Research Korner: Change Paper Sample

The Construction of an Information System that enhances “the Flexible Work Practices” to a Company

The Work-based Project Introduction During the turn of the century, the world experiences more drastic changes than before, which include changes in the environment, culture, education, knowledge, the society, and technology. The world has evolved into a massive ball of information and technology that led to the expansion and the development of the society in several aspects. However, despite the improvement of the performance of many companies, these changes also contributed to the distress of some, which are not apt for these changes. From this, it can be understood that, existing and persisting in the business industry is not as easy as it seems. Because of these, many business organisations and companies are encountering a variety of problems and issues that determine the success or failure in the business arena and in the industry. These problems and issues arise from the external and internal changes that the company encounters. With regards to this, certain business improvement procedures should be practiced in order to enhance the business practices and development of the company. In this paper, the discussion of the construction of an Information System that enhances “the Flexible Work Practices” to my company will be shown. Change is a part of every organisation. Sooner or later, organisations have to change and adapt to a competitive environment, it is a must for organisations to change in order to stay on top of the competition.  This paper will be discussing the issues of business improvement efforts within our company.             The Business Improvement             Project life cycle, basically subdivides the project into a number of definable phases or stages.  In the case of our company, the development of an information system that enhances “the Flexible Work Practices” are considered with respect to the efforts that will enhance the business practices of our company. These were divided into four (4) phases/stages as adopted in Cleland, & Gareis (1994) i.e. concept and initial phase, design and development phase, implementation or construction phase, and commissioning and handover phase (See Figure 1). Figure 1.  Project Life-Cycle               Basically, the business improvement efforts in our company are often implemented to provide a facility or to produce a product that will give a client a return on investment. And in our case, the implementation of project in our company is to enhance the “Flexible Working Practices” of our employees.  By looking at the bigger picture the designers are able to trade-off the cost of the construction with the cost of maintenance, upgrading, expansion and disposal over the life of the facility.  The extreme case would be a cheap construction which turned out to be expensive to maintain, difficult to upgrade and expand, and an environmental disaster to dispose to.             One of the methods in addressing the problem is to make the company responsible for all aspects of the life-cycle, thus eliminating any short term construction gains. These are often called BOT contracts (Built, Operate and Transfer), or BOOT (Built, Own, Operate and Transfer), or ROT contracts (Refurbish, Operate and Transfer) where a company is given a licence to finance, build, operate and sell. Governments find these contracts attractive as they are seen to provide facilities without having an impact on budget (Burke, 2003).      Time Planning             A time plan or a schedule must be prepared to enable the manager to budget time and energy effectively.  Timescales and time allocation is allows the company to eliminate wastage and allocate resources appropriate to tasks importance (Blair 2009). With setting the appropriate timescale, the company can focus and prioritise the activities in accomplishing the project. Timescales also allows the persons involved in the project become prepared for meetings, monitor project progress, and plan each day and week efficiently (Blair 2009). This would enable the company assess the progression of project and make certain improvements when necessary. Proper time allocation also allows the company to reject excessive workloads and ensure that long-term projects are not neglected (Blair 2008). With proper monitoring of projects, short-term goals can be easily completed and long-term goals can be given priority.   Figure  2. Project Plan and Timescales 	 		 		 		 		Classical Project Schedule (10 weeks) 		 		 		 		time frame (weeks) 		 		 		 		payment 		 		 		 		involved staff 	 	 		 		 		 		1st 		 		 		 		2nd 		 		 		 		3rd 		 		 		 		4th 		 		 		 		5th 		 		 		 		6th 		 		 		 		7th 		 		 		 		8th 		 		 		 		9th 		 		 		 		10th 		 		 		　 		 		 		 		PM* 		 		 		 		SA* 		 		 		 		AP* 	 	 		 		 		 		 		Project Kick-off 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 	 	 		 		 		 		Signing the Agreement 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		 		30% 		 		 		 		Y 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 	 	 		 		 		 		Preparation of Project Plan 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		 		Y 		 		 		 		Y 		 		 		　 	 	 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 	 	 		 		 		 		 		Implementation Process 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 	 	 		 		 		 		User Requirement Capture / Gap Analysis 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		 		20% 		 		 		 		Y 		 		 		 		Y 		 		 		　 	 	 		 		 		 		Programs Development 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		 		Y 		 		 		 		Y 		 		 		 		Y 	 	 		 		 		 		Training IT / User 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		 		Y 		 		 		 		Y 		 		 		 		Y 	 	 		 		 		 		User Acceptance Test 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		 		Y 		 		 		 		Y 		 		 		 		Y 	 	 		 		 		 		Parallel Run 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		 		30% 		 		 		 		Y 		 		 		 		Y 		 		 		 		Y 	 	 		 		 		 		Live Run　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		　 		 		 		 		20% 		 		 		 		Y 		 		 		 		Y 		 		 		 		Y 	 * PM: Project Manager, SA: System Analyst, AP: Analyst Programmer               In implementing the new IS development as for our company, several problems may occur. However, despite the presence of these problems, they can be solved by effective communication. One of the problems to be encountered is dealing with the impetus for change, for all organisations are resistant to change. An organisation will only undertake change when it can no longer meet the demands placed on it in the current mode of operation, and these demands come from customers, the problems the organisation is attempting to solve, and by the threat of competition from other companies (Ward 2009). Through effective speaking and listening, both the employees and the management can focus on informing each other of their beliefs and perceptions regarding the new implemented system. With this, the employees can speak to the management of their fears and lack of knowledge regarding the system. Moreover, the management or the leader can ask the project manager to make some adjustments regarding the problem, such as providing training for the staff and making the software program more user-friendly.   Time Definition By definition, time management is actually the ability to efficiently help give more worth to the time and energy spent with the goal to make life better and easier. As indicated in the previous presentation i.e. Figure 2, the timescales of the project will be divided into two major parts (i.e. Project Kick-off and Implementation process). Basically, these defined stages are based on the network analysis presented in the next section. For the success of any business project on careful planning, the manager must plan, organise, and control a project that consists of a number of interrelated activities.  The best known network models are PERT which stands for Program Evaluation and Review Techniques and CPM which stands for Critical Path Method.              PERT is used to plan the program in advance and to estimate the expected completion time of the entire project (Cleland & Gareis 1994).  It indicates the activities that might need modification regarding completion time.  In short, PERT allows the manager to compare actual progress of each activity and concentrate those activities that are behind schedule and may cause delay of the project. On the other hand, the CPM was developed to aid in the scheduling of some management works like routine plant overhaul, maintenance and construction work.  Since such work projects fall under repetitive operations of which the management has experience on data involving time and cost among others, and relatively small variance in their performance time, and CPM reasonably assumed that the completion time for each activity involved in a work project is known.  Moreover, the CPM incorporates no statistical analysis in its determination of time estimates.  Thus, in accordance to the convenience use of CPM, our company consider the use of this method.   Cost Planning There are main activities involves in the cost management project that includes cost monitoring and cost control.  These activities need to be thoroughly and carefully followed up based on the project requirement. In our company, project cost management includes cost monitoring and cost control which will be shown in preceding sections. Actually, finding ways to reduce costs sometimes may be crucial to firms and is a necessity most of the time. The learning phenomenon and the learning curve offer opportunities for cost reduction programs in general and in the pre-project planning areas in particular. In the pre-project planning stage, the type of learning curve to be used subsequently may be affected by the level and content of organisational planning. More precisely, the more preplanning that is done in all aspects associated with the launching of a new IS, the lower the cost of the initial unit. With the cost of the initial unit being the starting point of the learning phenomenon, the lower it is through effective pre-project planning, the greater the savings generated by the resulting learning curve.   Earned Value Analysis   When running an improvement business project, it is important to understand the values and issues that workers have in order to address them and keep everyone on board for the duration of the project. Workers are not always keen to participate but engaging them at this early stage of the project will help ensure success. With respect to the success of the projects, the approach to arrive at a price base for the purpose of tender assessment must be considered.  From the presentation, several factors can be determined, which need improvement. Primarily, the contracts to be used in the projects must be appropriate, which suits the style and preferences of its employees. The management style of the project managers must then be given enough attention to ensure the organisation and control of the tenderers. Function also includes organising, which determines what needs to be done, how will it be done and who will do it, leading to directing and motivating all parties and resolving conflicts, controlling, and making sure that the organisation has achieved its stated purpose (De Bono, 2005). In short, the scope in the project management entails the refreshing and reinforcing of the tasks and responsibilities of the project manager. Due to the problems and the target project plan that have been distinguished by our company, it is decided to create a plan in relation to project measures.   Implication and Financial benefits of Business Improvement             The changes in technology and management underwent by our company allowed us to adopt serious changes in strategy and development. From the desire to cope with the technological advancements of the century, the company is making plans of implementing a new Information Systems technology that will enhance the flexible work practices of our employees. Basically, the opportunities before our company are significant.  The company has the technical solution and the market expertise to become the dominant force in the market i.e. to enhance the flexibility of employees. But as is typical in the software industry, the window of opportunity will not remain open for long.  The possibilities are virtually limitless, but the company needs to introduce into the marketplace as soon as possible to ensure that they were able to take advantage of future opportunities even more lucrative than those presented herein. To be able to cope with competition against other companies, our company must therefore plan actions properly and implement the plan immediately. However, given the intention for change, the company must not also forget the presence of technical and non-technical problems that they can encounter, such as choosing the software program itself, its compatibility with the organisation’s system, budget, time and people. This is why, the adequate allocation of resources, including time and money must be planned accordingly to achieve success. In relation to this, effective management and well-planned project implementation must be practiced to encourage teamwork and business progress. This can be done through effective communication, with good interpersonal, speaking, writing and listening skills. Aside from these, the organisation can also seek professional help from IS professionals for additional guidance.   Conclusion             Planning is one of the fundamental functions in management. It underlies the factors that will lead the organisation into achieving its main goals. Thus, it is crucial to lay out a plan to organise the activities that are to be undertaken by the entire organisation. The process of planning though entails setting the desired outcomes and drafting the set of actions to be implemented. It is a complex process that will require analysis of the organisation’s strengths and weaknesses as well as the external factors such as the opportunities and threats. Moreover, an action plan needs to be implemented to assess the effectiveness of the set goals of the organisation. In order to this, the managers will have to communicate the information to subordinates. This undertaking entails competent interpersonal skills that will persuade and motivate the employees to work hard and in the long run, achieve the plans. In the case of our company, the planning of projects implementation should also include other external factors that might cause significant effect to the overall implementation of the project.  These factors are sometimes immeasurable since it is more related to the characteristics of project manager itself. To be able to carry out plans, the managers must provide continued motivation to the employees towards excellence and high performance. This pursuit involves the development of the managerial skills to create an efficient team that will lead to increased productivity. Observing the work conditions of the employees which involves the interaction and work flow is crucial to facilitate adjustments and improve the procedures.   References: Blair, GM (2009). Personal Time Management for Busy Managers, viewed 12 May, 2009, <http://www.see.ed.ac.uk/~gerard/Management/art2.html>.   Burke, R. (2003). Project Management: Planning and Control Techniques. (4th ed.). West Sussex, England: John Wiley & Sons.   Cleland, D.I. and Gareis, R. (Eds) (1994). Global Project Management Handbook, McGraw-Hill International Editions.   De Bono, S (2005). Assessing Managerial Attributes Case Study of Maltese Managers in the Service Industry, DBA Executive Summary.   Ward, JA (2009) Implementing Quality Initiatives in Information Systems, viewed 12 May, 2009, <http://www.jamesaward.com/implementing%20quality%20initiatives.htm>.

The Construction of an Information System that enhances “the Flexible Work Practices” to a Company

The Work-based Project Introduction During the turn of the century, the world experiences more drastic changes than before, whi...

Resistance Of Employees Toward Business Process Re-engineering

RESISTANCE OF EMPLOYEES TOWARD BUSINESS PROCESS RE-ENGINEERING        Business Process Re-engineering is a management initiative that aims to improve workflow efficiency and productivity. This can be applied logic, changes in work setting, work ethics, work group, work environment or a combination of all of these concerns. Business Process Re-engineering can be experimental from the start until it becomes a permanent workflow strategy. Most government system during the 60’s and 70’s uses manual recording and retrieval system but the advent of computer has made the business process re-engineering a very practical in the work place to make their recording, retrieval, printing, research and other works a very fast and modern ways of doing business transaction to be very effective in all organizations and industry during the 80’s that most of them including home computing are well appreciated fast and efficient services with less manpower is also achieved.       Business Process Re-engineering innovate most business by re- thinking, repackaging or re-inventing of better workflow to meet the customers expectation and demand. It can also be radical changes of thorough planned package to reduce overhead while meeting the production output. Business Process Outsourcing or BPO is a good example of it. Companies seek another organization to do the job usually they settled in other countries who have a low salary demand but with efficient rooster of manpower. This way they eliminate expense while they give jobs from another organization this kind of innovation is a very effective process making it a very clear solution for both company to employees to customer to meet most of their demand and objectives.       There are also times that employees can have a resistance towards business process re-engineering because their works are usually affected or they may also be removed in their position and this can make them skeptic about the new changes in the workflow they may also feel that the old process that they have implemented is better than the new one. There are also times that supervisors and managers may fear about the risk in changing their position or in losing their authority. If this happens employees may feel that they will be the one to suffer and so they resist the employees by doing rallies, boycott and other employee’s demeanor just to create barrier in changing the process. Through this effect the management must present a valid business strategic plans that is acceptable in the eyes of their employees.       Philippines Airline would like operate in a Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) this could mean retrenchment of some of their employees and hiring customer service representatives through outsourcing call center agents but most of their employees resist the process because they will be directly affected in losing their job. So the Philippine Airline Management have proposed to settle to re assign their employees into a BPO style of operation rather than re-hire and retrench employees which is more acceptable manner in Business Process Re- engineering. This lesson should also teach companies that the resistance of employees in organizational and management changes could also mean a downgrade and image destruction of the company.       In order to manage the employees resistance, management must not compromise the work quality of their employees they must not ignore the company’s old culture and way of thinking since they are familiar with such system but if the company must changes they should also take the consideration of their employees by warning them about the changes that will occur in the next few months of operation so they can be prepared. Management should also present the idea to collective bargaining agreement if they have a union. If they have to implement business process re-engineering and address leverages and strategies they must also notify their employees. This means they are respected and treated fairly.       Business Process Re-engineering has been done by the great management leaders and most companies will soon need to do such practices in order to achieve a well rounded organization of changes. This can also be the key to competitive advantage if they believe that the changes will work just fine, there are also times that they should also consider the environment and natural resources if their business will affect them. There are many companies who do such claims that they are safe but they usually throw their trashes on the ground up that polluted the environment and destroy them. Examples are hospitals who do not incinerate their dump rather throw it on the landfill. In this case the resistance will come from their employees and also to the community. Companies should also consider the community while doing so. While there is nothing wrong in business process re-engineering and it can even provide an opportunity for growth in a company as long as there is no harm created to destruct their employees, the community, their customers and other organization.

Resistance Of Employees Toward Business Process Re-engineering

RESISTANCE OF EMPLOYEES TOWARD BUSINESS PROCESS RE-ENGINEERING Business Process Re-engineering is a management initiative that a...

Discuss: ‘Changing the individual is not enough, you need to work with the family to bring about real change’

Discuss: ‘Changing the individual is not enough, you need to work with the family to bring about real change’     Introduction Yes, ideally changing the individual is not enough, you need to work with the family to bring about real change, as it can be that family serves as one definite social unit of relationship which conforms to the individual in his total rational being, reflected in his manner of thinking and behavior as well as actions towards other, it is the family that bring in effective motivation to individual change, a motivator that almost every changing individual is looking for as a model, a good example in his drive to achieve change into his life.  The need to recognize the individual in the context of the family refer to the below illustration and discussion of the latter as there adheres to the individual as real change is manifested only upon working within the family from where the individual belongs to without apprehensions.        Body         Figure One: The individual in the context of the family and culture Source of illustration: Szapocznik, J. and Kurtines, W.  (1993), Family Psychology and Cultural Diversity: Opportunities for Theory, Research and Application. American Psychology Association, Volume 48: No. 4, p. 401   There addresses the individual into the family context, from within the illustration and based on the above, individuals can clearly associate real change coming in from the status and influence of his family as noted that family astounds as the center core bringing the individual as well as relative culture that the family brings in his life to achieve decency of change moods that he has in actual sense.  Real change because the individual’s development comes in early childhood as found within the family, from within the individual grows to recognize himself in relation to his environment and how he possesses to real change brings in the core function of working into his family orientation as well as structure. Thus, reflected also in the family movement, the significance and motivation truth bought about by the family being responsible for the changed individual and his change is real due to family respect and love. The family relational patterns are also known within impacting on attitude as well as behavior of the individual. Furthermore, it can be that a natural essence of counseling for instance, regarding change happens to start within the family, as the individual listens to what his family is telling him in terms of situations regarding to his life experiences that will lead him to accept at the same time embrace change in full shoulders. Indeed, there happens to be family therapy as there places on the study regarding the role of the family and the individual development (Freud, 1953; Bronfenbrener, 1986), as adopting to change situations, as there recognition that a family belongs to an organized system and noting in that the individual assumes a role of one contributing member, part of family oriented process that creates and maintains norms as well as standards in regulating individual changed behavior from within a one effective resource for allowing growth of developmental psychology, and that attention will be paid to the real change aspects that challenges in personality and traits formed into the family cycle and process in context, as the paradigm underlying family motivation and considers the framework for change views of the individual, (Freud, 1953; Bronfenbrener, 1986) for example, deepness of parent and child communication that moves towards a definite change formulation there is. Real change denotes a longer family life and relationship values from the ways that real change potential increases in the amount of time that individual person has spend into his family as well as the involved status can provoke real change for one, change within his social lifestyles and beliefs (Alexander, 2007). The change process is up and down experience, the family brings in reframing idea of a normal experience of individual change also, builds confidence/efficacy in their ability to maintain changes by attributing change to the family as well as responding to events the family bring in by focusing on good outcomes for the individual, to build confidence that new skills will work in diverse situations over time (Alexander, 2007).   Conclusion In conclusion, it is truly clear that changing the individual is not enough, that as an individual being you need to work within your family in order for you to bring about real change, which assume a permanent change experience and not just temporary change, and that family serves as a definite motivator, a factor that leads to real change within the individual and that natural counseling as mostly coming in as a first hand adviser of the individual with regards to change possibilities as the family setting is fresh, before the individual links to other people, to the society. Therefore, real change implies to the reality accepting and embracing that a family relates to the system of interacting solid relationships as well as within integrative patterns of change decision domains. Thus, family stabilizes the change done by the individual, as acting with self reliance as well as confidence  as well as maintains motivation when needed by the individual,   References Alexander, J. (2007), Functional Family Therapy. An integrative model for working with at risk adolescents and their families. Sweden Presentations May 2007   Bronfenbrener, U. (1986), The Ecology of the family as a context for human development. Developmental Psychology 22, pp. 723-742.   Freud, S. (1953), A general introduction to psychoanalysis. Garden City NY: Doubleday.   Szapocznik, J. and Kurtines, W.  (1993), Family Psychology and Cultural Diversity: Opportunities for Theory, Research and Application. American Psychology Association, Volume 48: No. 4, p. 401

Discuss: ‘Changing the individual is not enough, you need to work with the family to bring about real change’

Discuss: ‘Changing the individual is not enough, you need to work with the family to bring about real change’ Introduction Yes, id...

People Resistance Change

People Resistance Change Introduction Business leaders often imposed power to their subordinates in order to have a socially responsible organisation. This effort usually changes not only the culture of the business organisation but also their overall business process. Over the past years people, business practices and the environment have evolved. Change is the only thing that is constant in this ever changing world. From the physical attributes of individuals, up to the environment, change is very evident. Just like the environment and people, businesses also undergoes changes, it can be either massive or minimal. Others practice the virtue of being socially responsible, while others are not. Often times, changes occur in the management of the corporation, in order to keep up with the competition. According to MacCalman & Paton (2000) the people who went home winners and on top have the common characteristics of effectively handling the changes in the situation. Changes in management is a process that any organisation must undergo, a business will not be complete if it never experienced change.   Discussions             Before we discussed change management, the word change must be first defined. According to Davidson (2001) “change is the significant difference in what was before.” In business it means accomplishing tasks in a new format, following new directions, acquiring new technologies, new management procedures, acquisitions and merging and other important events in corporations.             Organisations and people that resist changes will inevitably face wider exposure to risks and losses (Griffin, 1993). As illustrated in the book of Griffin (1993), there are a number of situations in which change is necessary within the organisation such as socially responsible activities that is being utilised by different companies in order to cope up with the competition. Aside from what was mentioned earlier, there are still many issues and concerns that are necessary for change in the organisation, however the most substantial thing is that organisations acknowledge that changes happen constantly for different reasons and the management must address these changes as soon as possible to prevent great losses.             Why an organisation does undergo changes? What are the factors and reasons for undertaking it? According to MacCalman & Parton the most influential factor in changes in organisations is the external environment which instigates reaction. Some of the examples given by MacCalman & Parton in the external environment that triggers changes in the organisation are: <ul style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in" type="disc"> 	<li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> 	Changes in 	 	technology being utilised</li> 	<li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> 	Changes in the tastes and 	expectations of the 	 	consumers</li> 	<li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> 	Changes due to competition</li> 	<li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> 	Changes because of 	 	legislation by the government</li> 	<li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> 	Changes due to modifications 	in the 	 	economy whether locally or internationally</li> 	<li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> 	Changes in the 	 	communications media</li> 	<li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> 	Changes in the 	 	value systems of the society</li> 	<li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> 	Changes in the 	 	supply chain</li> 	<li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> 	Changes in the 	 	distribution chain</li> </ul> The second factor that initiates change in the organisation is the internal changes which are the reactions of the organisation to the external changes. Aside from the responses there are also some factors that contribute to the internal changes, an example of this is a new marketing strategy for existing and new products with consideration to their stance of being socially responsible.             And finally, changes in organisation happen if they try to act in advance in order to deal with the expected risks and difficulty. An example is when an organisation anticipates the problems that may occur and creates and devises plans to combat and negate the impact of those problems. One of the keys for a successful organisation is a good manager with excellent leadership traits. Can you imagine an organisation, a company, or any other organisation succeeds without good governance? According to Kousez & Posner (2002), credibility is the foundation of a good manager. A manager should be credible for him to lead. In addition to this characteristic, a manager should possess honesty, competence, aspiration, and a forward-looking approach. Come to think of this, would you believe in managers who do not practice what they preach, do not walk the talk, do not do what they say they will do, and do not keep their promises? What would happen to the change process in a company if managers are lacking of skills? As part of the development of the competitive advantage of the business organisation with respect to leadership capabilities of managers, several factors should be considered. Social responsibility, use of power, change management and of course leadership among business industries should be given enough priorities. If a proper leadership style and used of power are used firms can have the edge it has to counter any threats, solve any problems, and achieve its goals. Use of power given by leaders gives a company critical edge to counter any threats from its competitors and its environment. Use of power given by leaders helps to compete in a global business environment. It steers the company into making right decisions and right practices with regards to competitors thus enabling it to survive in the global business environment. Actually, it gives a company critical edge to solve problems it has. Through effective use of power and social responsibility this solving problems can be easier for any company. Methods and preventive measures can be formulated towards problems the company has. Use of power given by leaders gives a company critical edge to achieve its goal. Companies use different things to reach the goals and objectives they have. Without this the goals cannot be easily reached. Furthermore, the use of power given by leaders gives the company direction on what should be done. It provides ideas on what approach will be used on certain situations. It also directs the company in doing the right things so that the company can reach its goals.   CONCLUSION As discussed, the knowledge of the underlying sources of competitive pressure highlights the critical areas where strategic changes may yield the greatest payoff, and highlights the areas where business industry trends promise to hold the greatest significance as either opportunities or threats. Understanding these sources will also prove to be useful in considering areas for diversification, though the primary focus is on strategy in the industry. With respect to the previous discussion and statement question, social responsibility alone is not only the essential thing to competitive advantage. Other factors such as change management, use of power and leadership also need enough consideration. Basically, change management is a process in which all companies undergo. This is an important procedure because it enables the organisation to make decisions that will be advantageous and beneficial to the company. In addition, organisations that are open to change are generally more successful compare to companies that resist it. On the other hand, corporate leadership in accordance to their of power focuses on the techniques and expertise of efficient organisation, planning, direction, and control of the operations of a business. In this ever changing global business environment a company must be competitive and do everything it can to counter any threat from its competitors. Having a good leader gives the company some edge in facing competition in the global business environment. Companies take part in strategic alliances to attain advantage over their competitors and for both companies to acquire benefits from each other. These strategic alliances won’t be successful if there is no leadership. Leadership gives many things to the company. It is an important aspect of a company. Although leadership can come from core intellectual assets practical application is also vital for the success of the company and for the company to be competitive in the global business environment.             In examining issues of social responsibility, we may argue that it is integral to any business’ success. We may also wonder how the economy would affect consumers’ feelings over time.  Most of the research literature came from an era of prosperity.  Consumers could afford to be discriminating. As economic times become more difficult, would consumers forsake social responsibility for price?  What does that say about the importance of social responsibility for the consumer?  We will have to wait and see as consumer confidence wanes during hard economic times.             Research evidence and professional commentary (e.g. Smith, Thompson & Kenner, 1991) tout the benefits of giving for the individuals in management.  While it is only natural that working outside of the corporate environment should help to hone leadership skills, the return on investment for the individual is not deeply addressed.  While volunteerism is a whole new business ethos than that of the profit world, the “warm fuzzies” that are created from community involvement should lead to a more well rounded and confident citizen whether in business or private life.             The business of business is business.  The good works of those who spend their daily lives in business or the professions are not inherently more noble than those made by men and women in other walks of life, but it is also evident that through community involvement, the business community distinguishes itself.  It gives the community unique qualities which define business.  Those in business are often tolerant of risk, embrace change, have the willingness to commit, know how to be accountable, and have the ability to persevere in the face of adversity.  They are able to form profitable partnerships that will benefit all involved including the community and can translate those business principles to the public sector to insure success i.e. success for the community and success for the business. REFERENCES: Davidson, J.P. 2001, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Change Management, Alpha Books.   Griffin, R.W. 1993, Management (4th Ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.   Kouzes, JM & Posner BS 2002, The Leader Challenge, Second Edition. San Francisco, California: Jossey Bass Wiley.   MacCalman, J. & Parton, R. 2000. Change Management: A Guide to Effective Implementation, Sage Publications Inc.   Smith, H. L. & Thompson, JK 1991, Social responsibility and small business: Suggestions for research. Journal of Small Business Management. Vol. 29. No. 1

People Resistance Change

People Resistance Change Introduction Business leaders often imposed power to their subordinates in order to have a socially respon...

IT Assignment Task 2: Implementing Strategic Change in IT project

On an individual basis, each organization learns how to change by taking action, encountering obstacles, and discovering over time how to overcome them. Each version of this cycle (taking action, confronting problems, and adjusting course) is an opportunity for learning. In this process, organizations -- at varying speeds and to differing degrees -- become more sophisticated in their ability to introduce strategic change. On a collective basis, organizations have also learned how to change over the past several decades. Planning, as traditionally practiced, reflected that assuming that if executives came up with excellent plans, the plans would be easily executed, and successful change would result (Gluck, 1986; Morrisey, 1996). This emphasized the creation of formal, fixed planning documents through a staff-driven, once-a-year event restricted to the most senior executives. Underlying conventional planning was a "predict and plan" premise, which presumed that incipient trends could be detected through the use of sophisticated environmental scanning methods. Based upon such advance warning signals, the organization could get a jump on the competition, formulating and implementing plans that would result in a competitive advantage when the predicted waves of change hit the shore. 1.    Good Estimates 1.1. Hardware Purchase and Lease. These costs have historically been estimated quite well. They are discrete events with a straightforward evaluation-bidding-ordering cycle. The industry trend of geometrically improving price/performance ratios has helped mask any underestimation of project costs in this area. 1.2. Vendor Software Licenses. These costs, similar to hardware purchase and lease, have generally been understood before commitment to them has been made. They are typically covered by a contract or license agreement that has undergone scrutiny by both management and legal staff, and the terms and conditions are generally explicit. An exception to this observation of "good estimates" can be noted regarding the explosive growth in vendor-supplied software maintenance costs, often included in the purchase contract. These costs are frequently expressed as a percentage of current list prices of the software, and can thus be raised in coming years without limit or purchaser control. 1.3. Networks and Telecommunications. These costs have traditionally been relatively well estimated. This is a result of a company or corporate-wide approach to architecture and configuration, relatively stable vendors for technology and services, and rapidly decreasing costs for commodity network bandwidth supply.   1.4. Internal Software Development. Despite a widely perceived reputation to the contrary, design and development costs, per se, have often been well estimated. However, massive changes in scope, poorly defined expectations and deliverables, and many problems associated with distribution, installation, and testing (particularly in large projects) have often contributed to significant problems with project cost estimates in this category. 1.5. Personnel Reduction. This is typically the only benefit that has been estimated at all well. It certainly is the only benefit category for which any credible effort has been made to audit claimed benefits. The reason was a fundamental lack of readiness for strategic change in the company. Rewards often reinforced the status quo. Management styles often clashed with the imperative to involve people in making change happen. People from throughout the company were often unaware of the need to change. And strong norms and culture prohibited change from taking form. In response to these problems, a new model of strategic change developed. This third version placed as much emphasis upon the creation of readiness for change in the organization as it did upon planning and implementation. This new model of strategic change recognized the importance of three elements -- readiness, planning, and implementation. Any successful change was viewed as dependent on a certain degree of readiness for the change within the organization. As a result, it was proposed that any attempts to introduce significant organizational change should be prefaced by a series of steps to enhance readiness. One should building awareness of the need for and communicating a vision of the desired change. Similarly, it is imperative to create a climate that is supportive of the desired change by realigning organizational culture, rewards, policies, procedures, systems, and norms to support such change. Moreover, equipping people throughout the organization with the skills needed to participate meaningfully in planning and implementing strategic change (Barger & Kirby, 1995). Planning tended to be seen as a more open process, with an emphasis on establishing general goals and direction and using pilot programs to build commitment within the organization. During implementation, there tended to be more concern for engaging frontline employees, as well as suppliers, customers, and other key stakeholders, in working out how plans should be executed. 1.6. Buy-in to Intangible Costs. The general skepticism toward project economic analyses is largely as a result of this aspect. There is a pervasive feeling in corporate management that IT projects have cost far more than either projected or accounted for. A growing inclination to disbelieve and mentally inflate any estimates of cost presented has probably been a significant factor in the industry-wide movement to outsourcing of IT functions on a turnkey contract basis. 2.    Estimates of Hidden Costs Hidden costs are those costs that have historically been either ignored or passed off as overhead. They often occur after a project has passed its official completion date. They can be generalized in the following categories.       2.1. Installation and Conversion. Most projects are proposed with the intent of taking advantage of an installed base of hardware, software, and/or data. Yet as technological and business changes occur during the life of the project, more and more requirements for such things as additional memory and memory management software, enhanced graphics capabilities, more disk storage, or faster file servers are added, but labeled as "outside project scope." Nonetheless, they are required for product delivery, and frequently in themselves add up to more than the total original estimate of the project costs. In addition, costs for converting from obsolete databases to new ones, recreating old report formats in the new environment, and so forth, are frequently grossly underestimated. 2.2. Data Integration and Access. As IT increasingly facilitates interdisciplinary access to business and technical data, projects require increasing scope of access to existing (and rapidly growing) databases (Love, 1993). In most large companies database infrastructures are extremely complex, spanning several generations of database technology, and they involve an intricate topology of many types of computers and networks. Development of robust access paths to these databases is difficult, slow, and costly. Unfortunately, after access path development is complete, availability of these access paths makes a much larger problem obvious and pressing: The databases contain large amounts of conflicting information. The resolution of these conflicts (after determining which are important enough to resolve) will be one of the greatest and most expensive IT challenges of the coming decade. 2.3. Maintenance and Adaptation. Many companies have made a practice of purchasing many vendor products and modifying them to meet their needs more closely. While this may increase the usability of a package, it obligates the company to significant ongoing maintenance, in addition to the rapidly increasing vendor maintenance charges mentioned earlier. Industry analysts have estimated that as much as 80% of American software activity is devoted to maintenance and adaptation of existing software (Radding, 1991), rather than to the development of significant new capabilities. 2.4. Ongoing Support. Projects are nearly always introduced with the assurance that they can be supported with the existing end-user support staff. This is frequently a prevarication. Admittedly, there may be no growth in the end-user support staff itself. However, many new innocuous-sounding "technical aide" and "clerk" positions are in reality computing support personnel added either to support the new technology or to maintain support of older systems. As a result of hidden costs, case studies have shown that actual costs typically exceed projected costs (i.e., those predicted in the project proposal) by factors ranging from 4 to 7 (Strassmann, 1990). Without far better estimates than these, further economic analysis is a wasted exercise.   3.    Estimates of Intangible Benefits Despite nearly universal management skepticism, intangible benefits are frequently claimed in economic analysis. 3.1. End-User Effectiveness. End-user efficiency and effectiveness gains have been claimed for many technology projects, but these have had minimal credibility, largely because of a lack of post-implementation tracking of the projected gains. Much of this problem has stemmed from an attempt to assign productivity gains to products, which provide a better quality of analysis (clearly a benefit), but often at a cost (which also needs to be recognized) of more time spent doing the analysis. Care must be taken to assign these costs and benefits appropriately, rather than just considering the benefits. A major focus is to build awareness of the critical importance of quality improvement and to convey top management's commitment to a radical new vision of the organization's future, a vision characterized by continuous improvement, employee involvement, and world-class leadership in quality. Another major target of readiness activities is to build a climate conductive to quality improvement by helping managers make a fundamental shift in their management practices, adopting more participative and facilitative styles that support employee involvement in the continuous improvement of quality. Still another target of preliminary readiness activities is the retooling of the workforce through intensive, up-front education and training in quality improvement philosophies and techniques.   3.2. Revenue Enhancement. These factors comprise improvements in the overall business. As such, they embody the integral nature of IT in daily operations. While it is clearly an overstatement that IT is the major contributing factor in all operational success, it is probably true that most modern businesses could not survive without their IT infrastructure. Regardless of their clear importance, benefits from this category (calculated as some percentage of total company revenue) can at best be categorized as speculative in any economic analysis, and they must clearly identify as such.   3.3. Cost Avoidance. This category deals with operating expenses that could be avoided only through use of the proposed technology. Care must be taken to provide a meaningful and accurate comparison of before and after costs. Historically there has been considerable difficulty in achieving this parity (Radding, 1991).   3.4. Programming Staff Effectiveness. During the past 30 years, programmer productivity (as measured by lines of code per year) has increased by a factor of approximately 15. This increase is understated, because of the much greater power per line of code inherent in recent generations of computing languages and tools (Diebold, 1990). Yet, despite all of this, there remains a growing backlog of unanswered user needs and demands. The benefit of improved development staff productivity can only be meaningful in an IT project context if translated into specific deliverables or reduced cost for the end-user client. Projects aimed at increasing programming staff productivity have, in their own right, no direct impact on the end-user client, and as such must be considered only as a cost in economic analysis. Research on change often indicates severe problems in bringing about actual, lasting, productive, and satisfactory change. These difficulties are consistently attributed to the human factor, typically in terms of prevalent employee resistance to change (Lawrence, 1969; Argyris, 1985; Blake and Mouton, 1985). Resistance does not seem to be limited to these more obvious occasions, but instead tends to be so widespread across different types of strategic change that it is viewed as a general pattern. Change can be defined as the realignment between the organization and its environment that affects the achievement of the organizational goals (Gray and Ariss, 1985). Given that it is intended to improve the organization's ability to survive by better fulfilling its goals and satisfying its stakeholders, it would be strange indeed if employees in general tended to resist change. Different types of changes are likely to vary in terms of the extent to which they threaten corporate cultures and careers. Comparisons between these types could refine our knowledge of where, when, and why employees resist and thereby also how they can be better managed. It is possible that the prevalence of employee resistance stems from the fact that managers and researchers may still retain theory X assumptions about employee reactions and these become self-fulfilling prophecies when implementing and studying strategic changes. McGregor's (1960) classic book The Human Side of Enterprise taught us thirty-five years ago that managerial behavior depends on our assumptions of people and if we view them as inherently disliking work, we will attempt to coerce them toward adequate performance. Translating these theory X assumptions to the dynamic situation of strategic change, people are viewed as stability-prone and therefore will fear and resist most changes. Research shows that individuals differ in their preferences for more or less stability versus change (Derr, 1986; Driver, 1988). Consequently, the stability-proneness assumption needs to be balanced with dynamic theory Y assumptions, namely, that if provided with adequate responsibility, freedom to act, rewards, and other support, people will drive and be empowered by strategic change. To the extent that more participative theory Y and cultural theory Z approaches have been used in relation to strategic change, they have tended to emphasize the human side at the expense of the business side (Beer, Eisenstat, and Spector, 1990). The answer to whether hard X or softer Y and Z approaches are more appropriate is "neither." While the hard implementation of a strategic change can be undermined by the resistance the approach generates, the sacrifice of business considerations in favor of soft people-oriented approaches is no more likely to produce positive results. The human challenge of strategic change therefore is to integrate the business and human sides toward strategic empowerment rather than coercion or mollification of employees. Empowerment has previously been largely an organization development concept for enabling employee motivation (Thomas and Velthouse, 1990). A strategic concept of empowerment is more than mere avoidance of powerlessness; instead, it is the competitive advantage that a company can gain through developing and being developed by its people.   3.5. Buy-in to Intangible Benefits. It should be clear from the above discussions that management buy-in to intangible benefits is (and based on experience should be) at best minimal. This is in clear contrast to a strong, historically justified buy-in to hidden costs.   4.    Summary of Costs and Benefits Production costs are the opportunity costs of the resources--land, labor, and capital--actually used to produce the output. Production costs are likely to be lower with private sector contracting out for two reasons. (McFetridge and Smith, 1988; Prager, 1994). Profit-maximizing firms in a competitive market will be forced to price at the lowest possible marginal cost, thus eliminating inefficient practices. There is considerable evidence that contracting out does lower production costs (Pack, 1989; McDavid, 1985; Carrick, 1988). After reviewing the evidence, Poole and Fixler (1987; 615) conclude the empirical studies have found that contracting out tends to be less costly than government provision covering a number of distinct services and pertaining to a variety of geographic areas. British and Australian studies tend to find chat production cost savings are in the 20% to 30% range, especially if competitive bidding is used (Hensher, 1988; Morlock, 1987; Walsh, 1991; Szymanski and Wilkins, 1993). There is also evidence chat much of the cost reduction comes from productivity improvements, which implies that although nominal wages do not change, there are decreases in effective wage rates (Szymanski and Wilkins, 1993). Studies that have examined the relative production costs of internal provision versus contracting out have not included bargaining and opportunism Costs, which a priori might be expected to be higher width contracting out. Additionally, not all forms of contracting out can be expected to lower production costs, particularly if cost-plus contracts are used (Schlesinger, Dorwart, and Pulice, 1986). This is confirmed by the empirical evidence on cost-plus contracting and on cost-plus regulation (Spann, 1974; Courville, 1974). The fact that most of the value of IT projects lies in those intangible or difficult to-measure factors dealing with the overall success of the business creates an apparent paradox. Recent restructuring in many companies, however, makes possible a linking of perceived benefits and value assignment that has previously been unavailable. Operational management throughout industry has recently been made much more accountable for determining IT expenditures than ever before. As such, that management can now make go or no-go decisions on projects affecting their operations. Based on an assumption of prudent management, those decisions can be taken as a reasonable proxy of the value of the proposed technology, even in the absence of significant tangible benefits. If a manager is willing to make a certain expenditure, directly affecting the unit's profitability, that constitutes as accurate an estimate of the long-term value of that technology as we are likely to get. Thus, if we can produce credible estimates of full-life-cycle costs and contrast them with the estimates made by responsible management of their overall good to the business enterprise, we have the necessary ingredients for a useful cost-benefit analysis.     5.    RISK ANALYSIS Projects fail for many reasons. Even many supposedly successful projects fail to meet their projected capabilities or fail to realize their projected benefits. Accurate risk estimates are equally critical to evaluation of both projected costs and estimated benefits. Gottinger (1989), Shah (1984), and Strassman (1990) have elaborated in detail on many types of risk affecting the introduction of new technologies. They can be categorized as technical risk (e.g., technological, cost, project management uncertainties), management risk (e.g., staffing, budgeting), and client risk (e.g., client goals, funding, external support). Evaluation of each of these categories is critical to valid economic calculations. Multiple scenarios, involving a variety of possible outcomes to the types of risk inherent in the proposed project must be constructed. These can then be chance-weighted and probabilistically combined to provide the expected value (using the statistical definition of expected). The case described above is more the rule than the exception in implementing the IT project. Although it is sometimes embarrassing for information systems (IS) managers and consultants to admit, the problems of cost overruns, delayed implementations, and failed systems are very common. Despite more than three decades of experience with large-scale IT applications, these problems have not disappeared. By one estimate, 20% of all IT projects get scrapped before completion, and 80 percent of the ones that are completed are finished behind schedule, over budget, and with lower functionality than expected. There are four serious deficiencies in practice that account for most of the implementation problems such as the failure to assess the risk of failure for the individual project at the time a project is funded. Another is the failure to determine whether the level of risk is counterbalanced by a commensurate benefit if implementation is successful. Concurrently, the failure to recognize that different projects require different managerial approaches is among the shortcomings of the organization. Lastly, failure to consider the aggregate implementation risk of the portfolio of projects under development by the IT group was recognized. Numerous techniques, guidelines, and frameworks have been proposed by academics, consultants, and practitioners for managing project risk in the private sector. An approach that we have used with success consists of initially, evaluating whether or not the project that is being proposed is aligned with the mission and objectives of the organization. The more aligned the project is with the departmental objectives, the easier it is to justify the project, and the greater the political support for the project. This first assessment is basically an assessment of what can be expected if the project runs into trouble. Consequently, one should evaluate the benefits that the project will bring to the organization. These benefits can be tangible (greater efficiency and therefore reduced expenditures as in less overtime pay) and intangible (political good will with the state legislature because of faster response to their requests). It is important to do a formal evaluation of these benefits before deciding whether to implement a project and to review the list of benefits as the project evolves to confirm that it continues to be a good idea. Accordingly, the organization should also look into the risk inherent in the project by examining three dimensions of a project to assess its risk up-front (Cash et al, 1992). These dimensions are project size, experience with the technology, and project structure. Experience with the technology is also an important consideration. Because of the greater likelihood of unexpected technical problems, project risk increases as the project team's and organization's familiarity with the hardware, communication channels, operating systems, database management systems, and application development language decreases. Project structure refers to how well the outputs of the systems project can be identified and defined at the outset. If all parties involved have complete agreement on the content, format, and timing of all systems outputs at the beginning of the project, then it is classified as "well defined." A project with low structure (poorly defined outputs) increases risk substantially because their will likely be disagreements over requirements of the system, necessitating frequent changes and delaying implementation. Cross-reference the expected benefits from the project to its inherent level of difficulty or risk. Only projects considered to be blockbusters (go-for-it) or high-wire acts should be performed. Assuming that the decision has been made that the benefits to be accrued from implementing the project balance its risks, decide how to manage the project to maximize the probability of successfully implementing the project. The management strategy depends on the evaluations of the three project dimensions listed above. The basic idea is to match the appropriate project management strategies to the individual project. There are four generic tools to manage the risk of projects (Cash et al., 1992). External integration tools, which include organizational and other communication devices that link the project team's work to users at both the managerial and lower levels; internal integration tools, which are coordination controls that ensure the project team operates as an integrated unit; formal planning tools, such as project charting techniques, which help to structure the sequence of tasks in advance and estimate the resources the team will need; and the formal results-control mechanisms, such as periodic reports and reviews, which help managers to evaluate progress and to spot potential discrepancies. The appropriate combination of tools is dependent on what sources of risk are present in the project. For example, a project that is highly structured, small, and for which the project team is familiar with the necessary technology, is defined as low risk (i.e., very doable). Because the outputs are well defined, there is less need for external integration tools (formal links with the users). Because the project is small, internal integration tools (links within the project team) are not that critical. With a large-size project, there would still be a need for formal planning tools and results-control mechanisms. Moreover, an organization should also decide whether or not it has the necessary skills, and whether or not the environment is propitious to develop the project. The decision can range from developing internally to outsourcing the project to shelving the project for the time being.   6.    Recommendation Changing an in IT projects requires powerful motivators. Getting the entire organization to move in a new direction, and continue moving requires a carefully considered strategy. While every organization is and must be treated as a unique entity, the following five steps form a good starting point for building an effective and sustainable culture change strategy. The first step in changing an organization is to provide it with a compelling reason to change; establish the organizational imperative for inclusion. It is important that the people of the organization understand the interrelationship of an inclusion effort and the organization's ability to achieve its mission and future success. Moreover, an organization should also reinforce existing resources for change instead of attacking areas of resistance. Start by identifying leaders from all levels of the organization who already hold inclusive values - a diverse group of pioneers, top management and other members of the original culture. Help strengthen their commitment and competencies for supporting change throughout the organization through coaching, education, networking and mentoring efforts. Furthermore, establishing groups or teams that are committed to the change, equip them with the skills and resources that they need to work together and let them prove that the change works is also imperative. Their successes will then be the standard others will want to emulate, and they can become a core of internal change agents as well as role models. Offer examples of success. Don't try to fix or change people.  Reference: Argyris, C. Strategy, Change and Defensive Routines. New York: Harper, 1985. Barger, N., & Kirby, L. (1995). The challenge of change in organizations. Palo Alto, CA: Davies-Black. Beer, M.; Eisenstat, R.A.; and Spector, B. "Why Change Programs Don't Produce Change." Harvard Business Review, 90 (1990), 158-166. Blake, R.R., and Mouton, J.S. "How to Achieve Integration on the Human Side of the Merger." Organizational Dynamics, 13, 3 (1985), 41-56. Carrick, P.M., 1988. "New Evidence on Government Efficiency." Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, vol. 7 (Spring), 518-528. Cash, James I., F. Warren McFarlan, James L. McKenney, and Lynda M. Applegate, 1992. Corporate Information Systems Management: Text and Cases, 3d ed. Homewood, IL: Irwin. Courville, Leon, 1974. "Regulation and Efficiency in the Electric Utility Industry." Bell Journal of Economics and Management, vol. 5 (1), 53-74. Derr, C.B. Managing the New Careerist. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1986. Diebold, J. (1990) "How Computers and Communications Are Boosting Productivity: An Analysis," International Journal of Technology Management, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 141-152. Driver, M. "Careers: A Review of Personal and Organizational Research." In C.L. Cooper and I. Robertson (eds.), International Review of Industrial and Organizational Psychology (1988), 245-277. Gluck, W. F. (1986). Strategic management: An overview. In J. Gardner, R. Rachlin, & H. Sweeny (Eds.). Handbook of strategic planning, (pp. 1.1-1.36). New York: Wiley and Sons. Gottinger, H. W. (1989) "A Strategic Management Decision Support Tool for Technology Management," International Journal of Technology Management, Vol. 4, No. 2, pp. 141-156. Gray, B., and Ariss, S.S. "Politics and Strategic Change across Organizational Life Cycles." Academy of Management Review, 10, 4 (1985), 707-723. Hensher, David A., 1988. "Some Thoughts on Competitive Tendering in Local Bus Operations." Transport Review & vol. 8 (4), 363-372. Lawrence, P.R. "How to Deal with Resistance to Change." Harvard Business Review, 47, 1 (1969), 166-175. Love, B.  (1993) Enterprise Information Technologies: Designing the Competitive Company. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold. McDavid, James C., 1985. "The Canadian Experience with Privatizing Residential Solid Waste Collection Services." Public Administration Review, vol. 45 (September/October), 602-608. McFetridge, Donald G. and Douglas A. Smith, 1988. The Economics of Vertical Disintegration. Vancouver, BC: The Fraser Institute. McGregor, D. The Human Side of Enterprise. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1960. Morlock, E.K., 1987. "Privatizing Bus Transit: Cost Savings from Competitive Contracting." Journal of the Transportation Research Forum, vol. 28, 72-81. Morrisey, G. (1996). Strategic thinking: Building your planning foundation. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Pack, Janet, 1989. "Privatization and Cost Reduction." Policy Sciences, vol. 22 (March), 1-25. Poole, Robert W., Jr., and Philip E. Fixler, Jr., 1987. "The Privatization of Public Sector Services in Practice: Experience and Potential." Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, vol. 6 (Summer), 612-625. Prager, Jonas, 1994. "Contracting Out Government Services: Lessons from the Private Sector." Public Administration Review, vol. 54 (March/April) 176-184. Radding, A. "A CASE of Re-engineered Applications," Digital Review, pp. 1, 49-51, 68, Dec. 9, 1991 . Schlesinger, Mark, Robert A. Dorwart, and Richard T. Pulice, 1986. "Competitive Bidding and States' Purchase of Services: The Case of Mental Health Care in Massachusetts." Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, vol. 5 (2), 245-263. Spann, Robert M., 1974. "Rate of Return Regulation in Production: An Empirical Test of the Averch and Johnson Thesis." Bell Journal of Economics and Management, vol. 5 (1), 38-54. Strassmann, P. A. The Business Value of Computers: An Executive's Guide. New Canaan, CT: Information Economics Press, 1990 . Szymanski, Stephen and Sean Wilkins, 1993. "Cheap Rubbish? Competitive Tendering and Contracting Out in the Refuse Collection-1981-1988." Fiscal Studies, vol. 14 (3), 109-130. Walsh, K., 1991. Competitive Tendering for Local Authority Services Initial Experiences. London: HMSO.

IT Assignment Task 2: Implementing Strategic Change in IT project

On an individual basis, each organization learns how to change by taking action, encountering obstacles, and discovering over time how to ...