Riordan Manufacturing has decided to make a change to company’s customer management system. The company does not currently have any formal system for managing its customer information and has traditionally left this up to individual employees. This new system will require all employees to use one customer management system. Your team is now working to help Riordan implement this planned change.

Resource: Riordan Manufacturing Virtual Organization

Review the intranet site for Riordan Manufacturing including Human Resources – Organizational Charts, Employee Files, etc., and Sales & Marketing – Marketing Information Systems.

Create a Change Management and Communication Plan. The plan should address the details in section I and section II, outlined below.

Section I: Change Management

Identify the most appropriate and effective organizational structures for Riordan Manufacturing to implement to accomplish its planned changes.

Identify characteristics of the company’s culture. How can aspects of the corporate culture be leveraged to affect the necessary changes to employee behavior?

Identify the potential sources of resistance to change and develop strategies to manage resistance to change.

Recommend a strategy to implement the changes over the next 12 months.

Describe how the success or failure of the planned change with be evaluated.

Section II: Communication

Enumerate the most appropriate channels for communicating the change to the employees, and explain why these channels were selected.

Identify the potential barriers to effective communication and strategies for overcoming the barriers.

Develop one message for a specific communication channel. The message must communicate the following points:

Organizational areas affected by the change.
Why the change is important to the organization (create a sense of urgency surrounding the change).
Planned outcome of the change.
Next steps in the change process.

The Change Management and Communication Plan should not exceed five pages.