IMPQI224 – Manage organisational change and improvement in food operations

Overview 

This standard is about the skills and knowledge needed for you to manage change and improvement to support your organisation's drive to improve food operations. This is important to increasing productivity and success of manufacture, processing and supply within the food supply chain. Good management is important where the implementation of change, improvement, new practice, targets and a performance driven culture creates challenges to individuals and the dynamic of teams.

You will need to show and understand how you prepare adequately for managing improvement plans. You will need to know what the strategy, objectives and timelines are for improvement in your workplace, and understand the concerns of colleagues. You will need to comply with your company policies for managing change and take responsibility for your actions. It involves implementing plans to make the change that is needed and drive through improvement. It involves understanding management techniques, the performance of teams, barriers, risks, monitoring, communication and feedback systems. It is about ensuring that the management of change achieves the objectives required by your organisation's improvement strategy.

This standard is for you if you manage change and improvement working in food or drink operations including manufacturing, processing, packing or supply chain activities. You may have responsibilities for aspects of organisational improvement in a team leadership or management role.

Performance criteria

You must be able to:

Prepare for managing change

1. identify and assess how the plans for change fit with the overall improvement strategy
2. identify and confirm the specific improvement plans for change with the relevant personnel
3. discuss and confirm the key objectives and scope of the plans for change and the available resources with relevant personnel
4. make any final changes to plans where necessary and confirm the final plans for change with the relevant personnel

Manage change

5. brief change team members on the plans for change, their roles and responsibilities and provide ongoing support, encouragement and information in accordance with the improvement plan
6. put processes and resources in place to manage potential risks arising from the change and deal with contingencies in accordance with procedures
7. implement the plan for change, selecting and applying a range of management tools and techniques to monitor, control and review progress in accordance with procedures
8. communicate progress to the relevant personnel and change team members in accordance with the improvement plan
9. identify, in the light of progress, any required changes to the plan for change obtaining agreement from the relevant personnel where necessary
10. achieve plan for change objectives using the agreed level of resources
11. confirm satisfactory completion of the plan for change with the relevant personnel

Obtain and provide feedback on change management

12. evaluate the success of the implementation of the plan for change, identifying what lessons can be learned and recognising the contributions of any team members and other personnel
13. seek feedback on the value of your contribution to change management from the relevant personnel
14. check current status of the impact of change in accordance with procedures
15. provide feedback on your contribution to change management to the relevant personnel

Knowledge and understanding

You need to know and understand

1. the main models and methods for managing change effectively for improvement, and their strengths and weaknesses
2. the plans for change agreed in line with the strategy for improvement
3. the need for specific, measurable, realistic project objectives and deliverables, allowing progress to be monitored and measured
4. theory and application of the change/performance curve
5. the formation and development of change or project teams to meet identified needs
6. theory and understanding of teams, including an understanding of teambuilding techniques and how to apply them
7. the allocation of specific tasks and responsibilities matched to team member skills and abilities
8. the provision of effective feedback, support and coaching of others
9. how to assess the risks and benefits associated with implementation of organisational change
10. when specialist help may be required in the change process
11. the importance of contingency planning and how to do so effectively
12. how to make critical decisions
13. the internal and resource barriers to change, and the techniques that deal with these
14. stakeholder and line management expectations and how they influence the process
15. the organisation's improvement vision, strategy, objectives, the reasons for improvement, the risks and expected benefits
16. business and operational critical activities and interdependencies
17. those factors that need to be changed, and the associated priorities and reasons
18. the formal and informal communication channels used
19. what the techniques are to monitor, control and review progress during management of change in improvement
20. how to evaluate the success of implementation
21. the range of information sources available to support improvement
22. how to receive feedback about the change management process

Keywords: Food operations; Manufacturing; Excellence; Improvement; Organisational development; Change; Management