Research on The Process and Importance of Organizational Change on The Example of Southern Illinois University School of Medicine

Background of the Organization and Work Process

Southern Illinois University School of Medicine (SIU-SOM) is in Springfield, Illinois. SIU-SOM is part of Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIU-C). SIU-C is the location where students spend their first year of medical school. The final three years of medical school are on the Springfield campus. I work in the Office of Student Affairs as an Office Support Associate. My primary responsibility is to provide administrative support, maintain departmental calendars, purchasing of supplies, inventory management, and other duties as assigned for the operational and administrative needs of the Office of Student Affairs.

The position I am in requires a strong attention to detail, and the ability to learn things quickly. The Office of Student Affairs is a resource for both prospective and current medical students. We also handle student organizations, student events, and alumni. Through countless services, programs and activities, the office supports and encourages the intellectual, personal, social, and cultural development of all students. The office's comprehensive set of responsibilities makes it the perfect place to direct all inquiries. The staff is always ready to answer questions related to admissions, financial aid, registration, advising, and graduation requirements. The work process that I have chosen is inventory management. The objective of inventory management in the office of student affairs, is to be able to efficiently and effectively track and order products needed for the office. This has been one of my main duties since I began working in this position.

Each week I take an inventory of what is in the supply closet, and what people are needing specifically around the office. SIU-SOM is contracted through certain vendors that we must use for supplies. I am wanting to create an excel spreadsheet focusing on items we have, and items we need. I believe this could be a more practical, budget friendly, and beneficial way to order office supplies for a smaller office setting.

The Significant of the Change

To develop a plan of action or change for the inventory management process, it will take a lot of effort, knowledge, and information. There is a need for this change to occur based on the ordering of duplicate items and running out of others. At the end of each fiscal year, the office goes over each account. The different school and student accounts are associated with different supplies and events throughout the year. Each account has a specific budget purpose number associated with it. This budget purpose number shows accounts payable what group or department the purchase was for. The object code will show what type of purchase it was. A few examples of different object codes can be related to office supplies, furniture, printer toner, or food. The study of organizational change is what facilitates and enhances effective change within organizations. Change can occur in an organization in many ways, during the past few years SIU-SOM has seen a lot of different types of change. Like the textbook explains, there are two types: transformational (revolutionary) and transactional (evolutionary) change.

The main level of change the inventory management work process would affect is the individual unit (myself). I am the only one who does this work process, so to make it more efficient I will establish a spreadsheet that calculates each inventory item. The spreadsheet will have specific names for each item and categories to look for. This new process will end the confusion on number of supplies needed or ordering supplies we already have. Overall the significance of this one simple change will make inventory so much easier for the office. If someone wants or needs something all I would have to do is open the spreadsheet, search for the item, and see if we have it or if it needs ordered.

Drivers of Change

In organizations like my own, external environmental forces can affect what you can and cannot do. The external environment is addressed in terms of “environmental scenarios”. An environmental scenario is when the members attempt to predict the future of the organization, and if they are going to be able to adapt. This is when organizational members involve themselves in a process of future business conditions, not just the environment. These members prepare to respond as necessary.

Technology is a continuous driver for many different things. It is so important to keep up with new programs and software to benefit yourself and the office. I will need to establish the need for this system being electronic instead of just an “I spy” game in the closet. I would input all the information into an Excel spreadsheet, and save it on the student affairs shared drive. This shared drive is accessible to anyone in the office of student affairs. If someone is needing to check the supplies and I happen to not be here that day, they can check for themselves. This technology aspect of the system will be beneficial to the office in many ways. It would not only save the office money, but it would save everyone time finding what they need faster. If other people in the office do not see a need for the inventory system to be changed they may not support your change efforts. By implementing an Excel spreadsheet that has all the information needed to reorder and find supplies, it will greatly cut down costs of over-ordering.

Before I began my position, the girl who was here before me ordered random things without even checking first. This was not an effective way to go about inventory management. It cost the office unnecessary funds and now we have un-used supplies lying around. Knowing how much is needed and how many currently owned would be so much easier by just simply looking up the spreadsheet. Organizational Development Efforts Organizational Development (OD) is when an organization improves strategies and understands the changes they are making within the business. One of the most frequently cited definitions of OD comes from Richard Beckhard (1997), an early leader in the field of OD: is a planned systemwide change program that uses behavioral science knowledge to move the organization to a new state.

OD efforts for the inventory management process would be to limit the access of supplies, have a written procedure or a spreadsheet for controlling the supply systems, and better grouping for supplies in the closet. I would also like to establish a reorder point in the office on larger supplies such as printer paper and pens. This plan would help to implement less spending on supplies we already have, or items that are not necessities to the department. Action learning (AL) is the approach I fully want to go with for this change. AL is an approach to working with people to develop, and sometimes change and transform, them and their organization. I would offer a simulation of past orders, supplies owned, and supplies needed in the spreadsheets, and involve both action and learning. I learn better when I can visually and physically see something. This would also offer my group the opportunity to practice the new system in a safe environment.

Once the AL training is complete, I want to know the groups opinions on the changes that could possibly occur. The key questions everyone should ask themselves are: what happened, why did this happen, and how can we improve. I understand that group members could become resistant at first however, in the end it will save the office money each fiscal year. Key Management Objectives Robert Blake and Jane Mouton began with an organizational diagnosis that they claimed generalizes to most organizations. Their study showed that managers consider the most common barriers of organizational effectiveness to be (1) communication problems and (2) a lack of planning. Blake and Mouton contended that these two barriers were at the top of managers’ lists, regardless of country, company, or characteristics of the managers reporting.

Overseeing inventory management means that you are managing the input and output of supplies through your interoffice systems. Inventory management has different objectives for different companies. At SIU-SOM the main objectives are: making sure there is sufficient supplies in the office, minimizing unnecessary orders, and storage of items. Sufficient supplies are an important objective, without the proper supplies in an office work cannot be completed efficiently. If the Dean of Student Affairs runs out of black pens, he will not be able to sign the documents needed by the office. It is important to keep track of ordering supplies and if they are low. Minimizing unnecessary ordering can save the department money throughout the fiscal year. Everything ordered is an asset to the office, it is documented and kept track of by accounts payable. To make sure the processes are being done correctly this is where the Excel spreadsheet would come into use. Storage of items is another important factor of the inventory management system. If the office supplies are stored properly it will not get destroyed causing the office to lose money. When I order supplies for Admissions Committee meetings, I store the paper and food products in areas that are dry and not damp. If we stored them in damp areas they would get moldy and we would have to throw them away, making the items a total loss. Implementing these different objectives would make the inventory management system more organized for the small office and employees.

The Change Process

Your business, employees, objectives, and technology will continue to change, and so must the support employees receive. Training and support are a huge factor for the changes to take effect. The main objectives for the change process of inventory management would be to: study the effectiveness and accuracy of the inventory system, communicate the importance of changes to the employees, reassure staff that they will be trained, and make sure everyone understands the importance of successful change. Inventory management is something that everyone needs to know and understand to make the switch effective. Studying the accuracy of the inventory system is the main change process for it to be accepted. By studying how the new technologies in the workplace can effectively save the office time and money will be the selling points to staff. Everyone should attempt be on the same page about how this needs to be updated and done to keep things smooth for the future.

Communicating the importance of the office changes can help the resistance to change not be too strong for others. Not everyone will accept the new office changes due to how things have always been done, however, everyone will be trained on the new Excel spreadsheet and how to use it. The main thing to reiterate to everyone is how this switch will make everything in the office inventory management system easier to maintain. I would consider the changes being made to be a group change, since it is just one office unit choosing to do the new objectives. Changing anything in an organization is a process, and therefore everyone needs to be updated on how the procedures and processes are going. This change process would be a revolutionary change since the inventory management system is going to be transformed using new objectives.

Resistance to Change

At some point or another, most companies must change to keep up with the new technologies in the workforce today. For people who have been in that work environment for a long time any type of change can be nerve-racking. At SIU-SOM many employees are resistant to change. The excuse I hear most is, “this is how it has always been done”. Even though things have been done certain ways for many years does not make it the most effective. Some employees may not feel a need for such change, as others are all about it. Many people experience a resistance to change. It begins with the lack of choice and leads to being forced to move onto something brand new.

To keep up with new technologies, my office would need to implement a new tracking and ordering system for inventory. Currently, I have post-it notes on boxes in the closet that lists everything in them for staff to find. Even though this has been the process for many years, I feel there is more efficient way to track and find supplies. I know that some in the office would be hesitant to make the change to Excel since it is a difficult application. I would explain to the staff how this process would be easier, and in the end save the office money. Whatever the underlying cause for the resistance, the challenge of OD professionals is to use their facilitation skills to help identify issued and work with various constituents to try to resolve them.

Facilitating new inventory management objectives is something that would take time. Nothing comes together overnight, and as I learned this semester, you need to continuously remind staff about new changes. Constantly reminding them of how the new techniques will be different but save money would make them feel a little more at ease. Everything new is scary, but it will pay off in the end for everyone.

Measuring the Effectiveness of the Change Process

Organizational change is a very complex process and will need time to work everything out. According to the book, organizational change is too complex to rely solely on the traditional literature in areas such as organization theory, organizational behavior, organization development, and strategic management. As stated previously, training and support are a huge factor for the changes to take effect. It is important to make sure that this change is making things easier for the staff, contracted company, and office. The entire purpose of changing the inventory management system was to implement new strategies and objectives to make things easier for everyone. In the beginning there will more than likely be a few issues to work out. If the office is not finding things easier after a few months, there may be some reevaluation needed. I currently order supplies through Office Depot, since they have a contract with SIU-SOM. Many work organizations consist of two interdependent systems: the technical system is equipment, machinery, chemical processes, etc. and the social system which is individual workers, and groups of workers.

SIU-SOM and Office Depot are two interdependent systems. What this means, is that the change in number or amount of supplies ordered by SIU-SOM can directly affect Office Depot. If we (as an entire organization) are not ordering enough within our contracted time, the contracted company (Office Depot) may choose to go their separate ways with our business contractually. We work together as a team to make sure both of our businesses are benefitting from this contract. The change process is something that many will find challenging and difficult at first, however it will pay off for everyone in the end. Conclusion Inventory management systems in many offices are not as effective as they once were. To keep moving with the constant changes the workforce is throwing at us each year, it is vital to consistently discuss these things during office meetings. By the implementation of action learning to help grasp the concepts of transformation in the workplace, employees with have a much better understanding of the change process. There is always a need to improve what we already have. Technology is constantly changing in the workplace, and in the future, we will need to keep up to keep ahead. OD efforts for the inventory management process would be to limit the access of supplies, have a written procedure or a spreadsheet for controlling the supply systems, and better grouping for supplies in the closet. This plan would help to implement less spending on supplies we already have, or items that are not necessities to the department.

Overall saving the office money, space, and efforts in the inventory management process. I feel that my department would handle the change process well, we have many employees who are efficient in new technologies. Once they understand why this needs to occur, and positive impact it would have on the office, I think everyone will at least try to do it. There will always be resistance, however, sometimes people are for change. The inventory management system is something that every office at some point has had to tweak. When I order supplies now, it takes twice the amount of time searching for everything in random closets. If I currently had the spreadsheet that had the information needed to order and keep track of supplies everything would be faster, smoother, and more cost-efficient. By challenging yourself, and your staff to reach for new height’s and improve how things are done within the office, you will be one step ahead of anything that comes your way.