Your Client:

With its headquarters in Melbourne, Australia, YMG started in 1995 as a local medical centre and has since grown to become a diversified, publicly listed provider of health care services covering Hospitals, Medical Centres, Pharmacies, Residential Aged Care and Medical technology research and development. YMG employs 21,300 staff across its operations as shown in Appendix 1. Their workforce is culturally diverse and includes a mix of part-time, full-time, casual and contract staff.

YMG is in the process of acquiring a network of 25 pharmacies from a competitor. This is to be finalised in the next three months and YMGs CEO is insistent that the integration goes smoothly, unlike the previous two smaller pharmacy chain acquisitions which resulted in the loss of staff and a decrease in performance and productivity. Whilst the pharmacy chain to be acquired is profitable, the CEO has not ruled out some job losses following the acquisition.

The Aged Care division is under increasing pressure from families of residents and government considering recent covid impacts and staffing limitations. 25% of YMGs residential care homes experienced Covid outbreaks and there are staff shortages in all locations due to employees being on Covid leave and difficulty in recruiting staff. Staff turnover in the age care division has increased to 23% due to stress and dissatisfaction with employment conditions.

The Chief Executive Officer, Alison Monaghan joined YMG three years ago. Prior to this she had held senior roles with competitor companies in the health and aged care sector and had also established her own business in medical technologies. Since joining YMG Ms Monaghan has increased profits and cut costs through restructuring and acquisitions. She has ambitions to expand the business offerings and to this end she established the Medi-Tech Research and Development Division 12 months ago. This division has grown rapidly with the recruitment of highly skilled specialist researchers and is a key to enabling broader industry strategies and innovations leading to competitive advantage and sustainability for YMG.

When your group met with the CEO, she made it very clear that she wanted YMG to be the provider of choice in Australia for health and medical services. A critical element to this success will be the Yasmar Way which she wants all divisions to follow. This is a core set of values People, Innovation and Sustainability.

In a meeting with the Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO), Craig Penrose, you have been advised that in a recent staff engagement survey, it became clear that staff in the Pharmacies Division were not happy with the way changes had been managed, particularly those who came from recently acquired businesses. The main complaints related to being forced to change systems and work procedures in ways which actually decreased efficiency and productivity. They also criticised the level of communication and consultation over changes.

With an increasing staff turnover in the Aged Care Division, the CHRO admitted that retaining employees in the current environment was difficult. The low unemployment rate and recent change of Government in Australia may impact staff in this sector, however the CHRO and the Executive Leadership team believe that having highly skilled staff will be a key to retention, engagement and ultimately service delivery. Whilst aged care staff are passionate about their work, their level of engagement has decreased in recent surveys.

Client Objectives

The CEO and Leadership Team have identified three specific objectives to be achieved in the next 12 months: MGT600-MGMT6009_Assessment_2_Case Scenario Page 2 of 3

1. Manage the integration of employees of the new pharmacies into the YMG Pharmacies Division. You will need to identify the key priorities for change and outline how this will be managed. YMG will take ownership of the new Pharmacies in 3 months.

2. Build the capabilities and performance of staff and teams in the Aged Care facilities to provide a premium level of care this will include management skills, technical / care skills and cover both full-time and casual employees. This must commence in the next 3 months and will be ongoing.

3. Consolidate the Medi-Tech Research and Development team to ensure continuity in research and project delivery. This will require the development of strategies focused on engagement and retention. Losing key people in this team would have a significant impact on the broader business.

Your task

As mentioned in the Assessment Brief document, your group must produce a report and presentation covering your research, findings and recommendations on how these three objectives could be achieved. Of course, the task involves using relevant concepts/models you have studied in this subject. You will need to apply the relevant concepts/models to determine how each of the objectives can be achieved and to come up with recommendations.

To assist you in getting started your group should consider the following questions (please note that these questions are not meant to be the sections of your report):

• What is your methodology / approach to tackle this task and how will you conduct your analysis of YMGs management of people and teams?
• What real world case studies can be used to support your analysis and recommendations? Align one case study to each objective (3 in total)
• What assumptions and / or limitations have you made or applied which will impact your analysis or recommendations?
• Together with your recommendations to each of the three objectives, consider how the change can be implemented.