Myths and Stories of Coles Group - Case Study Example

CASE STUDY By Name Course Instructor Institution City/State Date Coles Group - Case Study Part A Analysis of myths and stories of Coles Group indicate that the company was performing poorly, and its senior management made the Coles supermarket chain to appear worn-out and shabby. With regard to the power structures, in May 2008 Coles division appointed Ian McLeod in 2008 as the Managing Director considering that he had a wide-ranging experience in the retail sector, having worked previously at Wal-Mart and Asda. His egalitarian and no-nonsense way of leadership made him a powerful leader at Coles supermarket. Besides McLeod in, other individuals in Coles power structures entailed Gavin Parker, Tony Leon, and Peter Pokorny. The rites and routines are evidenced by McLeod’s attempt to cut costs, reintroduce training and development programs for the store managers with the intention of improving customer experience. Control systems are evidenced by McLeod attempt to improve communication between shop fronts and the head office, making it a key change strategy. For this reason, McLeod opened up communication at Coles and improved ways of working by completely redesigning the head office at Tooronga. The organisation of Coles was bureaucratic, which in consequence had inhibited the potential as well as the initiative of employees at the front shop. The symbolic aspects of Coles include the distinguishing identity developed by Coles through its high-end private-label products. Symbolically, new stores under the leadership of McLeod are being developed with the goal of providing more of what has been termed as 'the theatre of retail' with wider aisles, softer lighting, a help desk as well as lower shelving. The paradigm indicates assumptions concerning the organisation that is held in common as well as assumed at Coles. These includes focusing is streamlining business processes as well as systems instead of reducing programs for training and development and cutting infrastructure costs. Besides that, McLeod assumes that the competitive environment will offer Coles opportunities to grow its business. Part B Based on the above cultural web audit, it evident that a higher level of efficiency may be realised because of the more routine and predictable activities at Coles. As mentioned by Lunenburg (2010, p.2), organisations change is a continuous process in response to various forces originating from both outside and inside the organisation. For McLeod, the challenge is to direct change processes so that performance at Coles is improved. For this reason, the external forces for change at Coles comes from the Company’s environment, and they include; government laws and regulations, the marketplace, labour markets, economic changes and technology. Pressures in the internal environment of the school district/school can also stimulate change. Besides that, processes that double up as pressures for change at Coles entails decision making, communications, and leadership considering that problems or breakdown in any of the above-mentioned processes may generate pressures for change. That is to say, communications could be poor; decisions made by senior management could be of poor quality, and leadership could be unsuitable for the state of affairs. Undoubtedly, change can be resisted, to some extent by the workers or other leaders of the organization, especially if the change is forcing people to espouse new means of doing things. Forces against change include group resistance, uncertainty, dependence, and distrust. According to Erasmus and Schenk (2008, p.714), workers can resist change when they become worried about how their lives and work will be impacted by the proposed change. Any change brings about possible uncertainties. If leaders of the organization initiate change that employees see as a threat to their norms, then the change will obviously be resisted. Agboola and Salawu (2011, p.235) posit that when the employees are more cohesive then there is a high possibility of resistance to change. At Coles, McLeod understands the importance of involving employees in change and decision making process that is why he encouraged them to share their ideas and thoughts on ways of improving the business. Part C Organizational culture has been defined by Fairholm (2000, p.84) as a set of language, visions, values, beliefs as well as behaviours that make up the organization’s unique environment of operation. Even though, the business personality can be hard to articulate, it has an enormous impact on the organization members handle each other, other stakeholders, and customers. The key strength of Coles’ new culture is that it is embedded deeply in the ways the company does things. A new culture enables management as well as employees to comprehend what is needed from them and helps them to act according to the core values of the organization. The new culture is a crucial factor in determining the organizational performance. Importantly, the culture supports the behaviour pattern according to the organization’s requirements and enables the members of the organization to be creative and innovative. The culture new promotes individuals prepared to take risks and is inclined to bind together the members of the organization and results in smoother functioning. A key strength of the new culture comes from its ability to build flexibility within the organization and promotes change and innovation. For that reason, a new organization culture is exceedingly suitable for Coles since the company operates in a dynamic environment that needs regular changes to its working style. As mentioned by Daft (2006, p.387) a new culture is a crucial tool for business seeking to be successful since it may assist in attracting and retaining committed and loyal workers. In consequence, it can strengthen the relationships between the organization and the customers. It is for this reason that McLeod encouraged employees to ask questions as well as share their ideas and thought, so as not just to improve the business but also to create a strong culture at Coles. Part D Aspects of Coles that need to be monitored and sustained to ensure does not revert back to its old ways include; Communication, training and development and customer service. McLeod should monitor and sustain communication because it promotes motivation by clarifying and informing the workers concerning the task they need to do and how to perform the task effectively. Communication is a source of information to the organizational members for decision-making process as it helps to identify as well as assess the alternative course of actions. Communication also plays a crucial part in moulding and changing attitudes, of the workers. Besides that, McLeod should monitor training and development of the store managers considering that presents a key opportunity for expanding the employees’ knowledge base, but the development opportunities will be somewhat expensive for Coles. McLeod should understand that some employees will be absent during the work time while taking part in the training sessions, which in consequence can bring some shortcomings. In spite of such drawbacks, training and development will offer Coles the benefits that make time and cost a valuable investment. For this reason, a training program will enable the store managers to strengthen their skills while the development program will bring all workers to a higher level where they have similar knowledge and skills. Another aspect that should be monitored and sustained at Coles is the customer service considering that it handles issues of the company in by email and over the phone without a doubt, customer service is crucial for the company for numerous reasons; first, it enables the company to continue existing in terms of answering questions and handling complaints from the customers. Besides that, customer service is crucial for the organization since it is the only contact that a customer has with the organization. Part E There are similarities and differences between the change experience of Coles and the changes to the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC). For instance, radical changes were introduced at the ICBC that consequently delivered a historic public offering that laid a market capitalisation platform. Unlike at Coles where main changes involved communication, the changes that were introduced at ICBC involved novel structures, strategies, governance as well as technologies. Still, ICBC changes involved more diffuse perspective, which concentrated on rational control and was strengthened by a contingency environmental paradigm. ICBC utilised a hybrid approach in their organisational structure, where divisional as well as functional organising were utilised with the goal of moving fluidly between the marketplace and different units of the organisation. Similarly to Coles, power at ICBC was decentralised as well as redistributed to facilitate the decision making processes at every hierarchical level. Unlike Coles new communication paradigm, the models of corporate governance were introduced at ICBC so as to strengthen the accountability structures of the company. On the other hand, Coles key change strategy was improving communication between head office as well as the shop fronts. The objective was to open up communication as well as a new way if working through redesigning the head office. Both ICBC and Coles objective for change was to develop into profitable within the region and world. Both ICBC and Coles aspired to improve the standards of their organisation with ICBC focusing on the corporate governance and innovation while Coles is concentrating on customer service. To sum up, ICBC concentrates on improving its corporate governance and innovation so as to become more profitable in the world while Coles concentrate on improving the communication process within the company and reintroducing trading and development of the store manager so as to become competitive. References Agboola, A.A. & Salawu, R.O., 2011. Managing Deviant Behavior and Resistance to Change. International Journal of Business and Management, vol. 6, no. 1, pp.235 - 242. Daft, R., 2006. Organization Theory and Design. New York: Cengage Learning. Erasmus, B. & Schenk, H., 2008. South African Human Resource Management: Theory & Practice. Cape Town: Juta and Company Ltd. Fairholm, G.W., 2000. Perspectives on Leadership: From the Science of Management to Its Spiritual Heart. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group. Lunenburg, F.C., 2010. Forces for and Resistance to Organizational Change. National FORUM of Educational Administration and Supervision Journal, vol. 27, no. 4, pp.1-10. Read More