Immediately after graduating from undergraduate school, I accepted a position as a Lean
Manager for a company that manufactures battery cans for Energizer. One of my
responsibilities was to improve the appearance and efficiency of several production areas by
incorporating a lean manufacturing method called 5S. This is an acronym forSort, Set, Shine,
Standardize, and Sustain(Taneja, 2020). I divided the plant into 16 key areas, created
evaluation criteria for each location, and assigned a weekly auditor to assess a particular area.
I noticed that month after month, the employees performed fewer and fewer5S audits.
I handled this situation by explaining to the employees how the data was making us
look bad when I reported it to senior management, which was effective because most of the
employees feared that their performance reviews or raise would be impacted. However, after
learning a multitude of change management approaches in this class, I know that I should
have explained the organizational benefits of 5S and how it improves employees’ ability to
focus on performing more value-added activities, instead of dealing with problems associated
with having an unorganized work environment.
One change management skill that I found interesting was performing a stakeholder
analysis prior to implementing a change. The purpose of doing this is to help determine the
most effective level of communication for each stakeholder and anticipate any resistance, so
that you can counter it (Lucid Content Team, 2021). I believe I will apply this in the future
when I am marketing for trying to persuade a customer to replace their old equipment with
my company’s product(s).
References
Taneja, H. (2020). “What Is 5S?”Quality info.
https://qcin.org/nbqp/knowledge_bank/uploads/2020/09/1600506696_205-Quality-
Info-Journal-15Jan20.pdf
Lucid Content Team. (2021). “How to Perform a Stakeholder Analysis.”How to Do a
Stakeholder Analysis | Lucidchart Blog.
https://www.lucidchart.com/blog/how-to-do-a-stakeholder-analysis#:~:text=A
%20stakeholder%20analysis%20allows%20you,for%20the%20opposition%20you
%20anticipate.
