OD CONCEPTS AND THEORIES 10

Lewins Change Management Theory: How to Implement Organizational Change at Walmart Inc.

A diverse workforce, technological advancement, continuously changing customer preferences, and highly competitive business environments are some of the fundamental factors that drive change in the modern-day organization. However, the success of any change effort depends on how well the organizations leadership manages the change and guides employees through its implementation. Change management theories provide a framework that organizational leaders could adopt to manage change effectively. As Hussain et al. (2018) point out, change management is the continual renewal of an organizations capabilities, structure, and direction to serve the dynamic needs of customers. This text demonstrates how managers at Walmart Inc. could use the concepts of Lewins theory of planned change to implement a successful change initiative around a specific organizational problem. It begins with a brief introduction to Walmart Inc. and the organizational problem to be addressed.

Introduction to Walmart Inc.

Walmart Inc. is a multinational retail chain store operating a range of grocery stores, discount department stores, Sams Clubs, and hypermarkets in over 20 countries, including the United States. The company began as a small discount retailer in 1945, and has since grown to become the worlds largest company by revenues, with over 2.1 million employees globally (Walmart Inc. Annual Report, 2023). The companys growth is attributable to its philosophy of everyday low prices, which ensures that it capitalizes on economies of scale to offer lower prices than its competitors so as to help its customers live better and save money. Today, Walmart operates over 10,500 stores and Sams Clubs globally. The company serves approximately 240 million customers across the globe every week. Headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas, Walmart Inc.s operations are divided into three segments: Walmart International, Walmart US, and Sams Club. The company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, with its stock trading under the symbol WMT. In the US, Walmart operates in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and Washington DC. In the year ended 31st January 2023, Walmart Inc. reported annual revenues of $611.3 billion, with sales revenues contributing $605.9 billion (Walmart Inc. Annual Report, 2023).

Introduction to the Organizational Problem

The retail business is evolving and becoming increasingly competitive. More and more customers are embracing digital shopping, forcing retailers such as Walmart Inc. to increase investments in store remodels, supply chain automations, technology, and ecommerce. As consumer shopping trends change, retailers have to develop innovative ways of delivering effective omni-channel shopping experiences to maintain customer loyalty. This calls for capital investments in automation, talent, technology, and ecommerce (Walmart Inc. Annual Report, 2023).

To improve its online shopping experience, Walmart has upgraded its mobile apps to include advanced features such as integrated store maps, mobile updates that notify customers of available in-store services and allow them to make appointments, and a returns feature for purchases made online. In the area of automation, the company has invested in robots, which are used to restock shelves, track inventory levels, identify out-of-stocks, and ensure that shelf tags are accurate, all in a bid to improve accuracy in inventory management and enhance customer experience. The company has also automated its backroom processes in the offloading of trucks and sorting of inventory, a task initially carried out by hand. The automated unloaders use artificial intelligence tools to accurately sort merchandise offloaded from trucks and load them to carts for replenishment to shelves in minutes.

It would be prudent to note that the success of this digital transformation and automation depends on how well the companys associates can work with such tools to drive business results. The main headache lies in getting the companys associates to adapt to the automated systems and integrate the new technologies into the organizational culture.

Lewins Theory of Planned Change

Lewins theory of planned change, according to Deborah (2018), draws on the ideology that change is a complicated process for any individual or organization and, hence, a proper framework ought to be used to guide the individual through the transition before they can regain stability. Lewin uses the idea of an ice block to explain his analogy. In his view, if one wishes to transform an ice cube into an ice cone, they first need to transform the ice into liquid to make it responsive to the chang process (unfreeze) (Deborah, 2018). Once in liquid form, they have to mould it into the desired shape (change), and finally coagulate the new shape (refreeze) (Deborah, 2018). Thus, in Lewins view, effective organizational change occurs in a series of three steps: unfreezing, change, and refreezing (Deborah, 2018).

Unfreezing is the first phase of the change process. Burnes (2019) indicates that it involves contravening the current situation to allow a change to take place. The primary objective of the unfreezing stage is to improve the peoples willingness and readiness to change by getting them...…Further, the leadership could sustain the change by putting in place a reward mechanism to encourage employees to integrate the new system into their work culture (Deborah, 2018). The leadership could offer rewards and recognitions to employees who make the best use of the new technologies. At the same time, it would be prudent to support employees in efforts to integrate the change through continuous feedback, celebration of milestones, and regular training sessions (Hussain et al, 2018).

Barriers to Effective Organizational Change and Strategies for Minimizing Risk

One of the primary barriers to effective change implementation would be lack of employee participation and involvement (Bennett & Soylu, 2021). As Bennett & Soylu (2021) further indicate, when employees are not involved in the planning and implementation of the change, there is a risk of resistance. Resistance limits ones ability to unfreeze the old and adopt the new way of doing things, partly because they are uncertain about the future and do not understand the reasons for the change. Towards this end, it is important for the company to engage employees in the change process from the onset by communicating why the change is necessary, welcoming their ideas, and addressing their concerns.

Poor prioritization of desired changes could also be a hindrance to effective change implementation. Poor prioritization occurs when an organization fails to classify desired changes by urgency, leading to a situation where multiple changes are implemented at the same time effectively causing burnout, fatigue, and confusion among employees (Bennett & Soylu, 2021). To minimize this risk, the organization needs to develop a priority matrix, which organizes all desired changes by urgency (Bennett & Soylu, 2021).

Finally, lack of a clear scope may also be a hindrance to effective change implementation. This is because the scope of the desired change dictates budgetary allocations and, hence, lack of a proper scope on what is to be changed and to what extent may result in timeline delays and underestimated cost returns (Bennett & Soylu, 2021). To minimize this risk, the organization could use statistical analysis and literature reviews to identify scope creep indicators and their risk of occurrence, and to implement alignment and front-end planning strategies to address the same (Bennett & Soylu, 2021).

Conclusion

In summary, Walmart Inc. faces intense competition and changing customer shopping preferences, which have forced the company to embrace automation and digitalization in most of its processes. However, the success of these technological changes depends on how well…