BSBMGT615 Contribute to organisation development
Assessment task 2 – Group project
You have received an email from Sean Bamford, Managing Director: Business operations.
Subject: Development plan for integrating retail outlets with online sales Hello,
As the last senior management meeting there was discussion about changing the structure of the retail operations of BizOps Enterprises.
The key factor behind this is the growing number of consumers who prefer to shop online. Although there is no evidence to indicate this is affecting BizOps retail sales figure at the moment, it is senior management’s view that we should better integrate our physical retail outlets with online sales.
As the Managing Director of Business Operations, you have been delegated the responsibility of overseeing this organisational development plan. You will report directly to senior management, as they will be jointly responsible for approving any plans that are developed.
Please refer to the development plan brief, provided below, for more details of what senior management has in mind. Refer to the ‘instruction to the student’ section for a detailed list of task that you will need to complete for this organisational development plan.
Regards,
Sean Bamford
Managing Director: Business Operations
Development plan brief
The BizOps Enterprises business plan is targeting an annual growth in sales by 15% over the next five years. There are many ways that have been suggested to achieve this growth, but senior management wants to focus on those strategies that will support in the long term, and not just over the next five years.
Our 150 retail outlets are located strategically to ensure that we can offer a premium retail experience to more than 90% of the population. We currently have an online sales capacity this is managed centrally and serviced through our warehouse facilities and warehouse staff.
The concern that senior management has with this current online and retail sales strategy is that they are not integrated. Here are some examples of the types of poorly integrated customer services scenarios that exist in the current approach:
- Customers will research a product online, and then go to a retail outlet to make a purchase. The in-store pricing is usually higher than the online price and sales staff cannot match the price. Consequently, our retail sales staff:
• Make negative comments about our online sales to customers.
• Develop the belief that our online business is directly competing with outlet’s business.
• Develop low morale because they fell that the future of retail outlet sales is being threatened by online sales and their jobs are at risk.
- Customers who purchase a product online will come to the retail outlet for after-sales support. Although there is a support hotline, the customers prefer to have their problems resolved in person. The retail sales staffs are highly experienced in product support, but in instance where a product was purchase online, there is a tendency to reduce and minimise the support that is offered. There have been a number of customer complaints where support has been directly refused and customers have been told they need to access the support hotline.
- Retail sales staffs have no access to details of sales made through the online system. This leads to a situation where BizOps operations are segmented and it is difficult to establish a work culture that supports the whole organisation.
- Warehouse staffs have limited product knowledge and sales expertise. The current online approach is putting greater emphasis on them to develop sales and customer service skills. There are many negative comments coming from warehouse staffs. They believe their award conditions should change, as they are being asked to perform duties outsides of their position description.
The proposed integrated approach that senior management is seeking should contain some of the following features:
• Pricing for online and retail outlets is the same
• Customer sales records systems are integrated between online and retail outlets. Authorized retail sales staff should be able to access records of the customer’s purchase details that were made either online or through a retail outlet. Consequently, retail sales staff providing after-sale support can record this information and use it to demonstrate achievement of key performance indicators.
• Retail outlet sales staffs are integrated into the online sales system by being roster onto the support hotline.
• Online sales are allocated to the sales budget of the nearest retail outlet. Retail outlet performance will therefore have no online sales as one of its performance indicators.
One overriding factor that senior management would like to achieve is the development of the sales strategy that has a vision for the future and has no distinction between how the sales were made.
They provided an example of this as a major computer corporation that has a physical presence in major retail centres, which purely have an emphasis on product demonstration and support. Sales are made either online or in the store, but the sales vision is that returning customers will have a preference for using the online system. Consequently the online strategy is to market directly through the email and social media and to promote products through a sophisticated website. The online sales experience should exceed the physical retail store sales experience.
Instruction to the student:
You will need to access and read the following BizOps organisational information and documents on Moodle:
• Company business plan
• Organisational charts
Together with your team members, complete the following tasks. Submit your responses in documents that are appropriate for each task.
1. Access the company business plan and the organisational charts. Using this document and the development plan brief, prepare a draft plan for senior management to consider. The plan should include details on the following:
- The development plan’s goals and objectives and possible measures of success
- Key personal and their roles in implementing the proposed development plan
- A list of the stakeholders that needed to be consulted, with an outline of what their needs and competing demands may potentially include
- A stakeholder consultation and communication strategy that outlines what needs to be communicated, who will receive the communication and how it will be communicated
- Strategies that will be used to gather stakeholder feedback throughout the implementation phase
- Team development Roles and responsibility
- A proposed timeline with milestones to achieve full implementation
- An outline of resources that will be required to implement the proposed development plan
- An outline of possible risks and an assessment of the effects that may exist with the implementation of the development program
- An evaluation of the proposed development program in terms of the costs, benefits and potential risks.
- Implementation plan
- List any legislation related to the development plan. e. g – WHS
2. While senior management is considering your draft development plan, there are other documents to ensure and make them into a single document.
• A process to resolve problems that are raised by key stakeholders this should also include a recommended process for allowing teams to develop problem-solving skills so they can actively contribute to the resolution process.
• A process to manage possible conflict that may develop
• A plan that outlines appropriate steps, corrective actions and interventions for perceived problems that may be encountered through the implementation of the development program.
• A plan to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the development program as it is being implemented.