What impact the proposed change may have on the personnel who currently work in Waltons Bingley

Describe what impact the proposed change may have on the personnel who currently work in Waltons Bingley. Who is impacted? How they are impacted?When will the impacts be realised?

What impact the proposed change may have on the personnel who currently work in Waltons Bingley

Case Study – Waltons Bingley
Waltons Bingley is an Australian based department store.  Established as a family company at a single site in Sydney Australia, it rapidly grew and established its presence across Australia. As it grew, it transformed from a private family enterprise into a publicly listed company with over 600 employees nationwide.
Waltons Bingley still maintains a family presence in the management structure and the current Chief Executive is Hyram Waltons Bingley, with his three sons and two daughters being heavily involved in management.

Since 2005, the store has noticed that sales are declining and costs are rising. The profit has diminished and there is concern that if the slide continues that the store may go into receivership within two years. In 2010, management decided to adjust staffing numbers on the shop floor and reduce point of sale registers down to one to two registers per floor and only one floor supervisor for up to 4-5 departments within the floor.  Shop assistants were mainly employed on a casual basis (usually university students or older persons) and were only given the most basic training.

The experiment has been a disaster with customer complaints increasing at an alarming rate, poor service, lack of display of stock, and little to no product knowledge by casual staff.

Should a floor supervisor be absent, casual staff are left to unpack goods, display or create “sale items” – all of which is done without planning or supervision of any kind. It is also noted that head office staff numbers remained the same or have increased, all of which has created tension amongst the shop floor workers.
One of the sons ‘Eugene Waltons Bingley’ has expressed an interest in having on-line marketing via the internet.

He is a keen internet shopper himself and believes that this is the future of marketing and that the old fashioned department stores are dinosaurs waiting for extinction. Also, He believes that on-line marketing could be achieved with a staff of 12 persons, one of whom will be the manager and the eleven other staff will work on the computers, organise the orders, and arrange for delivery as soon as possible. Additionally, He believes that this will eliminate 12 positions on the shop floor, as many of the current personnel could be moved to on-line marketing with just a small amount of training.

There has been no consultation regarding this new change and there has not been any expert advice sought. Eugene Waltons Bingley considers himself to be an expert shopper.

So does not foresee any problems that he couldn’t handle himself.
Staff have heard rumours of the new concept and are concerned with regard to their future employment. That of their work friends in the organisation and the possibility of going to on-line marketing.
You are the newly appointed Human Resource Manager and you are required to construct a report on the following items. Further, report to the Board of Directors by end of the month. This report will only deal with the “people” aspect of the proposed change and will not review processes, technology or structure in specific terms.

Question 1 – People

Describe what impact the proposed change may have on the personnel who currently work in Waltons Bingley.
Who is impacted? How they are impacted? When will the impacts be realised?

Question 2 – Management consultation
Describe how you will explain to managers what the planned strategies are and how you will obtain their support to become ‘champions’ of change rather than ‘blockers’ of change.
Discuss whether there are cost benefits and/or benefits for them in the proposed strategies.

Question 3 – Communication & consultation

Describe how you will explain to staff the need for change.
Describe how you will consult and communicate with staff regarding the proposed changes.
What types of communication methods will you use?
Are there any special items you would do to assist in gaining their support and confidence?
Will you plan any learning and development training for the new department members?
List any other strategies that you would use to embed the change in day-to-day work processes.

Question 4 – Risk management

Firstly, Describe what risks you may encounter when planning for overall success.
Secondly, What might be the barriers to change and how can you reduce the likelihood of the risk occurring?
Thirdly, What strategies would you plan to reduce the impact on the change if the risk occurs?

Question 5 – Review and monitor implementation
Firstly, Describe what processes you would put into place to review the “people” element of the proposed change.
Secondly, Describe feedback processes from all levels of personnel that could be useful in providing a review of success.
What timetable would you put into place for review and how would you undertake modification of the strategies if required.
Finally, What process/es will you use to modify the plan when required to achieve changes to the program objectives?

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