Clothing Department At The Supermarket: Change Management And Communication Strategies - Assignment Example

 Clothing Department At The Supermarket: Change Management And Communication Strategies Introduction The business environment of the supermarket is undergoing rapid changes and the Store needs to keep pace with the changes. The supermarket owners and management feel that there is a need to open a clothing store in addition to the primarily food outlets at the supermarket. They have enough basis to take this decision. However, the new store is a form of change which to be successfully established has to be endorsed by the various sections of the society and the business community, called the stakeholders (Friedman and Miles, 2006). This new improvement or positive change has to be communicated to all concerned as positive, not detrimental to their interests, rather of value to each of them. This report presents the results of a study that was conducted to determine as to how the above change and the communication objectives can be achieved. Problem Identification/Need for study As mentioned above the study the communication of change needs to be managed among the stakeholder of the Supermarket business. Thus its important to identify the stakeholders and their aims vis-à-vis he business. Stake holders of the Super market and their measurable aims: The Supermarket owners and shareholders : They aim at revenue generation and increased sale End customers: aim at quality and price of the product, good experience and ambiance. Existing Store/department owners: aim at proper location of the new store with respect to their own store. The Government: aims at the collection of various revenues like income tax, sales tax, service tax. Society: Aims include improvement in lifestyle, introduction of new clothing trends, more choice for the consumers, additional employment opportunities, aim to avoid clothing trends that are in bad taste. Bank or Financial Institutions dealing with the Supermarket: They are concerned with the security of their credit. Media like fashion or lifestyle magazines, local dailies etc.: They are concerned with the value of the events or changes taking place with respect to the supermarket. Vendors and Suppliers of Goods to the Stores: Concerned with business volume from the new store and aim at maximizing the profit margins from the same. Vendors of the Super market as a whole (For example security and housekeeping services): The new store promises increase in demand for these services and thus the aim of the vendors would be to ensure more demand originating from the new store. The workers and staff of the existing stores: The workers and staff of the existing stores shall aim to cash in on the accessibility, price economy and choice of new clothing emanating from the new store. The Supermarket facility management and maintenance staff, shall aim to minimize the maintenance costs accruing from the maintenance services to the new store. Assumptions, risks, dependencies and cultural issues affecting the progress of associated work The stake holders, particularly the existing store owners might have certain biases against the new store. The biases might be either on the positive side as in expectations of improved business due to an additional reason for the customer to visit and stay more at the supermarket. However, the same might not take place as expected and this might lead to dissatisfaction. Such dissatisfaction might lead to souring of relations between the new clothing department and the existing departments. On the negative side, the store owners might perceive that new clothing store will dilute the image of the supermarket as a major food hub and thus might affect their business. Besides, during the project implementation stage of the new store, the existing store staff and management might not get along well with the clothing store owners on a personal level, which might affect the implementation of the new project. The flow of projects in the form of resources like men and material might be affected if the existing store owners do not portray a favorable image of the proposed store. Any new project is bound to be seen as not favorable and the various stakeholders are likely to experience a state of inertia vis-à-vis the new clothing store. Until and unless the stakeholders like the Supermarket owners, management and staff and the existing store owners and their staff are made to see the positive aspects of the new project relevant to them, they are likely to have an initial bias against the new store, which might multiply with time and increased interactions between them. The Government and its various departments although are relatively objective in their assessment of a business, however, the individuals in these departments might develop personal biases which might affect the progress of the promised clothing store. Similarly, the lenders like banks and other financial institutions funding the project, too objectively assess businesses, however, the objective assessment itself might not be free from error and biases in the form of cultural and racial concerns belonging to those responsible for decision making at these institutions might be anxious as to how the business will perform because the promoters of the said clothing store might come from a particular cultural background. The above assumptions, concerns and biases entail risks for the proposed business. The assumptions might lead to unnecessary bottlenecks and delays in the progress of the proposed clothing department in the form of increased monetary and logistical costs for the store business. For example the biases by the Supermarket staff and management might lead to unwillingness to cooperate in the matters of sharing of necessary resources like infrastructural facilities for instance parking and storage space, power and water backup, security and surveillance facilities. These facilities are crucial in the initial stages of any project and might determine the failure or success of the business is not addressed in a timely and sensible fashion. The biases on part of the government agencies might lead to the delay in getting the necessary licenses and clearances for the clothing store business to take off. Further, the Banks and other lending institutions’ might dwindle away the chances of the clothing store project being funded adequately, and this might be crucial to the success of the project. The project is dependent on the above factors for its very existence. The perception of the store owners and their staff might lead to the vendors and supplier for the new business to be wary of doing business with the store. The success of the project is dependent to a great extent on the help and cooperation of the various stakeholders. The society in general for example, might perceive the new store to be of little value or to be promoting trends against established social norms, this might threaten the business of the new store to quite an extent. Discussion Ways and means of contacting the above mentioned stakeholders of the proposed clothing store: The stake holders of the proposed clothing store are mostly within easy physical and psychological reach of the store. Thus it is simple to contact them as such. However, the goal here is to make them understand the reason why the new store holds enough worth or value for their respectively specific reasons. First of all, the various stakeholders can be contacted through mass communication methods like, hand bills and hoardings or newspaper advertisements, informing the various sections of the society and the stakeholders as to the potential advantages of the proposed venture to them. The messages can be individually designed for each category of stakeholders or can be in a general format, addressing the potential concerns of the maximum number of the stakeholders. This decision shall be made within the cost and time constraints of the new clothing department project. The mass message must take into account the concerns, assumptions and fears as mentioned above by various stakeholders and must communicate how and why those fears are not real. The message must communicate for example to the existing store/food outlet owners or staff that the proposed department or clothing store shall help improve the business of the food outlets and also offer exciting new benefits to them in the form of quality clothing at discounted prices. It is important to note at this juncture that message itself shall ask for feedbacks from the stakeholders and must include means of contact in the form of phone numbers or email IDs at which the feedback could be given. The above measure is important to generate interactivity on the issue and thus create a relationship between the clothing and other departments. Further, a very effective medium of contacting the stakeholders could be to plan and arrange strategic meetings. Again, the meetings could be focused on individual stake holders like separate meetings for the existing store department staff and management and the stakeholders like the lending institutions, or there could be common meetings. The decision regarding the above could be based on the time and cost constraints as mentioned above. Another communication strategy could be to select, motivate, train/orient and instruct a group of individuals from the various stakeholder categories to understand and propagate the potential benefits to the each individual category of stake holder. Not only that, the concerns could be addressed at individual level. Achieving this level of personalization might be costly, but can be very effective in the long run. The target customers being the most important stakeholders in the new venture have to be contacted and communicated the benefits of the new clothing store to them. The customer shall be contacted through promotional campaigns and Direct marketing sessions. The message has to be stimulating enough for the audience to initially make them eager to do that initial purchase at the new clothing store. A number of benefits and advantages of the product range on offer at the proposed department need to be identified. The above should be targeted at the various customer groups, such that each of them learns to identify with the new venture and thus contribute to a positive buzz about the proposed venture. The Government departments can be contacted through formal meetings with the government officials and the proposed venture shall be communicated as an expansion and diversification plan for the supermarket. The Lending institutions could also be communicated to on the same lines. Identification and involvement of the stakeholders crucial and important for the decision making process with respect to the proposed venture In order to involve those important for making decisions as to the proposed venture of the clothing department, it is important to first clearly identify the above group of people. The decision making process should involve all the above mentioned stakeholders to some extent or the other for effective implementation and eventual success of the new venture. However, most importantly the shareholders of the supermarket, the management and staff of existing departments apart from the owner/promoter of the clothing store should be involved in the decision making process. This should be done in formally organized meeting, wherein the members should first be briefed on the objectives and benefits of the proposed venture through a formal presentation and then asked for feedback as to the feasibility and ways and means to An important objective of the above meeting shall be to persuade the Shareholders and store managers to gauge and mould the opinion of the other stake holders. Also, it is important to incorporate the concerns and feedbacks of the stakeholders in the overall implementation strategy for the proposed venture. The occupants of the existing departments or food outlets shall be made to willingly take part in the decision regarding the exact location and the layout of the store. The above feed back shall be forthcoming and valuable for the overall decision making process. The shareholders shall primarily be involved in the decisions regarding the overall business plan, the capital expenditure and investment in the proposed venture. Recommendations/Conclusions Strategies for implementation of the proposed venture as an improvement of existing situation and communication of the same to the relevant parties and stakeholders Based on astute business marketing, financial and operational planning, the following strategies for successful implementation of the proposed change as an improvement to the current position of the supermarket have been designed: 1. Identify the core needs of the Target market and procure and display merchandize for sale accordingly. 2. Design the new department as complementary and not contradictory entity to the existence of the existing departments of the Supermarkets. 3. Design, layout and staffing should reflect synchronization and harmony with the overall concepts and business goals of the supermarket. 4. Achieve coordination among the departments as to the promotion of the new store as an improvement and addition to the existing range of offerings from the supermarket as a whole. 5. Achieve consensus on the time and monetary costs of the clothing department project as against the planned costs and incorporate the same in the business plan for the same. 6. Sourcing of the merchandize should be based on costing/pricing as well as branding concerns of the supermarket. 7. Position the new clothing store as trendy, affordable and rich in buying experience and an extension of the existing value that the supermarket offers. In order to communicate the above strategies to the relevant parties, a differential approach based on the measurable aims and concerns of the respective parties needs to be adopted. The Shareholders, management and staff of the supermarket and the individual departments can be communicated the above strategies through both formal meetings and informal means like chat sessions, cafeteria talks and social get together parties. However, for the informal communications, a number of staff members need to be briefed upon and assigned the task of informally communicating the same to the various stakeholders as mentioned above. The existing key customers or consumers of the supermarket can also be made to become a part of communicating the value of the proposed venture further. This can be done by briefing them on the above implementation strategies. This will help the implementation process as it will speed up the procurement and management of resources for the successful implementation of the clothing department project. The above briefing can take place in informal environment like while in the restaurant, while waiting for the food order and at the cash counter or simply outside the premises, particularly if the customers are regular ones. The Government departments shall be communicated the value of the proposed business, particularly positioning and sourcing strategies of the proposed venture. This can be done through formal meetings as well as formal letters to the government officials. The Banks and Lending institutions shall be communicated the design, layout, time, cost and positioning strategies through formal meetings and letters. The communications should be such that they illicit timely and clear feedback from the institutions in the form of endorsement letters and suggestions on implementation. References Andrew L. Friedman and Samantha Miles (2006). Stakeholders: theory and practice. Oxford University Press. Task2 Report on the sales lead capture data for the Insurance Introduction The sales department at the insurance company is concerned at the falling sales figures and the management after due consideration and brainstorming has come to the conclusion that a major reason for falling sales is the inadequacy of sales lead data capture. The management feels that the way the sales team conducts the sales lead research is inappropriate and aims to analyze and substantiate this claim and propose solutions to the problems posed by this challenge. The solutions proposed come in the form of organizational changes. The changes need to be communicated effectively to the staff, such that the changes are successfully implemented. This helps minimize business risks in the form of resistance to change and in this case may also help avoid the risk entirely (Hiatt and Creasy, 2003). Problem Identification/Need for study The sales department has been assessing the potential sales and the sales leads using the following sources of information Primary Research The sales team has assigned the task of conducting market research to a dedicated group of professionals specialized in market research. The primary research is designed and executed by the group. The group is using structured questionnaires to collect the data on potential sales leads. The questionnaires are administered both by the field sales team as well as the group itself. It is in tricky situations, where the leads are difficult to deal with that the research team itself administers the questionnaire. As far as the sales targets are concerned, the statistics show that for every successful sale made, the number of questionnaires filled is alarmingly high. This is a measure of the success or failure of the primary sales lead research. Further upon studying the reasons for this high ratio, it has been found that the ratio is particularly high during the peak months and, wherein the sales effort is at a high level of activity. However, this level of sales activity does not translate into sales in a large number of cases, this as mentioned being more so in the peak months. The reasons for the above anomaly have been identified as under: i. The sales team has been unable to understand the a few items of the questionnaire ii. There is scope for the questionnaire to be simplified in form. iii. The relationship between the prospects and the sales leads is usually overemphasized by the prospect or respondents and this gives a blurred picture of the leads suggested by the particular sales prospect. iv. There is a marked difference between the questioning skills of the core research team and the rest of the sales team which gives rise to high incidence of sales lead information being neglected. v. The sale team needs to be trained on asking or interpreting the questions as and when required to get accurate information and opinion on the sales leads in particular areas. The above observations/reasons are based on the following data: Table1: Total insurance sales collection as a percentage of the sales target during April 2011 to September 2011 and for same period during the 2010. 2010 Sales collection 2011 Sales collection April 58.5% April 42% May 69.9% May 67% June 77.5% June 58% July 90% July 62.8% August 95% August 63% September 92% September 57.78% Table 2: No. of Sales lead approached Vs No. of sales realized as percentage of target no. of sales stats for the period April 2011 to September 2011. Period (2011) Percent no. of Sales lead approached Percent no. of sales realized April 77 46 May 80 65 June 75 60 July 99 58 August 80 62 September 85 61 Table 3: No. of sales successfully realized as percent of number of questionnaires filled, under the primary research effort for April 2011 to September 2011. Period (2011) % no. of sales realized with respect to no. of questionnaire filled April 20 May 36 June 55 July 59.9 August 25 September 12.5 Secondary Research As far as the secondary research is concerned, the sales team regularly collects information from both online and offline consumer databases, which are specific to the Insurance industry. However, it has been observed recently that the industry is being affected by indirect factors such as recession in international markets and stock market collapse in some countries. The secondary information collected by the sales team, for their decision making regarding sales leads proves to be inadequate. Apart from research, the sales team meets regularly just to discuss, the information spontaneously collected through informal means like friendly chats, chance comments by customers, friends and acquaintances that has some bearing over the possibility of a sales lead in a particular area. Although the information collected through such means always has some basis. However, it seems that the team lacks the experience and judgment level required to interpret such scattered information. Thus the information collected through informal means usually is flawed and leads to inaccurate sales leads and thus contributes to inadequate sales results. The ways and means to collect information as mentioned above have to be seen with respect to the source of the lead information. The source of information is something that needs to be taken into account while interpreting the information collected. This particularly important if the information collected is informal in nature. The broad classification of source of information on an individual basis can be leads, prospects, customers, decision makers and stakeholders. The information from the leads can not be treated as reliable as the one that comes from a prospect, whereas the people who qualify as customers have to be taken more seriously than the prospects. Similarly, the decision makers that is the people who make the sales decision for the customers can be taken more seriously than the customers themselves. The sales lead information that comes from a stakeholder is likely to be the most reliable as compared to other categories. It has been found that the discretion based on this piece of information is missing in the sales team. As a result, the sales representatives end up spending time and resources on the leads that are really not worth the effort. Discussion The levels of understanding from the sales staff and decision making to capture sales lead data effectively The sales team needs to understand the problems with the sales lead identification process as mentioned above. The problems come in the form of a knowledge gap that needs to be filled. The knowledge gaps are to be filled and thus they can be termed as potential knowledge that needs to be acquired by the sales team. The sales team needs to show a high level of technical understanding of the issues at hand in order to be proficient at capturing sales leads data adequately. The sales team needs to understand the problems at a working level. This means that the team members have to be able to understand and appreciate the changes suggested in approach and body of knowledge to an extent wherein they can easily apply the knowledge into practice and this requires a high level of practically oriented understanding of the issues. For example, the team needs to develop an understanding of the questionnaire design and why it has been designed the way it is. The team needs to develop an understanding of the research methods and skills required therein. The discretion to analyze, interpret and present the informal information needs to be developed. The above need for understanding calls for action on the same front and for which certain key decisions need to be taken. The decisions are as follows: 1. The questionnaire needs to be reviewed and redesigned. It has to be made shorter and more understandable to both the sales team as well as the respondents. If possible a panel of market research experts can be consulted for the same. 2. The sales team shall be trained on questioning skills to maximize the capture of sales lead data. 3. The sales team shall be trained on knowledge of the relative reliability of the various categories of respondents as source of sales leads. 4. An expert level training on analysis and interpretation of informal sales information shall be conducted. 5. All the Trainings shall be linked to the periodic assessment of the sales team and the high level of proficiency shall be required in the assessments for understanding of issues in the training. 6. The various international and national journals and magazines shall be made available to the sales research group for conducting sound secondary market research. 7. An individual scorecard of the sales representatives shall be maintained for performance on sales lead data capture. Recommendations/Conclusions Rationale for the decisions The above decisions are based on the assessment that there exists a significant need to improve the sales lead data capture as also suggested by the data tabulated in the data and analysis section of the report. The sales lead data is an important first step towards maximizing sales revenue and thus it is crucial to business success. The research and other sales lead data collection methods need to be checked and revamped as they are primary source of information on leads. The secondary information needs to be broad in perspective yet specific in purpose and thus it is important to make the necessary magazines and online sources available for gauging the overall industry picture that could affect the way sales lead data might be captured. Blue print for improvement in communications, information and knowledge systems in the department 1. Identification of Problems and need for improvement by scanning sales performance. 2. Explore nature and scope of the problem by assessing the effects on the business. 3. Identification of root cause and proposed solution of the problem. 4. Communication of the problem and solution to the people concerned through group as well as individual communication. 5. Ensuring effective understanding of the solution by taking feedback. 6. Ensuring effective implementation of the solution by following up, taking feedback and taking corrective and preventive communication steps. References Hiatt J. and Creasy T. J. (2003) Change management: the people side of change.Prosci. Read More