Building Sustainable Agreements - Business Decision Making - ثاني ثانوي

Lesson 6 Chapter 4 www.ien.edu.sa Building Sustainable Agreements The final step a problem-solving group performs is developing an implementa- tion plan, also called an action plan, to guide changes, product or service intro- ductions, and complex projects. The action plan summarizes the activities the group and other members of the organization agree to perform to make sure the project succeeds. See Figure 4-8. Recognize that the action plan represents change, and people and organizations tend to resist change. Involve members of the team and others in the organization to build an agreement that can be sustained as the problem is solved. Table 4-5 describes the do's and don'ts for building agreements. case A few days after meeting to discuss the travel com- pany's new business travel services with the Riyadh office and partners around the world, you and the rest of the corporate travel team in Tabuk meet again to create an action plan. DEFINITION Action plan: A plan that summarizes the activities the group and other members of the organization agree to perform to make sure the project succeeds. TABLE 4-5: Building agreements do's and don'ts Guidelines Overcome fear Communicate openly Do • Recognize that team members and others in the organization might resist change •Discuss the benefits of the change • Share team ideas with a larger audience, such as a department or company • Communicate frequently with decision makers • Hold open meetings and forums, and provide memos, newsletters, and presentations to keep in touch with others outside the team Don't • Don't change tasks, project goals, or parts of the team without discussing them first • Don't discourage members of your group from discussing their concerns about the project • Don't avoid identifying fears and objections • Don't assume a single communication or tool is sufficient • Don't overwhelm the larger audience with too much or too frequent news • Don't introduce a new solution during a period that is usually busy for your organization 112 4 Chapter رة ا Ministry of Education 2024-1446 95198_book_PP1.indb 112 07/05/2024 10:57

FIGURE 4-8: Sample action plan Action Plan: Expand business travel market Objectives: To contact 2000 potential business customers and sign 40 of those customers to a tour in one year Budget: SAR 1500 start-up budget plus SAR 1000/month Action Cost Time Schedule Add or expand five tours for business travelers SAR 1000 24 hours June 20- July 20 Assigned to Asma Hasan Abdullah • Join Saudi Arabian Voyagers Association SAR 250/yr 4 hrs/month (Meetings and networking) June, September Hasan • Create new brochure SAR 600 15 hrs June 20-30 Asma Rasheed Select and hire a telemarketing firm SAR 300/month • Advertising SAR 550 plus (Direct mail and Web) SAR 120/month 5 hrs/month 9 hrs plus 3 hrs/ month June 1-July 1 Hasan June 16- Asma August 15 Omar Hasan Develop sales presentation SAR 360 20 hrs June 20-30 Abdullah Omar Train customer service staff SAR 150 20 hrs June 16-30 Najla Ebtesam Start-up expenses SAR 2910 Monthly expenses SAR 420 88 hrs 12 hrs Essential Elements QUICK TIP If the group's solution might be threatening to a decision maker, invite that person to a team meeting to encourage their support. 1. Overcome fear An action plan represents change, which can threaten someone's job, status, position, budget, or power. Resistance to change increases as a solution becomes more creative and less like habitual activities. Members of your group should discuss their concerns about the plan and understand its ben- efits before agreeing to it. The group can also work together to identify fears and objections others in the organization might have. 2. Communicate openly Groups tend to communicate among themselves, forgetting to share their ideas with a larger audience. This is especially true of teams that have worked together in the same location for some time. As your group starts to develop its action plan, take extra steps to share your ideas and progress with stakeholders and decision makers. Use a variety of open meetings, forums, memos, newsletters, and presentations to communicate across the organization. وزارة التعليم Ministry of Education 2024-1446 Business Decision Making S1 S2 S3.indb 113 Group Decision Making and Problem Solving 113 30/06/2023 14:28

QUICK TIP Look at the company calendar and ask people what activities are scheduled for the organization. YOU TRY IT 3. Manage the pace People are more accepting of change when they have sufficient time to adjust to it. Your group should share ideas and conclusions gradually, allow- ing time between each new step the group introduces. Welcome discussions about the action plan and its steps, but avoid overwhelming people with major new initiatives all at once. 4. Avoid inappropriate times Be aware of the periods when your organization is typically busy, and avoid starting the steps in the action plan at that time. For example, trying to launch a new project a day before the weekend, when employees are focus- ing on completing their existing tasks, may not be advisable. However, that same initiative introduced at another time might have a warm reception. Practice building sustainable agreements by creating an action plan for a proj- ect. Complete the following steps. 1. Get ready Read the following details for a project to expand the Web site at the travel company you're working at to offer business travel services. Expanding the company Web site to provide business travel services: . . Hasan can design the Web pages. He estimates he needs about 5 hours and SAR 250 to do this. The Web pages should be designed June 1–5. Overall budget is SAR 2000. The tour database also needs to be expanded. Asma is in charge of this task. She needs SAR 150 and 8 hours per week during June 1-15 to com- plete this task. Hasan and Ebtesam can work together to create and test the Web pages from June 8-22. This will cost SAR 500 and take 10 hours to complete. Ebtesam can also work with Asma to add the new Web pages to the Web site and then maintain them. Starting June 24, this will take SAR 20 and 2 hours per week. The Web site needs to be promoted starting June 24. Hasan is in charge of this task. He needs SAR 500 plus SAR 50 per week. He estimates he'll also need 10 hours per week to promote the Web site. 114 4 Chapter رة ا Ministry of Education 2024-1446 Business Decision Making S1 S2 S3.indb 114 30/06/2023 14:28

2. Now you try it Use the following form to complete the action plan in your notebook or using a word processor. Action Plan: Objective: Budget: Action Cost Time Schedule Assigned to REVIEW QUESTIONS Start-up expenses Weekly expenses 1. What is the purpose of an action plan? a. To identify the consequences of each idea b. To review ideas and reduce them to a manageable number c. To document meeting activities d. To summarize the activities the group agrees 2. Which of the following is not a way to build a sustainable agree- ment? a. Introduce all changes at the same time b. Overcome fears c. Communicate openly d. Manage the pace وزارة التعليم Ministry of Education 2024-1446 Business Decision Making S1 S2 S3.indb 115 Group Decision Making and Problem Solving 115 30/06/2023 14:28