An automobile manufacturer is undertaking a project intended to modify or replace the company's current timekeeping system. Negative employee reaction to change follows as word of the proposed solution spreads throughout the company. What could a business analyst (BA) do to prevent or reduce employee discontent?
The best course of action for a business analyst to prevent or reduce employee discontent is to treat the concern of the stakeholders as a project risk and determine appropriate mitigation strategies. By recording negative employee reactions as a project risk, the BA can proactively address the issue and develop plans to help employees understand and accept the changes, thus reducing discontent.
The question is asking what could BA do to PREVENT? hence we should propose C. Propose cultural changes for the organization
No cultural assessments have been performed. There is no basis for proposing cultural changes because of perceived resistance to upcoming change. The question says to PREVENT or REDUCE, the right answer is Option B. The BA has to treat the concern of the stakeholders as a risk and determine the right mitigation strategies to address the concern to ensure that the changes are accepted. See Item 1 in Figure 10.38.1 in BABOK.
best reasoning yet, B)
ANSWER: B (-ve attitude of stakeholders are considered as risk and preventative action can be taken by BA)
As a part of proposing cultural changes, BA need to perform cultural assessment which identifies following (BABOK v3 8.4.4.1): • Identify whether or not stakeholders understand the reasons why a solution exists, • Ascertain whether or not the stakeholders view the solution as something beneficial and are supportive of the change, and • Determine if and what cultural changes are required to better realize value from a solution. All of these facts seems relevant to provided scenario. Hence, BA need to propose cultural changes to prevent or reduce employee discontent.
B is not correct as recording employee negative reaction as project risk does not prevent or reduce employee discontent. These could only be reduced by proposing cultural changes which include determining that stakeholders understand the reason for why solution exists.
While Relay on upper management support or reporting potential sources of dissent to management may be correct, but they do not primarily address the concerns of employees like why they resist to implement change, whether they understand reasons for change, whether they view the solution as beneficial. These concerns are directly addressed by cultural changes proposed and enable stakeholders to understand and accept the new solution. (Refer BABOK v3 8.4.4.1)
What Qualms said... best explanation.
The right answer is C .BABOK 8.4.4.1 The enterprise culture assessment evaluates the extent to which the culture can accept a solution. If cultural adjustments are needed to support the solution, the assessment is used to judge the enterprise’s ability and willingness to adapt to these cultural changes. Business analysts also evaluate internal and external stakeholders to: • gauge understanding and acceptance of the solution, • assess perception of value and benefit from the solution, and • determine what communication activities are needed to ensure awareness and understanding of the solution.
c is ruled out as cultural change is a long-term thing and not an immediate solution. Also, B is not most appropriate as it's just a passive response, BA has to take more responsibilities. A is also ruled out for similar reason. Hence answer is D