Part -1:
Project: Organisation Development Plan
ABC International Pty Ltd is a market leader in development and distribution of beauty products in Australia. Company's products are represented in leading retail stores chains, boutique stores, and pharmacies across Australia. The company is located in Bayswater suburb of Melbourne and employs approximately 90 staffs countrywide. Its Melbourne head office is the hub of product development activity with a team of graphic designers, product managers, brand managers, and the marketing team working closely with each other to identify and realise new product and marketing opportunities across various segments.
Over the last two years, however, the company has faced increasing competitive pressure due to changes in the retail business environment, loss of some of the major accounts due to competition, and departure of two of the senior executives. In the current year, the company has reported approximately 23% fall in revenues and 8% fall in its market share. Company's senior management is worried that with this trend, company will not be able to sustain its operations in long term and has outlined the following strategic priorities focused on its internal environment in its current strategic plan;
Strategic Priority 1: Restructure management and realign all the job roles for maximum utilisation of available human resources
Strategic Priority 2: Enhance internal processes and workflows to reduce waste (of time, material, and resources), duplication of tasks, and manage costs
Strategic Priority 3: Review and upgrade the existing information technology infrastructure to ensure consistent technology platforms, software applications, and maintenance across different departments
Strategic Priority 4: Implement a centralised database system to make organisation-wide digital resources, knowledge, and information available to all the staff members
Strategic Priority 5: Review existing staff competencies, identify training and development needs and provide professional development opportunities across the organisation
Task:
Discuss with your supervisor/manager (your trainer/assessor in a role-play) the strategic priorities and select TWO of the above priorities after consultation.
Based on the selected strategic area, develop an "Organisation Development Plan" that addresses the required changes incorporating;
- Purpose and rationale (e.g. how will this plan address the strategic requirements of the organisation)
- Goals and objectives
- Key stakeholders in planning and implementation process
- The required organisational climate/condition that we be critical to implementing the plan (e.g. cultural and operational factors)
- Description of given problem (i.e. strategic priority) and examples and discussion of current theories or practices in the area
- Implementation strategies (e.g. how the planned changes will be managed)
- Communication plan to inform and communicate changes across the organisation
- Cost-benefit analysis (e.g. expected benefits against cost and the cost of not doing anything)
- Proposed staff development and/or training plan required for pre and post implementation of the new initiatives
- Plan review (e.g. how the feedback will be obtained, analysed, and used on a continuous basis)
The teams will be expected to undertake the project work during assigned project time in training sessions. Teams will be expected to delegate roles, responsibilities, and tasks; and maintain team communication throughout.
Part -2:
Essay: Drastic Action or Evolutionary Adaptation: An Organisation Development Perspective
Research has shown that organisations change primarily in two ways: through drastic action and through evolutionary adaptation. In the former case, change is discontinuous and often forced on the organization or mandated by top management in the wake of major technological innovations, by a scarcity or abundance of critical resources, or by sudden changes in the regulatory, legal, competitive, or political landscape (Meyerson, 2011, HBR)
In this essay, research and discuss these two viewpoints with a focus on organisational development. In effect, you will be focussing on theories of organisational behaviour, organisational dynamics, organisational culture and change management.
The essay must be written in your own words and appropriate referencing and citation must be used in all external references (preferred: Harvard referencing system: Your trainer/assessor will provide you with referencing guidelines. There is no specific structure of essay but it will be expected that you will present your essay with at least three identifiable sections; Introduction, body (main headings) and conclusion.
The essay must contain sources/references from a wide range of publications including books, magazines, journals and online resources. Only online references will not be accepted. In an event where a book or a publication is accessed online or an electronic format, it should be appropriate referenced using the referencing guide.
The essay must contain your own views on the topic and not just the review of the literature. The contents must be coherent and presented in a logical sequence (not just copy and paste from various sources) leading to a conclusion.
Part -3:
Implement Organisation Development Plan
Assume that you have been given the responsibility to implement part of the plan within one area of the organisation. For simulation purpose, you will assume the role of a project officer and your trainer/assessor will play the role of your supervisor/manager.
Task: Part A:
With a view to implement one of the training programs in a proposed department (e.g. training in using company's new database system) develop the following processes and documents;
- A proposed training program facilitated with help of an external person/organisation
- A brief information flyer (for communicating to all the participants) that describes the need, and perceived benefits of the program for both the staffs and the organisation
- Proposed training structure; e.g. individual or group training (or both) and why
- Proposed training and group/collaborative activities based on the strategic priority
Part B:
This part will need to be presented to the class audience, assuming them to be your organisation's audience.
This part assumes that the activities in Part A were facilitated and completed. You will also need to develop a short survey sheet that asks the audience about;
- Effectiveness of the training program in their view
- Effectiveness of the training strategies
- The way you managed the implementation process
- You presentation
You may use suitable question types (maximum 5 questions) and provide the forms to the audience prior to presentation. Explain to the audience what their role is and what they are supposed to do.
- An argument between two different staff members about data access levels
- Questions from two other staff members about their future role and responsibilities in view of impending changes
- Complaint from approximately half the participants that the program went too fast (pace and time) and there were too many task that they had to do in their own time
Based on the above, prepare a presentation for the class audience explaining how you managed to resolve these problems and strategies adopted to ensure a cohesive and collaborative environment. Also, explain what alternative strategies you will develop to overcome the complaints.