Change Management Initiative

The Change Management Plan

Change Management Initiative Goals

The eatery located in Chicago, IL has requested a loan to undergo construction to support an expansion to the eatery and microbrewery to include a game venue. The change management inatitive has been created using the Kotter 8-Step Method. The execution of the plan will be important for the chang. It is significant to support the growth the of business. To ensure a successful lauch of the iniaitive the members of the management team are focusing the goals of the change to fit into three phases – planning, training, and engaging. Within each of these phases the following goals will be measured to determine success of the change throughout the organization.

Management Change Process Goals

• A share vision of the change at the organization
• Communication to both internal and external stakeholders
• Setting realistic timelines and schedules so everyone is informed
• Ensuring roles and responsibiltiies are clear during the change

Initial Action Plan

The initial action plans starts with the planning of the change. Ensuring there is an  initial plan that can be communicated to the organization will help set the stage for the next steps. Ensuring the organization has a clear understanding and a benefit statement for the reason of the change will help to avoid the resistance to change(insert citation). Employees who feel connected and are involved are committed to supporting a vision.

Once communication about the plan has occurred it is important that a change management process team is implanted with key stakeholders. This team will allow for the process of change be managed. The activities of the change can not be managed separately from the employees. The process needs a horizontal management instead of verticals (i.e sales, marketing, etc) managing their tasks (Harmon, 2017). 

The change management team’s responsibilities will include having a Kaizen to set baseline proceses to create business process to include the additional areas of the business and people. Having a clear understanding of current business processes and gaps will allow for the best use of the additional resources of 20 employees that are being hired on with this change. 

Once the employees have a clear understanding it will be important that the expectations set are clear and that there is a team managing the change with continuos loopbacks in communication.

Throughout the change management process there are multiple steps that will need to occur after the Kaizen:

• Evaluate training processes
• Implement hiring expectations (internal and external)
• Create Marketing campaign to promote the game venue
• Utilize Sales to drive awareness and book corporate events
• Implement continuous improvement training to ensure the employees feel empowered to continuously optimize the process when gaps are identified

Tools and Processes

In order to implement the change there are tools and processes that need to be created and used. The first process model that will be used is Kotter’s 8-Step Method. This tool is used to guide organizations work through a change within an organization. The steps in Kotter’s process allow employees to get involved (Wheeler and Holmes, 2017).

Kotter’s 8-Step Method

Create a Sense of Urgency

 Ensuring the shared vision is clearly communicated to the employes of the organization will allow empowerment and ownership to take place at this step. At this step it is important that the commucation is clear, inspirational, and honest.

Building a Guiding Coalition

 Creating a diverse team across departments will be important to ensure the change is cascaded throughout the organization. The team will need to be committed to the change and be willing to be accountable for the change within the organization.

Form Strategic Vision and Iniatitives

 Strategic initatives are key to make the vision a reality(Kotter, 2018). The focus at this step should be to create iniatitives that can be executed by the coalition to support the mission of creating a unique destination eatery and microbrewery with games for the groups of people.

Enlist a Volunteer Army

 The volunteer army created with the internal team members at the organization will help create the vision throughout the organization. An organization needs about 15% of the organization to build momentum toward change (Kotter, 2018). Keep the organization involved with communication to ensure the direction is clear and communicated often (Harmon, 2018).

Enable Action

 An organization can enable action by removing barriers and allow the employees to evaluate proceses. Employees need to feel empowered to make changes in processes when inefficiencies are found. The lean way of thinking allows for the conitnuis improvement to occur with Plan, Do, Check, Act (Harmon, 2017).

Generate Short-Term Wins

 With many changes, the process is not quick. Ensuring there are short term goals set to keep the iniaitve in line will be important for the change management group. The success along the way should be effective if they are meaningful and relevant (Kotter, 2018). 

Sustain Acceleration

 Sustaining acceleration will be key. The urgency set in step one is important to ensure that other business proceses don’t distract employees from completing the mission.

Institute Change

 Defining the connection between the process change and the organization will aim twoards organization success. Becoming an organization of change is deeply rooted in the leadership and its employees. Having the right people in the right position will support the leadership needed to execute changes like this. Steps 1-7 allow for change to happen but without the right people throughout those steps the organization will not see it last.

Leadership Strategies

 Ensuring success will be to create a Business Process Group that supports change. Resistance and pushback will always be around when change is initially introduced. Management will need to utilize both proactive and reactive leadership strategies. This should mitigate any resistance throughout the process. Positive leadership promotes outcomes such as thriving at work, interpersonal flourishing, virtuous behaviors, positive emotions, and energizing networks (Cameron, 2012). Leadership will offer support and communicate frequently, consistently, and honestly throughout the change process.

Frequent communication of the vision, will be vital to ensure that the project goals are met, and the implementation is successful. Simply creating the vision will not be enough, so over communication will be crucial throughout the process.

References

• Harmon, P. (2014). Business Process Change: A Business Process Management Guide for Managers and Process Professionals (Third Edition). Waltham, MA. Morgan Kaufman.
• Kline, J. A. (2007). How to Implement Change in Your Organization. Armed Forces Comptroller, 52(1), 35-38.
• Kotter – Insert citation
• Wheeler, T. R., & Holmes, K. L. (2017). Rapid transformation of two libraries using kotter’s eight steps of change. Journal Of The Medical Library Association, 105(3), 276-281.

References

• Continuous improvement. (n.d). Retrieved from http://asq.org/learn-about-quality/continuous-improvement/overview/overview/html
• George, M. O. (2010). The Lean Six Sigma Guide to Doing More With Less: Cut Costs, Reduce Waste, and Lower Your Overhead. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley.
• Ham, W. K., & Park, S. C. (2014). A framework for the continuous performance improvement of manned assembly lines. International Journal of Production Research, 52(18), 5432-5450.
• Harmon, P. (2014). Business process change: A business process management guide for managers and process professionals, (3rd ed.). Elsevier.
• Saladis, F. P., & Kerzner, H. (2011). Bringing the PMBOK Guide to Life : A Companion for the Practicing Project Manager. Hoboken: Wiley.
• Godinho Filho, M., & Uzsoy, R. (2014). Assessing the impact of alternative continuous improvement programs in a flow shop using system dynamics. International Journal of Production Research, 52(10), 3014-3031.
• You deserve the quality that Designz offers. (n.d). Retrieved from https://designzlacrosse.com/