Bob has completed another year here at XYZ as a plant distribution employee. Bob's primary responsibilities include, ensuring that each outgoing shipment is complete, all items are free of defects, and there are no discrepancies in inventory. Within the past few months, there have been multiple customer complains about their shipments. In two cases, nearly every item in a shipment contained a defect. Upon further investigation, we discovered that all of the orders in question fall under Bob's responsibility.

Having defects in our shipments are not only going to hurt our sales, but also our reputation here at XYZ. It is of the utmost importance that Bob is able acknowledge these mistakes and implement a change to avoid defective shipments in the future. I believe that Bob should follow along with a shipment checklist that has detailed explanations, as well as visuals, of the proper methods we have established. I will use the verbal delivery method to get my points across to Bob effectively.

Prior to my sit-down review with Bob, I am going to write up a step by step process, with visuals, to present to Bob and request that he start using this method. I will discuss with Bob the issues that have been arising and make sure he is aware of the changes that need to be made. Within each shipment, the items need to be checked and the exact status of each item will need to be written down prior to leaving the warehouse. This is going to be a first step, and Bob and I will have a follow up, non-professional, review in a month to check up on the status of his shipments and make sure that changes are actually being made.

It is important to address Bob verbally and not with a written delivery for multiple reasons. First, Bob can observe nonverbal cues that I am giving him with my presentation of the checklist. I can also easily demonstrate my intentions right away. Clarification and explanation can help Bob to remit his old habits. Lastly, Bob can have a chance to respond to the concerns immediately and have an open discussion about his job. Although people do not like to get bad news, they expect the truth" (Cardon 2016) I backup this statement because if we are not honest with Bob he will never truly learn and therefore he won't be able to change his actions.

Required

Describe how the changes presented in the above post could be enacted on a larger, department-wide scale to make sure all employees are notified and the problems can be kept away. Would the same change management principles work when applied to the organization, or would changes have to be made?