Change Management By MCA-SEM IV

Change Management Basis: The disciple called change management is the area of It project management that helps smooth the transition and implementation of the new IT solution.  The nature of change:  In order to effectively plan and manage organizational change, it is important to understand the impact of change, how change may be viewed as a process, and the emotional behavioral patterns of change.  The impact of change: Assimilation is the process of adopting to change and determines our ability to handle current and future change. Changes proposed by an organization ( e.g. Reorganization, implementing a new information system) will certainly affect the way people work and the relationships that have become established. These organizational changes will have to be assimilated by each person; organization must assimilate change similar to an individual.

Change as a Process Lewin developed the concept of change theory to help analyze and understand the forces for and against a particular plan or change initiative. Forces that are viewed as facilitating the change are viewed as driving forces, while the forces that act as barriers or that work against the change are called restraining forces.

Change as a Process Lewin’s basic model includes three concepts: Unfreezing, changing and refreezing. Unfreezing or moving from the current state, means letting go to something. Present state represents a status quo. To change from the current state, there must be driving forces both to initiate and to motivate the change. This requires all unfreezing, or an altering of the current state’s habits, perceptions etc. Fig. also depicts transition from the present to desired state.

Emotional Responses to change: Changes can also bring out emotional responses. These same emotional responses can be applied to managing changes whenever people experience the loss of something that matters to them. Kubler-Rose’s model has been widely accepted, it provides some valuable insight for understanding how people may react to significant changes that affect their lives. Five stages include: Denial Anger Bargaining Depression Acceptance

Emotional Responses to change: Denial The first stage is characterized by shock and denial. It is common reaction when a person is given first notice of a change that will have significant impact. The initial news, however, provides a beginning for understanding the fall impact of the change that is about to take place. Anger Once a person gets over the initial shock of the announcement, he/she may become angry towards others, or even the messenger. The reaction is to blame whoever is responsible for creating thee change. Bargaining: - In the third stage; the person is no longer angry. In fact he/she may be quite cooperative or may try to make deals in order to avoid the change.

Emotional Responses to change: Depression: - Once a person admits that the change is inevitable, he/she may understand the full impact of the change & may enter the fourth stage – depression. Acceptance: - The last stage is when a person comes to grips with the change. A person doesn’t have to like the change in order to accept it. Acceptance is the important part of ending status quo and getting on with a new state.

The Change Management Plan: The key to any organizational change is to plan for & manage the change & associated transition effectively. This forces developing the change management plan that addresses the human side of change. The existence of such a plan can send an important message throughout the organization that management cares about the people in the organization & will listen & take their needs & issues seriously. Depending on the size & impact of the change, the change management plan can be an informal or formal document. Project team & sponsor should address & be clear on several important areas like Asses willingness, readiness & ability to change; Develop a strategy for change Implement CMP & track progress Evaluate experience & develop lessons learned

Assess willingness, readiness, &ability to change.  

Assess willingness, readiness, & ability to change. The first step to developing a change management plan is to assess the organizations willingness, readiness, and ability to change. This assessment entails defining who the players or stakeholders involved in the change will be, their roles, & how they will interact with each other. Payers involved in a change initiative: the sponsor, change agents, and targets. Sponsor:-the sponsor can be an individual or group that has the willingness & power, in terms of authority & making resources available, to support the project. A major portion of the organizations ability & willingness to support the change roots with the sponsor’s commitment to the project & the associated change that will impact the organization. This commitment may be in terms of how they communicate with the rest of the organization, how they deal with challenges & issues, & the amount & quality of resources made available. If the project fails because organization cant adopt to change , projects value to the organization is lost & sponsors credibility is diminished.

Assess willingness, readiness, & ability to change. Change agents:- The change agents will be the project manager & team, however others from inside or outside the organization. An agent may be an individual or group responsible for making the change happen in order to achieve the projects goals & objectives. CAs report directly to the sponsor & must be able to diagnose problems, & must be ready & properly prepared to meet the challenges they face.

Assess willingness, readiness, & ability to change. Targets: The target is the individual or group that must change. In general, targets may be the user of the new system or those who will use or be directly involved with final product of the project. Although the project sponsors & change agents play important roles in supporting & carrying out the change effort, the dynamics associated with the targets of change become the most critical. Therefore, the willingness, ability & readiness to change also rest largely with the change agents. The PM & Sponsor should take the time to think about what various individuals or groups stands to lose. Ex. Perceptions of loss may include power, relationships with other people, stability, or even control.

Dealing with resistance & conflict. Resistance & conflicts are a natural part of change. Resistance: The act or power of resisting, opposing, or withstanding. Resistance is Human nature & natural part of any change process. Once the change is compromised, management & the project team will lose credibility, and the organization may become resistant to all future change. Resistance can arise for many valid reasons For example: - someone may resist an information system because the response time is too slow or because it does not provide the features or functionality that was originally specified as part of the requirements. People may twist change even though they understand that the change will be beneficial. Example: - sometimes people feel that a change will mean giving up something that is familiar, comfortable & predictable. People may resist because of the way the decision change was announced of because it was forced upon them.

Dealing with resistance & conflict. Closely associated with resistance is the concept of conflict Conflict arise when people perceive that there interest & values are challenged are not being met. Conflict management focuses on preventing, managing or resolving conflict. Therefore, it is important to identify potential conflict as early as possible so that the conflict can be addressed. Conflicts can be positive & help form new ideas & establish commitment. Negative conflict left unresolved can lead to damages relationship, mistrust, unresolved issues, low productivity & morale. Some people wrongly hope that conflict will go away if it is ignored, in fact, conflict ignored is more likely to get worse, which can significantly reduce project performance. The best way to reduce conflict is to confront it.

Dealing with resistance & conflict. A project team members or project manager should choose an appropriate approach for managing conflict based on the situation.  Avoidance: Avoiding conflict focuses on withdrawing or ignoring conflict. Sometimes, a cooling –off period may be a wise choice, especially when emotions and tempers are high. Avoidance may appropriate, when you can’t win. Accommodation: Accommodation or smoothing is an approach for appraising the various parties in conflict. This approach may be useful when trying to reach an overall goal when the goal is more important than the personal interests of the parties involves. Because accommodation tends to work only in the short run, conflict may reappear in another form later on.

Dealing with resistance & conflict. Forcing: When using this approach, a person uses his/her dominant authority to resolve the conflict. This approach often result in once sided or win lose situation in which one party gain the other expense Forcing may cause the conflict to redevelop later because people dislike having decision or someone else’s views imposed upon them Compromise: Compromise includes aspect of both forcing & accommodation it Compromise is essentially bargaining one person or group gives up something in exchange for gaining something else In this case no party actually wins & none actually loses.

Dealing with resistance & conflict. Collaboration: when the risks & benefits are high collaboration may be the best approach to dealing the conflict The focus of the Collaboration is learning from others & gaining the commitment, trust, respect & confidence from the various parties involved. Collaboration takes times & requires sincere desire to work out mutually acceptable solution

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