Assignment

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Course title: Business Improvement and ChangeModule Code: M0D003696Submitted By

MD SAADMAN SHAKIBStudent ID: 305763/406478Date of submission: 7 January 2015London School of TechnologyIntroduction:

Strategic change management is the art and science of formulating, implementing and evaluating cross-functional decisions that will enable an organization to achieve its objectives. It involves the systematic identification of specifying the firm's objectives, nurturing policies and strategies to achieve these objectives, and acquiring and making available these resources to implement the policies and strategies to achieve the firm's objectives. Strategic management, therefore, integrates the activities of the various functional sectors of a business, such as marketing, sales, production etc., to achieve organizational goals.This assignment is based on the issues relating to the change management relating to Thomas Cook. The assignment has discussed the issues of background of organizational strategic change; issues relating to strategic change in Thomas Cook; the baseline environmental analysis from both a micro and macro perspective will be discuss in this assignment, the critical success factor for the KPIs that Thomas Cook could use has also been discussed here. Organization Overview:Thomas Cook Group Plc is a UK based leisure travel business operator. The company is listed on London Stock Exchange. In 2007 the formal Thomas Cook AG and MyTravel Group Plc has merged and came into operate together as named Thomas Cook. The company is operational globally in 17 different countries with having 27,000 employees. According to Page (2009) Thomas Cook merging has brought a big positive significance in the organisation and placed it as the second position in the UK travel industry. According to the Euromonitor (2010) Thomas Cook share 27% of market share in the travel industry. Thomas Cook Capabilities:

Product and Service Innovation The Company has been able to create new portfolios along with introducing flexible and trusted services which are ultimately based on survey backed findings from the customers as per Thomas Cook Group (2013).Single customer gateway - Deeper customer engagement enables the company come up with integrated promotional activities and to derive valuable feedback and engagement from the customers for services development. Brand and technology supported Execution: The brand of Thomas Cook within the Group, prompts trust and a commitment to quality Thomas Cook Competencies:

Online platform is competitive enough with ThomasCook.com Branding features are taken care of online customer experience is fully supported with multimedia provisions. New one search functionality has potential to resolve all the queries from potential customers. The product and services are lucidly on the display with exclusive concept hotels. Accentures involvement with the project termed as Enabling High Performance with an Innovative Outsourcing Arrangement and a Long-term Strategic Partnership has afforded the firm with and edge. The competencies of customer experience provision and back office supports have been outsourced strategically.Market stand of Thomas Cook and its environmental analysis:

Thomas Cook faces huge competition from TUI travel plc which is the number one holiday package company. The crucial success in marketing environment comes from the evaluation on sales volume, market share, revenue and profit generated from the companys overall operation. From the case study it has been revealed that by the year 2011 the organisation has increased the debt due to the over spent the noughts acquiring ever more competitors. This is happens possibly because of increasing the travellers knowledge on more competitive travel package offers by other operators. The micro and macro analysis on the organisation will reflect the actual market position of the Thomas Cook in the market:

SWOT Analysis: A SWOT analysis is a planning and well-structured analysis method to evaluate the strengths, opportunities involved in a business venture. It is very effective way for analysing the internal environment of an organisation. Strength: The organisation has got very rich history in the travel operating industry. The integration of the Thomas Cook AG and My travel group plc has brought more strong market position for the company. Thomas Cook has a very good brand image and it is supported by around 22 million trusted customers. Due of the integrated operations of the company in hotel and travel business with relevant markets catered well. As the company have huge customer data base which help them to get custom tailoring of holiday experiences provide an edge to the company with customers. It also provides a great deal of customers is served over hundreds of words destinations which is the key strength of the organization. Weakness: From the case studied it has been revealed that the company has a long term debt and it causes issues as the market situation fluctuates with seasonality and financial upheavals globally. Moreover, the competition is growing with limited market share in perspective and many more perspective. Opportunities: The Thomas Cook can introduce for internet backed online booking services for combined tour packages are all the rage. It has an opportunity in demanding for global tourism at large scale. The company can enlarge more tourist destinations and make them as a unique one. According to Thomas Cook Group (2013), the recent earnings position indicates towards enhanced capability of practicing cost effectiveness. Threats: The crucial threat for the Thomas Cook is there have a constant uncertainty in the Eurozone and competition is growing by leaps and bounds. Thus it has become a great challenge for Thomas Cook to overcome those obstacles and make organisation as profit organisation.

The External environment analysis:PESTLE analysis provides more illustration on companys market position. PESTLE analyses are illustrated below:

Political Factors: The government imposed taxes have potential to affect the tourism business. The complementary businesses such as local shops, restaurants and tourist attractions are likely to take hit with knock-on effects of declining number of visitors in worldwide. Moreover the increased number of travel insurance sales also have negative influences are in the form of terms and conditions not properly elucidated to the customers. The UK regulations are likely to clamp down on airlines fares that add up extra cost to traveling customers in the name of attractive fares has also great impact on Thomas Cook business operation. Economic Factors: The Olympic effect has been palpable in the region in the wake of 2012 Olympics and the economic activity was destined to soar with tourism industry in the backdrop or worlds largest sporting event in UK. Social Factors: Millions of potential visitors await visits to UK and the regions leniency from the national registered charity Tourism for All UK is likely to make conditions better. The travelling and tourism consultants have taken to home in order to maintain their work life balance and their operations have been quite successful with the booming industry and huge potential customer base as Sitecore (2014) suggests. Technological Factors: Hotels Check-In These have facilitated the customer relationship a great deal as the customers can feel free to check-in whenever they want, wherever they are and through whatever channel they prefer. Environmental Factors: The increasing carbon footprint and emissions have led to the legal decision in dissuading airlines from cost effective operations as Thomas Cook Group (2013) states that the considerations are levying travel taxes per flight rather than per passenger. According to Keynote (2014), the summers are projected to be hotter than before post 2020 due to global warmings effects in the long run and the relevant results are expected to indicate drop in tourism and travel. The Success factor of KPI that used by Thomas Cook:According to Thomas Cook Group (2010) the major KPI used by Thomas Cook are illustrated below:KPI# 1 Mainstream travel Leveraging group buying power and reducing costs of accommodation - In addition to this, protecting and enhancing the product portfolio Delivering annualized savings of 35m for Group aviation costs and on ongoing basis. Increasing the mainstream distribution of in-house travel productsKPI# 2 Travel-related financial services provisionKPI# 3 Independent travelling increase with respect to proportion of Group revenue Responsibility to support environmental betterment. Staff buy-in and the Sustainability Team which have worked hard to raise awareness of relevant issues and disseminate the solutions in teams. Flexibility, in view of Sitecore (2014), has always been critical to the success of company as its off-shoring capabilities and global delivery networks have engendered great deal of satisfied and loyal customers.Benchmark for Thomas Cook:There have many benchmarks for Thomas Cook. According to Thomas Cook Group (2010), the company operations in the UK, Germany and Belgium are validated by the International Air Transport Associations Operational Safety Audit, which is considered the benchmark on the part of aviation safety on global scale. According to the same source as above, the company has been benchmarked by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) as safe operating company with ratio of 125 accidents per 100,000 employees against the industry norm of 403 per 100,000 employees. Thomas Cook Group has also been a member of the London Benchmarking Group (LBG). The LBG model, as per Accenture (2008), is reputed for being the international standard aimed for assessment and reporting of the value of investments for corporate community.Discussion on models of strategic change: Cummings and Worley (2009) have mentioned that there are mainly three change models, such as Lewins change model, the action research model and the positive model etc. that can be applied to implement and manage change within an organization depending on the type of organizational change. All of these change models are applicable to the planned change within the Thomas Cook. UNFREEZE Motivating the stakeholders at THOMAS COOKS is important. The company stakeholders are supposed to be communicated well on the part of targets which have been unmet for previous tenures. According to Accenture (2008), the current economic situation has to be focused with the need of perpetual development of change and maintaining one for success. The global scenario of tourism is on decline so the company has to be ready and motivated to change the course of situation in its favor by going through strategic and purposeful changeCHANGE The change takes place with all the stakeholders involved and affected one way or the other and for Thomas Cooks scenario the following is likely to get affected in a positive manner. The new destinations must be tapped with the potential customer base that needs education and guidance with proper fare mechanism for UK tourism as per Accenture (2008). The target markets include regions of China and Russia majorly. The financial resources have to be channelized in the projects that promise long term commitment and success that untimely bring repute to the organization. The marketing and communications skills of the workforce needs enhancement as they will be able to cope up with the daily change needs on ad hoc basis. The financial burden is impressive and it can cause the company to lay off but in the long run the above mentioned step can reduce the impact to the company after higher lay off ratio.FREEZE The phase of implementation is more important than all since it guarantees the cementing of change initiatives for the long term Establishing a sense of urgency will cause the stakeholders to expedite the change management since most of the firms fail in this stage of change management. Creation of a powerful guiding coalition will help the company achieve the change targets with accountability and a task force based coalition is likely to achieve better results for implementation stage Creating and communicating the vision of change within the firm helps the long term commitment from the employees. Stakeholder empowerment gets half of the problems resolved as far as implementation of change is concerned. Evaluation on the relevance of models of strategic change to organizations on the current economy: Change is organization is inevitable and crucial for the competing in the marketing as well as creating innovative and new things within the organization to increase sales through customers loyalty. The organization may need to take change process or program to increase employees and organizational efficiencies to product quality products and or services. Due to current emerging economic situation, change in organization is becoming an important and significant issue and concern. The author would like to describe the background of change and change models through providing a real life example of organization, such as Thomas Cook holiday seller chain in the world. The organization has been developing and implementing several change processes and programmes for the purpose of increasing market share, competing with other retailers, and thus achieving organizational goals and objectives through creating brand loyalty around the world (Thomas Cook, 2010). The author would like to opine that the selection of Thomas Cook is relevant and appropriate in relation to explain and discuss all of the relevant issues and concerns of strategic change management both from academic and organizational perspective.

Thomas Cooks Chairman Frank Meysmen has given the permission chief executive officer Harriet Green to change single remit for fixing the organisations long term incremental. The purpose of change is building a stronger, more global Thomas Cook. From the statement, it is clear that Thomas Cook is going to change some of the key aspects of the business to compete in the global markets and this can be regard very relevant and appropriate in the light of emerging economic situations. Thomas Cook described that the people around the globe are trusting Thomas Cook because of its value for the customers and qualities of products and services (Thomas Cook, 2010).

Thus, the author would like to mention that in accordance with current economic conditions/situations of the world, the change processes and programmes are most effective and appropriate to achieve organizational goals and objectives. In accordance with the proposed change at Thomas Cook, it can be noted that the organization is going to make change organisation in debt free. These three different aspects of the business include dynamic environment in the organisation, fair and equitable manner and a clear vision on changing the organisation. The organization has been taking some change in relation to create new structure to grow in new markets, to leverage scale for greater efficiency and to offer new opportunities to the organization to bring more returns. The author would like to mention that all three models, stated by Cummings and Worley (2009) are appropriate and effective to Thomas Cooks change process in the light of emerging economic situations. For example, the author would like to mention Lewins change model and its appropriateness to Thomas Cooks change process, such as to leverage scale of greater efficiency as follows-

Figure: 1.1. Lewins change model and its appropriateness to Thomas Cooks change process (Source: ic-pod.typepad.com, 2012).

Change management is an important task for an organization where strategic intervention methods have significant influence on the change management. Uwah and Edu (2009) have mentioned that some strategic intervention methods, such as role playing, team development, survey feedback and process consultation etc. have been playing significant roles within the change management in an organization. The author would like to mention the uses of strategic intervention methods in organizational change management as follows- Table: Analysis and discussion on the usefulness of the strategic interventions methods in organizational change management

Name of strategic intervention method Usefulness of strategic interventions methods in organizational change management

Role playingTo handle a given situation by the employees and to perform work by members without intervention by superior once a given situation develops.

Team development To work together for the purpose of setting goals/objectives, analysing way of performance, examining relationships etc.

Survey feedback To represent information to all employees that are collected and gathered by survey.

Process consultation To help the employees to provide their views on the change management.

Management by objectives approachTo involve the subordinates in the decision-making mechanism during the change management process.

The grid training To help employees by managerial grid to work voluntarily in change management process.

Source: Uwah and Edu, 2009Change process is very important task within the organization, so there should be appropriate measures to monitor change process and progress. The author would like to mention following measures to monitor the change process and progress in Thomas Cook-

i. Monitoring communication approach and channel using in change process;

ii. Observing peoples reactions and how they are dealing with change activities;

iii. The necessity of training and coaching to team members;

iv. The nature of cultural norms and approach to values in conducting change process; and

v. Achievement of the commitment to the transformation from the leaders or key stakeholders.

Conclusion: Strategic change management has become a vital concern for an organization to achieve organizational goals and objectives through establishing effective and appropriate organizational structure and culture. With having most effective and appropriate strategic change management and leadership, an organization can achieve competitive advantages.List of references: Accenture (2008) Thomas Cook UK and Ireland: Enabling High Performance with an Innovative Outsourcing Arrangement and a Long-term Strategic Partnership. U.S., Accenture. Chapman, A. (2006). Change management [Online]. Available at: http://www.businessballs.com/changemanagement.htm [Accessed date 19 July 2012].

Cummings, T. G. and Worley, C. G. (2009). Organization development and change. 9th edition. Mason, USA: South-Western Cengage Learning. Hodgetts, R. M. (2001). Modern human relations at work. Half-Saunders International Editions.

Kurt Lewin, Group Decision and Social Change, in G. E. Swanson, T. M. Newcombe, and E. L. Harley, (eds.) Readings in Social Psychology (2nd ed), NY: Holt, (1952): 459-473; P. Strebel, Why Do Employees Resist Change, Harvard Business Review, 74 (3), 1996: 86-93. Keynote (2014) Travel & Tourism Market Market Review 2006 [Internet], Available from: http://www.keynote.co.uk/market-intelligence/view/product/1822/travel-%26-tourism-market/chapter/4/pest-analysis (Accessed 15th November 2014) Sitecore (2014) Building Complex Travel Sites and Taking the Online Customer Experience to New Heights [Internet], Available from: http://www.sitecore.net/Customers/Travel/Thomas-Cook-Travel-Group.aspx (Accessed 17th November 2014) Thomas Cook (2014) Thomas Cook History [Internet], Available from: http://www.thomascook.com/thomas-cook-history/ (Accessed 15th November 2014) Thomas Cook Group (2010) Key Performance Indicators [Internet], Available from: http://ara2010.thomascookgroup.com/business_review/kpis.shtml (Accessed 15th November 2014) Thomas Cook Group (2014) History [Internet], Available from: http://www.thomascookgroup.com/history/ (Accessed 15th November 2014) Thomas Cook Group (2013) The four pillars of the Groups strategy: March 2013 [Internet], Available from: http://www.thomascookgroup.com/group-strategy/ (Accessed 17th November 2014) Thomas Cook Group plc (2012) Discover our journey towards a sustainable future. Sustainability Report 2012. U.K. Uwah, E. D. and Edu, B. (2009). Strategic interventions in change management process [Online]. Available at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1475538 [Accessed date 17 July 2012].

Taylor, D. (2006). How strategic management handled Wal-Marts reputation [Online]. Available at: http://www.awpagesociety.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Wal-Mart_CaseStudy.pdf [Accessed date 1 January 2015].

Thomas, R. F. (2012). Wal-Mart and the strategic transformation of a compliance culture [Online]. Available at: http://tfoxlaw.wordpress.com/2012/04/30/wal-mart-and-the-strategic-transformation-of-a-compliance-culture/ [Accessed date 28 December 2014].

Unfreezing- to become motivated to change e.g. motivate employees to participate in change process.

Refreezing- to make the change permanent e.g. perform tasks and activities to increase efficiency

Changing- what needs to be change e.g. improve skills and competencies of employees.

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