Organizational Change Management: Case Study of Australian Post

This case study delves into the organizational change management strategies employed by Australian Post in response to evolving customer needs and digital transformation. It highlights key reforms such as process changes, policy adjustments, payment policy innovations, employee shift mana...Read More

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Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Key changes and reforms adopted by Australian post...............................................................3
Driving factors that contributed to the reforms..........................................................................4
People development strategy to overcome resistance to change...............................................5
Alignment of future strategies to manage change and innovation to lead in future business
environment................................................................................................................................6
Lessons learnt from the Australian post case study...................................................................6
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................7
References..................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
Australian post is a government owned corporation In Australia. It provides postal
services to the people of Australia. In recent times, changes become an important tool to
remain competitive in the market and work as per customer expectations. Customers are
moving toward the digitalisation approach due to the change in technologies. The major
changes are done by the business in its parcel delivery services. The first section of the report
has discussed the changes adopted by the Australian post. The reforms that are to be
implemented in the organization required to be accepted by the employees in order to bring
those changes successfully. Therefore, people development strategies adopted by the firm
such as change support programme and training for employees. Further, the discussion is
carried on the people development strategies that are adopted by the Australian Post in order
to overcome the resistance of people. The discussion continues by discussing alignment of
future strategies to manage change and innovation in the business.

A AT A A MA A M TORG NIZ ION L CH NGE N GE EN 3
Key changes and reforms adopted by Australian post
 Changes in process- In the year 2016 and 17, becoming customer centric was the
important theme. In this, Australian post focused on refining the parcel delivery
experience. People who are working across the “Australian post group” brought this
approach. The rapid decline has led the company to bring reforms in letter services
(Australian Postal Corporation(a), 2018). However, operational changes were
implemented in the delivery network. It is founded that the letter volume was declined
by 11.8% in 2016/17 as compare to the previous years. In order to address this issue,
the speed of delivery of post has been increased. These changes helped the company
to reduce the financial losses and improving the sustainability of letter service.
 Changes in policy- Due to its better progress in mitigating the release of greenhouse
gases, it is ensured by the company to understand the climate change (Knott &
Battersby, 2015). By keeping this in mind, it made changes in the set of policies as
per change in laws, technology, and market. By facilitating the changes in policies
related to employment, postal services, letter delivery, it was successful in bringing
reforms.
 Changes in payment policy- Due to changing demand of the customers, it has
provided the easy convenience to the customers by assisting them with banking,
payment of bills and payment processing. It has launched product as well as services
that do scanning of Bill and digital receipts (Crew & Brennan, 2016). In order to
compete in the local and global market, it has applied the innovative ideas in the
business.
 Changes in shift of employees- In order to maintain the health of employees, It has
moved many employees from the night shift to day shift. It helps the many employees
through this transition including sleep management, staying healthy, understanding
the superannuation, and planning of future (Patroni, von & Recker, 2016).
 Changes in clearance timing- Australian post helps to ensure the posties to have
sustainable jobs with them in the future. It has leveraged the existing system and
increased the number of parcel it was delivering before. It has begun trialling of
electric vehicle for delivering it post. In these electric vehicles, it will have more than
three times carrying capacity. It has also started using SPB technology that alerts the
posties when they are about to reach the delivery point (Australia Post, 2014).

A AT A A MA A M TORG NIZ ION L CH NGE N GE EN 4
 Changes in digital landscape- due to changes in perception of customers, it has
changes the digital landscape of its delivery of post. It has now started delivering
more than 34% parcels. This reform has made many changes in its postal services. In
order to provide sustainable opportunities of job, It started using the full power of its
network. It decided to bring the letter, mail network, and parcel together in order to
form a new ecommerce delivery team.
Driving factors that contributed to the reforms
 Digital transformation- When Australian post was facing decline in its profit, it urged
the Australian post to made technological changes in the business activities. In 2008,
the delivery of letter per household was decreased by one third that drives the
company to move toward digitalisation in its business (Kouvaras, 2016). Due to the
decline in demand of its services, it is founded that people were shifted towards the
digital media. This insists the Australian post to brought changes according to that.
 Changes in customer needs- in recent years, Australian post has seen various changes
in needs of the customers. Therefore, it adopted customer-centricity approach to offer
its customers a great experience. Due to changes in outside environment, need of
people also changes that drive the changes in services of Australian post.
 Financial losses in the company- Due to the shift of people towards digital
technologies, companies profit was started decline. The decline in letter volumes
drives the company to make changes in letter services (Australian Postal Corporation
(b), 2018). Due to the rapid rate of decline drives the company to make reforms in its
letter services. In order to address the issue, Australia post stated that it is
implementing the changes in delivery network.

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People development strategy to overcome resistance to change
1. Involvement of people in change- It is the best way to overcome the resistance of
people from change. When Australian post thought about bringing a customer-centric
programme. It has involved the people by organising a meeting. In this meeting, aspects of
changes are discussed with the employee’s before bringing those changes. It helped the
Australian Post to overcome from the people regarding resisting those changes (Quickmail,
2017).
2. Training and redeployment of people- In order to overcome the resistance of
employees from change, Australian post has conducted a training in which they are equipped
with the skills that are needed to bring the change in the organization. Due to this training,
Australian post was successful in bringing the change in its tradition services. It is stated in
the report of Australian post, due to the employees of the organization, it is possible to shift
from the traditional services to the ecommerce deliveries (Australia Post, 2015).
3. Change support program for employees – various programs are introduced by the
Australian post in which employees learned the importance and benefits that changes brought
in the organization. It started change support programme for all the impacted employees. In
this program, nearly 95% of impacted employees joined the program. The employees in this
programme were freely to ask any sort of queries. Besides this, it stated that leaders are
responsible for positive change. Leaders were asked to support the employees through this
programme. In 2017, managing director, CEO participated in the change program.
4. Surveys for employee’s as well Australian citizens- before initiating change in the
business activities, it has conducted a survey in which employees and citizen’s feedback was
taken to know the impact of changes on those (Jaag, Moyano & Trinkner, 2016). It helped the
company to know the people perception regarding those changes. This strategy has helped the
company to minimise the rate of resistance.
5. Assistance to employees through creation of tool- In the annual report of the
Australian post, it is mentioned that it was doing research from the past few years to provide
the essential tool to employees (Wang, Jie & Abareshi, 2015). From these tools, it has created
one tool named “snap it app.” In this app, employees were free to log an issue of customers
for a friend or family member.

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Alignment of future strategies to manage change and innovation to lead in future
business environment
Australian post has brought many changes in the organization in order to deliver best
services. It is seen that there are many reforms made in the letter business. It will allow the
Australian post to invest its resources in the domestic as well as international ecommerce
capabilities by creating a new future for post offices (Australia Post Annual Report, 2010).
Under its planned reform, it will provide the priority service to customers according to its
existing timetable. In addition, regular services for non-urgent mail will be delivered two
days slower than the priority (Department of Communication, 2018). In the annual post of
Australia post, it is stated that these reforms will help the business to provide its customers
satisfaction as well as security. These reforms will provide the various opportunities to its
employees for their career. Mentoring and training services is provided to the employees that
will help the employees to increase their knowledge and skills. In addition, it is igniting a
culture of innovation in its business by focusing on delivering the customer experience. As a
result, the customers will enjoy the better service that will suit to their modern need
(Australia Post, 2017).
By ensuring these changes in the organization, customers will enjoy the local as well
as international market. Reforms are a best step for the customers and business of Australian
post. It will allow the business to continue provide the essential services to the Australian
community that they value (The Conversation, 2014). It will also enable to invest in the
growth of ecommerce. It is investing in the Ecommerce activities to become the leader in
ecommerce. It has facilitated the commerce in Australia by delivering ecommerce to
everyone and everywhere (Parkes, 2018).
Lessons learnt from the Australian post case study
From the analysis of the case study, it is learnt that change is an important element of
any business to succeed. There are various changes occur in the outside environment as well
customers’ expectations also changes by time. Australian post has made various changes in
its business activities due to the increasing digitalisation of services. All these changes are
brought in the Australian post with the help of its employees. In this way, all the changes are
required to consult with the employees who will play a most important part in bringing
change in the business. In addition, Australian post has conducted various change support

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programmes in order to manage the resistance of employees from the changes. It helped
company to receive the employees support in changes. The most important lesson learnt from
the case study is that “employees are the important assets of the organization therefore every
decision is required to consult with employees before initiating it.” In addition to this, it has
been interpreted that various changes can occur in organization, but it requires the support of
employees to initiate those changes. Same as Australian post, it is required by every firm to
insist the employees by communicating those changes in detail. It is seen that whenever
organization brought any changes in organization, employees usually resist. Therefore, it is
necessary to take such measures so that employees cannot resist those changes. Same as,
Australian Post has initiated various employee development strategies so that employees
come to know the importance of those changes.
Conclusion
In the limelight of above discussion, it can be concluded that Australia post has been
growing fast by initiating successful changes in the business. Australian post recently has
done various changes in the organization. From all the changes, it has done major changes in
letter services, changes in process in order to offer a great experience to customers.
Australian post was facing a greater financial loss due to the shift of employees to
digitalisation. In order to address the problem, it has started investing in various new
technologies so that issues can be encounter. In order to overcome the resistance of people
from change, it has developed various strategies for people. Change support program has
helped the employees in many ways. Besides this, training has helped the employees to learn
the skills that are required to bring the changes. The future strategy of the organization is to
become a leader in ecommerce. By ensuring this, Australian post has done changes in its
business. The changes will help the customer to enjoy better service in the market.

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References
Australia Post Annual Report. (2010). Getting future ready. Retrieved from:
https://auspost.com.au/content/dam/auspost_corp/media/documents/AP-annual-
report-0910.pdf
Australia post. (2015). Delivering ecommerce. Retrieved from:
http://auspost.com.au/annualreport2015/delivering-ecommerce.html
Australia Post. (2017). Part of Tomorrow. Retrieved from:
https://auspost.com.au/content/dam/auspost_corp/media/documents/Annual-
Report-2017.pdf
Australian Post Corporation. (2018). Government supports Australia Post's plan to reform its
letters service. Retrieved from: https://auspost.com.au/general/government-
supports-australia-posts-plan-to-reform-its-letters-service
Australian Post. (2014). Supporting our people through change. Retrieved from:
http://auspost.com.au/annualreport2014/supporting-our-people-through-
change.html
Australian Postal Corporation(a). (2018). Changes to your letter services. Retrieved from:
https://auspost.com.au/general/changes-to-your-letters-service
Australian Postal Corporation(b). (2018). New scam targeting Australia post customers.
Retrieved from: https://auspost.com.au/about-us/news-media/important-updates
Crew, M. A., & Brennan, T. J. (Eds.). (2016). The future of the postal sector in a digital
world. Heidelberg: Springer.
Department of Communication. (2018). Australia Post. Retrieved from:
https://www.communications.gov.au/what-we-do/post/australia-post
Jaag, C., Moyano, J. P., & Trinkner, U. (2016). Postal strategies in a digital age. In The
Future of the Postal Sector in a Digital World (pp. 103-120). Springer, Cham.

A AT A A MA A M TORG NIZ ION L CH NGE N GE EN 9
Knott, M., & Battersby, L. ( 2015). Abbott government approves sweeping Australia Post
changes, price rises. Retrieved from:
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/abbott-government-approves-sweeping-
australia-post-changes-price-rises-20150303-13tju7.html
Kouvaras, L. I. (2016). Loading the silence: Australian sound art in the post-digital age.
United Kingdom: Routledge.
Parkes, B. (2018). Australia Post: how it went about workforce planning for the future.
Retrieved from: https://insightsresources.seek.com.au/australia-post-how-they-
went-about-workforce-planning-for-the-future
Patroni, J., von Briel, F., & Recker, J. (2016). How enterprise social media can facilitate
innovation. IT Professional, 18(6), 34-41.
Quickmail. (2017). The FACTS about Australia Post’s approved reforms. Retrieved from:
http://quickmail.com.au/the-facts-about-australia-posts-approved-reforms/
The Conversation. (2014). The future of Australia Post will be off the beaten track. Retrieved
from: https://theconversation.com/the-future-of-australia-post-will-be-off-the-
beaten-track-27448
Wang, M., Jie, F., & Abareshi, A. (2015). Business Logistics Performance Measurement in
Third-Party Logistics: An Empirical Analysis of Australian Courier
Firms. International Journal of Business and Information, 10(3).