Marks & Spencer: Organizational Change Using Kotter's 8-Step Approach

There are many factors that appeal to leaders why organizational change is needed in today’s business to stay competitive. Weiss (2016) noted “Factors such as technology and globalization have made the world far more interconnected” (p. 4). These factors can create more risks and opportunities for organizations to succeed or fail. Change management is inevitable, in order to successfully bring an organization into the twenty-first century, leaders must recognize this, develop plans and successfully execute them to remain relevant in today’s economy. This paper will provide an overview of Discount Tire Co. and diagnose the strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and present a plan using Kotter’s eight-step change process and

Marks and Spencer Group (M&S) is the premier retailer in clothing, foods and home ware within the United Kingdom. The company’s commitment to quality, value, service, innovation and trust is a key contributor to their success as a high street retailer in the UK. Their current core UK operations centre around three divisions, food, general merchandise (including clothing and home ware), and the financial services industry. Therefore Tesco plc is the prime UK retailer to analyse and compare growth, financial performance and the financial status of M&S Plc in line with other competitors within the same industry.

Marks and Spencer is one of the most famous garment retail organizations based in UK. It started its journey in the year of 1894 with its first office in Cheetham Hill, Manchester. In the beginning the business was a family owned business and achieved a great success in all their stores located in various high and significant streets of UK (Campbell & Rahman, 2010). The business achieved a great popularity among the customers due to its good quality products in affordable prices. Though, after the change of the ownership of the business when the major shares of the business got occupied by its major share holders like big insurance companies and organizations the business structure and strategy were changed deeply (Davenport, 2009). Initially

Marks and Spencer face many ethical issues in their daily activities and these affect the public and their business in different ways.

This model is an important roadmap for organizational leaders to utilize when implementing any type of lasting and successful change. The steps seem intuitive, but it is surprising how often they are neglected or not addressed, “this process is always easier when people know what they are getting into, feel supported, and are prepared for what lies ahead, both good and bad … this is the role of change management” (Mc Carthy and Eastman, 2010, p. 2). There are three phases in Kotter’s Change Management Model that involve different actions that must be accomplished within the

Kotter’s work discusses the process of change in three parts. In the first section, Kotter addresses eight common mistakes found among organizational transformation and how they contribute to failure. He also takes the time to touch on what drives an organization towards change, challenges that organizations face, and introduces the reader to his eight step leadership strategy for successful transformation in times of change.

(2015). Using kotter's eight stage process to manage an organisational change program: Presentation and practice. Systemic Practice and Action Research, 28(1), 51-66. doi:http://dx.doi.org.lopes.idm.oclc.org/10.1007/s11213-014-9317-0

It is most common for businesses to experience some type of organizational changes in today’s society. With changes in the economy to stay competitive in the global marketplace many businesses organizations must change constantly. Business management and employees equally respond and adjust to new challenges that occur within an organization (Dawn, 1999-2013). This paper will show the type of change the Sears and Kmart organization went through, the reason or source of the change, and identify other types and sources of change an organization can experience.

Academics such as Lewin and Kotter have outlined frameworks which fellow re-searchers can refer to when trying to implement organisational change successful-ly. Although there are many theories regarding change management, this research will focus Lewin’s change management model and Kotter’s 8 step model.

The parent company’s, Wal-Mart’ strategy involved opening up non-food sales areas for its clothing brands, ‘George’. This lead to an increase in profit of 25% in non-food sales, which was unachievable by their competitors due to the shortage of space on their premises. As well as clothing Asda has started to expand into services such as pharmacy, holiday, optical and car rental services at very competitive rates never offered previously on the UK market. With high expectations for the following year Asda focused on increasing their discount clothing line even targeting Matalan to have a higher turnover. However they fell short of hitting their target twice in the same year, which was a ‘wake-up call’ for Wal-Mart showing that a different strategy will be needed and not everything that works in the US will work in other countries.

With the support of relevant examples, examine the development of management theories and how these theories may affect the management practices in PRIMARK:

Mark & Spencer’s was established in 1984 when Michael Marks, a Polish refuge opened a market stall in Leeds, with slogan don’t ask price it’s for a penny. In 1984 Marks went in to a partnership with Thomas Spencer, a former cahier from the wholesale company Dewhirst. Mark & Spencer’s opened their first store in Leeds. Further on 1920 mark and spencer’s start to buy direct from suppliers and open other store in Marble Arch. Mark and spencer’s is the first British retailer to provide pensions, subsidies like health and dental services to their employees. In 1975 mark and spencer’s opens in eastern Europe France and Belgium. Mark and spencer’s have 852 stores in United Kingdom and also working in other countries. After 2002 mark and spacer’s start losing their market shares as compare to other retailers like Next, Primark, River Island and Miss Selfridge they are the top retailers in United Kingdom. This report consists on different parts Market shares of mark & spencer’s, why mark and spencer’s losing their market shares, pestle analysis, Swot analysis, market segmentation, conclusion and references.

Marks and Spence plc, also known as M&S is one of the major British multinational retailers headquartered in London. The company, founded by Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer in Leeds, is specialised in selling cloths and luxury food products. For more than 129 years, M&S grew from a single market stall to a giant international multi-channel retailer. Today, M&S is operating in more than 50 territories while employing almost 82,000 people. M&S worked hard to offer high quality products to its customers through its founding core values that are Quality, Value, Service, Innovation and Trust. By diversifying its stores, locations, channels and range of products, M&S reduced its dependence on the UK and broadened its international focus (Marks and Spence plc, 2014). The position of M&S in retail industry of UK remained unchallenged for many decades until the company started facing turbulence in 1990s. M&S emerged as a household name internationally by the early 1990s but the last part of the decade remained unfortunate for the company (Collier, 2014).

Marks and Spencer is one the UK’s Leading retailers with over 21 million customers visiting marks and Spencer stores each week. The company has over 6 hundred UK stores and over 75 thousand people working in the UK and Abroad. 49 % of company’s sales come from clothing and home ware and other 51% sales come from food. First Marks and Spencer store was opened in 1893 in Manchester by Michael Marks and Tom Spencer. In 1903 Marks and Spencer became a limited company. M&S was enlisted as Public limited

Marks and Spencer is the leader in the UK's high street past which has around 900 stores throughout the globe with 600 stores in UK or more 300 in more than 40 nations (Tsarenko, et.al, 2013). The facts unmistakably reveal that substantial number of retailers and stores create the commerce more extensive and the deals even increment because of the extensive variety of items that Marks and Spencer has.