Change management, organizational change, La Poste, employee impacts, resistance to change, Kurt Lewin model, John P. Kotter, incremental approach, company culture, employee engagement, customer satisfaction, waiting time reduction, postal services, public capital company, Postal Law, change implementation, employee resistance, psychological resistance, collective resistance, grief process, sense of urgency, vision of future, change acceptance, employee participation, company stakeholders, organizational development, management strategies, business transformation, cultural change, employee concerns, change communication, organizational behavior, business change management, organizational restructuring, employee adaptation, change leadership, service improvement, customer experience, operational efficiency, workplace culture, organizational effectiveness, change adoption, employee buy-in, business process improvement, La Banque Postale, postal counter optimization
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Abstract
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Abstract
La Poste's organizational changes and their impact on employees, including strategies to manage resistance to change and improve customer satisfaction.
Extract
[...] All agents had the right to a two-day customer relations training. In addition, La Poste thought about its more fragile employees by offering specific training in partnership with the CAF and the ATD Quart-monde association. Finally, introducing organizational changes requires an adjustment of the workspace. Managers therefore collaborated with agents to collect ideas and adapt the workspace effectively. In fact, it was necessary to provide a space for self-service packaging, for the addition of automatic machines dispensing stamps, and to know where the welcome agent, responsible for guiding customers, could be positioned. [...]
[...] This is explained by the fact that one client in two comes to La Poste to perform simple operations (buy stamps or mail a package). This leads to high waiting times (an average of 7min46 according to a company study), low customer satisfaction (since the customer focuses on the organization) and inefficiency on the part of the agents. How did that go? First, La Poste asked its marketing department to think about ways to reduce the waiting time of its clients. This was then translated into a test implementation to try out the proposed ideas. [...]
[...] How can this be explained? In a complex system, the rationality of agents is limited: the multitude of interacting elements makes it so that agents cannot accurately predict the consequences of the measures taken. By implementing a change to the system, many consequences can occur (and not necessarily those that are desired). The actions taken often create different results from those expected, even when decision-makers put these actions in place based on an objective to be achieved (S. FRIEDMAN, 2004). [...]
[...] This is essential so that customers do not waste time wondering where to go. Agents must therefore direct customers so that the time lost in finding their way is drastically reduced. In addition, as we have seen, these changes aim to increase the autonomy of customers for small tasks, which allows agents to be more available for other customers or for more complex operations. Agents have therefore gained a supervisory role for the customer, rather than an operator for small operations. [...]
[...] The organization consolidates the measures taken. La Poste, for example, implemented commercial training, and training adapted for the most fragile staff." Another more complete method for managing change is the method proposed by John P. Kotter in 2006: - Create a sense of urgency: use evidence to show employees the urgency of change of situation. - Organize a powerful coalition: establish a true leadership by integrating into the project employees with a real power of influence within the organization. - Show a vision of the future: to avoid uncertainties related to change, employees must be allowed to project themselves to see what changes will bring. [...]
