FACULTY OF BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY
1.0
Company Profile
POS Malaysia Berhad is a premier postal service provider in Malaysia. Pos Malaysia traces its roots to the early 1800s when postal services were first introduced in the Straits Settlements of Penang, Singapore and Malacca, and the development then spread to the rest of Malaya. In the 1957, Pos Malaysia or formerly known as Postal Services Department or JabatanPerkhidmatan Pos was officially established as a government agency upon the independence of Malaysia. Its headquarters until to date still situated at Ibu Pejabat Pos Besar, Dayabumi Complex, Kuala Lumpur (Figure 1.1). In the previous days, the dispatch riders and other messengers will send the letters. Fees were paid instead of postage stamps as letters were sent to the Post Office.
Figure 1.1: Illustration
of Pos Malaysia’s Background History
Source: Pos Malaysia
Pos Malaysia's
service quickly grew to a provider of multiple platforms. It continued to grow
into package distribution, licenses, and insurance options, money transfers,
and deposits of funds through a network of over 1,000 touch points countrywide
includes Pos Malaysia outlets, Pos Minis, Pos24 (Self-service Terminal),
Post-On-Wheels (Mobile Outlets). Pos Malaysia is currently
delivers to over nine million addresses nationwide. Pos Malaysia in fact,
connects the nation with over 200 postal operators globally and extended its
capacity to support Southeast Asia’s rapidly expanding cross-border e-commerce
businesses. Pos Malaysia was listed on Bursa Malaysia in September 2001 and has
a Market Capitalisation of RM0.95 billion as of 31 December 2020.
Pos Malaysia has a track record of over 200 years and the company holds an exclusive concession to provide mail services. Today, Pos Malaysia is a dynamic postal, logistics, aviation, financial services, and supply chain solutions provider in Malaysia. As shown in Figure 1.2 below,the company has been strategizing its operation into four (4) primary businesses/services including PosMel, PosLaju, PosLogistik, and PosNiagato serve their customers, partners, suppliers, and stakeholders with quality, effective, timely and creative solutions (Business Wire, 2020). Under these business segments, the logistic arms support the delivery operation of these three (3) cores services (Yusliza, 2014). Edum (2020) cited that the evolution of technology over the years saw the emergence of digital media or internet changing the customer behaviors. Hence, despite the evolvement of COVID-19, the use of the internet and technological developments make it easier for e-commerce to evolve exponentially in the courier service sector, connecting businesses, organizations, governments, and individuals together (Hui & Fernando, 2019). Furthermore, the demand for delivery services grew in the e-commerce sector, smaller retail sales were recorded at the post offices.
Figure
1.2: Key Business Segment of Pos Malaysia Berhad
Source: Pos Malaysia
Pos Malaysia's vision is
to be the trusted leader in delivering of integrated physical and digital
solutions, that aligns with their goal to stay competitive while promoting for
their digital agenda in a competitive economy. Their mission statement, in
fact, is to provide excellent customer service and accessibility while
preserving the greatest levels of efficiency and honesty in communications,
logistics, financial services, and supply chain solutions.
In conclusion, the
current Covid 19 pandemic has made many people to feel grateful for the job
that still exists. The effect of the outbreak towards Pos Malaysia has affected
the company and burdened the employees. Pos Malaysia however, is determined to
transform for business sustainability and long-term growth. Pos Malaysia is now
expanding their capabilities and moving into the digital and E-commerce era.The
shift to digital communications and online transactions has created many new
opportunities for Pos Malaysia.The company has introduced a new online platform
that makes it easier for customers to send their parcels. Pos Malaysia always
continue to uphold the highest standards of accountability and integrity for
its customers and stakeholders.Pos Malaysia also has embarked on a journey of
modernization and transformation. With a customer-centric approach, Pos
Malaysia current and futurefocus will be to strengthen their value proposition.
Pos Malaysia in fact, making the shift and unlocking value for its multiple
stakeholders.
2.0
OrganizationalDevelopment Change
(ODC) Issue / Area
Pos Malaysia is directing its efforts towards becoming a customer-centric organization that provides a positive customer experience through the offering of excellent products and services. The growth of the courier business is accelerating at a faster rate as compared to Pos Malaysia’s parcel processing and sorting capacity. In 2019, Pos Malaysia has entered a contract with LG CNS Co., Ltd (Korean IT company) for the design, development, customization, installation, and commissioning of a new developed and customized core track and trace system as shown in Figure 2.1 below. The objective is to establish an integrated and end-to-end Track and Trace platform for Pos Malaysia's premium products.It is also to replace the current back-end system Enterprise Track and Trace which is not able to support and does not align with the current operation volume. Additionally, the parcel process management controls are also not supportive to prevent possible revenue leakage. Moreover, the current Information Technology (ICT) is not suitable for a fast-growing courier business as ICT does not fully support to enhance the operation efficiency and systems maintenance difficulty is high.
Figure 2.1: State of
Art Current ENTT As-Is vs New Core Track & Trace
Source: Pos Malaysia
New Core system is an integrated and end-to-end Track
& Trace platform for Pos Malaysia's premium products. It covers 11 main
operational modules scope which are pickup, posting, consolidation, transportation,
delivery, track & trace, and process monitoring just to name a few.
Pos Malaysia is
currently experiencing a deterioration of its service performance, particularly
in the tracing and tracking of items on its “track and trace”system.Amongst the
problem that the “track and trace” system faces is that the system faces a
problem of a slow update of information. The website cannot handle millions of
users at the same time and have poor real time visibility and analytics.
Customers will not be able to use accurate information to track and trace
delivery goods. The information in the servers is not entirely synchronize with
the web-based servers.One can spend the whole day tracking a single item and no
information regarding the item would be updated until after a certain time of
the day is reached.
The webpage for the
“track and trace’ system occasionally shuts down automatically when customers
visit the website to track their packages. Due to the high volume of visits,
clients may experience delays at various times of the day. This problem is more
often seen during periods of high activity such as double-digitpromotion such
as 9.9, 10.10, 11.11,saleswhen deliveries are backlogged.Despite customer
concerns on social media about delivery delays and difficulties identifying
parcels, Pos Malaysia proclaimed that its "track and trace" system on
its website and mobile app is completely functional.
Furthermore, the tracking number for a package is not always traceable.This is particularly concerning
for users because such an update could result in their package being lost in
route.It's also possible that the sender didn't send it at all, which could
generate social problems.Pos Malaysia has made a
note of November 2019 since it comes only weeks after an attempted malware
assault prompted the company to temporarily shut down some of its online
infrastructure, rendering some services unavailable.The company is experiencing
technical issues that are affecting several systems and online services
nationwide.There were reports of delayed deliveries during the system
restoration after the attempted malware attack and this has caused a backlog in
most of Pusat PemprosesanPosLaju (PPLs).There were also complaints about Pos
Malaysia’s subpar customer service in addressing the issues.
According to Yusliza (2014) the development
of a modern and universal mailing and delivery communication infrastructure is
vital. Courier firms are essential and valuable to society and the economy. To
move in line with current developments, most postal firms have stepped up their
efforts to modernize the postal network.Pos Malaysia despite dealing with
COVID-19 pandemic maintains its service quality to ensure client satisfaction. Pos
Malaysia has introduced a new online posting platform that makes it easier for
customers to send their parcels, SendParcel.
3.0
Diagnostic Process
Diagnosis as
illustrated in Figure 3.1 below is the process of understanding how an
organization is currently functioning. Diagnosis is found
to determine the nature of the problem and the causes associated with
organizational development. It provides the information needed to
plan changes in intervention activities that will increase organizational effectiveness.
Moreover, it involves gathering relevant information about existing operations
as well as analyzing such data and drawing conclusions about the reasons for
current performance and potential changes and improvements. The diagnostic process involves data
collection, interpretation and problem identification and a potential action
program that begins with establishing an effective relationship
between organizational development (OD) practitioners and those from whom the
data will be collected and then selecting data collection techniques.
Figure
3.1: The Diagnosis Process
Source:
An Experimental Approach to Organization Development 7th Edition
Based on the case
study, Pos Malaysiapractices organizational development diagnostic process. As we know that Pos
Malaysia is the largest delivery network and touchpoint in Malaysia and
connects the country with more than 200 postal operators globally and expands
its capabilities to support Southeast Asia's fast-growing cross-border
e-commerce business. Meanwhile, there are many departments dealing with track
& trace operationssuch as human resources and operations departments. The
following is the diagnosis process accelerated by Pos Malaysia in identifying
track and trace problems
Problem
Identification
We identified the problem with Pos Malaysia was the
“Tracking and Tracing System”. Based on the track and trace system, the
problems that occur are delays in updating delivery status, late shipment
delivery notifications, and system performance gaps. The track and trace system
unbale to reflect the real-time visibility of the shipments to customers. Since
the system's performance declines, customers findthe next availableoptions which
are reliable service providers.This situation suggests POS Malaysia conduct the
diagnosis steps.
(i)
Collection
of Data
The
second step involves data collection based on the initial problems identified. This process is important because the OD
practitioner or the top management will determine the specific problem that
needs its solution. To achieve this, clear objectives must be specified for
selecting data collection methods. The objective here is to identify the
factors that contribute to delays in the delivery of status by using track and
trace systems and influencing thesystem performance.
Data
collection can be done throughquantitative or qualitative methods. For the case
of Pos Malaysia, the preferred methodology is identified as qualitative such as
interviews and data collection from public sources.
We
have conducted an interview with Pos Malaysia’s Project manager in charge of the
track & trace system to understand about the issues caused by the current
system. Individual interviews allow interviewers to explore the social and
personal experiences. The project manager has provided us with sufficient data
related to the track & trace issue.Secondly, we have also conducted an
interview with the Pos Malaysia employees who are managing the system on daily
basis. Based on the interview, we manage to get more information about the
day-to-day operational issues related to the track & tracesystem.
Data collection from publicly
available sources is another method we have used to gather information about
Pos Malaysia’s track & trace system issue. We have collected a lot of
information about the current issues through Pos Malaysia’s customer portal. Since
the customer portal is visible to everyone, it helps us to collect information
about the current issues faced by the customers which are mostly related to
tracking and tracing. Besides the customer portal, we have also gathered the
data through other internet sources such as Pos Malaysia’s website, social
media platform, and news articles.
(ii)
Data Analysis
Data Analysis is the process of
systematically applying statistical or logical techniques to describe, summarise,
record, and evaluate data. Below are the data analysis steps followed by Pos
Malaysia.
(iii)
Data Feedback
OD practitioners arrange feedback sessions
to communicate research results to higher management. Use customer service or
feedback forms to gather feedback from user experience.
(iv) More Data Needed
A determination process will be
performed to check whether there is sufficient data or more data is needed.
(iv)
Problem Identified Area
Having successfully implemented the New
Core System in Pos Malaysia, then the analysed and meaningful data can be used
to identify possible problems.
(v)
Client Target Motivated to Work on Problem
At this stage, the level of customer
motivation to solve the problem is determined and if the higher management of
Pos Malaysia is determined to overcome the problem.
(vi)
Diagnosis Work on Problem CausesResult
in Change
At this step, an appropriate action
plan will be designed, a target system identified, and a change strategy
designed.
(vii)
Result Monitored
Finally, the results are monitored to
determine the degree of change that has been achieved relative to the desired
change goals.
4.0
Resistance to Change
As per the scenario,
it is seen that Pos Malaysia faces issues in the current tracking and tracing
system that enable the firm to handle their million users at a single time.
Based on the issue, it is noted that the firm wanted to establish New Core
System for the betterment of their tracking system but faces issues as they
noted some resistance for the change. For this reason, changes are necessary,
but the presence of company operations resistance taken place for change. Thus,
the resistance to change demonstrates as an obstacle in the development of new
mythologies and technologies in a firm (Barak, 2018). For this Pos Malaysia
Company, it acts as a factor that creates a major hindrance in the path of
improving the tracing and tracking system of the business. Moreover, as per the
resistance to change theory protects the reluctance of people to adopt the
different changes occurring in an organization.
4.1 People
Involving with the Resistance to Change
After reviewing the
company background of Pos Malaysia, it is noted that the tracking and tracing
system is the current operational problem faces by the firm and for overcoming
the issue,Pos Malaysia wanted to introduce a new system namely, “New Core
System". However, for making such changes, the employees are the ones
resisting the change in the business operations. The employees are resisting
the change from happening as they do not want to change their working activity
for such upgrading in the tracking and tracing system (Rafferty &Jimmieson,
2017). Below are the reasons identified for resisting to change:
(i)
Unwillingness to Follow the New Process- The primary reason for resisting the
change by the employees is that they wanted to follow the older process as it
is convenient for them (Stanley, Dougherty, Yang, Henne& De Brigard, 2018).
The introduction of the New Core System in the tracing and tracking system
enables the employees to learn something new for the business. But implementing
the new operating method in their work role should be a difficult process and
hence they are resisting any type of change in the workplace.
(ii)
Change in Roles and Duties – The introduction of change can bring
several alterations in powers, duties and influence (Amjad & Rehman, 2018).
Therefore, it is also a reason for which the employees of Pos Malaysia have
resisted the change. The change in the system and implementation of new process
can transform the power, obligations, and roles of employees due to which they
resist change.
(iii)
Feel Uncomfortable - Working out of the comfort zone creates
laziness, insecurity and sometimes reduces the creative approach of the staff
members and thus they resisted changes occurring in their business
procedures. The employees might feel
uncomfortable in the changed business processes.
(iv)
Ability to Use One Gadget – With the implementation of the new
system, the users might not beable to log in to other devices without logging
of as they possess the ability to use only one gadget at a time.
(v)
Poor Evaluation of Workers – It is identified that the new system
able to identify mistakes done by the users which become transparent to
everyone and as a result, create poor evaluation of employee.
4.3 Ways
Chose by the Organization to Overcome Resistance
For overcoming the
tracking and tracking problem, Pos Malaysia wanted to introduce New Core System,however,
the employees are resisting for making the changes. Therefore, the ways that
should be effective for overcoming the resistance of the employees are provided
below:
(i)
Education and Training to the Employees
It is analyzed that the employees of Pos Malaysia are
the people who are resisting the change and thus for overcoming the resistance
the management needs to train and educate the employees regarding the New Core
System use for tracking and tracing method. Many scholars have suggested that
people only accept change when they understand the process efficiently
(Ybema&Horvers, 2017). Thus, proper training and education help the staff
to gain an idea regarding the new process and using the knowledge they can
implement it in their working procedure.
(ii)
Management Should Introduce the Change Smoothly
In order to reduce the resistance to change, the
management introduces the changes smoothly by considering different stages (Goksoy,
2017). While introducing the change, the managers of Pos Malaysia must consider
the opinion of their employees so that the proposed change cannot affect their
working procedure. If managers portray the introduction of the system can make
their working procedure easier then they cannot resist making any changes in
the business operations. Besides, facilitating the involvement and
participation of employees in the change process enhances their collaborative
approach (Prabhu, 2017). It will help the management to overcome the resistance
of the staff in the implementation of the new tracking and tracing system.
(iii)
Supporting the Employees in the Working Procedure
The management as well as the managers should provide
immense support to their staff membersto overcome the resistance. Proper
support enables the employees to follow the routines and they can be motivated to
perform work out of their comfort zone. Moreover, it is noted that when the
employees need guidance, managers should provide appropriate guidance to their staff
after establishing the new system in the business process.
5.0
Organizational Development (OD)
Intervention Strategies
According to Tamanna (2019),
there are three main characteristics of OD interventions. First, the OD
interventions should focus on organizational process apart from substantive
content of an event; second, OD intervention should emphasize on teamwork as the
basis of analysis and change towards effective attitudes; third, OD should
define changes as an on-going process and depend on a collaborative management
of work environment.
There are few major types of OD intervention that has
been spotted in Pos Malaysia, especially relating to the issues of track and
trace. First and foremost, technostructural intervention includes
restructuring organization, employee involvement, and work design toward
readiness for change. Especially in today’s pandemic Covid-19 situation, the
concept of pay-brick-mortar is irrelevant as the business norms are rapidly
changing due to digitalization. Customers who are tech-savvy now expect
services that are more dynamic, greater, and digital-to-door. As a result, Pos
Malaysia has embarked on a modernization and transformation journey. Pos
Malaysia making the transition and develop a mobile application that can be
easily downloaded via Google apps or i-Store apps which focuses on a
customer-centric approach to make it more convenient for customers to trace
their parcel online.
Whereas,
for group intervention include team development, survey feedback and
role analysis. One of the group OD interventions involving consecutive feedback
session. When pandemic happened, Pos Malaysia regularly conducted virtual
meeting within department via Microsoft Teams platform. All members were given
the chances to discuss and feedback on progress and challenges during the
period of working from home. Simultaneously, this has overcome the issue of
communication barrier and encourage constructive feedback among team members
which is also the key element for this intervention method. According to Molan
(2017), survey feedback helps to improve employees' perceptions of service
quality. As a result, survey feedback could be a useful and powerful OD
intervention.
Next,
individual intervention methods include skill development and employee
trainings. Physical training is carried out prior to the outbreak of pandemic
Covid-19. However, due to the lockdown, employees are unable to physically
present in the office, so trainings are now conducted virtually. The trainings
are delivered via Microsoft Team (MsTeam), Webinar, and an e-learning portal.
The Heads of Departments send out training invitations via email and WhatsApp.
This helps in overcoming the problem of individual performance. Ansah and Rita
(2019) demonstrated that trainings help to improve skills and have an impact on
staff performance. As a result, this demonstrated that developing skills
through trainings is critical for improving employees' performance and
communication skills. The employees in Pos Malaysia are also encouraged to
submit their career planning, thus it helps the employees to understand their
job roles and allows the managers to assign the tasks according to the
abilities of their employees.
Another type of OD
intervention is team development intervention. Pos Malaysia accomplishes
this through weekly team meetings that include a discussion of project updates,
with team communication being one of the most important components in team
training. Team development intervention such as a weekly meeting can help to
reduce misunderstanding and conflict, and managers can monitor the progress of
each employee and know any skills required for the employees to complete the
assigned projects. This contributes to improved teamwork and increased employee
engagement. In times of pandemic, Pos Malaysia organize virtual celebrations
such as festivals and annual dinner. In this way, the employees can continue to
engage with one another, and employees are also being awarded for performing in
their job by being awarded with best employeeaward,best department award, years
of service award and so on.
6.0
Recommendations
Pos Malaysia has come up with a new system for
the tracking process by signing thedelivery chain toa new track and trace system
to improve service efficiency. However, Pos Malaysiahas identified three(3) major
problems with the new system as described below. First and foremost, Pos
Malaysia must identify which part of the new system is causing the problem to find
the resolution. There are a few solutions that Pos Malaysia can do to solve
their problem with the new system.
Problem 1:Pos Malaysia track &trace
System faced a problem of a slow update of information. The information is
updated in batches and recorded the process after a certain time, often after a
few hours.
Solutions:
(i)
Increasing the Update Frequency – This is one of the
solutions for the delay in update of information can be solved by. By
shortening the between update batches, information can be closer to real-time
and may become fully synchronise with database. This would help the end users
feel at ease to know that their parcel is currently on its way.
(ii)
Provide an Estimated Delivery Date – Majority of online
shoppers want to see either an estimated delivery date or a guaranteed delivery
date for each available shipping option. Although it may seem like showing an
estimated shipping date would be common sense, this is still a feature that
many online stores are missing.
(iii)
Streamline Processing - Minimizing the time between when an order is
placed and when that order is shipped. Make sure that those who do the packing
are notified immediately when an order is placed. In small retail businesses
where employees have more than one job to do, consider using SMS or even an
automated phone call to notify the packer.
Problem 2:The website congestion
causes the track &trace system regularly goes down.
Solutions:
(i)
Increase the Bandwidth of the Servers - The official website is
unable to handle millions of users at a time when they are visiting the website
to track their respective parcels. And at the end, the website goes down at
times and customer will not be able to track the shipments with accurate
information. PosLaju can increase the bandwidth of their servers to accommodate
any high traffic of users especially during times of high activity.
(ii)
Offer SMS Updates - Text messages to update the customer.
(iii)
Double Up on Shipping Notifications - Shipping notification by
emails. But if that shipping notification email does not show up at all, that
customer may call the retailer, believing something has gone wrong. Often these
secondary emails can be created by the retailer right along with the label.
(iv)
Offer Reliable, and Helpful Online Tracking Information - Let customers have
plenty of options for package tracking, including on-site tracking, links to
the carrier's site for tracking, and the ability to track orders from mobile
devices
Problem 3: The tracking number of parcels or shipments
sometimes cannot be traced.
Solutions:
(i)
SufficientWorkforce – when the customer service hotline is one
of the alternatives that should include in PosMalaysia Track& Trace System,
Pos Malaysia must have enough workforce to deal with customer.
(ii)
Implementing more Reliable and Dedicated Tracking System - These days, many
delivery organizations comprehend their customer should be continually updated
on the status of their package. That is the reason of shipping companies
implemented a tracking system dedicated to this task.
7.0
Challenges and Future Direction
There were many reasons Pos Malaysia failed as a
company, one of which being the company's rapid adoption of technology, which
has brought new challenges to the company. It is common for a growing business
to face a range of challenges.However, to continue to grow and prosper, it’s
critical to recognize and overcome the common pitfalls of growth. What
distinguishes a good business from its competitors is its ability to face and
overcome challenges.A few challenges
limiting Pos Malaysia's growth are described below:
(i)
High
investment cost forRe-designing, Maintaining and Implementing New Systems.
High deployment or re-designing
costs continue to be one of the most significant challenges in implementing
good and reliable tracking and tracing systems. Maintaining and improving the
existing systems can be expensive too. In the case of Pos Malaysia, obviously,
there is an issue with the existing tracking and tracing system. Therefore,
both improving and changing the system can have a huge financial impact on the
company. Technology may appear to be expensive,however it may provide benefits
such as improved service delivery which makes the additional cost worthwhile.
(ii)
Sourcing
the Right System orIdentification
of Reliable Partners
The tracking and tracing system plays a crucial role
for courier service providers as it provides many advantages such as reducing
logistics operational expenses, eliminates delays, and better fulfils customer
demands. As there is an issue with the current system used by Pos Malaysia, it
is crucial to source a good system or partnership with trustable providers to
overcome the challenges. Therefore, investing in the right system or
partnership with the right provider matters for their business success.
(iii)
Poor
Communicationand Lack of Incentives for Adoption
Communication is one of the most difficult challenges
that a company has during the change implementation process. For Pos Malaysia, the
system failure issues can relate backtoemployees’attitude and performancecausedby
poor communication about benefit of the changes to employees and the company. The
effective communication process involves creating awareness, understanding,
acceptance, and commitment. Also, new implementations always come along with
additional tasks or requirements from an operational perspective. Therefore,
proper incentives should be given to employees to encourage them to adopt the
new changes.The incentives or rewards can be monetary or non-monetary such as
employee stock options, promotions, profit-sharing plans, paid time off,
bonuses, and cash awards.
(iv) Poor Leadership causes Lack of Coordination,
Collaboration and Trust between Stakeholders
When an organization initiates changes, from a
strategic change to a cultural transformation or to an important project, it is
crucial to involve all stakeholders to accelerate changes from the beginning.
Coordination and collaboration between leadership team, employees and partners
are important to make the new implementations successful for Pos Malaysia. The
recent change of Pos Malaysia’s group CEO, Charles Brewer effective from 1st
August 2021 can be a great move in overcoming their leadership challenges as he
has many years of experience in logistics industry and has a history of 34
years with DHL group.
(v)
Inadequate culture-shift
planning
Poor culture-shift planning
causes resistance to change among employees as they fear the unknown and feel
insecure. This causes a lack of involvement by employees to execute changes.
The entrenched business practices avoid managers and employees providing their
commitment to change as they are comfortable with the old way of working. While
managers may fear losing their position or the power tocontrol their
subordinates. Therefore, they are reluctant to adopt new practices. It is
critical to have clear goals and direction of a change, proper planning,
communication with employees,when executing a change.
(vi) Lack of Professional Skills or Qualified Employees to Execute the Changes
Lack of skilled or qualified
employees is another challenge faced by Pos Malaysia to maintain and manage the
system issues. It was understood that these issues are derived from inadequate
training& coaching, lack of knowledge sharing practice, and ineffective
hiring processes. Pos Malaysia should start giving in-house training to the employees
to tailor them to meet shortages of skilled workers. External training, such as hiring competent trainers or
enrolling in short courses, is another good direction.Pos Malaysia must
re-evaluate its recruitment process and reflect diversification in hiring
practice. Another cost-effective and quick method to fill up the skill gaps
would be hiring contingent or temporary employees. Their knowledge,
flexibility, and availability enable them to operate within any schedule,
budget, or project constraints.
(vii)
Other
Technical or Operational Challenges
Pos Malaysia also dealing with
other technical and operational issues now which directly impacts the overall
success of the company. The impact of the
COVID-19 pandemic on Pos Malaysia has had a negative impact on the company and
its employees. More shipments than normal causes employees to work longer hour
besides adapt to the new norm and regulations.Shortening the operation hours
impacted productivity while the demand for the services keeps increasing.
Besides that,Pos Malaysia also juggling with their system integration issues
for migration from the old system to new system. The unrealistic timelines for
completion and manpower shortage are a barrier they’re facing. Pos Malaysia
must handle these issues strategically for the benefit of the company and its
employees.
Future Directions of Pos Malaysia is as discussed below:
(i)
Operational
Excellence
Pos Malaysia should aim at
operational excellence for continual development. One major area they can focus
on improvising is investing in a new reliable tracking and tracing system to
meet customer demand and expectations. Revising the processes and use of Artificial
Intelligence (AL) to gain competitive advantagesis a good direction.Creating an
uninterrupted, continuous service that meets consumer demand to maximize
customer value is important for Pos Malaysia. While respecting and valuing the
employees would be key for Pos Malaysia's success.
(ii)
Strengthening
Brand Image
Pos Malaysia should focus on
gaining customer loyalty through strengthening and boosting its brand equity.
It can be done through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities such as
reducing carbon footprint, engaging in charity works, improving employee’s
wellbeing, investingin environmentally friendly business activities, and so on.
Pos Malaysia also need to focus on delivering consistent and quality services,
listening to customers' feedbacks and meet their requirements,keeping an eye on
industry trends and the activities of the rivals are important to build brand
equity.
(iii)
Organizational
Transformation and UnleashEmployees'Talent
and Capabilities
An organizational transformation
is a strategic approach to moving Pos Malaysia from where it is today to where
it needs to be in the future. As part of the organizational transformation, Pos
Malaysia can focus on performance improvements such as changing the outdated
hierarchy’s processes, changing the company’s culture to overcome the low
engagement and resistance to change from employees, practicing organizational
change management by utilizing their Human Resources and focusing on creating
competitive advantages. Empowering employees and unleashing their talents and
capabilities are another future direction of Pos Malaysia. This can be done
through training, coaching, upskilling, and improving the hiring process. To engage, retain, and accomplish outcomes,
they must hire the proper set of talents.
Employee’s well-being should be taken care off as it can reduce high
turnover and motivate employees to perform better.
(i)
Partnership
with Reliable Suppliers / Software Providers
For the future direction of Pos
Malaysia, they must focus on partnering with trustable, well-established, and
reliable software providers to resolve their system issues and meet customer
demands. Making sure choosing the right system or software is crucial for business
success, the same goes for choosing the rightpartners.
8.0 Lessons Learned
Although
an error-free information system is impossible to achieve, there are always
options and alternatives to fix problems and customize the system to the needs
of the customer, leading to customer satisfaction.The following are the key
takeaways from this Pos Malaysia case study assignment.
(i)
Conducting Change in Business Operation is
a Difficult Process
From the assignment, we have learned that making any
changes in the business operation is a difficult process as the employees can
resist making any changes in the business function. It has been analyzed after
reviewing the background of Pos Malaysia Company which shows that the staff
members are resisting implementing the New Core System for improving their
tracking and tracking approach effectively.
(ii)
New Changes always Cause Resistance
We have observed that the primary reason for resisting
the change is that the employees do not want to learn something new as they
believe it can change their duties and powers in the work role. It is evaluated
that the employees are resisting the changes as they do not want to follow new
business procedure that impacted effectively on their work role in the firm.
(iii)
Implementing Change Needs Effective Ways to
Manage the Employees
From this fact, we have learned that for implementing
any changes in the business procedure, proper ways and strategies need to be
used by the organization that can help them to manage the workforce and
influence them to implement the change successfully without resisting. Typically, the objective is to maximize the
collective benefits for all people involved in the change and minimize the risk
of failure of implementing the change. The process of managing change is a
transformation of an organization's current situation, goals, processes, or
technologies to the new state and helping people to adapt to the new
conditions. It means all the efforts, initiatives and strategies deployed to
make people appreciate changes introduced in an organisation and accept them to
move from the current state to the desired situation.
(iv)
Offering Training can Help in Maximizing
the Engagement of Employees
Furthermore, we have learned that providing education,training,
and introducing the change smoothly by increasing the participation of the employees
are the ways that enable the management to overcome resistance to the change.
(v)
Defining Clear Goals and Proper Communication
We have also learned that defining clear goals and
reasons for the change with proper communication is crucial for successfully
implementing any changes in an organization. Setting a clear direction is
important to achieve targeted goals. While clear communication is fundamental
and one of the most challenging elements for effectively conducting a change
initiative.The mode of communication, timing and the value of knowledge
exchanged with different levels of the organization can assist employees in comprehend
and contemplate change. These valuable learnings about defining clear goals and
communication process are not only applicable for the organizations but can
also be useful for our personal life.
(vi)
Engagement and Alignment with Multiple Stakeholders
Pos Malaysia has
put in place a transformation agenda to be more agile, innovative, and alert to
challenges and opportunities. They are now expanding their capabilities and
moving into the digital and E-Commerce era. The shift to digital communications
and online transactions has created many new opportunities for Pos Malaysia.
Theyrecentlyembarked on a journey of modernization and transformation. With their
new direction of a customer-centric approach, an open and transparent
relationship, and engagement with all stakeholders,thefocus will be to
strengthen its value proposition and making the shift to unlock value for
multiple stakeholders across the country through addressing their needs and
concerns.
(vii)
Set Realistic Timelines Then Monitor
Unrealistic
timelines are an unavoidable part of any project cycle and developing a project
timeline takes time, but there are many benefits to creating one that is
realistic. If done correctly, the project timeline should be refined process
that involves several team members.Pos Malaysia's transformation journey of its
“track and trace system” is an opportunity for a Pos refresh. Digitalization, a
core underlying component of Pos refresh, will transform its business and organization
activities to help to continue to focus on efficient capital management and help
in turning around its financial performance. Pos Malaysia needs to strive to
continue to work by strengthening the E-Commerce SMEs segmenttowards
transforming the mail business segment into a more sustainable model. These
goals, coupled with reduced reliance on fixed cost elements, will help Pos
Malaysia achieve margin improvement.
(viii)
Meeting the Expectation and Work Consolidation
Team coordination is crucialin any project. Team
members attend meetings on time and assess meeting expectations accurately is
important. Create a new environment that works as a team, will benefit team
members and the entire project.
(ix)
Time Management and Team Members Commitment
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