Introduction
Over the course of business operations, many organizations face challenges and crises. Businesses should make specific efforts to overcome these issues and achieve optimal outcomes. In this case, change management is required, and this term indicates a process when a company moves from one state to a more desired one (Todnem, n.d.). One should state that it is necessary to create a change management plan because it can help a business successfully implement an initiative. In particular, this plan is significant because it typically highlights the expected change and outcome, comments on how the process will impact stakeholders, and presents a communication plan to explain the change. It is challenging to overestimate the significance of a change management plan for a business. Consequently, the change management plan for Respond to Resolve meets these requirements and helps the call center effectively implement a new time off request policy.
Current Problem
Now, Respond to Resolve suffers from the current time off request policy. Many employees tend to ask for days off at peak times. As a result, the call center becomes understaffed, meaning that the remaining employees face overload while customers meet longer wait times. This situation demonstrates that call center representatives deal with increased emotional and psychological burdens, leading to a decreased level of service. As a result, all the stakeholders are dissatisfied, which can lead to significant economic and reputational disadvantages for Respond to Resolve.
Proposed Change
Utilizing a new and more formal time off request policy seems a practical change. An automatic system should be used to let employees request time off and know when it is approved. This approach should substitute the existing state of affairs that does not exclude the possibility that many employees request and receive days off simultaneously. Consequently, the change should ensure that the call center is not understaffed during peak hours.
Reason for Change
The proposed change seems justified because it aims to avoid the cases when Respond to Resolve is understaffed. Furthermore, the current time off request policy is ineffective because it makes customers frustrated, as has been described. The rationale behind this statement is that the clients are dissatisfied since they are forced to wait for longer times to reach a call center representative who is typically overworked. Consequently, the proposed change is to satisfy all the stakeholders.
Intended Outcome
One can explain that the proposed change should be used to improve the performance of the call center. The new time off request policy will help Respond to Resolve ensure that the organization does not suffer from understaffing. In particular, the new approach guarantees that at least 50% of the staff must be working every day. This system has the potential to satisfy both the employees and customers.
Stakeholder Impact
Internal Stakeholders
The proposed change can result in significant benefits for the call center employees. On the one hand, the new system provides these individuals with a better understanding of how they can request time off, which is favorable for them (Harvard Business Review, 2009). This statement denotes that call center representatives will be more satisfied with their working conditions. On the other hand, the proposed change can improve employees’ motivation because it can make them comprehend that the call center owner takes care of them. The proposed intervention demonstrates that the owner should minimize the adverse effects on the call center representatives.
However, one should also state that the suggested approach can lead to two potential adverse effects. Firstly, some employees can dislike the new system because they have accustomed to the existing state of affairs. Consequently, one can state that the intervention is considered harmful because some people are resistant to change (Harvard Business Review, 2009). Secondly, some employees can be dissatisfied because the new system will result in the fact that they will not obtain days off when they need them. The rationale behind this statement is that the approach assigns days off according to the order in which employees request them, meaning that late requests may not lead to the desired outcome. If such a scenario occurs, some people can experience negative emotions, meaning that the quality of service will worsen.
External Stakeholders
When it comes to customers, the new system can positively affect them. On the one hand, these individuals will witness a positive impact because they will not need to wait for long times to be answered. This fact demonstrates that the clients will not spend extra time dealing with the call center. On the other hand, the guaranteed presence of a minimum number of customers implies that the customers will be satisfied with the proposed service. In turn, this fact will make the call center’s reputation better.
In addition to that, the proposed change can also result in adverse impacts on the customers. Firstly, since some employees can resist change, their failure to obtain a day off can lead to their anger and irritation. As a result, the clients can face a prejudiced attitude and a decreased quality of service. Secondly, the new policy can lead to the fact that some employees will be dissatisfied with the change and decide to leave the organization. Even though the call center will hire new people, the business can be understaffed for a short period of time. This fact will denote that the clients will again need to wait long times to receive an answer.
Communication Plan
Communication is a significant and multi-step part of a change management plan. Firstly, it is required to make the employees understand the necessity to implement the change because this fact helps keep the internal stakeholders motivated and involved (Moore, 2013). This information can ensure that all the employees know why the change is needed and how to implement it. Secondly, the communication should be credible, confident, represented by the whole executive team, and spread repetitively (Moore, 2013). The latter condition stipulates that if the expected outcome is not highlighted on a regular basis, employees are likely to forget and ignore it (Moore, 2013). This information represents the message tone and type, while the specific communication message is included in the Change Management Presentation.
Specific and additional attention should be drawn to how the change plan will be communicated to internal stakeholders. In this case, it is reasonable to use every possible means of data sharing (Kotter, 2011). For example, it is suitable to organize personal meetings to ensure that all the employees become aware of the suggested change and can ask questions to clarify conditions if necessary. It also seems helpful to distribute the written description of the new policy via email or various social medial platforms. In addition to that, it is possible to present a change to a small group of employees at first and then ask them to help explain the suggested change to the others (Kotter, 2011). In any case, one should understand that under-communication is a significant threat that can result in a change failure (Kotter, 2011). That is why the suggested options seem sufficient to understand how the new policy should be presented to employees.
In addition to that, it is necessary to comment on the time when the message should be broadcast to the internal stakeholders. While it has been highlighted above that the communication should be repetitive, the main focus is to determine when the change should be disclosed for the first time. The best option seems to make it in advance, and a month period can be appropriate. Thirty days should suffice for the employees to understand the new day off request policy. Furthermore, this period will be sufficient for the people to manage their time and develop a strategy of how they can cope with the new working condition.
Conclusion
Finally, one should explain how the change will be communicated to customers. It seems that there is no need to develop complicated messages to reach the clients. A suitable option is to include a statement in advertisements highlighting the fact that Respond to Resolve guarantees that a sufficient number of representatives will be ready to answer the customers’ questions. As for the time, it does not seem that the message should be disclosed in advance. Since customers want immediate service, it is reasonable to advertise the benefits of the new day off request policy once it is in use. This fact will guarantee that the advertisement is credible, which will not result in any confusion among customers.
Reference List
Harvard Business Review. (2009). Managing reactions to change. https shorturl.at/eIP79
Kotter, J. P. (2011). Leading change: why transformation efforts fail. shorturl.at/cstCT
Moore, K. (2013). Strategies for change. Web.
Todnem, R. (n.d.). Discusses change management. Web.