Change at Australian Cotton Mills Pty Ltd Company Statistics You are a change consultant. You have worked with some large firms in Australia and across Asia. You specialise on working with larger firms which tend to have entrenched cultures. Staff - Breakdown of ages You have been approached by Australian Cotton Mills, a large textiles firm. They have engaged you because they feel they have problems with their internal supply chain. They would like you to streamline it to increase efficiencies across the firm. Staff Breakdown of roles In your early investigations you notice that they desperately need to upgrade their computer system. The workers in this firm are not very computer literate. The majority of the staff are what you would consider 'baby boomers'. As a result of their inherent 'technophobia' they have been grappling with very old computer systems and software. For example, some of the more sophisticated computers are old Pentium computers dating back to the beginning of this century. Further, the integrated software is running on Windows 2000, and frequently causes problems across the internal supply chain through repetitive bugs and software errors. The internet is dialup, there is no intranet, and only senior managers have access to the internet. Staff are being paid by cheque. Orders are placed and received by fax. Nearly all communication - internal and external is by phone. Annual Turnover ($,000,000) 18-20: 25 21-35:42 36-50: 329 50-65: 211 65+:32 Total: 639 Manufacturing: 378 Sales: 43 Administration: 68 Design: 87 Senior Management: 28 Miscellaneous: 35 2001: 35 2002: 38 2003:43 2004:45 2005: 36 2006: 45 2007: 58 2008: 50 2009:32 2010: 36 2001: 3% 2002: 3% 2003: 4% 2004: 5% 2005: 4% 2006: 7% 2007: 8% 2008: 13% 2009: 7% 2010: 8% *2011: 25% *partial year results A quote from the managing director seems to wrap up this state of affairs quite nicely: These computers cost a lot of money when they were introduced. Before then people were very happy to do things manually, I can't see that a change will make things better", and "I cannot see the value in the internet for our staff. I have seen it being used in other companies, and people just waste time surfing the web and doing that Facebook thing". Staff Turnover Rates You believe this situation, with out-dated computer systems, has resulted in lost sales, rejected orders and increased staff turnover. In particular, the company finds it very hard to hire and retain younger staff. This is largely because of the systems themselves, and the attitudes and culture of the staff, who are reluctant to invest themselves into new technology. Change at Australian Cotton Mills Pty Ltd Company Statistics You are a change consultant. You have worked with some large firms in Australia and across Asia. You specialise on working with larger firms which tend to have entrenched cultures. Staff - Breakdown of ages You have been approached by Australian Cotton Mills, a large textiles firm. They have engaged you because they feel they have problems with their internal supply chain. They would like you to streamline it to increase efficiencies across the firm. Staff Breakdown of roles In your early investigations you notice that they desperately need to upgrade their computer system. The workers in this firm are not very computer literate. The majority of the staff are what you would consider 'baby boomers'. As a result of their inherent 'technophobia' they have been grappling with very old computer systems and software. For example, some of the more sophisticated computers are old Pentium computers dating back to the beginning of this century. Further, the integrated software is running on Windows 2000, and frequently causes problems across the internal supply chain through repetitive bugs and software errors. The internet is dialup, there is no intranet, and only senior managers have access to the internet. Staff are being paid by cheque. Orders are placed and received by fax. Nearly all communication - internal and external is by phone. Annual Turnover ($,000,000) 18-20: 25 21-35:42 36-50: 329 50-65: 211 65+:32 Total: 639 Manufacturing: 378 Sales: 43 Administration: 68 Design: 87 Senior Management: 28 Miscellaneous: 35 2001: 35 2002: 38 2003:43 2004:45 2005: 36 2006: 45 2007: 58 2008: 50 2009:32 2010: 36 2001: 3% 2002: 3% 2003: 4% 2004: 5% 2005: 4% 2006: 7% 2007: 8% 2008: 13% 2009: 7% 2010: 8% *2011: 25% *partial year results A quote from the managing director seems to wrap up this state of affairs quite nicely: These computers cost a lot of money when they were introduced. Before then people were very happy to do things manually, I can't see that a change will make things better", and "I cannot see the value in the internet for our staff. I have seen it being used in other companies, and people just waste time surfing the web and doing that Facebook thing". Staff Turnover Rates You believe this situation, with out-dated computer systems, has resulted in lost sales, rejected orders and increased staff turnover. In particular, the company finds it very hard to hire and retain younger staff. This is largely because of the systems themselves, and the attitudes and culture of the staff, who are reluctant to invest themselves into new technology