Pete Playwright is in his late forties and is the inventor of the Dynatrix. The Dynatrix is a hand-held device, similar in appearance to a mobile phone. It sits in the palm of the hand during exercise so that resting and active pulse rates can be easily taken. One of its many features includes an advanced digital interface, two terabytes of storage capacity, full internet connectivity, an inbuilt heart-rate monitor, oxygen readout, pedometer, blood pressure reader and inbuilt scales recording weight to within 500 grams. As well as these features, the Dynatrix includes a database that tracks physical movement during exercise and gives the reader immediate access to a 10 week integrated personal training and nutrition program. The Dynatrix has attracted enormous popularity from a wide range of people in various walks of life but most particularly, with people aged roughly between 25-50 who are interested in maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Pete commenced working on his Dynatrix invention during his twenties. His family had a history of medical problems including diabetes, heart failure and obesity and he believed that many of these problems could be prevented if he were able to invent a device which made it easy for people to monitor and continually improve their health. Pete had also seen many of his close friends develop severe medical problems because they did not pay enough attention to their health. Following years of testing, he finally launched his Dynatrix in a new business that he established in 2016. Pete's business is a company called Pete's Dynatrix Pty. Ltd. The business manufactures the Dynatrix but obtains parts from external suppliers. Most parts suppliers are located in Australia but one is based in Singapore (supplying the Dynatrix's rubberised casing) and another in Hong Kong (supplying the digital screen and the Dynatrix's special internal power supply). The Hong Kong supplier is the only company in the world capable of manufacturing this critical component. Pete has built the business to perform most major functions that are typical of a medium sized enterprise. The company's organisational structure chart is shown below: The departmental directors are named in their respective function boxes in the chart. The number of employees working under each director is shown in each of the function boxes respectively (numbers of employees in each department include the directors of those departments). The sales function is also charged with marketing and service responsibilities; service requests though are usually referred to the logistics department. The accounting function is also charged with finance responsibilities. The production function manufactures the Dynatrix and manages the warehouse. The firm has a centralised IT function which provides some of the firm's IT needs. Sales of the Dynatrix essentially relied upon word of mouth communication and a solid marketing strategy had not been developed at all. Worse still, Pete had never put much time or effort into developing streamlined and computer-based business processes and rather, resorted to many paper based manual methods to get things done, including purchasing material, controlling production, satisfying customer orders and managing all the accounts. Pete's business strategy has always centred on differentiation from potential competitors such as heart rate monitor manufacturers and portable blood pressure monitor manufacturers. He underpins this strategy with a focus on quality and customer responsiveness. He realises that most of his competitive advantage comes from innovation - no other company has been able to match the Dynatrix's looks and features in a single unit. He also realises that, given a recent rise in customer complaints about delays in receiving orders, his firm's customer responsiveness is waning and needs immediate attention. Pete wishes to maintain his strategic stance but knows that organisational change must occur urgently if the company is to survive. Pete decided to hold a meeting with his directors. They assembled during the morning around the board room table where Pete asked "What happens when a customer places an order for a Dynatrix?" (Pete's question assumed that the group would understand that a customer might be a wholesale or retail customer or an individual purchasing directly from the company either online (via eBay) or via phone or fax. Pete's Dynatrix Pty Ltd does not have a retail store front). Nick spoke up and said, "well, we write up a sales order form and send it to production." Jan said, "when we get to the sales order form, usually within a week, we physically check to see if there is a Dynatrix (or number of Dynatrixs') in stock that suits the configuration required and if there is, we pack it, label it and write stock details onto the sales form and send it over to Dave's guys to ship it out and we also send a duplicate copy to James so he can organise the accounts. When the box is full, we send it to James in Accounting. Then Dave said, "well, when we get the sales order from Nick, we sign it and make notations of the date and time, then, when we pack the order onto one of the trucks for local delivery or get Toll to collect it for interstate or international delivery, we forward the sales order along with a shipping note to James in accounting. Then James spoke up and said, "when we receive the sales order from Nick we file it and wait for the shipping order to come in from Dave. We usually cross check all sales orders and shipping orders that are sitting on our desks every day to ascertain whether an invoice action can be taken. Pete sighed quietly to himself and then asked, "well, what happens if we haven't got any suitable Dynatrixs in stock?" Jan said, "well, when we get the sales order from Nick and check for suitable stock, if we find that we've run out, we organise a purchase request and send it to Bette so that we can get the necessary materials to make more. It only takes us a few days to get the purchase request organised and sent." Bette then spoke up and said, "when we get the purchase request from Jan, we file it for action so that purchase requests are tended to in order of date received. That's how we prioritise things in my department! When we finally find time to get to the request, we study it and then organise purchase order forms which we complete and send to our respective suppliers. We send these in the surface mail. It usually takes about four and a half weeks before we receive dispatch confirmations and invoices from our suppliers indicating that our orders have been filled and sent. Then we send the original invoices from our suppliers, with a payment order, to James so that he can organise payment for the materials. Our job is done!" James then said, "when we receive the invoices and payment orders from Bette, we pay these immediately. We'd hate to ruin our relationships with our suppliers." Pete sensed tensions between members of the group. He particularly noticed a strong three-way tension between Nick, James and Bette. Jan seemed to be the most positive member of the group, even though sales were down, and whenever she spoke, Pete noticed that all other members of the group became anxious. In addition to the meeting with the Directors, Pete decided to speak to several employees from each department to find out what they thought about the current state of the company and whether they had any ideas for improving the company's fortunes. Each employee spoken to said that they would be reluctant to engage in new ways of working, as previous suggestions to make things better had been completely ignored. Pete was beginning to see the consequences of his neglect of the firm and sensed that if all of this were to continue, he would be bankrupt within a few years.

Question 1(a).

Stakeholder identification and management is critical to the success of every change implementation. Using information from the case, select who you believe to be the five (5) most important stakeholders and explain why they have been selected.

Please type your response below

Question 1(b).

Using the stakeholder grid, place each of the five (5) stakeholders you selected in Question 1(a) in the most appropriate quadrant and provide a clear justification for each placement. Use relevant information from the case to explain how you would manage each of these stakeholders. Is there a stakeholder who could be moved to another position on the grid to ensure optimal execution of your change program and how would you achieve this?

Please type your response below

Question 2.

Interventions are deliberate actions that disturb the status quo, to help an organisation achieve an optimal future state. Explain each of the four change intervention categories of human process, human resource, technostructural and strategic.For each category, identify and describe a specific targeted intervention that you believe is required within Pete's Dynatrix. Ensure you also specify and explain the level of the change target. Which of your interventions do you believe would deliver the most benefit for this organisation and why?

Please type your response below

Question 3.

Refer to Question 2 and explain in detail how each of the four (4) interventions you have chosen to implement will become part of the day-to-day organisational operations of Pete's Dynatrix (ie. How will you ensure that each of the changes deliver maximum stickability?).

Please type your response below

Question 4(a).

Resistance to change may occur for many reasons. Using information from the case, clearly explain what youbelieve to be the nature of the resistance existing within Pete's Dynatrix? What are two (2) techniques you could utilise to significantly minimise this resistance? Use evidence from the case to support your selection.

Question 4(b).

What if Pete's Dynatrix was suffering significant financial concerns to the point of potentially going out of business in the next few months. Could this have an impact on your choice of techniques? Explain which other technique(s) might be considered and why.