BSBINN601 Lead and manage organisational change Assessment Task 3

Implement change management strategy

Performance objective

You will demonstrate the skills and knowledge required to implement change management strategy.

Assessment description

Using the scenario information supplied, you will conduct an implementation review. You will then consult with a union representative and General Manager to receive input and develop a revised communication plan. You will action the revised plan by delivering a 15–20 minute information session to employees. Finally, you will consider making final revisions to the communications plan and overall project plan and seek approval from the General Manager.

Procedure

1. Review the simulated workplace information for Fast Track Couriers.
2. Following the communications plan provided in Appendix 4, develop a survey to gather feedback from employees.
3. Meet with a union representative (your assessor) to receive and discuss the results of the survey. Anticipate possible resistance by this stakeholder and promote your plans to gain acceptance. Ask for additional input to help you revise your change management communications strategy.
4. Draft revised communications plan and overall project plan (from Assessment Task 2) in consideration of barriers identified through consultation process (with your assessor acting as a union representative) and those identified in risk analysis provided in Appendix 3. Highlight strategic elements in your plan that you will deploy to gain trust and acceptance of change. Ensure you consider the needs of all stakeholders to gain support for planned changes.
5. Meet with General Manager (assessor) to discuss ideas for revised communications plan and overall project plan based on feedback.
   1. Discuss the needs of all stakeholders.
   2. Discuss creative technique, activity or tactic you will use to gain trust and acceptance in the 15–20 minute information session you will deliver.
   3. Ensure you anticipate possible resistance by this stakeholder and promote your plans to gain acceptance.
6. Develop a plan for a 15–20 minute information session for truckers. Include an outline of what activities you will be doing, how long you will be doing them, and how the activity will achieve the goal of employee acceptance of change process. Ensure you anticipate possible resistance from these stakeholders and plan to overcome resistance.
7. Deliver session to employees (your assessor/other people enlisted by the assessor to perform in the role of employees). Ensure you take a consultative approach to the session and invite participation, questions, input, etc. and ensure you incorporate a creative technique, activity or tactic in the session.
8. Make final revisions to your communications and overall project plans based on feedback and consultation (save these as separate documents to previous drafts). You may need to consider changes to communication activities, training activities, and rollout of changes. Consult with GM (assessor) to ensure changes are approved.
9. Submit all documents to your assessor as per the specifications below. Ensure you keep a copy of all work submitted for your records.

Specifications

You must submit copies of:

• one survey
• drafts of communications and overall project plans to indicate review of plans (including highlighted strategic element/s)
• planning and support documents for your 15–20 minute information session (such as a plan for the session, PowerPoint presentation, handouts, and a creative activity for gaining trust and acceptance of change process).

Your assessor will be looking for how you:

• explain the change management process
• outline components of the change management project plan
• demonstrate knowledge of specific organisational requirements from the scenario
• outline potential barriers to change from the scenario
• describe a range of techniques for embedding change and gaining trust
• demonstrate leadership skills to gain acceptance of plan and gain trust
• provide innovation skills to develop creative ways of getting people to
  accept change
• demonstrate planning and organising skills
• demonstrate problem-solving skills to respond to barriers to change
• develop project management skills to implement change management strategy
• demonstrate teamwork skills to consult with relevant groups for input
• use verbal communication skills to describe and promote change
  management plan.

Adjustment for distance-based learners

• No changes to the assessment procedure or specification are required.
• The consultation and presentation may be conducted via video or teleconferencing.
• Documentation may be submitted electronically.
• A follow-up interview may be required (at the discretion of the assessor).

Appendices

Appendix 1: Task – Fast Track Couriers Pty Ltd

It is the end of the 2015 financial year and one month into the implementation of a change management strategy. You are hearing that the implementation has not achieved the employee’s trust, understanding and support that you expected, which is essential for success, particularly among truck drivers.

You are an external change management consultant employed by Fast Track Couriers to revise the communications strategy. You have been asked by the General Manager to develop and deliver an innovative and more effective communications plan.

Following the communications plan (provided in Appendix 4), you will need to evaluate the management of truck drivers through the change management process. Develop a survey to gauge trucker opinion on the following ten dimensions of employee satisfaction.

Once you have completed the survey, meet with the union representative (assessor) to discuss results and get additional input.

Draft a revised communications plan to conform to the identified risks in the risk management analysis.

After you have gathered input, meet with the General Manager (assessor) to discuss your suggested revision of the communications plan.

You will then need to implement the revised plan. Part of the revised communications plan will include a 15–20 minute information session that you will deliver to the employees.

Goals

FTC has the following goals for the Change Management strategy:

• Goal A: Implement PDA/GPS usage (productivity function) on truck fleet in the first quarter of the 2016 financial year.
• Goal B: Implement one person per truck policy using automatic lift gates in the first quarter of the financial year.

Achievement of these goals should increase net profit in the next financial year by $200,000 due to increased efficiencies and increased business.

Goal A is essential to the business to ensure (in the following order of importance):

1. most efficient use of resources to cover market needs. Management will look at more than the raw hours spent on job and consider all factors such as job difficulty, traffic conditions, etc., in order to optimise fleet usage
2. job performance measurement for training needs
3. recognition of outstanding performance (bonuses for exceeding targets; advancement/leadership opportunities).

Goal B is essential to the business to ensure:

• most efficient use of resources to cover market needs
• reduced need to hire external truckers; use of present employees as much as possible
• reduced possibility of lifting injury.

Appendix 2: Progress of implementation

The project manager has prepared the following progress report.
Green: completed
Amber: in progress
Red: not completed

Appendix 3: Risk management analysis

Appendix 4: Communications plan

Appendix 5: Background information: Fast Track Couriers Pty Ltd

About Fast Track Couriers

Fast Track Couriers is a courier company that has been operating in New South Wales for the last 15 years. Its primary business function is delivering medium to large size packages across metropolitan Sydney.

Strategic plan goals

The organisation’s strategic goals are:

• to expand business in the metropolitan area so that small to medium package deliveries market share increases by 7.5%.
• to expand the business to include small and medium package deliveries to regional NSW.
• to develop an integrated approach to distribution management utilising technology such as PDA devices and GPS.
• to develop and maintain a cohesive and well-motivated workforce.

Strategic goals are supported by the following operational and human resources goals.

Operational plan goals

• Testing of the distribution management system is to cease and allow implementation within the first quarter of the 2016 financial year.
• The truck fleet will need to be expanded by 8 trucks within the 2016 financial year.
• Small distribution hubs will be positioned at Maitland, Goulburn, Nowra and Bathurst, each manned by two employees within the next eighteen months.
• Fast Track Couriers will complete 20% of deliveries to regional locations in the next three years.

Human resources goals

• Incorporating a Human Resources function to facilitate the changes in workforce management in the first quarter of the 2016 financial year.
• Introducing professional development and training to achieve organisational goals and promote understanding of organisation’s strategic goals in the first quarter of the financial year.
• Eliminating industrial relations problems in the financial year. Concluding negotiations with employees and union.
• Eliminating lifting injuries.

People/structure

Fast Track Couriers has implemented and recruited the people required to fill the roles in the following organisational structure.

Managerial duties/role description

Background to workforce management and relations

The company communicates with employees via email for head office employees, and a printed monthly newsletter for drivers. The company provides information regarding policies and procedures through documented manuals that are held in each truck as an employee manual. Office-based staff can access copies of these manuals at the office.

All trucks are fitted with a GPS system to assist drivers with navigating to each pick-up and drop-off location. Trucks are also assigned a PDA that provides drivers with the details of each pick-up and drop-off and records when a job starts and finishes. The data from this device is sent back to head office to monitor job progress but is not used to complete productivity reporting. When this device was introduced, drivers were not happy, as they felt the organisation was saying that it did not trust the drivers to manually record the time spent on each job. Many of the drivers also resented having to learn how to use the device and thought it was a waste of time.

Head office employees work very closely together and are a very cohesive and motivated team. They are positive about the organisation’s direction and respond well to change.

Drivers have historically reacted negatively to change. Change implemented in the past has met with resistance and was therefore difficult to implement. Drivers have in the past done their best to block any changes from being implemented, even going to the lengths of threatening strike action and having the union involved to assist with resolving the issue.

Fast Track Couriers currently allocates two drivers per truck to ensure that drivers are able to load and unload heavy packages. The strategy going forward is to remove the need for having two drivers per truck by installing an automatic lift gate on the back of each gate at a cost of $10,000 per truck. This will mean that only one driver is needed per truck as no heavy lifting will be required.

It is Fast Track Couriers’ intention to use these surplus drivers to drive the new trucks that will be purchased to enable the company to extend its services to regional NSW.

Drivers are currently happy with the work environment, as they enjoy working as part of a two-man team. The organisation typically leaves the drivers alone and lets them do their job as this is what seems to make them happy. Management has tried in the past to have drivers participate in organisational activities. These activities were not received positively and the drivers complained and asked not to be involved. The drivers’ view is that their preferred team is their two-man driver team and they only see the benefits of that specific working arrangement. There is a high value placed on communication with trucking team members.