Stage 4: Action Plan

The Action Plan stage involves deciding on a variety of actions aimed at facilitating the transition from the current situation to the envisioned future scenario. These actions involve changes within the organisation (such as changing work processes, training, and management style) as well as technical actions that can feed into the design of the technology and any pilot lines. It is crucial to consider what organisational and work design actions should be undertaken first as it may not be appropriate to fit the new technology to existing roles or to implement the technology without further training or education.

The Socio-technical Scenarios workshop tool can be used to conduct the previous two stages (Access and Vision), as well as the Action Plan stage. During the Action Plan stage of the workshop, participants consider what actions are required to reach the future scenario, who needs to undertake these actions and when. These actions can be mapped at different levels depending on who needs to take action (i.e., organisational level, managerial level, employee level, and technology providers). To increase chances of success it is important that actions are undertaken at multiple levels so that issues are addressed more comprehensively (e.g., culture change will require actions across all levels of the organisation or cross-organisationally if appropriate). Prioritising people and organisational actions (i.e., culture, processes, and structures) is especially important. These action plans should influence the design of technology, rather than the actions being led by the features and constraints of the technology itself. The action plans can be developed further at a local level (e.g., by introducing modifications that will work within specific departments or areas of expertise).

Feedback

Providing a feedback report to employees is an important part of the communication and participation process. Feedback should be provided at the end of the Assess stage (for the CResDA tool) and at the end of the Action Plan stage (relating to the outcomes of the Socio-Technical Scenario Tool workshops). Feedback reports should outline the key findings as well as specific actions for how the findings will be used to inform the next stages of the change process.