Write Up Instructions a. Barrier #3: Failure to Finish. Reflect on the following statement, then describe a time when you witnessed (or are currently witnessing) that proximate factors do indeed drive people’s behaviors significantly more than distant factors. Note: Proximate factors refer to those elements that are spatially more near an individual/employee when compared to other factors that may be more distant. A micro-managing boss would be a proximate factor when compared to a distant factor represented by a corporate president who is hardly ever seen or heard from in person. The proximal boss would likely drive the subordinate’s behavior much more than the distant president. Within the last 50 years, research has consistently demonstrated that to employees, organizational elements such as strategy, structure, or even compensation and incentive systems are abstract and remote. In contrast, the example they see in their boss, the reinforcement they get from their peers, or the punishment they get from customers is much closer—it is “proximate,” in academic speak. Research further demonstrates that proximate factors drive people’s behaviors significantly more than distant factors (Black, 2014, p. 116) b. Solutions and Tools for Breaking through Barrier # 3 Black (2014) says that “failure to finish is primarily a function of people getting tired or getting lost…. [and the] antidotes to getting tired and getting lost are champions and charting” (p. 129). Select one of the two antidotes (providing champions or charting progress) to propose a remedy for the situation you described in the above scenario (Barrier #3: Failure to Finish) and detail your plan. You are encouraged but not required to provide an example such as an outline or illustration similar to those depicted by Black (2014) in the textbook reading. Classmate Write Ups Scherie' Rankin 3/24/2017 10:38:55 PM 4.2 Barrier #3: Failure to Finish At my place of employment, there are 46 stores across the country and unfortunately last year we did not meet our sales goals. In an effort to increase foot traffic and revenue, our company came up with new ideas for merchandise and now frequently sends out new planograms so that the design of every store is more appealing and very similar. The problem is that unlike most of the stores, our store has a significant amount of square footage, different shelving and our layout completely differs from all of the others. “Too many managers simply grab onto the latest bestselling idea without really knowing whether it will work or putting in the disciplined effort to make it work” (Black, 2014, p117). Upper management always requests us to take pictures of the store to see if we are following the plan and when we submit them, normally the response we receive is that we need to better follow the planogram or we need to adjust certain areas. As a distant factor, it is easy for upper management to say that we should better follow the plans since they do not regularly see the difficulties and frustrations that we face whenever we receive new merchandise and are unable to set up the store the way that they would like. Although we all understood the reasons for the new planograms, our employees were becoming frustrated, tired and overwhelmed when they were unsuccessful at following them. Finally, myself along with the store manager, made an executive decision that we could not exactly follow the planograms, reverted back to our old ways and now design our store how we see fit. As proximal bosses, me and the store manager have decreased employee frustration and increased morale. “Resistance to change is never a barrier to change management. In fact, it is important to understand that the barriers that make it difficult to implement change are usually the reasons behind the resistance to change” (Smith, 2015). Below, I completed a Tool for Mapping Out Progress chart that will help my organization focus more on increasing sales through customer engagement and not solely on store design. In my plan, I would have employees greet every customer who walks through the door and they will be required to provide platinum service to each customer. This includes describing the products and their benefits, offering suggestions to better meet the customers’ needs, offering solutions in forms of coupons and discounts for dissatisfied customers, etc. Also, during every transaction we will strive to capture customers’ emails in order to further engage with them in the forms of promotions, company updates, discounts, etc. Employees will frequently receive feedback from immediate supervisors regarding their strengths and weaknesses and in areas that need improving, supervisors can role play with employees to help them improve. Measure Method Interval Baseline Target Increasing sales and Increasing customer Interact with every Immediate Ensure that all capturing customer engagement; offer customer who enters supervisors should customers are email assistance to all the store; capturing constantly observe greeted as they customers and email addresses employees, take enter the store and explain the benefits during customer notes and provide aim for 90% email of the product; hand transactions feedback on areas capture during out coupons and where employees transactions promotional are excelling as well discounts as areas that may need improving References Black, J. S. (2014). It starts with one: Changing individuals changes organizations (3 rd ed). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. Smith, C. (2015, May 25). 5 Barriers to change management and how to easily overcome them. Change. Retrieved March 24, 2017, from http://change.walkme.com/5-barriers-to-changemanagement-and-how-to-easily-overcome-them/ Kristen Sherman 3/24/2017 9:43:55 PM Kristen Sherman_Barrier #3: Failure to Finish One experience that I have witnessed with proximate factors is around my previous organization’s change they were making to centralize competencies into groups rather than having client accounts. This allowed more flexibility of similar skillsets to be leveraged across the board. The company announced this at the executive level, but it appeared distant until the account management team began to reinforcement and provide specific guidance to the employees on how they will work in those work groups. This change in behavior was much more distant with the executive leadership began their initial adventure into preparing the company to split into two organizations from Xerox to both Xerox and Conduent (). One way to work through the issue of people getting tired and people getting lost, which are two primary reasons of failure to finish, is by equipping sponsors at the functional level with rewards offered for those who are able to accomplish various milestones through the implementation process (Black, 2014). This would help ward off the tired of implementing because the rewards would be tied to staggered implementation and the sponsors are able to help navigate the employees through the change to help them stay focused and avoid a feeling of them being lost. References Black, J. S. (2014). It starts with one: Changing individuals changes organizations (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. Caucis, J. (2016, June 17). Xerox BPO Takes a Pair of Key Steps Toward its Independence . Retrieved March 24, 2017, from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/xerox-bpo-takes-pair-key-steps-toward-its-john-caucis
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