Mgt311 - Change Management and Communication Plan

Change Management and Communication Plan

A student

University of Phoenix

MGT/311

Current Management Plan

Riordan Manufacturing is a growing business that is on track to expand rapidly in the plastics market. The company’s ingenuity and hard work have brought rewarding deals that will secure its place as one of the larger players in their market. But there are always difficulties that need to be faced when growing at such speeds, in the case of Riordan Manufacturing, is the management of their now growing consumer database.

The current database used by Riordan Manufacturing is a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet that is shared by all the company locations (Products.office.com, 2014). This is consider an informal management system, lacking security and safety backups. Anyone can access this file and made permanent modifications even if it is by accident, and there is no safe way to constantly back up the system as it is updated. This can cause confusion between the employees that require access to this list and can potentially affect the relationship with the customer.

Proposed Management System

In order to maintain a larger and more organized customer database Riordan Manufacturing needs to purchase appropriate software that will safely keep and protect the sensitive information that is the customer data. In light of this need it is proposed to acquire INTUIT QuickBase. QuickBase will allow the company to properly share the customer information within the branches without putting the information, and the customers, at risk. This software will share not only the customer’s information but it will track orders, create reports, and customize the info according to the employee or supervisor’s needs (Quickbase.intuit.com, 2014).

It is understood that this change will create a small delay due to the process of transferring all the data to the new system, and also the employee’s willingness to adapt to the software. The senior employees will not adapt to a new system that’s replacing the one they have known for years, this can be problematic because they have been with the company since the beginning and change can create fear of job security. Their backup is essential to the adaptation of the software so management should train the most senior employees to use the software so they can later teach the rest of the workforce. Putting them in a trainer position will show how the company’s view of importance of them and will ease their doubts about job security.

Implementation of Software

The first step on the implementation timeline is the purchase of the software. After the proper licenses are acquired for all the branches