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Driving and Restraining Forces for Change | AQA Q3.2, Paper 2 2018
- Level:
- A-Level
- Board:
- AQA
Last updated 27 Oct 2020
This is a suggested response to the 9-mark analysis question in Paper 2 (2018) asking students to apply Lewin's Force-Field analysis to the case study provided.
One driving force for change suggested in Appendix G is the sensitivity of demand for GA’s flights in relation to customer income. An income elasticity of +1.5 means that, for example, a decrease in consumer incomes of 1% will reduce demand for GA flights by 1.5%. Appendix G has a forecast that suggests customer incomes in GA’s target market will fall by 2% in the next three years which implies a 3% fall in sales for GA using the 1.5 income elasticity. This will be an important driving force for change. Even a small fall in sales of 3% could have a significant effect on profits since most of GA’s costs are fixed, which means that GA will need to take action to significantly reduce costs in order to protect profits. Managers will therefore be under pressure to implement change that reduces costs across GA’s operations.
A restraining force against change suggested by Appendix G is that cabin crew membership of the UAS union has increased to 65% which is therefore more than half the cabin crew workforce. In theory, the cabin crew now have more bargaining power with GA in relation to pay and working conditions, assuming that employees would ultimately support any industrial action such as a strike. The higher level of unionisation may lead to greater resistance by employees to proposed changes by GA managers.
Note: the "range" required by this question was explicit: students were required to analyse one driving force and one restraining force.
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