Paper Sample on David Jones Shrinks Stores, Slumps Profits in Financial Restructure

Introduction

There have been several changes at David Jones. The changes have majorly been financial and operational ones. The major operational change at David Jones is the shrinking and closing down of some of its stores (Powell, 2019). The shrinking and closing down of the stores has resulted from a slump in the profits made by the chain store department. The main aim of the change is to reduce the floor space on which David Jones conducts its operations and reduce the cost incurred by the business (Powell, 2019). The stores targeted for closing are mostly those in low demographic areas since they do not achieve the targeted income while still incurring costs for leasing to the company. David Jones also has plans to get its own space. Getting its own space means the company will be able to cut down on renting rooms and floors for its business (Powell, 2019). David Jones is also looking forward to venturing into the online platform to conduct its business. The online venture has proved to be more profitable than the physical approach.

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There have also been financial changes at David Jones because the business profits have shrunk. The less profit made by the business saw the value of David Jones get slashed by $430 million. As a result, David Jones has flagged $13 million in the business with the aim of cost-saving (Powell, 2019). The money is a total of cuts that have been made across all areas of the business. The areas where the most cost-saving has been done are marketing and traveling costs. This is because these are the areas from which most expenses were incurred.

Three-Pronged Approach by Paul Zahra

When Paul Zahra was appointed for the top job at David Jones, he had his task already cut. He knew that the responsibility of taking the business to greater profits laid squarely on him. Therefore, he devised what became commonly referred to as a "three-pronged strategy". This was the strategy he was to use to improve the company's profits. The three-pronged strategy had three parts ("Paul Zahra on leading David Jones through the ‘perfect storm’," 2015). The first part of the strategy was increasing revenue through the opening of six new stores, which would be smaller than the others. This part of the strategy aimed to see a surplus in the revenue earned. The second part of the strategy was strengthening the core businesses of David Jones. The strengthening of the core business would be done through improving sales, refurbishments, and cutting of cost ("Paul Zahra on leading David Jones through the ‘perfect storm’," 2015). These measures were meant to improve the business front of the company. The final part if the three-pronged strategy is the Omni –channel transformation. This part of the strategy comprised a ten-time increase in the products that David Jones sells online and an increase in the channel range for customers to buy David Jones products.

I agree with the three-pronged strategy by Paul Zahra. Paul's three-pronged strategy was carefully planned out on how to improve the sales of the company. Through the opening of six new stores, the business would increase its revenues since more shops meant more sales of the David Jones products. Paul also sought to strengthen the main businesses of David Jones since if the main businesses are stable enough, it is possible for the company to conduct its operations profitably. Finally, increasing the channels through which David Jones products can be purchased will help increase the sales of the business. This is because more people will be able to access and buy David Jones products.

There are also alternative ways in which David Jones would improve its business profits and achievements.

The main alternative idea of how the business would grow is through increased and aggressive advertisements. By advertising the business through creative and effective ways, more people will know what products are offered. In turn, customers will increase, and this will lead to more dales. Also, promotions and discounts by David Jones would be effective for the business. Promotions and discounts are an attraction to more customers who end up buying even more from the company.

Planned Change Models

There are several models of change management that an organization can use to implement change through its leadership. Three quite popular change models can be used to implement change. They include:

To begin with, Lewin's Three-step Model is a major planned change model. It was developed by Kurt Lewin, who was a researcher and a psychologist. He came up with a planned change model that involved three steps to its implementation. The three steps of Lewin's Three-Step Model include the Unfreezing, Movement, and Refreezing steps ("Models of change management | Organizational behavior / Human relations," n.d.). The Unfreezing process can be done in three ways: the driving forces, which involve directing behavior away from the status quo, are increased. The second way is to decrease the restraining forces responsible for hindering movement from the equilibrium that exists. The final way is combining the driving and the restraining forces and using them both. The second step in the model is movement ("Models of change management | Organizational behavior / Human relations," n.d.). This refers to the change implementation. The movement process comes along with new policies and practices that are implemented. The third step of the model is refreezing. In this step, the behaviors and processes that are newly adopted are emphasized and encouraged to become part of the routine and activities of the employees. The new routine can be enforced using training, coaching, and awards systems.

The second planned change model is Kotter's Eight Steps of Change Implementation. This model of change is an improvement of Lewin's change model's weaknesses, as observed by John Kotter. John had observed several things that would be added to Lewin's model, and the result was an eight-step model ("Models of change management | Organizational behavior / Human relations," n.d.). Kotter's change implementation steps are as follows; creating a sense of urgency, building a coalition for guiding, forming initiatives and a strategic vision, enlisting an army of volunteers, enabling action by eliminating barriers, generating short-term wins, sustaining acceleration, and finally instituting change.

The third planned change model is Nadler's system model. David Nadler is an organizational theorist from America. He came up with a change model that suggests that a change in an organization comes along with a ripple effect on other organizational areas ("Models of change management | Organizational behavior / Human relations," n.d.). There are main areas of consideration in Nadler's System Change for successful change implementation. They include: Informal organizational elements. This is the aspect that deals with leadership, power and communication patterns in an organization. The second aspect is the Formal Organization elements ("Models of change management | Organizational behavior / Human relations," n.d.). These include the work process and formal organizational structures in an organization. The third element in the change model is individuals. The employees and managers with their character traits, weaknesses and abilities fall under the individual category. The final aspect of the model is tasks, which are the assignments given to managers and employees in an organization.

The planned change model that best suits the David Jones case study is the Lewin's Three-step model. The model comprises three steps, which are unfreezing, movement and refreezing. The three steps in Lewin's model make it most suitable for the David Jones case study. The first step is unfreezing. In this step, the management of David Jones should ensure that, through the driving forces, behaviors and routines at the organization are directed away from how they are usually done. The management can also use the restraining forces, which will help reduce introducing anything that deviates from the status quo. At times, the management may also use a combination of both forces.

The second step in Lewin's model is the movement. Here, the management at David Jones will implement the changes they find necessary. Also, new policies and practices can be implemented at this stage. The final step of Lewin's model is the unfreezing stage. At this stage, the new behaviors, policies, and strategies that David Jones's management will have put into place are adopted and emphasized to become the new routine. The staff can be coached, trained, and also awarded as a means to ensure the new policies are well adopted.

Scales of Change Model

The scale of change model that best fits the changes made by David Jones is the strategic intervention model. The strategic interventions model best suites the changes at David Jones since the model consists of the functions products and services that the organization offers, dealing with how competitive advantage can be gained, how the organization can relate to the environment and the value that guides the organizational functioning. All of these intervention measures best suited the David Jones situation since the organization's changes are all strategic changes.

Gaining a Strong Online Presence

Among the measures that David Jones plans on implementing to improve their sales is venturing into the online platform. A strong online presence will result in having a competitive edge for the organization ("5 ways to build a strong online presence," 2020). There are various ways in which a strong online presence can be achieved. The first way to achieve a strong online presence is by building a captivating website. Most online users are attracted to online content that looks attractive and appealing to their eyes ("5 ways to build a strong online presence," 2020). Also, a website that is user-friendly and aesthetically appealing is a sure way to attract many people. An online platform that is well-developed will grab the customer's attention, and as a result, many people will be able to learn about the business online.

The second way of achieving an online presence is by creating a social media strategy. This involves coming up with a clear, strong, and visually enticing social media strategy to align the business's goals with the online presence ("Build a strong online giving presence with customization," 2017). A social media strategy involves content calendars and posting times, among others. To help with this, it is advisable to hire an agency that's trustworthy enough to help in the navigation of the social media platforms. All these plans ensure that the business remains at the top of every online user's feed.

The third way is by using paid advertisements. The use of a paid advertising strategy can grow a business's visibility exponentially. Paid advertisements can bring in fast results that cannot be achieved by organic growth ("5 ways to build a strong online presence," 2020). The greatest advantage of online paid advertisements is that they are not as expensive as radio, television, and print advertisements. It is also easy for a business to market itself across many platforms through integration methods.

The fourth way to gain a strong online presence is through media production. Most online social platforms are media-forward. This includes Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, among others ("Build a strong online giving presence with customization," 2017). The aim is to ensure that there is an enticing landing page for clients, achievable through strong visual media. High-quality photos, videos, and designs are the best way to grab the attention of consumers..