What are the essential elements of this message? What is the most positive way someone will...

 

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What are the essential elements of this message? What is the most positive way someone will respond to this message? What is the most negative way someone will respond to this message? Restructuring the Procurement Function As a commercial real estate company, Cadillac Fairview has experimented with different ways of procuring goods and services through the finance department. This function was centralized at the main office until three years ago. Since then all sub-offices were given complete autonomy over purchasing and vendor contracts. Unfortunately, vendor selection criteria, purchasing expenses and management oversight was not consistent. The sub-offices were not following the proper ordering and procurement procedures and there seemed to be a gross lack of accountability. At the beginning of this fiscal year, the company executive ordered the finance department to go back to a centralized structure. As the Senior Management Team (SMT) member assigned this new Procurement Unit, you are responsible for overseeing all procurement activities in the main and sub-offices. To simplify this process, your team has come up with a new system to automate these transactions for all offices. This system will the enable sub-offices to quickly procure the goods and services they need, while at the same time allowing for improved management and tracking. This new system was announced a month ago with instructions that using it would be phased in. There has been considerable pushback from the sub-offices. Several managers have publicly denounced the new system as an effort to control the field where the "real" work is done. They see it as a decrease in their authority and rapid responsiveness to field needs. As a result, the sub-offices that have not even used the new system are already resistant to change. Right now, your unit is spending all its time chasing after others to get needed contract information. In establishing this new unit, other SMT members have been somewhat supportive. They gave you staffing with adequate expertise and training budgets for each sub-office. They even sent out a couple of written communications early in the project expressing their support. However, the issue is that whenever they are in forums where negative talk of the new system comes up; the SMT are referring staff to Procurement Unit because, "they know best." This might seem like "support" from their standpoint, but it has truly undermined your ability to get sub-office management staff to own the system. You are now concerned that you are not going to meet your project goals, and it really will turn into just one more "Head Office Initiative." The SMT has granted the Procurement team space on the agenda at its next meeting to discuss this problem. During this meeting, you want to make sure they agree to more actively own and support this project and help your unit to remove barriers of resistance. What are the essential elements of this message? What is the most positive way someone will respond to this message? What is the most negative way someone will respond to this message? Restructuring the Procurement Function As a commercial real estate company, Cadillac Fairview has experimented with different ways of procuring goods and services through the finance department. This function was centralized at the main office until three years ago. Since then all sub-offices were given complete autonomy over purchasing and vendor contracts. Unfortunately, vendor selection criteria, purchasing expenses and management oversight was not consistent. The sub-offices were not following the proper ordering and procurement procedures and there seemed to be a gross lack of accountability. At the beginning of this fiscal year, the company executive ordered the finance department to go back to a centralized structure. As the Senior Management Team (SMT) member assigned this new Procurement Unit, you are responsible for overseeing all procurement activities in the main and sub-offices. To simplify this process, your team has come up with a new system to automate these transactions for all offices. This system will the enable sub-offices to quickly procure the goods and services they need, while at the same time allowing for improved management and tracking. This new system was announced a month ago with instructions that using it would be phased in. There has been considerable pushback from the sub-offices. Several managers have publicly denounced the new system as an effort to control the field where the "real" work is done. They see it as a decrease in their authority and rapid responsiveness to field needs. As a result, the sub-offices that have not even used the new system are already resistant to change. Right now, your unit is spending all its time chasing after others to get needed contract information. In establishing this new unit, other SMT members have been somewhat supportive. They gave you staffing with adequate expertise and training budgets for each sub-office. They even sent out a couple of written communications early in the project expressing their support. However, the issue is that whenever they are in forums where negative talk of the new system comes up; the SMT are referring staff to Procurement Unit because, "they know best." This might seem like "support" from their standpoint, but it has truly undermined your ability to get sub-office management staff to own the system. You are now concerned that you are not going to meet your project goals, and it really will turn into just one more "Head Office Initiative." The SMT has granted the Procurement team space on the agenda at its next meeting to discuss this problem. During this meeting, you want to make sure they agree to more actively own and support this project and help your unit to remove barriers of resistance.

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