Change Initiative Description
The military warehouses are known for holding small products such as screws, nails, O-rings, and guns as well as bulky items such as bullet belts, military weapons such as rocket launchers, tents and so forth. From personal experience, it is tiresome to handle the movement of such materials in a warehouse manually. Having worked as a material management personnel in the field of military, there is a need for the automation of systems and belts to help with the movement of the military materials.
The current situation at the warehouse is that it is highly manual, thus making the work extremely tiresome for the material management team. The current manual system requires the warehouse team to move the materials in and out of the store. Increased stops as the elements move around in the warehouse increases the likelihood of problems occurring in the process. Delicate and valuable military materials are over handled because of the entire process of movement in the warehouse. It increases the cost of transportation in the warehouse, slows down the progression of military materials, and requires a large team to move the materials.
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There is a need for the military to adopt an automatic system that will be involved in making the records of materials, moving materials, and proper placement of the content in the warehouse. The approach will help in minimizing the time for receiving and releasing materials from the warehouse. It will require the adoption of modern technology to make the work easier and quicker for the team while reducing cost and damage to the material.
Change Diagnosis
Currently, the military warehousing system is manual, making the work cumbersome and slow. The demand for quick movement of materials because of the increased military activities has created a gap that slows down the military operation. As a result, the military leaders want to know why the movement in and out of the stores takes so much time even in times of emergencies. The warehouse team notes that the manual system in the warehouse as the problem. A time lag gap exists when the material is requested for operation, and the duration is taken to have the materials released from the warehouse. It has been identified as a significant challenge as it increases the time and cost of military operations and activities.
There is an urgent need for the change in the warehouse system from the manual into an automated system. Increased military activities in the past few years have increased the demand for military warehouses to have a system that can allow quick movement of materials in the most effective way ( Weiner, 2009) . As a result, the warehouse teams’ work has increased. The slow process in the warehouse has been slowing down military activities and thus the need for an urgent change in the way the materials are held in the stores. The urgency to move the contents at a faster rate increase means that the storage department needs to have the changes done as fast as possible. Therefore, the change will be done in the next three months as there is an extensive process of acquiring the required systems and tools and equipment. There is also a process of putting the new system in place.
The warehouse team has been proposing the need for the change. Various proposals by the team members in the past resulted in the development of an excellent report on the readiness for the transformation of the organizational members ( Holt et al., 2007) . As a result of the expected changes, the team members have been undergoing training on the management and operation of the conventional systems. There is strong evidence that the manager, the supervisors, and the team is psychologically prepared for the proposed changes in the system. After the installation of the new systems in place, there is a plan to have experts train the team members for two months. The department has been provided with the necessary resources to facilitate the change. The military department set aside capital resources for the upgrade of the organization.
Failure to make the proposed changes, the warehouse team will continue to suffer from the excess work of handling and moving the materials. Time wasted on the movement and transportation of materials in the warehouse will persist. Currently, the warehouse space is poorly managed, which means that it is not possible to conserve the space, thus limiting the number of materials that can be accommodated by the warehouse at any given time. Failure to implement these changes increases the probability of problems and errors in managing materials such as losses. There is also an increased cost of managing the products.
Change Strategy
The warehouse as an organization has received numerous complaints from the military leadership because of the slow process of collecting and releasing materials from the stalls. There are complains too that the materials are being mishandled and sometimes the materials are lost. Thus, to rectify these errors in the system, there is an urgent need for the atomization of the warehouse systems. The proposal in place is to have the change to be done in a span of three months and two extra months of training the team how to operate the system. The entire warehousing team and the military leadership is behind the proposed change. All the communication of the proposed amendment has been made to all the concerned organizations and members.
The proposed change requires a coalition team in place ( Metre, 2009) . Warehousing management has to select a team that will lead to the proposed change. The proposal is to have the entire warehousing team form a coalition that will help in directing the contractors and groups that will help in implementing the changes. The warehouse team is not significant as it consists of 25 workers who include the manager, four supervisors, and 20 employees that work in shifts. In the past, the team has worked as a unit, and it was successful. Each of the members will have a responsibility that will help in achieving the goals of the change.
The vision of this change proposal is to “Be the most innovative military warehouse, to improve material handling, movements and make the work easy for the material maintenance team. The vision in place for an organization is to have a system that will make it easy to handle and move materials in the warehouse, making it easy to receive and release materials. The vision also aims at making work easy for the warehouse team. The vision is also to make the warehousing accessible and quick for the military to carry out their operations ( Metre, 2009) .
The vision has and is still being stressed to the coalition team. The team must know the vision guiding the needed change. The vision has been communicated and will continue being passed on to the coalition team both in training and during the implementation ( Stragalas, 2010) . In the past, the warehousing team has undergone several training sessions related to the proposed changes. The vision has been overemphasized, and the coalition seems to understand the importance of the vision.
Some of the obstacles that the change initiative is likely to face are the traditional culture of operations ( Stragalas, 2010) . In the team, we have three members who are old in the material management in the military sector who have embraced the manual system for a long time. There is a feeling that we are abandoning a culture that has existed for ages. The three members have been engaged in talks on the reason why the change is necessary, and thus they accept that there is a need for change. Intensive communication and training on how to operate the proposed technology that will be used in atomization are underway. Communication has highly been encouraged to identify challenges that might crop up during the implementation process.
There are short term goals that have been set that will see the change initiative implemented, and its long term goals reached ( Stragalas, 2010) . Some of the short terms win include the development and communication of the change initiative vision. There is a need for a coalition team that will lead to the proposed changes. The short-term goal also includes seeing the tools and equipment needed for the change being purchased. The current training on the automated system is a short term goal that will be achieved in a few weeks. Having the warehouse team accepting the changes was also short term wins.
Each step will be taken at a time as a way of ensuring that each goal is achieved and the change cemented ( Metre, 2009) . Building on each of the change operations will include engaging completing every envisioned change and cementing the change by follow-up. In our case, the training of the warehouse team is an exercise that will continue even after the adoption of the automated system. After the completion of each step, new goals will be set to see the accomplishment of all other steps.
All these changes will be anchored in the corporate culture of the military ( Metre, 2009) . The military culture appreciates technology, continuous training, and high discipline. The intended changes are based on this culture. The adoption of the automated system will use modern technology to improve warehousing processes. The warehouse employees will continue to receive training and encouraging new members of the group to promote organizational changes.
Some of the challenges that one may face while implementing the change initiative include setbacks, resistance, conflicts, planning, lack of communication, and failed embrace ( Hughes, 2011) . While working as a team to implement the change, emotions such as fear and uncertainty can result in frustrations, which can result in a conflict. As identified, three of the elderly members of the team were against the adoption of the automated systems. Not always that communication is perfect, and it affects the targeted changes. Setbacks during the implementation of any plan are common. Setbacks may discourage members of the coalition and the entire change team.
The best way to address some of these anticipated challenges includes planning and communication. Proper communication of the expected changes educated the team members. If resistance happens, it is addressed by educating the team members on the importance of the change. Planning helps in identifying obstacles and challenges that can hinder the implementation of the change. Proper planning also eliminates the probability of setbacks and frustrations, implementing the proposed change ( Hughes, 2011) .
Benefits and First Step
By implementing the planned changes, the warehouse as an organization will be able to save time. Some of the systems that are going to be put in place will include automated storage and retrieval system (ASRS) and the Warehouse management system (WMS). The processes of receiving, put-away, picking, and dispatch will be much faster while using modern technology. The receiving process will be simplified as materials can easily be moved offloaded and signed into the system using an automated system. The dispatch process also becomes easy as materials can easily be traced in the warehoused and quantified before being released. The warehouse will save the military the waiting time ( Hamberg & Verriet, 2012) .
According to Hamberg and Verriet (2012), the automation system will make material arranging in the stores easy, thus making it possible to conserve the warehouse. The change to be implemented will include arranging the warehouse in a modern way that will ease the process of access and free-up most of the used up space. Tools and equipment such as cranes and tractors are to help with arranging and removing materials on the high shelves. Arranging will help in creating the much-needed space for the warehouse to accommodate more packages.
The automated system, tools, and equipment will make the work easier for the group of employees working in the warehouse. With the manual system, the team was being forced to use manual records, and moving the received material in a manual way. The employ handles most of the manual operation, which is very cumbersome. The automated system will make the recording computerized, making it easy to store data, and the received materials will be moved in the warehouse at much ease ( Hamberg, & Verriet, 2012) . It will make the work easier for the team and thus responding quickly to emergencies.
By reducing the much handling of the materials moving in the warehouse, it will reduce the losses that happen through errors. Some of the losses encountered in the warehouse such as breaking of materials, material loss, or vanishing or poor storage will be minimized. Atomization will reduce the handling of the received packages ( Hamberg & Verriet, 2012) . It will increase the safety of the employees and materials received.
The warehouse will also be able to reduce the number of people working in the stores. A military warehouse is a delicate part, and the materials handled are important; thus, there is a need to have few workers. It is a move to reduce the cost of managing the warehouse. The manual work will only be used in a situation where the automated system has failed. By reducing the number of people working in the store, increasing the usable space, and reducing the material movement time will help save the cost of managing the warehouse ( Hamberg, & Verriet, 2012) .
Three ways of measuring the success of implementing the change initiative are by measuring cumulative progress, team satisfaction, and customer satisfaction ( Peus et al., 2009) . Team satisfaction is a way of evaluating whether the warehouse team was satisfied with the changes proposed and implemented. The team is the one to use the automated system, and they were the ones involved in the process of ensuring that the entire plan is properly implemented. An internal survey is carried out on the team to ask their level of satisfaction on the changes. If the majority of the team seems unsatisfied by the changes, it means that the initiative was not a success. However, if the response shows that the team was satisfied, then the initiative was a success.
I measure the cumulative progress of the change initiative implementation targets three factors, including the speed of adoption, utilization, and proficiency ( Peus et al., 2009) . The rate at which the members of the team adopt the change is key factors to be considered. The slow adoption rate of the changes by the customers and staff would mean that the changes did not appeal to the users. The number of people buying the idea and willing to utilize can be quantified and used as a measure of success. Proficiency means how well the users are implementing the changes.
The satisfaction of the customers who in this case, are the military officers who store materials in the warehouse ( Peus et al., 2009 . If the military is satisfied with the changes done in the warehouse and that the changes have improved the services, it would mean that the initiative was a success. One reason for the implementation of the change is to meet the need of the customers.
Specific first step
The specific first step of creating an effective proposal for change is to plan. The plan will help identify all the needs of the projects. Creating a plan also helps with time schedules. The first step is to identify all the needed resources. The needed resources include able human resources, automated systems, automated systems, and a training team. Training on how to operate the automated systems will take place one month before the arrival of the systems. After the training, the powerful coalition will be created. Prior communication will be done on those who will lead the implementation of the plan. All the materials to be used in restructuring the warehouse should all be availed in a span of one month. The coalition will lead the installation of all the systems as they learn from the experts. It will take three months to make the changes fully. After the implementation is complete, a few experts will remain behind to continue with the training and management of the systems.
References
Hamberg, R., & Verriet, J. (2012). Automation in warehouse development . Springer.
Holt, D. T., Armenakis, A. A., Feild, H. S., & Harris, S. G. (2007). Readiness for organizational change: The systematic development of a scale. The Journal of applied behavioral science , 43 (2), 232-255.
Hughes, M. (2011). Do 70 percent of all organizational change initiatives fail?. Journal of Change Management , 11 (4), 451-464.
Metre, C. (2009). Deriving value from change management. Master of Science in Organizational Dynamics Theses , 28.
Peus, C., Frey, D., Gerkhardt, M., Fischer, P., & Traut-Mattausch, E. (2009). Leading and managing organizational change initiatives. Management revue , 158-175.
Stragalas, N. (2010). Improving change implementation. OD practitioner , 42 (1), 31-38.
Weiner, B. J. (2009). A theory of organizational readiness for change. Implementation Science , 4 (1), 67.
