ORG 5091 Module 4 Capstone Implementation and Evaluation Plan Example

Ninety Days to Launch, a Year to Judge: Implementing and Evaluating a New-Hire Stability Package on a Warehouse's Second Shift

Student Name

American College of Education

ORG5091: Organizational Leadership Capstone

Module 4 Assignment

Instructor Name

August 28, 2028

Introduction

The third stage of this capstone chose a combined answer to the loss of new evening associates at the composite Columbus warehouse: rules that announce mandatory overtime by mid-shift and exempt new associates for 60 days, a volunteer peer guide program with time credited against picking targets and a new-hire coordinator who checks in weekly with each associate in the first 120 days. This paper plans how the package will be implemented over 90 days and evaluated over the following year, so that the site can tell whether it worked and what to change.

Is the Shift Ready?

Weiner (2009) treated readiness as a collective state with two parts, a resolve among the people involved to make the change happen and their confidence that as a group they can do it, and he expected both to rise when people think the change worthwhile and judge that time and resources are sufficient. Evidence from the diagnosis suggests commitment is high among associates, who raised the problems the package addresses, and moderate among supervisors, who welcome the coordinator but worry about overtime shifting to experienced staff. Capability is mixed: the site has the budget, but volume forecasts arrive late in the day, which affects the overtime rule. The rollout is sequenced to build capability before the hardest piece starts.

Sequencing the Rollout

The package will start in three phases. In the first 30 days, the coordinator will be selected from the trainer pool, ten peer guides will be recruited and trained in a four-hour session and new hires starting that month will be paired with guides. In days 31 to 60, the overtime notice rule will begin on a trial basis for two of the five supervisor teams, while planning and the stores team test whether volume can be confirmed by 6 p.m. In days 61 to 90, the rule will extend to all teams and the new-hire exemption from mandatory overtime will begin. Starting with the guides and coordinator, which depend only on the site, gives early wins before the rule that depends on other departments.

Roles and Responsibilities

As second-shift manager, I own the project and report monthly to the site director. The new-hire coordinator runs weekly check-ins, keeps a simple log of issues raised and connects associates with guides and supervisors. Supervisors confirm guide pairings, protect guide time and apply the overtime rule. The planning lead works with the stores team to confirm volume earlier. The HR partner tracks hires and separations by cohort and runs 30-day and 90-day surveys. Two experienced associates, one English-speaking and one Spanish-speaking, serve on a small advisory group that meets every two weeks during the rollout.

Communication

Communication follows the people affected. All associates will hear about the package at shift start meetings in English and Spanish, and a single printed sheet in both languages will hang beside the time clock. Experienced associates will hear directly how guide time is credited and how the overtime list works, because they bear the most change. Supervisors will receive a short guide on handling questions. New hires will receive a welcome card naming their guide and coordinator. Updates on progress, including problems, will be shared monthly so associates see that their input led to action.

Anticipating Resistance

Stouten et al. (2018) reviewed research and practice on change and stressed that successful change depends on diagnosing the situation, building a shared vision, empowering others to act and attending to how people experience the change, including their sense of fairness. Two forms of resistance are likely. Experienced associates may see the new-hire overtime exemption as unfair, so the voluntary list will be filled first and overtime by tenure will be reported monthly. Supervisors may see the coordinator as taking over part of their role, so the coordinator will report issues to the supervisor rather than resolving them alone.

Budget

The package costs about $114,000 a year. The coordinator, drawn from an existing trainer position and backfilled, adds about $52,000. Peer guide time credited against targets costs about $62,000 in lost picking capacity, calculated from guides' average rates and hours spent guiding. One-time costs for training materials, translation and welcome cards are about $3,500. The site director has approved funding from the existing operations budget for the first year, with renewal tied to results at the twelve-month review.

Evaluation Design

The evaluation compares associates hired in the twelve months after launch with those hired in the twelve months before, using the first shift as a reference to account for changes affecting the whole site, such as a local labor market shift. If second-shift early turnover falls while first-shift turnover stays steady, the change is more likely due to the package. This is not a randomized trial, so the conclusion will be stated with appropriate caution, but the comparison is far stronger than a simple before-and-after count.

What Will Be Measured

Measures are divided into leading and lagging indicators. Leading indicators show whether the package is being delivered: the share of new hires paired with a guide within their first week, the share receiving weekly coordinator check-ins and the share of overtime announced by mid-shift. Early experience is measured by 30-day and 90-day surveys asking whether associates know their end time and whom to ask for help. Those items follow Bauer et al. (2007), whose meta-analysis found that newcomers' role clarity, confidence and social acceptance carry the effect of socialization through to retention and performance. Lagging indicators show results: 120-day retention by hire cohort, total second-shift turnover, overtime hours by tenure group, picking accuracy and on-time truck departures. Targets include 120-day retention rising from 36 to 60 percent.

Decision Points

Three reviews will guide adjustments. At 90 days, if fewer than 80 percent of new hires have a guide in their first week, guide recruitment will expand. At six months, if overtime is still announced late more than a third of the time, I will ask the site director to raise the issue with the stores organization. At twelve months, the full evaluation will be presented to the site director with a recommendation to continue, change or end each part of the package. Results will also inform the staffing plan for the third distribution line opening in 2029.

Ethics and Data

Evaluation data will be handled with the same safeguards used in the diagnosis. Survey results will be reported only for groups large enough to protect identities, the coordinator's log will record issues rather than personal details and no evaluation information will be used in individual performance reviews. Associates may decline the surveys without consequence. Results will be shared with associates as well as managers, which respects their contribution and builds trust for future change.

Conclusion

The new-hire stability package will be launched over 90 days in an order set by readiness: guides and coordinator first, then the overtime rule after a trial with two teams. Roles, bilingual communication, a budget and responses to likely resistance are defined. A cohort comparison with the first shift as a reference, leading and lagging measures and three decision points will show whether early turnover falls and what to adjust. The final paper will reflect on what this capstone shows about my development as a leader.

References

Bauer, T. N., Bodner, T., Erdogan, B., Truxillo, D. M., & Tucker, J. S. (2007). Newcomer adjustment during organizational socialization: A meta-analytic review of antecedents, outcomes, and methods. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92(3), 707-721. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.92.3.707

Stouten, J., Rousseau, D. M., & De Cremer, D. (2018). Successful organizational change: Integrating the management practice and scholarly literatures. Academy of Management Annals, 12(2), 752-788. https://doi.org/10.5465/annals.2016.0095

Weiner, B. J. (2009). A theory of organizational readiness for change. Implementation Science, 4, Article 67. https://doi.org/10.1186/1748-5908-4-67