Analysis of Australian Post

This essay analyzes the changes and reforms implemented by Australian Post, the driving factors behind these changes, people development strategies, and future strategies to manage innovation and change.

Running head: ANALYSIS OF AUSTRALIAN POST
ANALYSIS OF AUSTRALIAN POST
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
Australian Postal Corporation which operates in the industry with the name of
Australia Post is an organization which is owned by the government and is known for
providing postal services in the country. The head office of the organization is located in
Melbourne which is also able to serve as a post office. Australia Post was the first company
that was known for providing postal services in the country. The rates of postage were
thereby fixed by the government in the year 1825 which was helpful in organising the
services that were offered by the organization (Auspost.com.au, 2018). The delivery of letters
had started in the year 1828 and the posting boxes had started appearing in 1831.
The essay will be based on the analysis of changes which have taken place within the
organizational processes and the different driving forces that had played a major role in the
implementation of changes. The strategies related to people development based strategies
which have been implemented by the company will also be a major part of the analysis made
in the report. The discussion will also be based on the alignment of future strategies with the
process of managing innovation and changes.
Analysis of the topics
(a) Outlining the key reforms and changes that have been implemented by Australian
Post
According to Al-Haddad and Kotnour (2015), Australia Post has been operating in the
industry for a long term and the organization has thereby gone through huge number of
changes based on its operations. The changes and reforms have been able to sustain the
profits of the company in the industry. The resignation of Ahmed Fahour from the post of
Managing Director and Group CEO in the year 2017 had further led to the appointment of

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Mr. John Stanhope as the Chairman of the organization. Mr. Fahour had been appointed in
the position in the year 2010 and was able to serve in Australia Post for seven years. The
appointment of the new leader of Australia Post had further led to changes in the strategies
which have been implemented in the company. The use of letters in the Australian
community had reduced a lot in the past few years and this has led to the decline of the
organization. The organization had made huge amounts of investment in the delivery of
Parcels and the ecommerce based business (Anderson, 2016).
Australia Post has thereby made effective levels of investments in different activities
which include, acquiring remaining half of the StarTrack from the partner named Qantas. The
capacity of its Melbourne and Sydney parcel centres have been increased. Installation of the
24/7 Parcel Lockers which can be situated in 264 sites (Auspost.com.au, 2018). Australia
Post has also partnered with the retail organization named Woolworths in order to install
Lockers in 500 sites. The company has thereby aimed at developing an innovative platform
named MyPost which have enabled the Australians to register the different delivery based
preferences online (Bailey & Raelin, 2015). Finally, Australia Post has aimed at making an
investment and thereby formed an alliance with Aramex for international ecommerce. These
reforms have thereby been able to increase the revenues and the profits of Australia Post in an
effective manner under the leadership of Mr. Fahour. The strategies based on reforms had
been helpful for the company to maintain its position in the industry (Bolman & Deal, 2017).
According to the change management theory discussed by Kuipers et al. (2014), the
implementation of change is able to play a major role in maintaining the success position in
the industry. The decision which was taken by the Federal Government of Australia had been
able to affect Australia Post and further introduce the additional speed related to service that
is provided to senders of mail. The cheaper options were also provided to the customers with
the help of Regular service (Auspost.com.au, 2018). Priority services were provided to

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customers who aimed at sending the mails faster to the selected destinations. Another major
service that was able to attract the customers was known as the Express Post. This service is
based on the next day delivery based services that are offered to the customers. The reforms
and changes are thereby able to increase the current revenues of the company and further
maintain the position of Australia Post in the industry (Cameron & Green, 2015).
(b) Driving factors that have contributed to reforms
According to Cavusgil & Knight, (2015), the reforms which have been implemented
in Australia Post are based on the different driving factors that are present in the external
environment. The rise that has been depicted by the digital communication based activities in
the industry has played a major role in steps that have been taken by Australia Post in order to
improve the speed of its services. The fall of the number of letters that are developed in
different households in the country from the year 2008 has led to changes which have been
made in the organization. The volumes of letter have also declined in a huge manner by
around 8.2% in the financial year 2015.
This fall has led to the forecast of huge losses in the organization for the next few
years. The government based reports have also depicted that the lack of reforms within the
organization can further lead to increase of levels of losses that are already being faced by
Australia Post. The organization and its business based operations are self-funded in nature
and has received no funding based on the tax payers (Auspost.com.au, 2018). It is thereby
important for the organization to implement the reforms in such a manner which will help
them to maintain the position and revenues as well. The organization has thereby welcomed
the changes which have been suggested by the government (Cullen et al., 2014).
According to the management of Australia Post the changes will thereby be helpful in
continuing the operations of the company. The growth in the losses which have been

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experienced in the mail services have affected the behaviour of the consumers and the
business organization as a whole. The major driving force was thereby based on the ways by
which the company was planning to provide world class mailing services to the consumers in
Australia (Doppelt, 2017).
(c) People development strategies that have been implemented by Australian Post in
order to overcome the resistance to change
As discussed by Elmes & Barry, (2017), the people or employees are considered to be
the most important part of the business operations that are conducted by Australia post. The
employees are thereby able to provide the effective levels of services that are expected by the
Australian consumers. The major priority of the company has always been on making
effective levels of investment in the people. Australia Post has employed more than 50,000
people in the country which include, licensees and principle delivery based contractors as
well. The most significant strategy which has been employed by the management in the year
2017 was the equal gender pay.
The management is also committed in a serious manner to the Diversity and Inclusion
based activities. Another major people management strategy which has been implemented by
Australia Post is the new Australia Post Enterprise Agreement 2017 that was approved
officially by the Fair Work Commission in August. This agreement was approved with the
effective support that has been provided by the employees (Auspost.com.au, 2018). The
wellbeing and safety of the employees have been provided with utmost importance by the
organization. The culture in the organization was developed in such a manner which makes
the employees feel that they own the responsibilities related to safety (Engert, Rauter &
Baumgartner, 2016).

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The third Reconciliation Action Plan or RAP was developed for the year 2017 to 2020
with the aim of including the indigenous population of the community within the social
responsibilities of the company. Gender equality has proved to be a major responsibility that
has been undertaken by the organization. The pay that is thereby provided to the male and the
female employees are aimed to be kept at par in Australia Post (Auspost.com.au, 2018). The
organization has extended the support which is provided to women beyond the actual
workforce. The women who belong to the community are also provided with effective levels
of support by different programs which have been organized by the organization (Helfat &
Martin, 2015).
Australia Post has also been working in a collaborative manner with the Delivery
Partners who are considered to be the extended workforce. The management has aimed at
providing highest levels of support to the Delivery Partners as they have direct interaction
with the customers on behalf of the company. Different compliance based activities have
been introduced by Australia Post for the Delivery Partners so that they are able to
understand the expectations of the company (Hornstein, 2015). A survey has been conducted
by the organization named “say2action” which provided the Delivery Partners with an
opportunity to provide their opinions to the management. The communication levels between
the Delivery Partners and the management of Australia Post has been improved effectively
with the help of the portal developed by the company.
(d) Ways by which Australia Post has aligned the future strategies to manage the
innovation and change to lead in the global business environment
The major aim related to the operations of Australia Post was to keep people
connected by delivering their letters with the help of various post offices. The Future Ready
Strategy was developed by Australia Post in the year 2010-2014. The innovation based

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agenda that has been developed by the organization is considered to be a major factor that has
been able to affect the future related strategies (Auspost.com.au, 2018). The trusted services
are provided by the organization to the customers. Australia Post provides opportunities of
developing digital identity with the help of government support. The Digital ID based
platform that has been developed by the organization is able to provide more options to the
customers so that they are able to prove the identity (Kipping & Üsdiken, 2014).
Another innovation which has been made by the company is known as the Bill
Scanner which is considered to be an easy method to pay the bills. PayHive is an opportunity
which is provided by the company to web developers. Secure Document Delivery is a process
which has been implemented by Australia Post in order provide secure, fast and affordable
delivery service of the documents (Kuipers et al., 2014).
The Innovation at Post is mainly based on the changes which have taken place in the
acceleration of ecommerce based opportunities with the help of connections developed with
the customers. Innovation has thereby been made an important part of the operations of
Australia Post. The employees have been able to play a major role in the innovation activities
that have been performed by Australia Post (Auspost.com.au, 2018). The company has
thereby been able to develop the future strategies with the help of effective levels of
innovation in order to lead the industry. Australia Post has been able to develop its innovative
activities with the proper collaboration with the employees (Auspost.com.au, 2018).
(e) Lessons learnt after the analysis of Australia Post case study
The case study has been able to teach us the implementation of changes and reforms
within the organizations plays a major role in their development regardless of their industry
of operations. The support provided by government is also an important factor in the
sustainable operations of the companies. Australia Post has been able to operate in the

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environment in a profitable manner in spite of the lack of usage of services that were
originally provided by them. The ways by which Australia Post has been able to implement
effective reforms have been able to maintain the profitability based levels.
Conclusion
The analysis of the case study of Australia Post has been able to depict that the
organization was successful in developing its position in the industry with the help of proper
strategies. The proper reforms have also been implemented in organizational process that
have played a major role in organizational development. Employees have been provided with
utmost levels of importance by the organization which has been able to play a major role in
the proper operations of Australia Post. The levels of profitability of Australia Post was also
increased effectively with the help of services that have been offered by the employees.

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