• You will hear two managers, Louis and Sally, discussing changes in their compa

M Sally, everyone’s talking about the changes. I’d be interested to know what you make of them.
F Well, Louis, I think it’s a mixed bag. I guess they’ve been fairly carefully planned. I think every department head was consulted, so ideas were contributed from the whole organisation. The chairman put a lot of thought into bringing it all together, which is probably due to his background in consultancy - wanting to get the whole picture clear, before finally deciding.
M I hadn’t realised they’d been so long in the making - they seemed to come out of the blue,
F Oh no, it’s been building up. The idea is to give our whole operation a boost. We’ve been paying the price for low motivation for quite a while, and it’s time to turn staff retention rates around. Sales and profits have been static for too long, but if we can get more commitment out of people, things should pick up.
M Sounds reasonable. As I say, I thought they’d happened rather suddenly. If other senior staff are thinking that too, they’re going to feel some resentment. But then again, it doesn’t mean they won’t get on with implementing them, so I guess it’ll all end up alright.
F I hope you’re right. Still, I’m personally rather unconvinced about the new working hours.
M Oh?
F Well the idea sounds nice having core hours from I I to 3 and leaving people free to start as early or late as they want and finish accordingly ...
M And maybe working four long days and having longer weekends.
F But it’ll mean we’ll be very understaffed on some days, and then those people who are here will have to take everybody’s calls, so less actual work will get done  that’s how I see it turning out in the end, anyway.
M I see what you mean. What other problems do you foresee?
F I think the sales targets could have been better thought out. I know the idea is to encourage a spirit of healthy competition, which is no bad thing of course, but they’ve been applied right across the board in the departments affected. People can’t be expected to achieve the same regardless of what they’re selling. It’s a fact that some models outsell others, and that ought to be reflected in the targets.
M Well, on a more positive note, I’m all in favour of the training that’s being introduced.
F Uh-huh.
M It’s going to be far more accessible. When we had sessions provided by the college, the topics were rather limited, it seemed to me, but now there’s a much wider range on offer, not just internet and database management all the time. I just hope they timetable it sensibly.
F Oh, I think they will, after all the effort of setting it up. Something I’m looking forward to is the newsletter- that’s a great idea.
M Yes, it makes you wonder why we haven’t had one before.
F It’ll be a real boost for corporate culture, make everyone feel involved. The overseas reps will particularly, appreciate it - they can feel outside the loop except when they’re over here, which is only twice a year I suppose most of the contributions will come from managers. People joining the company will probably assume we’ve always had it, but I’m sure it’ll be an improvement.
M So, some hope for the future?
F Let’s give it about six months to see how it all plays out. It takes time to tell whether things are going to succeed, and everyone will need to be consulted to get their views and experiences on the changes. The real test will be morale, and whether it seems to go up or down, but I’d guess these won’t be the last changes, and that we’ll see more major changes introduced.
M As you say, time will tell ...