Table of contentsContext of the organization and work processThe importance of changeThe drivers of changeThe process of changeResistance to changeMeasuring the effectiveness of the change processOrganizational background and work process Southern Illinois University School of Medicine (SIU-SOM) is located in Springfield, Illinois. SIU-SOM is part of Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIU-C). SIU-C is where students spend their first year of medicine. The final three years of medical school are held on the Springfield campus. I work in the Office of Student Affairs as an Office Support Associate. My primary responsibility is to provide administrative support, maintain departmental calendars, purchase supplies, manage inventory, and other tasks as assigned for the operational and administrative needs of the Office of Student Affairs. Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get an original essay The position I am in requires great attention to detail and the ability to learn things quickly. The Office of Student Affairs is a resource for prospective and current medical students. We also manage student organizations, student and alumni events. Through countless services, programs and activities, the office supports and encourages the intellectual, personal, social and cultural development of all students. The office's comprehensive set of responsibilities makes it the ideal place to direct all inquiries. The staff is always ready to answer questions related to admissions, financial aid, registration, advising, and graduation requirements. The work process I chose is inventory management. The goal of inventory management in the Student Affairs Office is to be able to effectively and efficiently track and order the products needed by the office. This has been one of my main tasks since I started in this position. Every week I take inventory of what's in the supply closet and what people specifically need in the office. SIU-SOM is contracted through certain suppliers that we must use for supplies. I want to create an Excel spreadsheet focusing on what we have and what we need. I think this might be a more convenient, cost-effective, and cost-effective way to order office supplies for a smaller office. The Importance of Change To develop an action plan or change for the inventory management process, it will take a lot of time. effort, knowledge and information. It is necessary for this change to occur based on the ordering of duplicate items and the lack of others. At the end of each financial year, the office reviews each account. Different school and student accounts are associated with different supplies and events throughout the year. Each account is associated with a specific budget goal number. This budget object number tells accounts payable which group or department the purchase was for. The object code will indicate what type of purchase it was. Some examples of different item codes might be related to office supplies, furniture, printer toner, or food. The study of organizational change is what facilitates and improves the effectiveness of change within organizations. Change canoccur in an organization in several ways. Over the past few years, SIU-SOM has witnessed many different types of changes. As the manual explains, there are two types of change: transformational (revolutionary) and transactional (evolutionary). The main level of change that the inventory management work process would affect is the individual unit (myself). I am the only one doing this work process, so to make it more efficient, I will set up a spreadsheet that calculates each item in inventory. The spreadsheet will have specific names for each item and categories to search for. This new process will end confusion about how many supplies are needed or whether to order supplies we already have. Overall, the importance of this simple change will make taking inventory much easier for the office. If someone wants or needs something, all I have to do is open the spreadsheet, search for the item, and see if we have it or if it needs to be ordered. Drivers of Change In organizations like mine, external environmental forces can affect what you can and cannot do. The external environment is approached in terms of “environmental scenarios”. An environmental scenario is one where members attempt to predict the future of the organization and whether they will be able to adapt. This is when organizational members become involved in a process that addresses future business conditions, not just the environment. These members prepare to react if necessary. Technology is a continuous driver for many different things. It is very important to keep up to date with new programs and software for your benefit and that of the office. I will need to establish the need for this system to be electronic instead of just a “I spy” game in the closet. I would enter all the information into an Excel spreadsheet and save it to the Student Affairs shared drive. This shared drive is accessible to anyone in the student affairs office. If someone needs to check supplies and I'm not there that day, they can check it themselves. This technological aspect of the system will benefit the office in many ways. This would not only save money in the office, but also save everyone time to find what they need faster. If others within the office do not see the need to change the inventory system, they may not support your change efforts. By implementing an Excel spreadsheet with all the information needed to reorder and find supplies, it will significantly reduce costs associated with over-ordering. Before I started my shift, the girl who was here before me was randomly ordering things without even checking first. This was not an efficient way to manage inventory. This cost the office unnecessary funds and we now have unused supplies lying around. It would be much easier to know how much is needed and how much is currently held by just looking at the spreadsheet. Organizational Development Efforts Organizational development (OD) occurs when an organization improves its strategies and understands the changes it is making within the business. One of the most frequently cited definitions of OD comes from Richard Beckhard (1997), an early leader in the field of OD: it is a planned system-wide change program that uses the knowledge of behavioral sciences to move the organization towards a new state. The process ofInventory management would include limiting access to supplies, having a written procedure or spreadsheet to control supply systems, and better grouping supplies in the closet. I would also like to establish a reorder point in the office for larger supplies such as printer paper and pens. This plan would reduce spending on supplies we already have or items that are not essential to the department. Action learning (AL) is the approach I fully want to embrace for this change. AL is an approach to working with people to develop, and sometimes change and transform them and their organization. I would provide a simulation of orders placed, supplies owned, and supplies needed in the spreadsheets, and involve both action and learning. I learn best when I can see something visually and physically. This would also provide my group with the opportunity to practice the new system in a safe environment. Once the AL training is completed, I want to know the group's opinion on any changes that could possibly occur. The key questions everyone should ask themselves are: what happened, why did it happen and how can we improve. I understand that group members might become resistant at first, but ultimately this will save the office money each fiscal year. Key Management Objectives Robert Blake and Jane Mouton began with an organizational diagnosis that they believe generalizes to most organizations. Their study showed that managers consider the most common barriers to organizational effectiveness to be (1) communication problems and (2) lack of planning. Blake and Mouton argued that these two obstacles were at the top of managers' lists, regardless of country, company, or manager characteristics. Overseeing inventory management means you manage the entry and exit of supplies through your inter-office systems. Inventory management has different objectives depending on the company. At SIU-SOM, the main goals are: ensuring there are sufficient supplies in the office, minimizing unnecessary orders, and stocking items. Sufficient supplies are an important goal, without the proper supplies office work cannot be done efficiently. If the Dean of Student Affairs lacks black pens, he or she will not be able to sign the necessary documents in the office. It is important to track supply orders and know if they are running low. Minimizing unnecessary orders can save the department money throughout the fiscal year. Everything ordered is an asset to the office and is documented and tracked by accounts payable. To ensure that the processes are carried out correctly, this is where the Excel spreadsheet would come into play. Storage of items is another important factor in the inventory management system. If office supplies are stored properly, they will not be destroyed, causing the office to lose money. When ordering supplies for admissions committee meetings, I store paper and food items in dry, not damp, locations. If we stored them in damp places, they would mold and we would have to throw them away, making them a total waste. Implementing these different goals would make the inventory management system more organized for the small office and employees. The change process Your business, your people, your goals and yourTechnology will continue to evolve, as will the support employees must receive. Training and support are key factors in making changes take effect. The main objectives of the inventory management change process would be to: investigate the effectiveness and accuracy of the inventory system, communicate the importance of the changes to employees, reassure staff that they will be trained and making sure everyone understands the importance of success. change. Inventory management is something everyone needs to know and understand for change to be effective. Studying the accuracy of the inventory system is the main process of change for it to be accepted. Exploring how new technology in the workplace can actually save the office time and money will be a selling point with staff. Everyone should try to be on the same page on how this needs to be updated and done to keep things running smoothly in the future. Communicating the importance of office changes can help resistance to change not be too strong for others. Not everyone will accept the new office changes because of the way things have always been done. However, everyone will be trained on the new Excel spreadsheet and how to use it. The main thing to remind everyone is how this change will make the entire office inventory management system easier to maintain. I would consider the changes made a group change, since it is a single office unit choosing to carry out the new goals. Changing anything in an organization is a process and therefore everyone needs to be informed about how the procedures and processes are taking place. This change process would be a revolutionary change as the inventory management system is going to be transformed using new objectives. Resistance to Change At one point or another, most businesses must change to keep up with the new technologies in today's workforce. For people who have been in this work environment for a long time, any type of change can be distressing. At SIU-SOM, many employees are reluctant to change. The excuse I hear the most is, “that’s the way it’s always been done.” Even if things have been done in certain ways for many years, that doesn't make it the most effective. Some employees may not feel the need for such a change, while others may. Many people experience resistance to change. It starts with lack of choice and leads to being forced to move on to something completely new. To keep up with new technology, my office would need to implement a new inventory tracking and ordering system. Currently I have post-it notes on boxes in the cupboard that list everything in them for staff to find. Although this has been the case for many years, I believe there is a more efficient way to track and find supplies. I know some in the office would be hesitant to move to Excel because it is a difficult application. I would explain to staff how this process would be easier and ultimately save the office money. Whatever the underlying cause of the resistance, the challenge for OD professionals is to use their facilitation skills to identify problems and work with different stakeholders to try to resolve them. Facilitating new inventory management goals is something that would take time. Nothing.