Case Study: A Business Reorganisation Scenario

A company decides to integrate two business functions.  Analysis has shown that the Purchasing Team and the Goods Inwards and Parcels (GIAP) team would operate more efficiently if amalgamated.  As one team, the coordination and distribution of bulk purchases can be streamlined, reducing the time between a request from a customer to the Purchasing team, Purchasing raising an order with their suppliers and receipt by the customer.  One of the key advantages would be the removal of the current bottleneck at the GIAP stage of the current process.

The Ordering Process
The Purchasing team places orders on behalf of internal customers. GIAP coordinates the sending of outgoing and incoming packages, including customer orders placed by the Purchasing team.

Changing the Ordering Process
Let's look at two of the approaches available to this company: "Let's do it" or "With Careful Planning".

Two Approaches and Their Likely Outcome

  Let's do it

The decision having been made to take the "Let's do it" approach (often disguised as a “swift implementation project”), the corresponding courses of action might follow:

• Discussions take place between the facilities and infrastructure teams to discuss floor or building locations and move dates.

• Staff are informed of the new arrangements, their move date and the date when the new ways of working comes in force through the internal e-mail or the company’s newsletter.

• The day arrives for staff to move to their new locations.

• Staff continue to work as they have always done; following the same ways of working, using the same procedures and tools.

  Likely Outcome

• There is no noticeable difference in the time it takes from an order being placed to it’s fulfilment and delivery.

• There is no improvement in the service to internal customers.

• There is no reduction in complaints.

• Further down the chain, projects continue to be delayed because of the bottleneck in GIAP.

      With Careful Planning

The decision having been made, there is an investigation into what’s required in support of an office move.

Staff are invited to a series of meetings where the proposed changes were announced.  The rest of the organisation is informed through a newsletter developed as part of the project.

Meetings and discussions take place with the project team, Goods Inward and Parcels and Purchasing to assess and agree requirements for new ways of working.  Further discussions identify and agree how the integration might be achieved.  Information from these meetings is passed on to GIAP and Purchasing staff through regular update meetings.

A date is agreed to begin the actual move towards integrating the two functions.

Other staff are advised of the new ways of working and the dates of each phase through the project newsletter.

The project moves through it’s phases and to it’s biggest milestone; GIAP and Purchasing begin working together as one team.

  Likely Outcome

• Harmonised Purchasing and GIAP functions.

• Noticeable improvement in the time between requests for goods and receipt.

• Slight dip in morale as staff begin working with unfamiliar processes and procedures and as they become accustomed to their new working environment and team mates (but levels out again relatively quickly).

• Reduction in complaints.

• Customers begin to trust the team as service levels improve.

• Morale begins to improve as the team sees and experiences the benefits of their improved performance.