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• Module overview
• 1. Introduction to logistics
  • 1.1. The logistics concept
    • 1.1.1 A question of definition
    • 1.1.2 Technological context
  • 1.2. Evolution of modern business logistics
    • 1.2.1 Materials management or supply-side logistics
    • 1.2.2 Physical distribution or demand-side logistics
    • 1.2.3 The total logistics concept
  • 1.3 Logistics, the critical interfaces

• 2. Supply side logistics: Procurement and materials management

  • 2.1 Materials management
    • 2.1.1 Purchasing and procurement
    • 2.1.2 Production control
    • 2.1.3 Warehousing and storage
    • 2.1.4 Data and information systems
  • 2.2 Quality in logistics
    • 2.2.1 Total quality management
    • 2.2.2 Benchmarking
  • 2.3 Kanban
  • 2.4 Measurement and evaluation
  • 2.5 MRP 1 and 2

• 3. Demand side logistics: Forecasting and order processing

  • 3.1 Customer order processing
  • 3.2 Environmental scanning
    • 3.2.1 The environments
    • 3.2.2 Approaches to scanning
  • 3.3 Logistics needs forecasting
  • 3.4 Lead time components
  • 3.5 Enhancing forewarning of demand

• 4. Inventory management and control

  • 4.1 Basic concepts and rationale for inventory holding
  • 4.2 Inventory costs
    • 4.2.1 Managing inventory costs
    • 4.2.2 Push and pull control methods
  • 4.3 Types of inventory
  • 4.4 Inventory management
    • 4.4.1 Inventory management systems
    • 4.4.2 Computers and inventory management
  • 4.5 Inventory management and business success

• 5. Storage facilities, materials handling equipment and packaging

  • 5.1 The management of warehouses and distribution centres
    • 5.1.1 Storage alternatives
    • 5.1.2 Warehouse design
    • 5.1.3 Productivity associated with warehousing
    • 5.1.4 Warehouse information systems
  • 5.2 Materials handling
    • 5.2.1 Objectives of material handling
    • 5.2.2 Materials handling systems and equipment
    • 5.2.3 Materials handling productivity ratios
  • 5.3 Packaging
    • 5.3.1 The role of packaging
    • 5.3.2 Packaging materials
    • 5.3.3 Packaging design considerations

• 6. Physical distribution transportation system

  • 6.1 The role of transportation in logistics
  • 6.2 Economic and service characteristics of the modes of transport
    • 6.2.1 Rail
    • 6.2.2 Road
    • 6.2.3 Air
    • 6.2.4 Water
    • 6.2.5 Pipeline
  • 6.3 Intermodal transport services
  • 6.4 Transportation cost structures
  • 6.5 Transportation rate profiles
  • 6.6 Modal and carrier selection
  • 6.7 Management of the transport function

• 7. Change and transformation

  • 7.1 Nature of change
    • 7.1.1 The manager's role and change
    • 7.1.2 Transformation and change continuums
    • 7.1.3 Responding late in the change continuum
    • 7.1.4 Rapid change continuum cycles
    • 7.1.5 Increasing organisational responsiveness and agility
  • 7.2 Scale and pace of change
    • 7.2.1 Leading rapid change
  • 7.3 Stages of change
    • 7.3.1 The stages of change and approaches to management
    • 7.3.2 Change and the organisation's development stage
  • 7.4 Communicating change
    • 7.4.1 Guidelines for communicating change
    • 7.4.2 Communicating change to stakeholders

• 8. Building agility and responsiveness

  • 8.1 Organisational agility and the art of rapid change
  • 8.2 Agility and transformational leadership
    • 8.2.1 Transactional Leadership
    • 8.2.2 Transformational Leadership
  • 8.3 Agility and organisational responsiveness
    • 8.3.1 Principles for Constructive Change
    • 8.3.2 Agility and environmental attunement
  • 8.4 Organisational learning and enhanced agility
    • 8.4.1 Learning and organisational life cycles
    • 8.4.2 Double loop learning and the learning organisation
    • 8.4.3 The learning cycle
    • 8.4.4 Leading learning from being adaptive to generative

• 9. Foster innovation and creativity

  • 9.1 Innovation and agility
  • 9.2 Levels of innovation and their impact
    • 9.2.1 Innovation
    • 9.2.2 Improvement
    • 9.2.3 Re-engineering
    • 9.2.4 Reinventing
    • 9.2.5 Re-engineering
  • 9.3 Re-engineering and business process re-engineering
    • 9.3.1 Reengineering and quality improvement
    • 9.3.2 Identifying when to re-engineer processes
    • 9.3.3 To innovate slowly or reengineer?
  • 9.4 The need for speed
  • 9.5 Organise work to facilitate innovative practices and organisational agility
    • 9.5.1 Innovative and agile organisation
  • 9.6 Enhancing diversity and creativity of thinking in teams and work practices
    • 9.6.1 Convergent and divergent thinking
    • 9.6.2 Left- and right- brain activities
    • 9.6.3 How to generate new ideas?
  • 9.7 Creativity and solutions search in teams
    • 9.7.1 Brainstorming
    • 9.7.2 Synectics
    • 9.7.3 Forcing Techniques
    • 9.7.4 Nominal Technique
  • 9.8 Review the use of innovation in work and team practices.
    • 9.8.1 Assess the ability of the team to achieve goals
    • 9.8.2 Review the success of team leadership

7.4.2 Communicating change to stakeholders

When introducing change, especially to systems and strategies, it is necessary to identify how such changes will impact upon an organisation's stakeholders. This is a common exercise in strategic planning processes. The organisation identifies stakeholders, lists them by name and later, after goals and objectives have been framed, revisits to see which stakeholders are impacted by particular goals and objectives. Strategies are then devised to secure the support of affected stakeholders. Strategic planning is itself an initiation of change - hopefully an incremental and controlled evolution of people, systems and processes, but nevertheless a change process.

Just as we need to identify stakeholders in strategic planning processes, so too the manager when planning any change process. The table below lists an example of an organisation that has identified stakeholders, their expectations (think of stakeholders as customers with expectations that define the qualitative target that the organisation should satisfy), and how change may impinge upon satisfaction of these expectations.

The company is about to introduce a new ISO 9001-2000 quality management system.

Table 2 Determining stakeholder expectations prior to change

Organisation	Country Clothing Company
Stakeholder	Expectations	How the change may be perceived by stakeholders to impact on their expectations
Shareholders	High share earnings Stable market share High asset values High profits after all expenses and tax	Consistency of competitiveness Short term higher costs may reduce profits
Employee representative groups (unions)	Job security High reward for work contributions to company success Fair and well regulated work conditions	Standards of performance will need to be reconfigured Reward systems may alter Efficiency may reduce need for as many jobs
Suppliers	Price security Forward orders Certainty and early notification of demands Clear conditions and terms for supply	High supply standards Suppliers need quality systems which will be expensive to introduce New reporting systems
Management	Authority to act Job security High reward for work contributions to company success Premium for success	Need new training and ways of making decisions Workforce disruption may mean longer work hours Need to work as a team and 'convey the same message'
Customers	Expectations satisfied Service standards that consistently meet requirements Price, price, price Quality of product	Quality may necessitate prices rise Expectations and relationships managed by communicating benefits
Regulatory agencies (government)	Compliance of people, systems and processes with requirements Safe working environment Compliance of services and products	Important they are informed of this positive move Quality of services and products needs to be reflected in working conditions and processes
Etc.

 

Activity 9

Examine the above table 'Determining stakeholder expectations prior to change'. Consider how the third column may change if for instance we were to introduce the following changes:

• Introduction of new safety clothing.
• An acquisition of a smaller company and its workforce.
• Modification of production to meet new safety requirements.
• Can you see how change may vary in terms of both its:
• Pace and scale; and
• Internal or external nature?

Whatever the circumstances and change dimensions the manager can map stakeholders and constantly review how change will impact their expectations. It is the failure to consider all stakeholder needs PRIOR to introducing change that can seriously derail support during the change process, or necessitate management of expectations, rather than the outcomes.

Reading 4

Breen, B & Dahle, C (December, 1999) 'Resistance Fighter', Fast Company Magazine , 4 pages. Sourced May 2000, at http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/30/toolbox3.html .

Activity 10

1. What form does resistance to change usually take?
2. Should you push back when people resist change?
3. What is the key to getting people on board?
4. Can resistance be good?
5. How do you tell if the change process is working?

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