LEAD AND MANAGE ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE SAMPLE-2
January 21, 2022
Desegregation
January 21, 2022
Assessment Task 3
Part A
Reviews of the simulated workplace information
The organisation Fast Track Couriers have implemented a change management strategy for the betterment of their business processes; however, it has been observed that the organisation has not achieved the position which was expected by them. The change management strategy has failed to gain the trust of employees and there are different other sections that are still lagging behind. These issues and risks associated with this organisation have been acting negatively for their growth and expansion. In order to resolve these issues and to bring out the potentiality of the change management strategy, Fast Track Couriers need to incorporate effective communication plans and strategies.
Feedback collection from employees
The feedback survey was conducted on 50 employees of Fast Track Couriers in order to know the efficiency of change management strategy.
Question 1. Do you agree that this organisation appreciated the potentiality of the employees?
| Factors | Number of total respondents | Responses |
| Strongly agree | 50 | 4 |
| Agree | 50 | 6 |
| Neutral | 50 | 5 |
| Disagree | 50 | 30 |
| Strongly disagree | 50 | 5 |
Question 2. Do you agree that this organisation maintains a motivational work environment?
| Factors | Number of total respondents | Responses |
| Strongly agree | 50 | 6 |
| Agree | 50 | 10 |
| Neutral | 50 | 7 |
| Disagree | 50 | 12 |
| Strongly disagree | 50 | 15 |
Question 3. How likely do you agree that the communication is efficient between all the members of Fast Track Couriers?
| Factors | Number of total respondents | Responses |
| Strongly agree | 50 | 8 |
| Agree | 50 | 12 |
| Neutral | 50 | 6 |
| Disagree | 50 | 10 |
| Strongly disagree | 50 | 14 |
Question 4. Do you agree that the work division of Fast Track Couriers is efficient?
| Factors | Number of total respondents | Responses |
| Strongly agree | 50 | 10 |
| Agree | 50 | 7 |
| Neutral | 50 | 8 |
| Disagree | 50 | 12 |
| Strongly disagree | 50 | 13 |
Question 5. How likely do you agree that the management team is effectively managing the overall business functionalities?
| Factors | Number of total respondents | Responses |
| Strongly agree | 50 | 8 |
| Agree | 50 | 9 |
| Neutral | 50 | 5 |
| Disagree | 50 | 18 |
| Strongly disagree | 50 | 10 |
Question 6. Do you agree that the performances of the employees are appreciated with rewards and recognition?
| Factors | Number of total respondents | Responses |
| Strongly agree | 50 | 7 |
| Agree | 50 | 9 |
| Neutral | 50 | 4 |
| Disagree | 50 | 12 |
| Strongly disagree | 50 | 18 |
Question 7. How likely do you agree that the team leaders maintain their ethical responsibilities?
| Factors | Number of total respondents | Responses |
| Strongly agree | 50 | 11 |
| Agree | 50 | 4 |
| Neutral | 50 | 5 |
| Disagree | 50 | 17 |
| Strongly disagree | 50 | 13 |
Question 8. Do you agree that Fast Track Couriers has a streamlined flow of task completion?
| Factors | Number of total respondents | Responses |
| Strongly agree | 50 | 8 |
| Agree | 50 | 6 |
| Neutral | 50 | 7 |
| Disagree | 50 | 19 |
| Strongly disagree | 50 | 10 |
Result from discussion for the survey
As per the feedback survey conducted on the employees of Fast Track Couriers, it has been observed that the views and opinions of employees towards the organisation is not positive. According to the employees, the organisation lacks its efficiency in different aspects. The communication, work management and the appraisal factors of this organisation is not enough effective in order to gain trust from the employees. As per the views of Covey & Conant (2016), employee trust is one of the important factors which acts for the favour of organisational growth and expansion. The communication plan, as well as the change management strategy, needs some alterations and innovative implementation in order to resolve the trust issues of employees.
Revise communication plan
The current communication plan of Fast Track Couriers includes different issues and barriers which are affecting the overall employee relationship and other factors of the organisation. The current plan of communication involves e-mail and face to face meeting with the organisational co-ordinators. Effective time management and other forms of communication needs to be implemented to handle all the situations with any overlapping or disturbances. In order to change the communication plan, there are different factors which need to be maintained. As per the opinions of Ria et al. (2017), situation analysis, defining the objectives, identifying and establishing communication media are the essential tasks that need to be performed in order to create an effective communication plan for an organisation. Fast Track Couriers needs to change their communication plan accordingly in order to achieve fluency in their business functions.
Identifying and addressing change barriers
In order to resolve issues, it is important to analyse and identify the sources of those inefficiencies. The risks and barriers associated with the communication plan includes different factors such as stereotypes, generalization, unclear communication, lack of listening skills and many more. As mentioned by Fandrejewska & Wasilik (2018), the communication barriers can be differentiated into five sections which are psychological barriers, physical barriers, physiological barriers, language barriers and attitudinal barriers. These risks and barriers are also relevant with the case of Fast Track Couriers which are to be resolved distinctly. The mitigation methods involve maintenance of different factors such as language, message, tone, requirements of the receiver, message consistency and feedback processes. Another mitigation method involves the consultation with all the organisational members about the new communication plan in order to get their views and opinions. The suggestion of the employees needs to be analysed and incorporated if efficient.
Meeting with general manager
External change management consultant: The implementation of effective communication needs incorporation of an official language which will eventually resolve language barriers.
General Manager: Yes, it is an effective tactic however this organisation has other barriers which needs to be mitigated.
Consultant: We have to make all the employees understand about the maintenance of particular body language and tones in the workplace.
General Manager: How do you think we can make them learn about communication?
Consultant: We have to start training sessions for all the members in order to provide guidelines and accept their views on communication plans.
General Manager: Ok, do you have any other implementation ideas for the communication plan?
Consultant: Yes, we have to maintain message consistency among the different levels of the organisational members. Clear and consistent messages help in reducing communication gaps as well as confusions among employees.
General Manager: I think these ideas and alteration will hopefully improve the overall communication plan.
Development of session plan
| Plan | Time taken | Implementation | Goal |
| Situation analysis | 2 weeks |
|
To meet the requirements and needs of employees of Fast Track Couriers in order to gain their trust. |
| Identification of communication channels | 3-4 weeks |
|
To incorporate effective communication between all the organisational members. |
| Time scheduling | 1-2 weeks |
|
To maintain the pace of organisational growth and productivity. |
| Evaluation and monitoring | Continuous |
|
To reduce risks and barriers associated. |
Session to the employees
The plans and innovative implementation need to be delivered to all the employees associated with the Fast Track Couriers in order to aware them about the changes and alteration of their organisation. As per the values of Brunia et al. (2016), it is essential to help the employees get accustomed with all the changes in the organisational processes. Effective training sessions can also be provided to the employees in order to make them familiar. The views and opinions of the employees need to be taken in account to meet their expectations and requirements. As per the scenario, Fast Track Couriers needs to gain trust from their employees through effective communication and change management. In order to meet employee needs, the organisation needs to evaluate their feedback and improve their overall policies and work process.
Conduction regular evaluation and review
Continuous evaluation and monitoring of the change strategies is essential in order to identify potential barriers and to find solutions. There are different resisting factors which can act as potential risks if not identified. In order to reduce the number of risks and issues towards the implementation of change strategies, monitoring and evaluation is the only solution. Evaluation of all the organisational situation, behaviour and external factors are also essential in reducing the overall barriers and risks. The continuous reviewing of all the functions helps in finding flaws and to find effective measures to resolve.
Part B
Q1. Change management process
An effective change management process includes different essential steps, the initial step is to identify the factors which need to be improved. This step involves the setting of objectives and analysing all the issues which are to be mitigated. After the effective analysis of all the improving factors, the case or the overall review of the organisation needs to be presented to the different layers of stakeholders. The financial and overall aspects of this change management will be approved by the stakeholders and the further plan can be implemented. The actual strategizing and planning need to be started with an effective roadmap of requirements. As per the statements of Altamony et al. (2016), the change management needs effective evaluation and communication plan to complement the effectiveness. Another step in the change management needs managing and monitoring of dependencies, budget risks and resistances. All these factors need to be incorporated in order to receive efficient results of the change management process. To maintain the consistency of efficiency, the organisation needs to continuously innovate and improve as the change in requirements.
Q2. Impact of the external environment and organisational behaviour on change strategies
The external environment consists of the economic, sociological, technological and political factors which can affect the change management strategies. These factors can influence the implementation of change strategies through different financial as well as other aspects. As notified by Jabeen, Aliyu & Mahmood (2016), the external environment influences the demands and popularity of an organisation and eventually impacts the revenues and turnovers. The positive impacts of the external environment can help in the incorporation of change strategies and on the other hand, the negative impacts can hamper the change strategy. With the influence of external factors, organisational behaviour also plays an important role in change strategies. The employee’s behaviours can or cannot be acting in favour of change strategies. The acceptance or healthy organisation behaviour can enhance the implementation as well as the efficiency of the change management strategies. The structure, technology and other factors are uplifted by the positive organisational behaviour and eventually help in the incorporation of change strategies.
Q3. Components change management project plan
Readiness assessment: This is a tool which helps in identifying the resistances associated with the organisation and the factors that needs to be altered. The organisational background and other factors are analysed.
Communication plan: An effective communication plan compliments the efficiency of change strategy (Newman, 2016). The creation of a communication plan involves identifying the channels and media and enhancing skills among the organisation.
Training: The incorporation of change strategies needs to be followed by training all the organisational members about the importance and benefits of change. The employees are trained in order to help them accept the new organisational processes.
Resistance management: There are different resisting factors such as external as well as internal which needs to be managed for the streamline implementation of change management strategies.
Employee feedback: The change management is incomplete without the views of employees. The feedback will be further analysed by the analysts in order to improve the change management.
Q4. Change barriers and addressing process
The potential barriers of change include lack of employee engagements, lack of efficient communication plan, poor organisational culture, unidentified resistances and complexities associated with the organisation. The components of communication need to be addressed in order to mitigate the communication barriers. The previous or the traditional work culture can resist the employees to come forward and get accustomed with the innovative change strategies. The resistance identification can overlook different resisting factors which turns into potential barriers for the change strategies. These barriers can be resolved with continuous evaluation, monitoring and training sessions for all the organisational members.
References
Altamony, H., Al-Salti, Z., Gharaibeh, A., & Elyas, T. (2016). The relationship between change management strategy and successful enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementations: A theoretical perspective. International Journal of Business Management and Economic Research, 7(4), 690-703. Retrieved on: 1 November 2020; From: https://www.change-management-institute.com/sites/default/files/uploaded-content/field_f_content_file/the_relationship_between_change_management_strategy_and_successful_enterprise_resource_planning.pdf
Brunia, S., De Been, I., & van der Voordt, T. J. (2016). Accommodating new ways of working: lessons from best practices and worst cases. Journal of Corporate Real Estate, 211-417. Retrieved on: 31 October 2020; From: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Theo_Van_der_Voordt2/publication/301577624_Accommodating_new_ways_of_working_lessons_from_best_practices_and_worst_cases/links/57370f3608ae9ace840bec33/Accommodating-new-ways-of-working-lessons-from-best-practices-and-worst-cases.pdf
Chan, H. L., Shen, B., & Cai, Y. (2018). Quick response strategy with cleaner technology in a supply chain: coordination and win-win situation analysis. International Journal of Production Research, 56(10), 3397-3408. Retrieved on: 30 October 2020; From: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00207543.2016.1278283
Covey, S., & Conant, D. (2016). The connection between employee trust and financial performance. Harvard Business Review, 7, 1-7. Retrieved on: 27 October 2020; From: https://kaizenovationu.com/wp-content/uploads/The-Connection-Between-Employee-Trust-and-Financial-Performance.pdf
Fandrejewska, A., & Wasilik, K. (2018). Cultural differences and barriers in communication and functioning of an international organisation. Handel Wewnętrzny, (1 (372)), 203-215. Retrieved on: 29 October 2020; From: http://yadda.icm.edu.pl/yadda/element/bwmeta1.element.desklight-b77fe813-3d35-4790-9714-627a66470d6d/c/HW_1_2018.203-215.pdf
Jabeen, R., Aliyu, M. S., & Mahmood, R. (2016). The moderating effect of external environment on the relationship between market orientation and business performance: A quantitative approach. International Postgraduate Business Journal, 8(1), 16-25. Retrieved on: 2 November 2020; From: http://repo.uum.edu.my/18441/1/IPBJ%20%20%208%201%202016%20%2016-25.pdf
Newman, A. (2016). Communication planning: A template for organizational change, 71-99. Retrieved on: 3 November 2020; From: https://scholarship.sha.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1004&context=chrreports
Ria, F., Bergantin, A., Vai, A., Bonfanti, P., Martinotti, A. S., Redaelli, I., … & Samei, E. (2017). Awareness of medical radiation exposure among patients: a patient survey as a first step for effective communication of ionizing radiation risks. Physica Medica, 43, 57-62. Retrieved on: 28 October 2020; From: https://dukespace.lib.duke.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/10161/15847/1-s2.0-S1120179717304866-main.pdf?sequence=5&isAllowed=y
