Rolling out Smart POS

In any organisation, changes and reforms are inevitable. They are mostly necessitated by the need to cope with the changing trends in the market, improving employee morale or improving their share in the local and global market (Azzone & Palermo, 2011; Millar, Hind & Magala, 2012). In this report, an analysis of key changes and reforms undertaken by the Australia Post as well as the driving factors that led to them are discussed in details. Among the primary changes that have been experienced included rolling out a smart Point of Sale (POS), the launch of a fixed annual remuneration plan and the letter service reform. Furthermore, the report highlights people development and future strategies that the organisation has put in place to manage the change and avoid resistance from the stakeholders and employees. The final part of the report highlights the salient lessons learned from the analysis of the organisations in regards to organizational change and reforms.

Rolling out Smart POS

In a move to cope with the growing technology in the market, Australia Post has reformed its payment system to incorporate a new approach, the smart Point of Sale. The new system is to be installed in all its 3600 post offices across the country (Australia Post, 2018). This organisational change came amidst pressures to adopt a digital sales point in order to capture the opportunity in the market. Ideally, modification of systems in an organisation is meant to stimulate performance, efficiency or introduce a new business approach all-together (Millar, Hind & Magala, 2012). Australia post, in this case, has introduced the new system to trigger efficiency and improved service delivery through offering convenience and accessibility to all sorts of people especially those with hearing and vision impairment (Australia Post, 2018).

Reforming the Remuneration Structure

For the financial year 2017, Australia Post changed its remuneration plan for the MD & GCEO and Senor executives to allow an equitable compensation and ensure a diverse team of executives is retained by the company. Under this reforms, the executive’s payments were designed to comprise of three elements, fixed annual remuneration (FAR), short-term incentives (STI) and long-term incentives (LTI) (Australia Post, 2017a). The primary aim of these changes in the compensation plan for executives was to retain and attract high caliber management staff and operate commercially while meeting community obligations. Essentially, such changes in the remuneration plan in the company are used to motivate employees, encourage equity and improve the overall performance of the company (Shah & Ghulam Sarwar Shah, 2010; (Waddell, Creed, Cummings & Worley, 2017).

Reforming the Remuneration Structure

Letter Service Changes

During the tenure of the now resigned MD and Group CEO, Ahmed Fahour, Australia Post underwent different reforms in its letters service. They included the introduction of two speed-services, doubling the mailing centers in Melbourne and Sidney, inventing MyPost platform and introducing e-commerce approach in parcel business (Australia Post, 2017b). Particularly, the company introduced regular and priority letter services in scheduling the delivery of letters. Furthermore, the Australians were also provided with an online platform, MyPost to specify their preferred devilry addresses.

Factors that Contributed to the Reforms

Change in organisations is instigated by a variety of reasons/factors that necessitate immediate or progressive changes. The reforms can take place on a leadership role, operations, marketing or employee management depending on the need that requires to be satisfied (Pollack, 2015). Australia Post implemented the key changes and reforms aforementioned due to three significant factors.

Changes in Technology

In any industry, technology and the level of innovations defines the two key lifelines for the survival of businesses. They define the orientation of the market and the overall performance of the business to a significant extent (Huang, Wu, Lu & Lin, 2016). It is due to advancement in technology that the Australian Post experienced significant losses approaching $1 billion in 2015 (Australia Post, 2017a). The introduction of e-commerce in parcel business and diversification in letter services to accommodate different plans were meant to reduce the competition that digital communication has brought. In essence, technology as a driving factor has forced the company to undergo a myriad of changes that have allowed the customers to use their online platforms to customize their preferred delivery addresses through MyPost platform.

Need for Diversity and Convenience

With the decreasing demand in postal mailing services in Australia, the need to form a smart POS came to light. Primarily, it was to address the issue of convenience and help those with vision and hearing problem access the services (Australia Post, 2018). Furthermore, the need for diversifying the revenue channels for the company made it carry out the different reforms in the letters service after the federal government approved it to carry out the changes. Ideally, the changes were to allow inclusivity of all generations and ensure a customer-centric approach is maintained while undertaking the business. As it is in any other business customer-oriented changes are beneficial to the performance of an organisation as it increases customer retention and loyalty (Smith, 2011).

Letter Service Changes

Increased Losses and Danger of Losing Senior Executives

The burden of losses may trigger anxiety among its employees owing to the implications that it has on the ability of an organisation to fully exercise its financial operations (Cloutier, Felusiak, Hill & Pemberton-Jones, 2015). As a result, employee turnover may be experienced. Australian Post was faced with this threats prior to implementation of the various changes in its operations and remuneration of the senior management. Additionally, an increasing loss from mail services was among the reasons they diversified their service delivery to include e-commerce and different categories of letter delivery schedules.

People Development Strategies to Overcome Resistance to Change

It a normal when stakeholder or employees resist changes implemented in an organisation (Millar, Hind & Magala, 2012). However, before and during the reforms, strategies have to be in place to reduce any potential fallout between the management, staff and other stakeholders. In the same context, Australia Post managed to successfully implement their changes with the help of various people development strategies in place.

Effective communication and inclusion

For every change made within the company, stakeholders and staff were involved in making the decisions. For instance, the Australia Post Enterprise Agreement was arrived at after negotiations with all parties involved (Australia Post, 2017a). This strategy was meant to protect the existing benefits as well as ensuring the staff of job security despite the changes being done. According to the 2017 annual report by Australia Post (2017a), employee engagement increased by 4% during and after the changes as a result of the communication and inclusion in decision making. Essentially, employee turnover and resistance to change is minimal when there is representation when decisions on reforms are done within an organisation (Gialuisi & Coetzer, 2013).

Embracing optimism

It is believed that the task of implementing reforms in an organisation can be daunting and needs positivity for it to be fully adopted and accepted by others (Grant, 2013). The former managing director and CEO of Australia Post, Ahmed Fahour embraced positivity in changes made to transform the company from its declining revenues. The zeal and optimism embraced by the leader were influential to the stakeholders and senior executives, thus making them less resistant to the changes in operations of the company.  In the long run, the optimism paid off after meeting zero resistance to the changes making the positivity and zeal of Ahmed Fahour worth the remuneration he was getting (Price, 2017).

Factors that Contributed to the Reforms.

Supporting and developing staff skills

As the Australia Post shifts its focus from being predominantly letter delivery business, employees are being offered an opportunity to advance their careers the Post People Program (Australia Post, 2017a). The program was implemented as a strategy to allow the staff to diversify their skills and fit the new roles created by the changes made. As a result, job security was ensured making it easier for them to accept the changes. Conventionally, providing stakeholders and employees a zero effect on their benefits and job security makes them less resistance to changes (Fairlie, 2011). This was the case with Australia Post as it reformed its business portfolio that initially included letter delivery mostly to an e-commerce hub in parcel and letter services.

Future Strategy for Australia Post

 Due to the inevitability of changes in organizations at some point, it is advisable that strategies be put in place beforehand in anticipation for future reforms (Balogun, 2006). Management of future changes is always a challenge when strategies are not aligned with the planned reforms. In the same context, Australia Post has managed to put in place several strategies that are geared towards allowing the company manages its changes more efficiently in the future.

Diversity and Inclusion

The company believes that their business should be a reflection of a community they operate in (Australia Post. 2017a). Through diversity and inclusion strategy, the company is preparing for future changes that would ensure there are gender equity and the inclusion of indigenous professionals in the company’s taskforce.  Although this may not directly impact the management process of reforms, it is a basis of gaining trust in the community and ensuring they stay loyal to the business despite the competition from digital communication platforms. Ideally, diversity and inclusion can be used as a corporate strategy to guide an organisation towards success in a region where there are different races as is the case in Australia (Tilt, 2016). Therefore, this strategy is expected to assist the company to effectively manage any changes in their business process owing to the trust it builds with the surrounding communities.

Working with extended workforce

Despite the threats that digital migration of the company’s mail services is bringing, it has continued to collaborate with its partners in delivering parcels and letters to their customers (Australia Post, 2017a). Such a strategy provides the stakeholders a more optimistic perspective of the future changes in the operations and alignment of the company. Although there is an increasing need to innovate new and modern ways of delivering messages to the recipients, the company has stayed put with its major stakeholders thus providing them an advantage of less resistance to change in future. Depending on types of change that will appear, employee trust will be a significant determinant of their reaction to the changes (MacPhee, 2007). Consequently, it is essential for the company to engage them effectively in their operations and decision-making regarding any reforms.

People Development Strategies to Overcome Resistance to Change

Sustainable safety culture

The highest priority in Australia Post to its people remains to be safety and wellbeing (Australia Post, 2017a). Through its leadership, the company has a program that has built a culture of safety in operations. Despite the strategy being indirectly related to change in management, it is believed that its effect on the perception of works on any reforms will be positive. This is based on the fact that safety and comfort are basic needs that any employee would want to have regardless of the changes being undertaken (Pranita, 2018).

Lessons Learnt from Australia Post Case

Based on the analysis of the company’s organisational reforms, I have learned that both internal and external forces can affect an organisation simultaneously. Despite the forces being different in scope and origin, they can be significant factors that trigger change or affects its implementation process. Furthermore, I have become enlightened on different approaches that a company can use to mitigate resistance to change including, effective communication, showing positivity to successful implementation as well as supporting the staff in their skill development to cope with the change. This is the strategy that Australia Post used in preparing its workforce for future changes (Parkes, n.d.).

Additionally, I have learned that leadership skills are critical in managing organisational change. As depicted by the former MD and CEO of Australia Post, Ahmed Fahour, positivity and unperturbed focus on change can inspire others to believe that the outcomes will be positive. The strategy is innate and requires personal determination to deliver it effectively to the people looking upon you for assurance that the change is for their benefits and that of the company.  Lastly, through the case study, I have learned new approaches of integrating organisational change theory and actual practice to analyse an existing business entities efficiency in managing reforms.

Conclusion

As Australia Post migrates from predominant letter delivery business to e-commerce and other business practices, changes in structure and operations were inevitable. Technology, the need for diversity and threat of increasing losses and employee turnover made the company introduce some changes and reforms including rolling out smart POS, redesigning the remuneration structure and changing letters services. The changes were successful due to the resistance management strategies that the company employed before and during the reforms. Furthermore, the company implemented strategies that would see it manage future changes with more ease. Essentially, Australia Post has a better chance of fully transforming its leadership, services, and operations without significant resistance from stakeholders.

References

Australia Post. (2017b). Ahmed Fahour resigns as Managing Director & Group CEO. Retrieved from https://auspost.newsroom.com.au/Content/Default/News-Releases/Article/Ahmed-Fahour-resigns-as-Managing-Director-Group-CEO-/-3/27/6132

Australia Post. (2017a). Annual Report 2017. Retrieved from https://auspost.com.au/content/dam/auspost_corp/media/documents/Annual-Report-2017.pdf

Australia Post. (2018). Australia Post rolls out smart POS. Retrieved from https://auspost.newsroom.com.au/Content/Default/News-Releases/Article/Australia-Post-rolls-out-smart-POS/-3/27/6227

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