Assessment Task
From your experience, evaluate real-life scenarios where you have demonstrated that you have acquired the behaviour, skill or knowledge in each of the selected assessment criteria below. Inform your answer with wider reading to critically analyse your performance. You may identify a different scenario for each assessment criteria or use a scenario to demonstrate up to any two assessment criteria. You could consider adopting the STAR approach when structuring your answer. If this approach is adopted the follow areas should be covered:
- Situation
- Task
- Action
- Result
The majority of words are likely to be allocated to the ‘action’ and ‘result’ parts of your answer.
LO4 Be able to influence others during decision-making while showing courage and conviction.
AC 4.2 Demonstrate appropriate influencing style to communicate and engage with different audiences.
My experience at Tesco plc has provided opportunities to apply influencing styles for all staff, regardless of rank or level. The scenario is that my Tesco store had launched new self-checkout machines in the operations of my store that had a high employee resistance. The employees were also concerned about job losses and an increment in their workloads, this caused tension at the workplace. The management needed evidence-based guarantee of efficiency returns. This change required influencing styles and communication strategies to engage the frontline staff members and management. The reaction was all over in various store departments, where employees resisted these changes because they perceived them as a threat to their job security or status. On the other hand, the management planned to achieve better efficiency, lower labour expenses, and a better customer experience since the self-checkout systems would be able to make transactions faster. This posed a conflict of interest and significant communication problems between the two groups. My personal experience was to observe the negative attitudes and stress of colleagues. Some of these employees even talked about how they wanted to quit this company. There was a lot of anxiety, and the culture of division and opposition started to develop between the shop floor staff and the store leadership team. The lack of open and honest communication was the main problem at the beginning. This was the first communication crisis that left the already existing fears in the workplace unaddressed, leading to mistrust. The store required a person who would solve these problems of internal communication. This demanded an effective attitude towards information sharing.
The main activity was to handle this resistance to change in the facilitation of a smooth transition. This meant that I had to use influencing styles and various communication strategies to involve the frontline staff and the management. The main aim was to make every employee heard, engaged, involved, and appreciated. In addition, the management must receive the required data to make quality decisions regarding implementation and support. The task was to transform the perception and attitude towards the new technology. Obina and Adenike (2022) argue that the reception of the employees to the change and the effectiveness of communication to mitigate resistance determine the successful change implementation. My responsibility was to minimise uncertainty amongst employees by explaining to them how their job description may evolve, but not their employment. This was aimed at ensuring that employees work with ease towards realising the objectives of the organisation and to minimise division and resistance. Management needed objective evidence to support resource allocation for training and support, and staff needed reassurance about their future. I had to gather feedback from both teams, analyse the main causes of the resistance, and present solutions. This was a challenging task that demanded courage and persuasion to speak openly with both groups and ensure a collaborative approach.
The action I took is to start influencing the different audiences. I adopted a participative management style with the staff and an evidence-based, persuasive style with the management. I also organised small and informal group discussions with the staff during breaks and actively listened to their concerns and fears without judgment. This action relied on the first step of Lewin’s change management model, ‘unfreezing’ (Tombiri, 2019). It is where the need for change was established to challenge existing perceptions. The ‘unfreezing’ stage addressed fears and opened dialogue to make staff interested in the idea of change. The ‘change’ stage involved the actual implementation and training through the guidance of the situational leadership theory and the consultative and rational persuasion influencing styles (Agazu, Birbirsa and Werke, 2022). The ‘refreezing’ stage occurred as the new system became the norm, with the support of a feedback loop established through Social Exchange Theory, where the benefits supported the new behaviour (Ahmad et al., 2023). I used practical examples from my own experience to explain that technology is a disruptor, but it also enhances efficiency and allows us to engage in customer interactions, not just scanning their ordered items. I provided information about the possibilities for redeployment and upskilling. This is because studies show that training is a key strategy to mitigate resistance (Xue et al., 2024). I also gathered anonymous feedback to present to management. Working together with the management team, I used an evidence-based approach to collect, analyse, and present these data to them for easier interpretation. I presented the staff’s quantitative feedback that included data on low morale and turnover risks. I cited external research suggesting that organisations that invest in change-related training are 3.5 times more likely to outperform their entrants and rivals (Oloba, Olola and Catherine, 2024). I argued that the lack of training was the possible risk to efficiency, not the technology itself. This argumentative approach was supported with facts that helped to change management’s perspective from a cost-saving view to a human-centred implementation approach.
My actions resulted in a positive transition in the implementation strategy and a noticeable improvement in staff morale. The data influenced the management team, and the strong argument for a human-centred approach led to the approval of an inclusive training program and a directive policy on job security through redeployment. Tesco subsequently implemented in-group training sessions where experienced peers could share knowledge, making the learning process less discouraging. The feedback channels I established were formalised to facilitate usual dialogue so that the employees will have a sense of ownership. This outcome establishes the effectiveness of engaged communication to the audience, which transformed a failed change initiative into a successful one. The result for the store was a smoother rollout of the self-checkout machines, increased employee engagement with the new technology, and enhanced operational efficiency and customer satisfaction. The division and opposition culture were dismantled and replaced by a collaborative working setting. This experience validated the application of varied influencing styles and the strength of using emotional intelligence and hard data to drive successful organisational change (Vakola, Tsaousis and Nikolaou, 2004). Thus, the store’s experience became a case study for other convenience stores in the region.
On reflection of this experience, it is clear that top-down announcements of change, an autocratic process, are one of the major causes of failure. It is the skill of being able to control various stakeholders and their motivations and concerns. I introduced persuasion that was holding solid ground that frontline staff had to be supported, even when the early managerial attention was drawn towards finance. Quantitative data and outside research supported my self-confidence in delivering feedback to the senior management, which suggests that it was a major contributor to the positive result. I also gained the value of constant, open and two-way communication, which studies reveal is the key to effective change management. Without mediating and taking orders, the resistance of the employees would have been worse. It would have affected performance and also increased the staff turnover. According to this situation, effective influencing is all about understanding needs, building trust and using the relevant evidence and models to influence the decisions to be made. My behaviour demonstrated that technology adoption could be a technical problem, and the human aspect is the initial step to success.
