A Plan for Change: Ensuring Our Technology Investment is Protected and Bears Fruit

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Why Change to I.T. is Important
Cycle to the Processes of Organization Change
Technology and Human Psychology
The I.T. Manager and Change
Conclusion
Reference List

Introduction

As the world evolves in the computer world, there is the need for an organization to align itself with the changes. The more the organization adopts new and right technology, the more it will have competitive advantages over the other players in the same sector. To effect/ adopt the new technology, it takes deliberate managerial decision to effectively put it in place. It is via a planned change. The nature of human being is that they repel change and thus to adopt the new technology, there is the need for the management to have a well constituted change platform (Smith, 2006).

Why Change to I.T. is Important

The business world is a dynamic environment that is affected by the changes in the environment that they are in. It is affected by the technological development in the sector as well as the competitors level of technological adoption. There are various advantages that come with adopting the right technology for the right job they include; efficiency in terms of cost and the time required to do business. Efficiency has its advantages that it brings with in the business. They range from customer satisfaction that leads to customer loyalty. Computers are reliable management tools that the management can use to control the businesses that they are managing. There are programs that can be adopted and assist the top management on when to make which decision. They include stock control packages. The time to adopt a new technology is always at the shortest time possible after the invention or improvement of the current one. An aggressive company is the one that adopts a better way of doing things (technology) early enough to have gained from it before the competitors adopt it (Goman, 2000).

Cycle to the Processes of Organization Change

Before a company adopt a new system of doing things, there is need to appreciate that the new way can only succeed if the employees are positive about the change. This calls for a gradual way process of implementing the change. The organizational culture is one of the factors that can affect the change (negatively or positively). The change agents should understand this well before implementing the change program. Generally, a change follows the following procedure;

Problem identification and analysis

This is where the agents of change realize that there are / is some process that has to be made. After this there is the looking for the probable solution to the problem that must be alighted with the mission and vision of the organization. In our case here there is the adoption of new I.T. technology that is expected to bring positive change to the organization. The staffs that will be affected as well as the entire team should be given the detailed analysis of what the organization want to do. At this stage the management brain storms the effect of the program with the employees and let the employees learn how they will be affected. If there is any learning needed it is done at this stage.

Pilot study

There is always no guarantee that the new system is going to be more effective than the old system, thus there is the need for the system to be run as a pilot study alongside the old system. This also offers the employees the time to have a hand on experience on the new system. They learn more about it and may even improve on it. If the program is seen as a better one, then the final stage is done.

Full adoption

At this stage, all things are alighted to follow the new system and the old one is switched off. All the employees are supposed to adopt the system. Improvement of the system is the major thing that follows this (Anon, 2004).

Technology and Human Psychology

Human beings always look for a better way of doing things and the development of technology have offered a solution to them so far; however they are static to change and the change should thus be administered in a way that it doesnt seem to remove the human being from their comfort zones. To administer this it calls for deliberate plan on the action plan. To effectively do it, there is the need to understand the attitude that the individual have towards change? Is he /she an anti change or the agent of change? In organizations, the organization culture plays a major role in determining whether the change will be well embraced or repelled by the employees. The change agent must understand the effect that the attitude and the organization culture will have on the change program. After this there are the opinion leaders in the organization that can assist in persuading the employees to adopt the change. Past experiences that the employees have had is another thing that affects the success of change. It should be understood the effect that the earlier change has had in the lifes of the employees. For example if in the future after an adoption was made, it led to termination of some employees, there can be a lot of difficulty in implementing change in such an organization compared to another that change made work easier for the employees (Penrod, 2007).

The I.T. Manager and Change

One of the most changes that are happening in the organization today is the change of Information and telecommunication this is due to the continuous improvement and invention. The I.T. manager is the agent of change as far as the I.T. is concerned and thus should be the leader and pioneer of the change. Managing change is a process that starts from the problem identification and goes all along to monitoring the change. There are also the slow learners that will need to be managed. This is where the I.T. manager comes into place. Other than ensuring that everything goes as planned, they give technological and emotional support to the entire team. They should have prior knowledge of the new system or they fully understand the system so that they are not seen as stranger to the same program that they are leading. As the program unfolds, there are areas that need to be improved, to make the system more effective to the specific business and it is the I.T. manager who has the mandate to ensure that these are done at the right time with the expertise required. I.T. manager starts the change process from problem identification and sees the program adopted as well as its improvement (Gauthier & Sifonis, J.1990).

Conclusion

Change is inevitable however it is one of the things that need to be planned by the concerned change agents since human being repel change; but when well developed and implemented it is adopted freely. In the I.T. development/ change, the I.T. manager should be the change agent.

Reference List

Anon. (2004). The Roles of Leadership: The Role of Leading Change in the Organization. Web.

Gauthier, M., & Sifonis, G. (1990). Managing Information Technology Investments in the 1990s. American Society for Information Science. Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science, 16(5), 16.

Goman, C. K., (2000). The Biggest Mistakes in Managing Change. Web.

Penrod, (2007). Coping With Poorly Planned Change. Web.

Smith, L. (2006). Technological Change. Vital Speeches of the Day, 72(11), 326-328.

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