Environmental Scanning: The London Bridge Railway Station - Case Study Example

Environmental Scanning: The Case of the London Bridge Railway Station Name: Instructor: Course: Date Introduction They say that the only constant is change. It is inevitable, and the only way that we can live peacefully as residents of the planet is to learn to foresee and plan for it because it is going to come anyway. So has been the way of life for eons past, and will most certainly be the way things always will be (Phongsathorn & Jazwinski 2006). As Johnson (1998) writes in Who Moved My Cheese, it would serve us best to adapt to changes as they come, because resistance, as they say, is futile. In keeping with the narrative of an ever-changing world, London has recently been faced with some major changes to the railroad network and services at London Bridge. As part of the Thameslink Programme which is sponsored by the UK Government, the London Bridge rail station is set to undergo some major rebuilding. The goal in rebuilding is to increase the space in the station, improve and increase connections to a larger number of destinations. The changes are also set to make rail services more reliable for London commuters (Transport for London 2015). This paper will examine and discuss the potential changes to transport for those travelling through the rail station in question by employing a tool of analysis: the PESTLE analysis tool. It will also attempt to establish the impacts that this change may have on crime and disorder as well as community safety partnerships. Environmental Scanning In order for organizations, industries, businesses, or in this case, communities to managed properly, the key decision-makers need to continually adapt to changes that they encounter. It used to be that plans for such groups were made long term, and as Cope (1981) explains, such methods of planning had a huge flaw in them in that they failed to take account that changes may occur and to have an inbuilt warning system that recognizes and a model for dealing with these changes. In such systems, it was assumed that the changes to come will continue to flow in the rate and direction of current changes being experienced. It was thought that these changes would fit within the parameters of certain political, economic, technological, or social phenomena that were defined by past or present state of affairs. However, this is now known to be untrue. Instead, the decision-makers need a model that enables the formation of connections between various external factors influencing their operations and their translation in order to be able to best plan for the future while still anticipating change effectively. One of the ways to do this is through the conduction of an environmental scanning. Environmental scanning as described by Brown and Weiner (1985) is "a kind of radar to scan the world systematically and signal the new, the unexpected, the major and the minor" (p. ix). On the other hand, Aguilar (1967) defines environmental scanning as the process through which data is systematically collected for the purposes of (1) reducing the ‘randomness’ of information that flows into an organization, and (2) providing timely warnings of the changes in external phenomena to managers. Environmental scanning is one of the four parts of an external analysis for a certain macro-environment. The other components of the external analysis are the environmental analysis, environmental, forecasting, and monitoring. Together, these tools analyze a changing environment and the ways in which these changes may impact a certain group. They do this by identifying and monitoring patterns or trends in the changes, and then drawing projections to forecast the directions that these changes may take. When used in conjunction with an internal analysis, they are able to provide a good foundation on which to build within the macro-environment as the decision makers are able to make strategic plans and decisions (Fahey & Narayanan 1986). An environmental scan can be approached through a number of methods. These methods use analysis tools namely: the PEST or PESTLE methods. The latter is simply the former with two additional aspects. The PESTLE analysis is a tool used for environmental analysis often used in marketing by companies. It is an acronym that stands for political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental factors. These represent the segmentation of the factors in the macro-environment into six sections. They serve as the point from which to begin analysis (Brown & Weiner 1985). Political factors describe the extent to which a political system influences the region’s economy. It does this through political stability or instability, government policies, taxation policies, environmental laws, labor laws, and policies on foreign trade. These factors have implications on how, when, and why things are done so they are important to take into account in strategic planning (Warner 2010). Economic factors have implications on the ways that organizations do business and how profitable they become. These include interest and inflation rates, economic growth, consumer disposable income (growth in spending power), exchange rates, boom or recession, and the proportion of people within the pensionable age. These may be further divided into micro and macro-economic factors—the former deals with the ways in which people within a certain economy spend their money while the latter deals with the rigors of demand management within any given economy (Vovchenko, Kochka & Pogorelenko 2015; Warner 2010). Social or socio-cultural factors umbrella the attitudes and belief systems of a population. They include population growth, health consciousness, age range, languages, religion, literacy, and education among others. Social factors directly influence marketer and consumer behaviour (Warner 2010). Technological factors are concerned with the rate of the technological environment change and how this influences the macro-environment. They include the internet, social media, e-commerce, and research and development among others. These affect macro-environments in three major ways: new methods of production, new means of product distribution, and new means of communication within that environment (Vovchenko, Kochka & Pogorelenko 2015; Warner 2010). Legal factors include policies and laws enforcing health and safety, equal employment opportunities (affirmative action), equal salaries, advertizing regulations, as well as product labeling and safety. It is important to have a firm grasp on what is or is not legal in order to function peacefully, effectively, and safely. This is a particularly tricky part of the environmental scan as each macro-environment may have a unique set of rules and regulations (Vovchenko, Kochka & Pogorelenko 2015; Warner 2010). Environmental factors which have only become important in the last two decades or so include waste disposal, the consumption of energy, pollution monitoring, and the competitive advantage(Vovchenko, Kochka & Pogorelenko 2015) . The “Go Green” cause continues to receive campaign and has caused a massive shift in the activities of people such as recycling, and watching what they eat now more than ever before. People are becoming more conscious and ethical and their habits are changing along those lines. The new change coming to London is set to happen at the London Bridge mainline rail station. Network Rail is reconstructing the station so as to increase space and improve the station’s working efficiency. Though the Tube and Rail stations are set to remain open, customers using the London Southern, Southeastern, Overground, and Thameslink services will be affected at various times during the construction period until 2018 when the project is completed. The first phase of major changes begun in January 2015 and will continue till August 2016. Other means of transport that may be affected include some buses, Tubes, London Overground, Trams, and DLR which may become busier than normal (Transport for London 2015). PESTLE Analysis of the London Bridge Mainline Rail Station Changes A major political factor driving the change is the Government policy to increase space in its major rail station and improve transport efficiency for commuters. The government itself is sponsoring the reconstruction as part of its Thameslink Programme. Government stability, high revenue, and improved environmental laws have allowed the country to enjoy an improved transport sector, and this is set to be one of them (Transport for London 2015). Economic factors have not played a very large role in the change at hand. Matters fiscal are not the main driver of the reconstruction, though financial power is important for the process to be done and done well, this is not a direct driving factor of this overhaul. Socio-cultural factors are a major driver of the London Bridge rail station reconstruction. Population growth and commuter habits are, in fact, the main reason for this rebuilding. Thameslink Programme (2014) estimates the annual commuter turnover to be at about 54 million for this train station. As it is, there is barely enough space for a population of this magnitude within this station. The plan is to increase the number of ‘through’ platforms to nine and terminating platforms to six, thereby increasing the number of trains that pass through this station (which has been described by Holdsworth (2014) as a bottleneck) into central London. This expansion should increase the space within the station by two thirds by the year 2018 (Thameslink Programme 2014). Other social factors such as attitudes, beliefs, and religion among others do not play a much of a role in this shift. Changes in the technological landscape may have a thing or two to do with this re-modeling. As clearly stated by Thameslink Programme (2014), Patrick McLoughlin, the transport Secretary, confirmed that Cross London Trains and Siemens plc had been awarded the contract to construct 1,140 train carriages for the Thameslink route. These carriages are set to be state-of-the-art, in tandem with the current technology available for that purpose and in order to remove the old technology that had been in use for the previous train models. Most if not all the trains in use on this route will be new by 2018, with the first new trains rolling in by 2016. The new trains will be bigger (with 8-12 carriages each), more efficient, and more intelligent. The advanced technology they will use will be able to provide updates and travel information faster and in real-time. Air conditioning and access for people with reduced mobility will also be improved (Thameslink Programme 2014; NetworkRail 2015). Legal factors may not have played a big role in the decision to remodel this rail station. The influence that these may have had on the issue may have come in the form of government sanctioning as the project is Government-mandated and Government-sponsored (Thameslink Programme 2014). Environmental factors such as the need to consume energy more efficiently may have played a part in this change. The trains to be used are set to take care of this need while still improving the way people travel in London through this station (Thameslink Programme 2014). How will Londoners be affected and to deal with these changes? The programme has developed a useful communication system that alerts commuters when a major Thameslink Programme works is underway via text. This is available to anyone for free by sending a text (TLP5 and their home station) to 60777 (Thameslink Programme 2014). Transport for London (2015) also has a page that gives travel advice based on the London Bridge upgrade. Commuters are advised to plan properly and use all resources available to them in order to minimize the impact that the reconstruction has on their journeys. As the transport situation in London especially through the London Bridge rail station will be shaky in the next few years to come, this may impact crime rates and community safety partnerships negatively. This is because the safer community teams’ efforts may be slightly hampered by the change in regular transportation during the remodeling which will in turn give a chance for crime to thrive. In the long run, the change will have a positive effect on the same and the situation will be reversed. Since there is no clear evidence on this, it may be useful to conduct research on this and watch to see if the river will flow in the predicted direction. The stakeholders could also minimize the impact by proper planning and making strategic decisions in order to counter these changes. Conclusion In conclusion, environmental scanning identifies technical, political, social, economic, environmental, and legal trends within a particular macro-environment. By so doing, potential threats and opportunities for change are uncovered. This information can then be used by decision makers for strategic planning in order to improve outcomes and minimize negative impacts brought on by change. It also promotes a thinking that is oriented in the future and, by association, towards progress. In the same way, the environmental scanning performed in this paper on the changes set to take place at the London Bridge mainline rail station may help with the process of better planning for all the stakeholders involved. References Aguilar, F. (1967). Scanning the business environment. New York: Macmillan. Brown, A. and Weiner, E. (1985). Supermanaging: How to harness change for personaI and organizational success. New York: Mentor. Cope, R. (1981). Environmental assessments for strategic planning. New Directions for Institutional Research, 1981(31), pp.5-15. Fahey, L., King, W. and Narayanan, V. (1981). Environmental scanning and forecasting in strategic planning—The state of the art. Long Range Planning, 14(1), pp.32-39. Holdsworth, R. (2014). Major Changes To London Bridge Rail Services Coming Soon. [online] Londonist. Available at: http://londonist.com/2014/12/major-changes-to-london-bridge-rail-services-coming-soon.php [Accessed 10 Jun. 2015]. Johnson, S. (1998). Who moved my cheese?. New York: Putnam NetworkRail, (2015). Major changes at London Bridge from 10 January - Network Rail. [online] Networkrail.co.uk. Available at: http://www.networkrail.co.uk/news/2015/Jan/Major-changes-at-London-Bridge-from-10-January/ [Accessed 10 Jun. 2015] Phongsathorn, T. and Jazwinski, K. (2006). Change. London: August/Cultureshock in collaboration with LAB06. Thameslink Programme, (2014). Thameslink Programme. [online] Thameslink Programme. Available at: http://www.thameslinkprogramme.co.uk/ [Accessed 13 Jun. 2015]. Transport for London, (2015). London Bridge rail station - Transport for London. [online] Tfl.gov.uk. Available at: https://www.tfl.gov.uk/travel-information/improvements-and-projects/london-bridge-rail-station [Accessed 11 Jun. 2015]. Transport for London, (2015). London Bridge upgrade travel advice - Transport for London. [online] Tfl.gov.uk. Available at: https://www.tfl.gov.uk/travel-information/improvements-and-projects/london-bridge-rail-station/london-bridge-upgrade-travel-advice [Accessed 11 Jun. 2015] Vovchenko, N., Kochka, V. and Pogorelenko, N. (2015). PESTLE ANALYSIS. SBERBANK RUSSIA. Bulletin of the Saint Petersburg State Institute of Technology (Technical University), 54(28), pp.99-101. Warner, A. (2010). Strategic analysis and choice. New York: Business Expert Press. Read More