Section I: Change Management Plan
- Identify the current formal and informal power structures in the organization. How might the power and political structure of the organization affect employee behavior?
In the current given situation, the company is not at all having any department or system to manage the customer information. It is totally left over to the employees to manage them. So, we can assume that there is more of informal power structure within the organization. All the employees will be required to complete the tasks as per the objectives of the organization. There will be a supervisor to monitor the performance and completion of all the assigned tasks. This could affect the employee behavior in two ways. Keeping it informal will result into more liberty and freedom for the employees and at the same time will increase the job satisfaction levels of the employees, as they can work as per their schedules. Hence, it is important to have a proper formal structure to keep all the employees aligned to the key goals and objectives of the organization.
- Identify the most appropriate and effective organizational structures for Riordan Manufacturing that will help them accomplish their planned changes.
It is important to have an appropriate formal structure within the organization so as to communicate effectively and to pass on the objectives and tasks to the employees. All the different working responsibilities of the organization will be divided into different departments, and there will be one specific individual who will be the head of this department. All the heads of different department will report to the Board of the Directors, who in turn will inform all the reports to the CEO of the organization. Under each of the head of departments, there will be several managers working depending upon the sub-divisions of a particular department. Under each of these managers, there will be different employees working in teams and they will be directly reporting their completion of tasks to the assigned managers. Thus, the flow of information, the completion of tasks, the productivity levels, and the overall accomplishing the planned changes can be easily and effectively carried out within the given organization.
- What are the potential effects of this selected structure on employee behavior?
Under the given selected structure, the delegation of tasks and responsibilities will turn out to be easier. However, each of the employees will be required to report to his or her manager, which might be an additional task for the day. Hence, all the employees will lose liberty and freedom that they used to have during the informal structure. However, the transparency, accuracy and communication effectiveness will increase for the entire organization. Employees in one way will find the job easier and we would be able to achieve the goal of managing the customer information.
- Identify characteristics of the company’s culture. What are the potential influences of the corporate culture on employee behavior?
There are several characteristics of the given company’s culture. The key characteristics include the formation of the structure, the ethical principles implemented, overall transparency within the organization, the effective way of communicating all the tasks and responsibilities within the organization and the culture of motivation and appreciation. Each of these characteristics of the given corporate culture will have great influence on the employee behavior. If we are rewarding employees for their appreciated performance, they will be motivated to work even better. Their job efficiency and job satisfaction level will increase. The implementation of ethical principles and transparency within the entire organization will install the values of honesty, trustworthiness and morality amongst the employees.
- Identify the potential sources of resistance to change and develop strategies to manage resistance to change.
The potential sources of resistance of change could come from the unions of the employees who will not be happy to do the additional work within the organization. There could be resistance from the change in the organization structure. There could be even resistance from the team members toward their respective managers due to one or the other reasons. As a result, it will be important to implement the strategies of change that will help in managing these sources of change. We can first of all provide training so as to inform on the implementation of new structure and the way of managing the customer information. We can further apply concepts of management so that we can provide values of leadership and management to the employees. We can motivate them by either providing certain bonuses or promoting them so that their overall job satisfaction level will increase. We need to create a culture of happiness, fun, trustworthiness and loyalty toward the given organization in order to resist the sources of change.
- Recommend a strategy to implement the changes over the next 12 months.
We would first be recognizing the given change from a holistic perspective. Secondly, we would develop the necessary adjustments so that we can fulfill the new needs of the given organization. Thirdly, we would be providing necessary training to all the employees so that they can incorporate the change easily. And, finally we would require winning the support from all the employees through techniques of persuasiveness. We need to integrate all the employees in order to achieve the desired objectives of the organization.
- Describe how you will evaluate the success or failure of the planned change.
We will be evaluating the success or failure through performance metrics as well as through evaluating the database that will be created for storing the information of all the customers. We would be hiring a Database Administrator that will be managing all the databases as well as will even monitor the development and security of all the databases. The respective managers will evaluate the performance of the employees against some specific parameters and this is we would be able to determine the success or failure of the planned change.
Section II: Communication Plan
Create a Communication Plan for the proposed change covered in the Change Management Plan. In the Communication Plan, complete the following:
The most appropriate channels of communication will be direct mails, newsletters, group meetings and personal calls to some of the important employees of the organization. In order to facilitate and inform about the given change in the organization, we would be mailing all the employees about the Customer Management System. We would be issuing newsletter wherein we would be providing all the basic information regarding operating and managing of the database. Further, group meetings will be held initially for informing employees once again about the change and the new system. The managers will then provide necessary training to all the employees through all such meetings within the organization. Finally, personal calls will be made to the leading managers and supervisors as they are able to lead the organization from the front. They will be able to install desired values within the organization and this is how we would be able install the necessary change within the organization.
- Identify the potential barriers to effective communication and strategies for overcoming the barriers.
The barriers to effective communication will first of all include the resistance from the employees within the organization. They will not be interested in any such change and hence they will be ignoring all the subsequent mails on the change management and on the new Customer Management System. Secondly, we would barriers for removal of the newsletters from several places of the organization. Thirdly, the employees will resist training during group meetings and finally the key personnel will resist taking the additional role of leader and supervisor. Hence, it will be important to implement change at top-level first and then step-by-step we would be implementing the change at subsequent levels of the organization. Secondly, we would motivate the employees by providing them with the necessary training and informing them for lesser work load. We would even motivate them by either paying bonuses or through promoting them at higher positions.
Develop a message for one of the selected communication channels. In the message, complete the following:
- Identify those areas affected by the change.
The areas that will be affected by change will include the way of working for the people, the productivity levels during the initial stages and the culture of the organization since the entire structure will be changing.
- Establish the need for the change.
There is a need to store the customer information as well as there is a need to manage them. It can help the organization to project the trend as well as determine the customer loyalty. Storing customer’s information can turn out helpful in many ways.
- Create a sense of urgency around the change.
It is important to inform the employees about the implementation of new Customer Management System. For this purpose, they need to be informed about the same. They also need to be trained on the new system so that they can adjust in the new working environment.
- Outline next steps in the change process.
The next steps in the change process shall include facilitating the employees to adapt to the given change. They need to be trained and motivated in order to work on the new system. The managers and supervisors need to constantly monitor the performance and accordingly they need to take the steps for the next stage.
