CASE ANALYSIS ON THE CHANGES IN SELFRIDGE AND CO.

24-Jan-11

MANAGING CHANGE INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT

 CASE ANALYSIS ON THE CHANGES IN SELFRIDGE AND CO.
January 24, 2011

TABLE OF CONTENT

NO CONTENT PAGE

1 Introduction 3

2 Analysis of changes in Selfridge

 Transactional change 4-5
 Transformational change 6

3 Conclusion 7

4 Reference 8

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 CASE ANALYSIS ON THE CHANGES IN SELFRIDGE AND CO.
January 24, 2011

INTRODUCTION

Today change is considered as the lifeblood of any business to maintain in this highly
competitive environment. Change has been considered as a powerful force that drives any
organization. Now changes are more sudden and frequent than ever before. [ CITATION
FEA11 \l 1033 ]. Managing change is not a constant process; an organization must be able to
manage change in order to be effective and efficient than its competitors. [ CITATION Jul11 \l
1033 ]. It is important how an organization implements the change makes it easy to adapt to
the change and reduce the negative impact. It is important for the organization as well as the
individuals working in the organization to comprehend the reality that ‘change is unavoidable
and they have to move along with it’. [ CITATION FEA11 \l 1033 ]

Harry Gordon Selfridge was a person with innovative and creative ideas which can be
practised in the store to serve the customers. [ CITATION Gay11 \l 1033 ]. Like every
organization, even Selfridge had to undergo some changes in its structure, physical look,
customer focus, layout and many other types of changes.

ANALYSIS ON THE CHANGES IMTRODUCED IN SELFRIDGE AND CO.

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 CASE ANALYSIS ON THE CHANGES IN SELFRIDGE AND CO.
January 24, 2011

Transactional changes

Transactional change basically means undergoing changes or adjustments in the

organizations process or structure without making any drastic changes in the core strategy or
identity of the organization. It is doing more of something or less of something. These
changes are reversible where the adjustments are done with the current structure. [ CITATION
Typ11 \l 1033 ]. Discussed below are the transactional changes that Selfridge had gone
through:

Every organization tends to grow. The growth pressure is an internal organizational pressure
that forces organizations to make changes in the existing ways and processes. In order to
grow and expand Selfridge wanted to change the overall look of the store in terms of physical
look, layout and products. They also wanted to open new branches in UK as they believed
that it will give leverage to the brand and help organization grow by attracting more and more
customers. The intention to grow also made the organization to take decisions on changing
its structure, where it changed itself into a multi-site retail format, a form of functional
organizational structure. This change was a result of the responsibilities and control being
very unclear and no proper roles and accountability.

When the new CEO Vittorio Radice joined the organization he wanted to bring in the vision
of shopping as fun and entertainment. This vision led him to decide changing the interior and
exterior looks of the organization. This decision can be a reason of internal pressure, new
broom pressure, which was brought in by the new CEO of the company. New broom pressure
also brought about changes associated with Christmas. The company decided to move away
from traditional ways of Christmas display and reduce the size of Santa’s grotto. But this
change was not well accepted by the customer, leading to decline in sales. What made
Vittorio construct such changes are the hyper-competition pressures from the external
environment, because from the increasing rapid competition he concluded that if changes are
not made then it could lead the company to close down.

The increase in competition from many stores located in the upmarket was the reason for
changes in Selfridge. The external environmental pressure of hyper-competition made the
organization to aim for a better market position among the many competitors like Harrods
and Harvey Nicholas. They wanted to make changes in their target population where the
company wanted to attract younger population while retaining the existing ones.

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 CASE ANALYSIS ON THE CHANGES IN SELFRIDGE AND CO.
January 24, 2011

The pressure of competition and growth wanted Selfridge to introduce the new Ralph Lauren
concession. This change had problems while implementation, but eventually the display was
sucessful. This change also lead to problems regarding percieved decline in sales in other
departments.

The changes made in the organization lead to change in the competitive culture in the
organization. The competitive culture between different departments and managers increased
with the encouragement from the senior managers. Each department was in an intense
competition with each other to recruit more and more customers to register for the Selfridge
cold card because the organization had a “gold card Sunday” where the department with
maximum recruitment of customer was rewarded. This was a result of identity pressure in the
internal environment because the company wanted maximum commitment from the staff of
all the departments.

The identity pressure from the internal environment of the business also contributed in
deciding that the staffs of Selfridge need training and development. This was a huge change
in Selfridge as after making changes in the organization for past 3 years and adapting to it, it
was decided to train the employees for maximum commitment and productivity. The
company realized that it is now the key role of the company to help managers to identify their
key competencies, set objectives and measure them. Doing so will encourage the managers to
improve their performance and help the organization achieve its objectives. Selfridge also
started the reward system to improve the morale of the employees.

The pressure of technology valued the need of the company to adapt the Ecommerce system.
But this pressure was not able to force Selfridge explore the possibilities of Ecommerce.
Selfridge did not implement Ecommerce system because they did not believe in the system
that the customers would enjoy sitting in front of the computer and ordering for products like
clothes, furniture etc.

Transformational changes

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 CASE ANALYSIS ON THE CHANGES IN SELFRIDGE AND CO.
January 24, 2011

Transformational changes are the changes in the strategies and processes used in the past. It is
to make changes in the significant nature of the organization. This change can be in the form
of restructuring, downsizing, delayering and so on. [ CITATION Tra11 \l 1033 ]

The one and only transformational changes that happened in the organization was downsizing
of employees. The company had to go through a moderate employee turnover where it was
clear that it was not a very bad situation. This change was implemented because Selfridge
wanted to recruit new people who can bring in new and innovative ideas for the betterment of
the company from their experience in other parts of the industry.These changes lead to a
cultural change in the company where the back stage employees became more empathized
towards the front stage employees.

CONCLUSION

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 CASE ANALYSIS ON THE CHANGES IN SELFRIDGE AND CO.
January 24, 2011

Managing change or change management is one of the most important functions in every
company. Change is not always bad. Some changes are necessary for the company to survive
and grow. Selfridge’s changes made where successful enough to make them stand among
their competitors. It is important to decide on how implement a change and when. A properly
implemented change can help the company grow. The external environmental pressures and
the internal organizational are main reason why companies like Selfridge implement change
in their organization. Let the change be transactional or transformational, Selfridge change
for the betterment itself.

REFERENCES

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 CASE ANALYSIS ON THE CHANGES IN SELFRIDGE AND CO.
January 24, 2011

COLLETT, Julie. Change Management. [online]. [Accessed 10 January 2011]. Available

from World Wide Web:
<http://edweb.sdsu.edu/people/arossett/pie/Interventions/changemanagement_2.htm>

FEAP newsletter: managing organizational change. [online]. [Accessed 4 January 2011].

Available from World Wide Web:
<http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/internet/feap/newsletters/managing-org.-change.pdf.
>

STERGE, Gayle. Business and economic history. [online]. [Accessed 10 January 2011].
Available from World Wide Web: <http://www2.h-
net.msu.edu/~business/bhcweb/publications/BEHonline/2009/strege.pdf >

Transformational Versus Incremental Change. [online]. [Accessed 9 January 2011].

Available from World Wide Web: <http://managementhelp.org/misc/types-of-orgl-
change.pdf>

Types and forms of organizational change. [online]. [Accessed 10 january 2011]. Available
from World Wide Web: <http://www.scribd.com/doc/13754469/CHAPTER-10-TYPES-
AND-FORMS-OF-ORGANIZATIONAL-CHANGE>