A communication plan is one of the vital changes in a management plan for an organization. Communication is one of the most critical aspects Cooper Motors Corporation (CMC) uses to achieve its goals and objectives as a company. Communication is deemed a mechanism that uses two ways: information is solicited, and feedback is provided to act on it. One of the goals associated with change management and communication efforts is to align executive leadership and also build commitment. It also helps manage changes and enable organisational transformations to support the complex processes involved in approving recommendations.
The Purpose for the Change
CMC carried a communication plan as a change management plan in its procurement department. The change involved all the personnel in their procurement department, and a team was selected to perform the task. The need carries to this change was to enable the personnel to communicate effectively with other departments within the organization to help in the continuing verification of the business benefits in support by the steering committee from the executives and the team in the procurement department (Sheffield, 2017). The other need to carry out this change was to enable communication and reinforcement for long-term benefits to employees by the managers and also assist in measuring the impact of other identified change activities. It also helped sign off newly developed processes, assist in monitoring expectations, and help develop metrics to communicate progress. It had a huge blow to the human resource function because they had to fund the program and in the end had to pay for additional personnel.
The Change Implementation Methods
The people involved in the team had to possess good communication and critical skills, they also needed a thorough understanding of the functions involved in the company. In addition, they needed to possess skills in leadership.
The change implementation plan had four steps namely analyzing data sources and quality, assessing the data enrichment reporting spend requirements, conducting of selected processes, and solution implementation on spending reporting. Thus, the change implementation methods included the use of a transformational approach that facilitated empowering individuals to opportunities to contribute to shared values, mission, and objectives of the program (Sheffield, 2017). The change was also to be open and consultative to help support a transparent approach and engage everyone with the project. The change was also implemented using consistent messages to enhance the credibility and professionalism of the project being carried out by the team. It also implemented the use of central coordination to ensure the approach was consistent and it managed expectations, which encouraged the audience to believe in what to say and the need to be realistic and not overly optimistic. The change implementation methods also involved listening and acting on feedback. This encouraged support needs by the audience, this enables the approach to meet the ever-changing audience needs.
Credibility was another method in implementing the change as it is true that a credible communication approach drives the community in a belief that it’s possible to achieve the end goal. It also implemented visible management support by involving an active management team committed to giving credibility to the communication. It also implemented face-to-face communication, facilitating audience involvement and providing viable feedback (Sheffield, 2017). The team also avoided information overload as an implementation method for the change. This is because too much information could lead to confusion and is deemed irritating. It could also lead to inaccuracy and high time consumption.
Budget Concerns
The budget was a major concern within the organization. This called for sponsors to help fund the program and input from the company itself. Communications and sponsorship occur simultaneously and are highly interwoven. Therefore, leadership skills were highly appreciated at this stage of the program to help in a proactive way to support and communicate the transformation benefits (Kneer, 2013). Communications aims to deliver key messages at an appropriate time by exploiting the use of effective vehicles to collect feedback to address the concern. On the other hand, sponsorship forms the network containing leaders and champions that help to drive change, and based on the feedback available from the communications channels, increased sponsorship may be a crucial additive in selected areas.
Timeline
The timeline for this program was five months to complete fully, and the results were presented to the executives and the procurement department for further actions to be taken regarding the program’s objectives. This was to minimize the money spent during the program’s process. The short time frame also facilitated faster communication between different individuals within the organization by enhancing accuracy and spending the shortest time possible not to interrupt the daily process of working with individuals within the organization.
Measurement of Success/Metrics
Measuring the success of the communication plan as an organizational change can be done in various ways. Progress and adherence to the plan can be used to measure success. Where many people are giving a high progress and adherence rate shows that the plan is already successful. The speed of execution is also vital in the measurement of success; high execution speed illustrates the high rate of success (Kneer, 2013). Communication effectiveness is also a key metric. Where communication is deemed most effective, the plan has already succeeded. Communication deliveries can also be used to measure success in such a program. If the deliveries are in large quantities, the program is successful for the organization. Project KPI (key performance indicator) can also be used to measure the success of a program.
I would recommend that the human resources department outsource a team from the private procurement firms to review the impact of the change on the human resources function. This would produce the best outcomes regarding the change since there will be no biases on any outcome. Three additional personnel would be required to work, and the recruitment method would be that the private procurement firm should provide the most competitive personnel based on merits and achievements. Regarding organizational alignment, change management efforts and program leadership should be closely aligned to support the implementation team.
References
Kneer, C. (2013). Change management. Place of publication not identified: Grin Verlag.
Sheffield, U. (2017). Develop a Change Plan/Communications Plan – 1. Planning Change – Toolkit – Change Management – Policies, Procedures & Related Guidance – HR – The University of Sheffield. [Online] Sheffield.ac.uk. Available at: http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/hr/guidance/change/toolkit/planning_change/plan.
