most important markets in the USA, Germany, the UK, Australia, and Spain. To learn more about their clients and fulfil their needs and demands, they are developing their next-generation approach. They are aware of the large market portfolio and how to target a wide variety of audiences. They make use of these advantages to increase the market share because they are conscious of their leadership style and talents. Imperial Brands updates its culture and proposes new strategic goals (Imperial Brands, 2022).

To successfully execute its strategy, the company aims to createthe correct culture. The Imperial brand’sdemands to create a healthier future and the vision of the company is to create a strong challenging organization that enables responsibility, choice, and focus which is also considered its new strategy. The investment initiatives strategy has driven the organization in operational improvements. Around 1.5% of net revenues and 0.2% of adjusted operating profit in FY21 came from Russia (imperialbrandsplc, 2022).

 Strategic Operations ofImperial Brands

(Source: Imperialbrandsplc, 2022)

 4.0 Effects of change in leadership, individuals, and team behaviour

Imperial Brand’s strategy can only be successfully implemented if the correct culture is created. The new statement of purpose, which it emerged within 2021, is “Forging a route to a healthy future for moments of rest and enjoyment.” The strategy is supported by its vision statement, which states, “To establish a strong challenger business fuelled by responsibility, focus, and choice. All the operations of the business are being infused with this mission, vision, and its new behaviours. Over 400 members of company’s senior leadership team have already taken part in extensive training sessions, and a further 900 will do so over the following three months.” The objective of these workshops is to support the employees of the company in working in a manner that is more customer-centric, creative, responsible, accessible, and future-focused (imperialbrandsplc, 2022). The company demands that by the end of the year all of the employees will adopt this training in these behaviours. The Group has continued to place a high premium on the security and welfare of its employees,and cross-functional Executive Leadership Team working groups continue to coordinate its actions to the dynamic circumstances. Imperial Brands have been utilizing effective leadership styles to bring effective changes to the workforce. They are providing training and development to the employees to enhance their productivity and performance.

5.0Methods used to reduce the impact of change and the use of suitable models to effectively plan for and handle change

Lewin's change model is a simple and basic framework for uplifting the change management procedure (Hussain, et al., 2018). There are three stages of change where Imperial brand can implement their change in the management(Burnes, 2020). The company is transforming change with a challenger approach. The company is restructuring its business to reallocate its resources toward its consumers. To reduce the impact of change the first stage is unfreezing the activities. The company can address the employees with proper training and create a strategy and change its vision. In the second stage, the company will implement the change like climate change and offer stronger and more consistent performance in the products of the company. In the third stage, the company has to implement refreezing where the company has to collect feedback regularly. To handle the changes the company has to provide proper training and support to the employees.

6.0 Long-term implications of change to inform conclusions and recommendations to reduce the effects of change through effective planning and managing change, including change impact analysis to identify potential risks of change

By implementing the change and effective planning the company may build more sustainability where it will grow constantly. The company can take initiative to produce less harmful products. Moreover, the company is implementing its Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) strategy where it will approach environmental, social, and governance duties in order to set the stage for a future when the company may enjoy its leisure time and feel better about itself (Imperialbrandsplc, 2022).

7.0 Conclusion

In this module, the chosen organization is Imperialbrands which is a leading tobacco company in the UK. In the organizational context, the change process has been demonstrated in this module. There are several internal and external factors that have been analyzed based on the organization. The company faces several impacts of change and it affects the organizational strategy along with the leadership, individuals, and team behaviours. The transformational change of the company has several effects and it is implementing new strategies. Additionally, the methods of reducing the change in the management have been discussed in this module and the recommendations have been provided for long-term implications.

References

Burnes, B., 2020. The origins of Lewin’s three-step model of change. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 56(1), pp.32-59.

fernfortuniversity, 2022. Imperial Brands Plc [SWOT Analysis] Weighted SWOT Matrix. [online] Fern Fort University. Available at: <http://fernfortuniversity.com/term-papers/swot/nyse/6649-imperial-brands-plc.php> [Accessed 15 September 2022].

fernfortuniversity, 2022. Imperial Brands Plc PESTEL / PEST & Environment Analysis[Strategy]. [online] Fern Fort University. Available at: <http://fernfortuniversity.com/term-papers/pestel/nyse4/6649-imperial-brands-plc.php> [Accessed 15 September 2022].

Hussain, S.T., Lei, S., Akram, T., Haider, M.J., Hussain, S.H. and Ali, M., 2018. Kurt Lewin's change model: A critical review of the role of leadership and employee involvement in organizational change. Journal of Innovation & Knowledge, 3(3), pp.123-127.

Imperial Brands, 2022. OUR STRATEGY. Our strategic priorities. [online] Available at: https://www.imperialbrandsplc.com/how-we-are-transforming/our-strategy [accessed on 16th September, 2022].

Imperialbrandsplc, 2022. Our strategic priorities. Focusing on priority combustible markets[online] Available at: Our strategy - Imperial Brands (imperialbrandsplc.com) [accessed on 15^th September 2022].

Imperialbrandsplc, 2022. Powered by responsibility. Tony Dunnage, Global ESG Director, describes our distinctive approach to sustainability. [online] Available at: Our ESG strategy - Imperial Brands (imperialbrandsplc.com) [accessed on 15^th September, 2022].

imperialbrandsplc, 2022.IMPERIAL BRANDS PLC HALF YEAR RESULTS STATEMENT. CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S STATEMENT [online] Available at: <https://www.imperialbrandsplc.com/content/dam/imperialbrands/corporate2022/documents/investors/results/2022/half-year-results/2022-05-17%20Interims%2022%20RNS%20(1).pdf.downloadasset.pdf> [Accessed 15 September 2022].

imperialbrandsplc,2022. OUR STRATEGY. [online] Available at: <https://www.imperialbrandsplc.com/how-we-are-transforming/our-strategy> [Accessed 15 September 2022].