Consultant Report Managing Change Assessment 1 Brief 2025-26 | ENU

Assessment Brief: Case Study and Report Requirements

The assessment requires you to write a report for a fictional case study. The focus of the report is change management. Details of the case study and report content have been outlined below. 

The (Fictional) Case Study: The Grand

The Grand is a Hotel in Edinburgh. It was established in 1920 and is well known in the city for its opulent atmosphere and high-quality wine and food. The Grand employs 60 people, including an Executive Chef, a Sous Chef, six Chefs de Patie, and a team of six serving staff.  

The Grand’s manager, Olusegun, has noticed that customers are increasingly expecting the hotel to adopt more sustainable practices. Olusegun is also concerned about meeting carbon emission targets and, through this, complying with environmental legislation. Failing to do this could have implications for the hotel’s reputation and its relationship with the City of Edinburgh Council. Due to these concerns, Olusegun has decided that it is time to revisit and change the hotel’s strategy to that is aligns more closely with the growing concerns over sustainability. Olusegun is aware that such a strategic change will require a significant amount of work. It will mean making changes, not only to what the hotel does, but to the organisation's design and culture in multiple departments. To make the task more manageable, Olusegun decides to start by focusing on the hotel’s restaurant. 

Olusegun has looked into a number of different options that would help the restaurant to meet both customer expectations and carbon emission targets, and has concluded that introducing a vegan and vegetarian menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner is the best option. To further help the hotel to meet its carbon emission targets, he is keen for the menu to make maximum use of local produce. Olusegun carefully writes an email outlining the proposed change to the restaurant staff. He is confident that everyone will share his view and embrace the change. Afterall, the change will be good for the environment and may increase revenue, which will also benefit the workers.   However, as he discusses the proposals with staff he discovers that there were a variety of views and concerns about the change. 

Abigail, who is a Chef de Partie at the restaurant, is really passionate about sustainability. She has been arguing for a long time that the hotel should be doing more to improve their sustainability so is happy about the proposed change. Abigail knows that bringing the change about will require a lot work but also feels that it will make her work feel more meaningful; this is important to Abigail.

Yaroslav, another Chef de Partie, is also feeling positive about the change. Yaroslav has experience of vegan and vegetarian cooking from a previous job and is excited about the prospect of sharing these skills with other members of the team. He hopes that the change will create an opportunity for him to take more responsibility, and to use his past experience to influence decisions about the menu. However, when Yaroslav has expressed his views in the past they have ignored by the Sous Chef so, while Yaroslav is positive about the change, he also has concerns about how it will be brought about. 

Stewart, the Sous Chef, is less keen on the change. He worries that the change will mean he needs to put in extra hours, not only in planning a new menu, but also in finding new suppliers and teaching the other chefs new skills and approaches to cooking. In the past, the Executive Chef has been awarded bonuses for working extra hours to bring about successful change. When Stewart has done the same, he has not been rewarded for his efforts. He feels that this is unfair and, based on this experience, is concerned that his hard work and commitment won’t be recognised. 

Monica, the Executive Chef, has mixed feelings about the change. On the one hand, she feels that the change is necessary to meet customer expectations. On the other hand, she is concerned that bringing about the change successfully will require a significant culture change. Except Abigail and Yaroslav, the team of chefs are sceptical about vegetarian and vegan food. Most of the chefs have had a traditional training that relies on meat and dairy, and they value the skills that they have learnt through this training. If they can no longer put these skills into practice, she worries that they might feel a sense of loss. Due to these issues, Monica worries that she will meet resistance when bringing about the change in the kitchen.  She has seen other proposed changes fail in the past because these issues have not been considered or addressed.

Hassan, who leads the serving team, feels frustrated about the suggested change. He sees it as another in a long line of unsuccessful attempts to attract more customers to the restaurant. In Hassan’s view, the falling customer numbers are not due to the menu but rather are the result of the cost-of-living crisis and changes in customer habits following COVID-19.   Hassan has enough to do without the additional work of changing the menu and retraining his staff.    

Olusegun listens to the views but is unsure how to move things forward. He decides that he needs to get some external advice.
 
 Acting as an HR consultant, this assessment requires you to write a report for the case study organisation covering the following:

1. The employment relationship: Here, you should consider the different ways of framing the employment relationship. You should briefly describe at least two of the three (unitary, pluralist, and critical) presented in the lecture, explain how these frameworks impact our understanding of change and how it should be brought about, and explicitly state which of these three frameworks you have adopted. Note that the framework you adopt should inform your discussions in sections 2, 3 and 4, and your recommendations. 

2. Impact of the proposed change on motivation: Here, you should discuss how the proposed change might impact the motivation of employees, using theories of motivation to support your arguments. 

3. Reasons for, and approach to manage, resistance to change: Here, you should consider the following two points:

• What resistance does the management team face to the proposed change, and why?
• How this resistance could be managed, or utilised.

4. Evaluation of change management models: Here, we are asking you to evaluate two different approaches to change management.

5. Recommendations: Recommendations for points 2, 3 and 4 above, and an explanation as to why you have made these recommendations. Your explanation should include a reference to the theories and literature used in your report. 

The managers at The Grand are very busy people, so think carefully about how you present information to make it accessible to easy to absorb. Your report should be divided into clear sections and, where appropriate, you should use bullet points, tables and diagrams to present information.

Although this is a report, the management team are still keen to see evidence that backs up your claims and recommendations. Please ensure that you read, apply and reference appropriate academic and practitioner literature. If the managers see reference to (for example) Wikipedia or UK Essays, they are unlikely to trust your recommendations (and may not hire you again!). Please see below for further information on presentation and referencing.