Applied Management Report: Transdev Auckland Innovation and Change

This report presents an in-depth analysis of the applied management case study of Transdev Auckland, a passenger train service. It identifies two strategic levels of innovation change (incremental and transformational) and proposes four key elements of organizational change (vision, mission, strategy, and values). The report discusses project management processes for innovation execution and identifies a suitable staff development program. It also explores technological advancements, problem-solving skills, feasibility of problem-solving projects, and the six steps of problem-solving, providing insights into how Transdev Auckland can improve its services and operational efficiency. The report offers practical recommendations for organizational improvement and includes references.

Running head: APPLIED MANAGEMENT
Applied Management: Transdev Auckland
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note:

1
APPLIED MANAGEMENT
Table of Contents
1. Introduction............................................................................................................................2
2. Discussion..............................................................................................................................2
2.1 Identification of Two Strategic Levels of Innovation Change at TA with Justification to
ensure that Innovative Changes bringing Better Quality Services.........................................2
2.2 Proposal of Four Elements of Organizational Change should be applied in TA for
Improving Services of Company with proper Justifications..................................................3
2.3 Discussion and Application of Two Project Management Processes for Execution of
Strategic Level Innovation and Identified Organizational Change........................................6
2.4 Identification and Analysis of one Suitable Staff Development Program for addressing
Organizational Innovation and Change..................................................................................7
2.5 Discussion of Trends in Technological Advancements at a Global Level with Two
Advantages and Disadvantages for Adopting in Domestic Market.......................................9
2.6 Four Problem Solving Skills for successful execution of Organizational Innovation and
Change and Justification of any Two Significant Skills for resolving Challenges for
Efficient Company Performance..........................................................................................11
2.7 Evaluation of Feasibility of Problem Solving Project with Recommendation of three
Precautions to be taken before Project Execution in TA.....................................................12
2.8 Understanding of Six Steps of Problem Solving with Organizational Examples and
Evaluation of Operational Feasibility of Every Step in TA.................................................13
3. Conclusion............................................................................................................................15
References................................................................................................................................16

2
APPLIED MANAGEMENT
1. Introduction
Organizational management provides a sense of direction to the staff and the
individuals are well aware of the several roles and responsibilities that are to be done within
the company (Goetsch & Davis, 2014). The following report outlines a brief discussion on
the applied management case study of Transdev Auckland. It is a popular urban passenger
train service that has contract from Auckland Transport on infrastructure and it is owned and
managed by Kiwi Rail. It is a highly centralized formal bureaucracy that has working for
several years and always focused on rules and regulations for following a subsequent
approach towards quality improvement and also emphasizing on great flexibility and proper
devolvement of responsibilities to those, who can interact with their customers and hence
encourage local initiative for enhancement of local empowerment. Two strategic levels of
innovation change and four elements of organizational change would be provided in this
report. Moreover, four problem solving skills and understanding of six steps for problem
solving will also be mentioned in this report.
2. Discussion
2.1 Identification of Two Strategic Levels of Innovation Change at TA with Justification
to ensure that Innovative Changes bringing Better Quality Services
An innovation strategy is the plan for growing market shares and profits by service
and product innovation. When it comes to solution creation, an innovative strategy even
indicates whether the approach of product improvement, breakthrough innovation and
disruptive innovation is the best (Huczynski, Buchanan & Huczynski, 2013). There are three
strategic levels of innovation change, which include incremental innovation, breakthrough
innovation and transformational innovation. Amongst them, the two identified strategic levels
of innovation change are incremental innovation and transformational innovation. These two
strategic levels of innovation change at Transdev Auckland are as follows:

3
APPLIED MANAGEMENT
i) Incremental Innovation: This is the first and the foremost strategic level of
innovation change is the incremental innovation. This specific strategic level comprises of
small and yet significant improvements within the products and services (Donaldson, Qiu &
Luo, 2013). These tend for being new and improved innovations for better product with faster
functioning and enhancements. In Transdev Auckland, they knew that the reorganization of
infrastructure and innovation could bring major disruption in the organization. For this
purpose, incremental innovation was required. The changes that are deployed through
incremental innovation by focusing on improvement of competitive differentiation,
productivity and efficiency of existing product (Cameron & Green, 2015). The most
significant example of incremental innovation that can be implemented by TA would be
adding different features for the customers so that they are more satisfied with the services.
Moreover, the infrastructure should be changed and new emerging trends should be involved.
ii) Transformational Innovation: The second strategic level of innovation change is
transformational innovation. It is majorly the introduction of a technology, which creates a
new industry before transforming the way the organization is running. This particular type of
innovation often eradicates the existing industries and at a minimum transforms them. For
this reason, such transformational innovation tend for better infrastructure management
(Elsbach, 2014). Although, this type of strategic level of innovation change is extremely
effective, it cannot be implemented alone. TA could involve virtual ticketing agents so that
more innovation is being involved and it can enable a central pool of staff for being deployed
across the network. Big data is the next transformational innovation that should be included
in TA.

4
APPLIED MANAGEMENT
2.2 Proposal of Four Elements of Organizational Change should be applied in TA for
Improving Services of Company with proper Justifications
Transdev Auckland has decided to implement change management in their business.
For successful change implementation within an organization, there are four significant
elements that should be implemented (Noruzy et al., 2013). These four elements of
organizational change are termed as four main pillars that are solely responsible for holding
up of the change. The major and the most significant characteristics of this type of change
management involve having a team of change agents, supporting employee involvement for
every level, engaging in continuous incremental change, rewarding creativity as well as risk
taking, allowing failure and learning from it, embracing changes, linking of present situation
to future (Noe et al., 2017).
Transdev Auckland, being a popular railway organization in New Zealand has to
focus on their organizational change in a better and effective manner. The proposal for four
elements of this organizational change is as follows:
i) Vision: The first and the foremost proposed element of organizational change for
Transdev Auckland is vision (Hornstein, 2015). This is the most significant element that is
required for every organization. The strategic planning is one of the major functionalities of
the management of TA, which could be extremely helpful for setting priorities, allocation of
resources as well as ensuring that every organizational member is working towards common
objectives and goals. The vision of Transdev Auckland is to obtain customer interaction and
customer satisfaction by providing safe and secured rail system (Cornelissen & Werner,
2014). They even want to improve the quality of their services in the region to both external
and internal customers.

5
APPLIED MANAGEMENT
ii) Mission: This is the second important and significant element of organizational
change for Transdev Auckland. Mission of any specific organization refers to the reason or
purpose of obtaining the major strategies and goals of the company. The identification of a
strong mission statement is required for limiting the difference within being committed and
being involved (Tseng & Lee, 2014). This type of statement focuses on the location of
organization in present time as well as tactical steps for using to obtain the objectives
(Namada, 2018). The entire organizational culture is also shaped with this statement. The
mission statement of Transdev Auckland is to deliver higher quality passenger transport
services in partnership with the stakeholders and also to improve their service quality.
iii) Strategy: A strategy can be referred to as the plan or methodology that is being
selected for bringing a desired future like solution to a problem and goal achievement. The
effective and efficient utilization of resources are extremely important for fulfilment of
strategy easily and promptly (Vasu, Stewart & Garson, 2017). Transdev Auckland’s decision
to bring innovation and change would require an effective strategy for ensuring success and
ultimate transformation (Crawford, 2014). The new infrastructure should be changed and
reorganized as per strategy or planning. TA can implement big data technology in their
business for enhancing volume of structured and unstructured data, which could process with
the help of traditional techniques. The harvesting of these data comprises of two major areas
of potential for metro and rail.
iv) Values: The fourth significant proposal of element for organizational change in
Transdev Auckland is value. The common values such as strong performance orientation and
open trusting environment are required for bringing success in the organizational changes
(Hammer, 2015). A proper framework from which the decisions are made is to be evaluated
to ensure the values. In this case study of TA, the values eventually involved better

6
APPLIED MANAGEMENT
performance and better trusting environment. For this purpose, it is extremely important for
them to implement the strategies effectively.
2.3 Discussion and Application of Two Project Management Processes for Execution of
Strategic Level Innovation and Identified Organizational Change
A project management process is the proper administrative procedure for effective
planning as well as controlling of services and project implementation. This process starts
after approval by the customer and is on the basis of the contract after being targeted on the
initial process values as well as general management of a project (Brickley, Smith &
Zimmerman, 2015). There are four stages of project management process, which include
project initiation, project planning, project launch and performance and finally project
closing. For the project of strategic level innovation, the project management process is as
follows:
i) Project Initiation: In this first step, the project of innovation is to be selected.
Since, two strategic innovation levels of incremental and transformational are identified for
this organization, the project should be initiated on a priority basis. This would be require for
increasing their organizational efficiency and improvement of processes (Sabharwal, 2014).
The resources are selected in this step.
ii) Project Planning: In this phase, the project scope is to be prioritized and the
resource tasks are distributed and teams are informed of responsibilities. Transdev Auckland
should make a proper planning of their strategic level to implement this change.
iii) Project Launch and Performance: Regarding project launch and performance
step, TA should launch their strategic levels of innovation and ensure that improvement of
their quality in services (Doh & Quigley, 2014). The delegation of tasks and being proactive
to address the risks and issues are done in this step.

7
APPLIED MANAGEMENT
iv) Project Closing: In this final phase, the project is closed after completion of every
project task related to innovation.
For the project of organizational change, the project management process is as
follows:
i) Project Initiation: This is the first phase of project management process for
organizational change. The vision and mission elements are to be identified properly for this
project work and the project related information is to be shared.
ii) Project Planning: In this phase, the strategies of the work are to be identified and
resources are identified successfully (Becerra-Fernandez & Sabherwal, 2014). It is required
to make proper plans for the project so that execution is easier.
iii) Project Launch and Performance: The project manager of TA should compare
the status and progress of the actual plan since resources could perform the respective
scheduled work. The schedules are adjusted for keeping the project on track effectively.
iv) Project Closing: Finally, in this step, all the tasks of this organizational change
implementation are to be fulfilled and all the values are to be achieved (Gimenez-Espin,
Jiménez-Jiménez & Martínez-Costa, 2013).
2.4 Identification and Analysis of one Suitable Staff Development Program for
addressing Organizational Innovation and Change
A staff development programme refers to any type of training and education that is
being provided by any staff for the purpose of improvement of personal and occupational
knowledge, attitudes and skills of the employees. The current roles of the employees are
being focused for helping the employees to learn respective skills and knowledge and
improve their performances (North & Kumta, 2018). Development is more expensive and it
eventually focuses on employee growth and future performances. There are some of the

8
APPLIED MANAGEMENT
major and the most significant activities, programs and processes by which all companies can
develop, enhance and even improve the competencies and skills as well as overall
performances of workers and employees.
The most important and significant objectives of this staff development program
involve monitoring and maintaining better staff recruitment and selection processes so that
opportunity equality in employment is enhanced, providing a comprehensive induction
process for the new staff, developing, maintaining as well as monitoring of structures as well
as systems to ensure evaluation, support and management of every staff (Kianto et al., 2014).
Moreover, impact of development and training on individual’s work is also evaluated
properly.
A suitable staff development program for TA to involve organizational innovation
and change is as follows:
Activities Strategies Resources
Needed
Challenges Timefram
e
Intended
Outcomes
HR
Planning
Research and
Analysis
Organizational
Chart
Organizatio
nal chart
Management
changes like
bringing new
innovations
and
opportunities
1 month Proper plan
to hire staff
Hiring of
chief
technician
and
Using social
media
Job profiles
and staffing
plan
Identification
of quality
candidates
3 months Perfect
selection of
candidates

9
APPLIED MANAGEMENT
ticketing
agents
Policies and
Procedures
regarding
change
managemen
t and
innovation
Orientation Drafting
policy
Making staff
understand
about policies
2 months Compliance
to laws and
regulations
Managing
staff and
employees
Technical skills
Development
soft skills
development
Human
skills
Effective
communicatio
n and setting
clear goals
6 months Proper
efficiency
and
productivit
y
2.5 Discussion of Trends in Technological Advancements at a Global Level with Two
Advantages and Disadvantages for Adopting in Domestic Market
Organizational management is extremely helpful for extracting the best out of each
and every employee so that they could easily and promptly accomplish and complete the
provided tasks within the provided time frame (Lewis, Cantore & Passmore, 2016). It enables
an optimum utilization of resources by meticulous planning as well as control at the
respective work place.
The technological advancement trends for Transdev Auckland are expected to bring
major advantages and features on the business in domestic market (Qian, Cao & Takeuchi,
2013). The production is improved and communication is simplified. Moreover, overall

10
APPLIED MANAGEMENT
environment is affected by this type of advancement. The main trends of technological
advancement are as follows:
i) IoT: This particular trend can enable passenger services of TA for using sensors,
cloud computing, big data analytics, machine2machine learning for gathering and analysing
information from a broad variety of data streams and sources (Lewis, Cantore & Passmore,
2016).
ii) Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality: AR and VR have the ability to virtually
test the effectiveness and efficiency of the performances (Colbert, Barrick & Bradley, 2014).
These two technological trends provide interactive experiences of the real world
environment, in which objects reside in the real world are eventually augmented by
computerized information.
Two advantages of technological advancement trends are as follows:
i) Improving Communication: TA would be able to improve their communication
after involving technological advancement trends in their new organized infrastructure. The
employees could utilize several communication tools for interacting and exchanging
information (Jeston, 2014). Decision making process is enhanced by the communication
technologies for serving their customers in an efficient manner.
ii) Encouraging Innovation and Creativity: The employees could utilize various
business technologies for creating innovative business ideas that could be utilized for
business growth as well as expansion. They would help to reduce technologies challenges and
then reward the employees for obtaining better ideas and ideologies regarding new
infrastructure innovation and development.
The main disadvantages of technological advancement trends are as follows:

11
APPLIED MANAGEMENT
i) High Maintenance Costs: The maintenance costs are quite high and hence it is
required maintain organizational resources regularly so that it becomes easier for the
company to ensure that all technological trends are working simultaneously (Gelens et al.,
2013).
ii) High Risks: The risks to handle this type of technological advancements is quite
high and often TA can face major issues like incrementing innovation and worsening
unemployment.
2.6 Four Problem Solving Skills for successful execution of Organizational Innovation
and Change and Justification of any Two Significant Skills for resolving Challenges for
Efficient Company Performance
The organizational management provides a sense of security and employee
management. Management of business process is eventually ensured after involving various
innovations and creativity (Rothaermel, 2015). The most significant features of this
organizational management involve planning, organizing, staffing, leading, controlling, time
management and motivation.
Four problem solving skills for successful execution of organizational innovation and
change for TA are as follows:
i) Communication: Communication is required for eradicating issues related to lack
of collaboration and lack of idea sharing amongst the staff. Organizational collaboration and
communication like listening, speaking, observing and empathising are the major skills that
are being utilized for reducing such problems.
ii) Active Listening: This is the next problem solving skill that helps in bringing out
new innovative and creative ideas for the betterment of TA (Gond et al., 2016). Paying