MANAGEMENT OF CHANGE IN SELECTED

RETAIL ORGANIZATIONS
___________
Research Proposal for PhD - By Ms. VANAJA VEERABATHINI MBA.

Introduction

All over the world day by day changes are taking place rapidly, it will posed new problems,
opportunities and challenges to Indian Organizations.

The word ‘Retailing’ refers to any activity that involves the direct sale to an individual customer
or end user.The Indian Retail industry one of the fastest growing industries in the country over
the past couple of years. By the turn of 21st Century the face of the Indian Retail Industry had
changed significantly. India ‘s retail growth was largely driven by increasing disposable
incomes, favourable demographics, changing lifestyles, growth of the middle class segment and
a high potential for penetration into urban and rural markets.

Retailing is evolving into a global, high-tech business, because they need to survive in an huge
competition .Obiviously dynamic Retail companies are acting very fast and redesigninig their
systems and reformulating their policies and strategies.

The recent years have witnessed rapid transformation and vigorous profits in Indian retail stores
across various categories. This can be contemplated as a result of the changing attitude of Indian
consumers and their overwhelming acceptance to modern retail formats. Asian markets witness a
shift in trend from traditional retailing to organized retailing driven by the liberalizations on
Foreign Direct Investments.
Many Indian companies are entering the Indian retail market which is giving Indian organized
retail market a boost. One such company is the Reliance Industries Limited.

In the past few years india’s retail journey seemed picture perfect with the most attractive ‘stops’
still unexploited and under penetrated.Favourable demographics steady economic growth ,easy
availability of credit and large scale real estate developments were fueling the growth.

As the pace of change in the retail business world has accelerated, it is apparent that yesterday’s
accomplishments and even today’s success are no guarantees of tomorrow’s success.So, it is
very important for every retail company has to learnt something from these changes.

The India Retail Industry is the largest among all the industries, accounting for over 10 per cent
of the country’s GDP and around 8 per cent of the employment. The Retail Industry in India has
come forth as one of the most dynamic and fast paced industries with several players entering the
market.

The total concept and idea of shopping has undergone an attention drawing change in terms of
format and consumer buying behavior, ushering in a revolution in shopping in India. Modern
retailing has entered into the Retail market in India as is observed in the form of bustling
shopping centers, multi-storied malls and the huge complexes that offer shopping, entertainment
and food all under one roof.

The change that organized retail has brought about is evident from how it has transformed the
neighborhood grocery or ‘kirana’ store. Gone are the dust-coated shelves and cluttered displays
and in place are neat rows of the latest products and spruced up appearance and attentive staff.

Management of change

Change management is a structured and strategic approach to initiate and manage the change
process in the organization structure and culture as well as the individuals/teams behavior and
attitude towards the change transition in the field of the business processes, technology
implementation or any other policies of an enterprise.

Need for the study

Retail Business Environment is always undergoing a change, which is the very essence of every
business, it is inevitable and unavoidable.

Retail Business organizations always have to be prepared to tackle these changes by anticipating
them. Technolgy has brought enormous changes in the retail industry, Managing these
techonological changes efficiently is the need for evey Retail Industry.

The competence of the Retail business organizations needs to change with the change in the
business scenario would result in a need for change in the employee skill sets.

This research intends to refine existing knowledge of the area of change management in retailing
Industry.

Objectives of the study

The Objective of the study can be defined broadly, “Development of retailing present perspective
and directions for future research”.

 To describe the change management in retailing industry

 To examine Retail industry strengths and weaknesses in the areas of people, attitudes and
culture relevant to managing change.
 To identify the intra- industry differentials in respect of the Change Management in Retail
industry.
 To evaluate the effectiveness of the Change Management in retail industry based on
1. Comparative study on public, private and NGO
 To identify measures to improve the effectiveness of the Change Management practices in
retail industry.

Research Methodology

Research design
The research will be based on a mix of qualitative and quantitative data collection methods.

Data Sources

Secondary data, pre existing data not gathered for purposes of the current research( not new,
back up data), previous research articles and published information is used to understand
implemented of change management practices,procedures and systems in business organizations

Primary data never gathered before, gathered through surveys, focus groups, panels,observation
methods in selected retail industries to understand how business organizations are preparing to
manage change and to suggest a road map for business organizations to continuously prepare for
change. This will include strategic change management issues as well as managing change at all
levels in the organization.

Data Collection
Data are collected with the help of questionnaires, beside the questionnaires; unstructured
interviews are used as a data collection method.

Sample Size
3 to 5 organizations related to retail sector which include public, private, and NGO’s
retail organizations.

Data Analysis
Data will be presented in the form of flow charts and tables. Simple statistical tools like
ratios, percentages, means, standard deviations and appropriate statistical methods will be used.
Literature Review

The prime forces of change in the business world, including changing economic and political
structures, globalization, higher degrees of complexity, new technology increased competition,
changing client demands (Martensson, 2000), global competition, leaner work forces, and more
knowledge able customers (Larsen & Mclenerney, 2002 ) have all had firm’s scrambling to
provide better services and high quality. Workers are going away from their traditional offices to
get closer to where the customers are. Managing now involves overseeing projects where
workers might be located any where, they work in teams that undergo a constant change. At the
root of these changes has been the dynamic nature of environment to which the organizations are
required to act quickly and constantly.

Many books have been published about Change management addressing the individual. A few
books are Sumathra Ghosals “managing Radical Change” “managing change effectively” etc.
has been written addressing the business organization. Many of the books suggest strategies to
manage change in organizations.

Earlier studies on change management was mostly carried out in developed countries like US
and UK the studies focused on organization structures, Technology changes, people changes
[Herbert. V. Prochnow 1951, Manrie Hillson & Ronalld T. Hymon 1965 & 1971. Robert. T
Golenbiwski 1972, Iswan Dayal 1976, Peter F. Ducker 1982 & 1909, Clayton M Chrisensen
1997, Frederick Herzberg 1982 , colon Bainbridge 1988 & 1996, Michael Colenson 2000 and
joseph W. weirs 2001]. In India research on change management is still at a nascent stage. Few
researchers like [ Sumathra Ghosals 2002, PN Rasthogi 1999. Aparnaraj 2000, S. Ramnarayan
2003, Vipin Malik 2003 and Devashis Rath 2004] studied change management in Indian
organizations.

A comprehensive research on change management is yet to take place. The available literature
comprises mostly conceptual explorations and journalistic descriptions of change management.
As such there is a need to undertake a systematic study on the status, process and effectiveness of
change management.
In order to set the stage for the treatment of literature pertaining to modern retailing, a definition
of modern change is provided. Webster’s Encyclopedic Dictionary defines modern change as
follows:

pertaining to present and recent time in contrast to ancient or remote.Sometimes

has the connotation of up-to-date and, thus, good modern ideas. Recent may be
separated from present when it is new, fresh and novel.

There are number of elements which may intuitively be claimed to characterize Managing
change in retailing, for example self-service, store formats, wideness of assortment, technology
and equipment, or the general degree of sophistication in running the business. However, the
literature has neglected defining of the phenomenon unambiguously. The existence of modern
retailing is dependent on the wider and complex business system including many aspects, like
local legislation, distribution structures, consumer base, branding, internationalisation of retailing
and manufacturers. In some practitioner oriented reports, modern retail is in emerging markets
even a synonym for the share of aggregate hypermarket sales. Often, on the contrary, traditional
retailing is more clearly described. In Attachment A, a summary of interpretative definitions of
modern change retail in chronological order is provided. The earliest literature was typically
linked with selfservice, wideness of assortment and store-merchandising (Hollander, 1960;
Regan, 1961; Cundiff, 1965). In 1970s and 1980s focus was on cultural (Goldman, 1974) and
evolutionary aspects focusing on gradual development and modernization management of
change of retailing(Kaynak, 1982; Savitt, 1984). In 1990s distribution with connection to supply
chain management (SCM) and formats (Tordjman, 1994; Feeny, 1996; Meyrs, 1997) has
dominated the literature on modern change in retailing. SCM was seen to facilitate more
advanced and systematic retailing.
Research Model

This study attempts to understand the concept of effectiveness and application of

different models for evaluating the Change Management in Retailing Industry. An analysis of the
existing models, being used for measuring the effectiveness of Change management will also be
made. An analytical model will be suggested that comprehends effectiveness of organizational
Change Management system with represent technical evaluation, economic valuation, and
operational evaluation representing Change Management effectiveness. The findings will be
provide a basic material for furthering the research in this area and also would provide the right
directions for the corporate to carry out the evaluation process of their Change Management.

Feasibility Study

Feasibility study is compressed capsule version of entire systems analysis and

design process. An initial investigation culminates in a proposal that determines whether an
alternative system is feasible. The feasibility study provides for the selection of the best system
that meets the organization requirements.

The purpose of the feasibility study is to determine if the problem is worth solving
considering the time, money, technology, users and other authorities of the organizations as it is
important to stay with in limits. To do a feasibility study we need to consider the following
factors in a system development. They are

 Operational evaluation
 Technical evaluation
 Financial evaluation
Propositions

The study examines the following propositions:

 Design / Technological effectiveness of Retail Industry

The Change Management of Retailing-+ represents the state of the art technology
 Functional effectiveness of Retail Industry
The Change Management of Retailing is effective in serving the functional needs of
Retail Business organization.
 Change effectiveness of Retailing Industry
The Change Management systems in Retailing are change oriented.
 Use effectiveness in Retailing Industry
The Change Management in Retailing are user friendly
 Cost effectiveness of Retailing Industry
The Change Management in Retailing are cost effective.
 System management effectiveness of Retailing Industry
The Change Management in Retailing have effective leadership, plans, security and
Controls.

Scope of the Study

A Comparative study focuses on change management in selected retail organizations of

public, private and NGO.

Significance of the study

In this we will discuss the significance of change management and how it is beneficial for Retail
Industry In perspectives of
 1) Aademics: there is a depth of literature on change management and retailing, it bridges
the gap, stimulates in trest for further research in this area.
2) Executives: An Audit of change management in retailing helps executives identify the
inadequacies, if any, and improve the change management system.
3) Organizations: The organizations will have an opportunity to improve change
management system effectiveness.

Limitations

The limitations to the study are:

1. This study will undertake only select organizations in India. However, due care is to
taken to select respondents
2. Financial and Time constraints also will be there to spend much time in research sites and
expenses incurred to be stayed over there.

Despite these limitations, the researcher will made an attempt to do this study with her strong
research interest.

Plan of the Research

Chapter 1: presents a conceptual framework of change management in retail industry and

identifies the research problem.

Chapter 2: makes a survey of literature and establishes objectives and methodology for the

present study.

Chapter 3: explores the change management drivers in retail industry.

Chapter 4, 5, 6, 7: Describes and evaluates the change management in selected retail

organizations in public, private, NGO. And a comparative study.

Chapter 8: Summarizes the findings and highlights the suggestions for the successful change

management practices in retail industry