Running head: Change management 1

Managing Changes Across The It Business

Kevin Naira

March 10, 2017

Prepared for

Central Washington University

IT486 Professor Terry Linkletter

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Table of Contents

Title Page...1

Table of Contents..2

Executive Summary..3

Organizational Change.4-5

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) .....5-6

Resistance to Change....6

Misunderstanding of the Need......6

Lack of Trust..6

Fear of the Unknown.....7

Poor Communication.....7

Lack of Consultation..7

Impact of Change..8

Summary....9

Appendix A...10

Works Cited..11
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Executive Summary

This report provides an analysis of managing changes across the Information

Technology(IT) business. When an organization modifies and/or implements new processes to

the current system, they may be faced with resistance. Resistance can become an undesirable

impact to the organization and may decrease efficiency and adoptability of the new system.

Furthermore, it is imperative that the organization focuses on planning for to prevent associated

risks before, during, or after implementation. All things considered, change management can be

accompanied with varying solutions to help assist with change management. For instance, ERP

or Enterprise Resource Planning can help with the organizations assessment on the current

system. ERP helps identify the impact of change and the ability to communicate efficiently and

frequently about project objectives. Thus, creating realistic expectations and ownership for

assignment of the stakeholders and end-users. In addition to ERP, the solution it provides is the

ability to centralize all resources to assist with the success of the project. The research will have

a focus on the competency of the organizations change processes.

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Organizational Change

Organizational change is the procedure of analyzing and modifying the current IT

organizational structure. The processes within the IT organizational structure focuses on the

direction of the companys drivers that induce the purpose of the organizational change.

Companys may seek to change the IT organizational structure and business processes to keep up

with competitors and customers, economic circumstances, and regulations.

The one of many drivers that influences change across the organization is keeping up

with the demands of the customers. To help assist with change management, Customer

Relationship Management or CRM are used to evaluate and implement solutions to the current

processes. Thus, addressing affordability and operational processes that help meet the demands

of the customer. In addition, software can help address processes that can be automated in

change management to help eliminate the focus on tasks that do not require much emphasis. To

elaborate, the organization can focus on being able to focus on the processes that require

employee interaction within the business model.

Another driver is the change in economic environments. In all aspects of business,

industry changes involve new trends, standards, and advancements. Therefore, it is important

that companies reflect changes to stay ahead other competitors so that they are not behind on

innovation. If an organization fails to implement or modify changes to keep up with the industry,

the business can fail from lack of keeping up with economic changes.

Identifying the motives that surround the organizational focus will help employees

understand the reason for the change. Therefore, change must be understood to be able to

manage users that will be utilizing the modified and/or new system processes. It must be
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understood that the users that operate these methods can be stakeholders, employees, and

customers.

Enterprise Resource Planning

Enterprise Resource Planning or ERP can be effectively used during the start of the

change management process. ERP is a system/tool that incorporates the necessary activities that

a business needs, which integrates a system that is designed to facilitate management of all

essential functions within the organization. It is used to carry out functions and processes to help

better manage their business which can help align critical aspects of the system. These functions

include: product planning, purchasing, manufacturing, service delivery, marketing, sales,

inventory, shipping, human resources, general ledger, accounts payable, and accounts receivable.

Keep in mind ERP is not a one-step resolution. ERP helps companies constantly evolve their

current strategies and structure. Companies will need to integrate data to refine and polish

current business approaches.

ERP systems can comprise of Customer Relationship Management(CRM), Profile

Management Systems, Data Analytics, and other tools that can increases efficiency and company

focus. For instance, Microsoft Dynamics ERP software has features that help create centralized

resources for customer information, internal communications, and other crucial data. The

software employs processes that would explore automation for areas such as, marketing. The

software enables responsive customer service where employees can log and track customer

interactions. Having such streamlined processes, it will create a focus on developing, improving,

and retaining customer relationships instead of relying on old traditional methods that are

ineffective and slow.

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To successfully implement a ERP strategy in your organization, you would want to obtain

support from upper management. Lacking involvement with upper management can cause

complications that can affect important detail from being known from executives. When

vocalizing the details of implementing ERP, results needs to defined to show that you understand

what the end goal of the business is. Reusing existing workflows should be reconsidered. If you

introduce the ERM strategy and resorting back to old processes, you are likely just exchanging it

like for like. Building a solid foundation from the beginning will allow you to discovery what

processes are inefficient and the challenges that relies in the current system.

Resistance to Change

During change management, it is inevitable that the organization will experience

resistance. Typical reasons for resistance are that people tend to misunderstand the need, have a

lack of trust, are fearful of the unknown, experience poor communication, and feel that there is a

lack of consultation or direction.

Misunderstanding of the Need. When the system begins to implement change, it is

important to discuss why it is necessary to modify or create new processes of the current system.

Individuals in the work place will likely resist to the changes being made because they feel that

the current structure is more than sufficient. To combat resistance, there should be an incentive

when the company is successful with the new plans in place.

Lack of Trust. Lack of trust creates an environment where individuals look over their

shoulder and disregard the system altogether. This type of resistance can create tensions in the

work place and may influence others to rebel against change management. Team leads in charge

of each section of the project will need to develop goals and emphasize key takeaways that keeps
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the project moving forward. Without trust, guidance, and communication there will no

transparency in the workplace and will become an even harder task to accomplish.

Fear of the Unknown. Change in the organizations structure can be difficult for some

due to being unfamiliar with processes. Fear of the unknown is often the reason why people

resist change. Lets face it, technology is here to stay and is evolving very quickly. Companies

are now adopting technology and incorporating software, hardware, and solutions that are

technology driven. The people that often feel discomforted of the technology advances may

experience a lack of confidence and competence to operate new technology. This creates a

stressful learning experience for the operator which can lead to low adoption rates.

Poor Communication. To be successful at overcoming resistance, the organization needs

to implement a transparency strategy. When a team has poor communication, it will create

resistance between different individuals whether they are stakeholders, users, and managers.

Without communication, the team will not be able to collaborate and identify issues from

different perspectives. When a team identifies an issue with a different perspective, a solution to

the problem can be developed with the varying ideas presented by all team members alike.

Typically, lack of involvement will create entrenched attitudes which is consequently created

from the lack of transparency in the workplace.

Lack of Consultation. Lack of consultation is another reason for resistance and is related

to communication. For example, an end user may not be consulted to the original scope

construes information about the project. In addition, it can cause a user to have incomplete

instructions and/or the wrong information that is specifically designed for a user.
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Impact of Change

There are positive and negative takeaways that change can lead to. Positive takeaways of

change management is the ability to stay current with competitors and customers, economic

circumstances, and regulations. A company will need to learn to adapt to new standards and

exceed the expectations of customers and competitors. Organizations whose employees embrace

change will allow the company to create new internal opportunities. As I have mentioned earlier,

striving for innovation is important and changes in the current system can encourage innovation.

It will allow the company to think differently from other prospects which can help the business

stand out from the competition. Most importantly, efficiency is increased and attitudes are

improved. New system processes that are successful increase the productivity and efficiency of

work processes. In return, customers and employees will become satisfied with the success of the

new system. In addition, improved attitudes can create a better adoption rate when the system

needs to go into its next phase of production.

Negative takeaways of change management is that it may become costly and employees

will need to become retrained. As mentioned prior, resistance is a known negative impact of

change that can create conflicts. Resistance can result in many negatives effects that can

influence others to give push back. When it comes to impacts of the organization due to the

changes made, the company should always be prepared to respond and effectively communicate

resolutions with their employees.

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Summary

In closing, organizations should always prepare for the possible outcomes of change

management. Creating a plan will create a more effective approach to deal with resistance or

other hesitations that change may influence. Companies should modify the structure based on the

goal of the company and try to refrain from utilizing old processes that may be ineffective. Thus,

only using the old system as a backup if the new plan fails. The focus should be tailored to fit

employees, stakeholders, and consumers of the business. The recommendations that I have is to

understand your target goal, the impacts of the new processes, and resistance that way the ERP

system can help attain these goals in the beginning and modifying them as they the organization

sees fit.
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Appendix A

Managing Changes Across the IT Business Analytical Paper

The study has been done to focus on specific areas of change management. The many

facets of change management has influenced different recommendations across real space that

can help prepare an organization.

In each section, the research delves into specifics of what happens during change

management. Over the years, recommendations have been modified to fit the varying needs of

many organizations. Refer to the executive summary on page three for a more detailed

explanation on change management or click here.

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Works Cited

Basu, C. (n.d.). What Is the Meaning of Organizational Change? | Chron.com. Retrieved from

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/meaning-organizational-change-35131.html

Cook, R. (n.d.). ERP Implementation Change Management Advice. Retrieved from

http://www.erpsearch.com/erp-change-management.php

Higashide, J. (2014, January 4). Summary of Change Management: The People Side of Change

. Retrieved from https://www.codot.gov/business/process-improvement/assets/people-

side-ofchange/summary-of-change-management-the-people-side-of-change

Microsoft. (2017, March). What is CRM - What Does CRM Stand For? | Microsoft Dynamics.

Retrieved from https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/what-is-crm?

WT.srch=1&WT.mc_id=AID__SEM_gQgKjI6A

Rouse, M. (2009, November). What is organizational change management (OCM)? - Definition

from WhatIs.com. Retrieved from

http://searchcio.techtarget.com/definition/organizational-change-management-OCM