Identify change requirements
Submission details
Candidate’s name
Candidate ID
Group
Phone Number
Assessment date/s
Time/s
The assessment task is due on the date specified by your assessor. Any variations to this arrangement must be approved in writing by your assessor.
Submit this document with any required evidence attached. See specifications below for details.
Performance objective
The candidate will demonstrate the skills and knowledge required to identify change requirements for an organisation.
Assessment description
Using the scenario information supplied in Appendix 1 of this document, the candidate will identify strategic change needs, review existing policy, monitor trends in the external environment that impact on organisation’s objectives, identify operational change objectives, prioritise change requirements and consult experts or specialists to assist in identification of change requirements and opportunities. The candidate will then write a report to management outlining the change requirements.
Procedure
Review the organisation policy and scenario information provided (in the Appendix of this task) for Fast Track Couriers.
Prepare to write a report on change requirements for Fast Track by following steps 3–10 below.
Analyse the organisational objectives provided in the scenario to identify the change requirements for Fast Track Couriers:
Identify requirements for change
prepare an explanation of how your identified change needs link to the organisation’s strategic plan goal/s.
Review the organisation’s current state to understand how the current policies, practices and operations deliver against the organisation’s strategic goals.
Review the organisation’s performance against objectives with regards to its:
people
processes
technology
structure.
Monitor external trends to identify events or trends which may impact on the achievement of the organisation’s strategic plan goals:
identify two external trends
develop an explanation of how the trends currently impact or will impact organisational objectives .
Identify major operational change requirements:
identify changes due to performance gaps
identify changes due to business opportunities
identify changes due to threats
identify changes due to management decisions.
Identify specialists to be consulted to assist with identifying change needs:
identify specialists you will engage to help identify change requirements and be prepared to explain your reasons for engaging these specialists
identify what consulting model you would adopt to engage the specialists and be prepared to explain why you would use this model.
Assume your assessor is a specialist/expert of the kind you have identified in step 7. Consult with your assessor to assist with identification of change management requirements and opportunities.
Identify the managers that need to be informed. Prepare a plan that identifies who, when and how stakeholder managers will be engaged to review and prioritise change requirements.
Assume your assessor is a manager you have identified. Consult with your assessor to review the changes you propose and to help you prioritise changes. Suggest and justify the priority you have assigned to each change you recommend.
Prepare a 3–4 page report detailing change requirements for the organisation. Include all of the information you identified and explanations that you prepared in steps 3–10.
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 provide:
One report detailing change requirements for the simulated organisation.
Your assessor will be looking for:
A 3–4 page report including all information identified in the procedure above that demonstrates your
knowledge of the impact of external trends on organisational change
knowledge of specific organisational requirements
learning skills to incorporate new ideas into your report on change requirements
planning skills to organise engagement with manager stakeholders
teamwork skills to consult with relevant people for input
verbal communication skills to describe, support, and negotiate change requirements and priorities with stakeholders.
Appendix 1
Fast Track Couriers Pty Ltd
Task
It is the end of the 2013 financial year. You are an external change management consultant employed by Fast Track Couriers. You have been asked by the General Manager to prepare a report to identify opportunities and requirements for change for the organisation in the coming year.
You have been given some information about the organisation and the organisation’s strategic goals. Specific operational and human resources goals were developed to support the strategic goals.
The strategic goals were developed as a result of external market research indicating an opportunity for Fast Track Couriers to build market share in Sydney. The business has the opportunity to increase Sydney market share by 7.5% on the back increased efficiency and shorter delivery times from larger truck fleet and improved distribution systems.
You have also been given some information about employees and some background information regarding the organisation’s workforce relations.
Before submitting the final report, you will need to review your proposed changes with all relevant manager stakeholders. The General Manager is very concerned about identifying change requirements in close consultation with key management stakeholders within the organisation in order to ensure the least resistance to implementation.
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.
Extracts from Organisational Policies – Fast Track Couriers Pty Ltd
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 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 2014 financial year.
The truck fleet will need to be expanded by 8 trucks within the 2014 financial year.
Human resources goals:
To incorporate a Human Resources function to facilitate the changes in workforce management in the first quarter of the 2014 financial year.
Introduce professional development and training to achieve organisational goals and promote understanding of organisation’s strategic goals in the first quarter of the 2014 financial year.
Eliminate industrial relations problems in the 2014 financial year. Conclude negotiations with employees and union.
Eliminate lifting injuries.
Employee Profile – Fast Track Couriers Pty Ltd
Fast Track Couriers employee the following people:
General manager (GM) – Generally on the road; never in office.
Chief financial officer (CFO) – Reports to GM and keeps office hours; 9–5, Mon–Fri.
Accountant – Reports to CFO and keeps office hours; 9–5, Mon–Fri.
Truck drivers (x20) – Report to office.
Office team manager – Reports to GM and keeps office hours; 9–5, Mon–Fri.
Office team members (x5) – Perform administrative, sales, customer relationship management duties. Monitor truck drivers and handle enquiries. Report to office team manager.
Head office employees
Covered under individual contracts.
Salary range $32,000–$75,000 annum.
Small team of mainly female employees, ranging in age.
Lots of opportunity to participate in learning and development programs due to management support; however little desire to participate.
High employee engagement scores. Employees cite team work and opportunities as motivating factors affecting the business success.
Drivers
Covered by an award.
Salary $45,000 per annum.
Heavily unionised.
Employee demographics are all male employees aged 25–65.
Little opportunity to participate in learning and development programs due to being on the road; however, little to no interest to participate in development opportunities.
Large number of workplace injuries due to heavy lifting.
Low employee engagement scores. Drivers cite pay as an issue.
Currently experiencing low turnover.
History of industrial disputes regarding pay and previous change initiatives.
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 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.
Our Service Charter
-
Excellent Quality / 100% Plagiarism-Free
We employ a number of measures to ensure top quality essays. The papers go through a system of quality control prior to delivery. We run plagiarism checks on each paper to ensure that they will be 100% plagiarism-free. So, only clean copies hit customers’ emails. We also never resell the papers completed by our writers. So, once it is checked using a plagiarism checker, the paper will be unique. Speaking of the academic writing standards, we will stick to the assignment brief given by the customer and assign the perfect writer. By saying “the perfect writer” we mean the one having an academic degree in the customer’s study field and positive feedback from other customers. -
Free Revisions
We keep the quality bar of all papers high. But in case you need some extra brilliance to the paper, here’s what to do. First of all, you can choose a top writer. It means that we will assign an expert with a degree in your subject. And secondly, you can rely on our editing services. Our editors will revise your papers, checking whether or not they comply with high standards of academic writing. In addition, editing entails adjusting content if it’s off the topic, adding more sources, refining the language style, and making sure the referencing style is followed. -
Confidentiality / 100% No Disclosure
We make sure that clients’ personal data remains confidential and is not exploited for any purposes beyond those related to our services. We only ask you to provide us with the information that is required to produce the paper according to your writing needs. Please note that the payment info is protected as well. Feel free to refer to the support team for more information about our payment methods. The fact that you used our service is kept secret due to the advanced security standards. So, you can be sure that no one will find out that you got a paper from our writing service. -
Money Back Guarantee
If the writer doesn’t address all the questions on your assignment brief or the delivered paper appears to be off the topic, you can ask for a refund. Or, if it is applicable, you can opt in for free revision within 14-30 days, depending on your paper’s length. The revision or refund request should be sent within 14 days after delivery. The customer gets 100% money-back in case they haven't downloaded the paper. All approved refunds will be returned to the customer’s credit card or Bonus Balance in a form of store credit. Take a note that we will send an extra compensation if the customers goes with a store credit. -
24/7 Customer Support
We have a support team working 24/7 ready to give your issue concerning the order their immediate attention. If you have any questions about the ordering process, communication with the writer, payment options, feel free to join live chat. Be sure to get a fast response. They can also give you the exact price quote, taking into account the timing, desired academic level of the paper, and the number of pages.