Read the case and address the questions

The Advanced Technologies (AT) is a Ghanaian owned company that specialises in assembling televisions and writing of television code (first of its kind in the sub-region). The company was established in 2017 and has a total of 120 employees who differ in age, ethnicity, and other characteristics. Such diversity makes the employees attitudes, behaviour, and responses differ as well. As part of its vision, AT has set the goal of being the most reliable television assembling company in Africa, with a focus on superior quality.

In recent times, the employees jobs are changing because of the introduction of a new, computer-controlled manufacturing technology. Using the old technology, employees stationed along a moving conveyor belt performed a clearly defined set of operations to assemble the televisions. The new,computerized technology makes it possible to produce many different models of televisions simultaneously. To operate the technology effectively, employees have to learn new, more complex skills, and they also have to learn how to work in teams because the new technology is based on the use of flexible work teams. As the Manager of a design group, you have been notified that groups will soon be reengineered into cross-functional teams composed of people from several different functions that have had little contact with each other.

Additionally, in the coming month, a group of software engineers are meeting to discuss how to implement a programme that will help to reduce the number of mistakes made in the developing and writing of the code. Presently, the employees are each responsible for a different section of the code and they typically just hand off their work to the person next in linewhich is the point where errors often creep in. Top management is contemplating introducing a computer-aided design process that will make each employees code-writing activities visible to everyone else and that will alert employees when changes they make impact other employees code-writing activities. This will likely cause considerable conflict among employees because it will complicate their work activities. At their just-ended top management meeting, the HR Manager sounded a word of caution that We need to ensure that these new outlined activities for the employees are accomplished as planned so that AT can effectively and efficiently achieve its objectives.

1. Enumerate the resistance to change at the individual levelthat AT will likely encounter through its introduction of the new technology. (5 marks)

2. List and explain 5 approaches that AT can use to manage the individual-level resistance to change. (10 marks)

3. Chart five main impediments to change that are likely to emerge as employees are assigned to the functional work teams. (5 marks)

4. List and explain four contextual factors that will help the cross-functional teams to be effective. (8 marks).

5. From the case, AT employees differ in their responses and behaviour. As an HR Manager, explain 5 factors that should be considered by Supervisors to enable them understand AT employees behaviour at work. (5 marks)

6. Considering the HR Managers statement, indicate thephase of the management process he was referring to, theimportance that can be associated with that phase and the process of the phase (7 marks)

7. Based on the HR Managers statement, state and explainwith examples the strategies the managers can use at the phase of the management process you have specified in Q.6 to effectively and efficiently achieve their objectives(10 marks)

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