IT Change
Management
Merle P. Martin
MIS Department
CSU Sacramento
Agenda
Challenge of change
 Change process
 identify need
 describe
 assess environment
 position
 move forward
 Critical Success Factors

Dilbert Change
“People hate change, and with good
reason. Change makes us stupider,
relatively speaking. Change adds
new information to the universe;
information we don’t know. Our
knowledge - as a percentage of all
the things that we know - goes down
a tick every time something
changes.”
Dilbert Principle, pg 18
Challenge of Change
Disrupts frames of reference
 Presents a future where past
experiences do not hold true
 What value seniority?
 Engenders reluctance to IT change

Positive Impacts
Improved jobs; opportunities,
satisfaction, conditions, pay
 Improved product quality,
cycle time, convenience, cost
 Competitive advantage
 Increasing productivity, health,
leisure time, educational opportunity

Negative Impacts
Degraded jobs; opportunities,
satisfaction, conditions, pay
 Increased costs, risks
 Unwanted side effects
 Changes to business processes
 Obsolete skills, experience
 Impact on business partners
 Changed economic models

Types of Resistance
Avoidance:
 pretend new systems
don’t exist
 maintain informal / redundant
record-keeping systems
 Projection: blame all application
problems on new system

Resistance (Cont.)
Hostility:
 users antagonistic
 particularly to advocates
of new system
 Sabotage: try to make new system
fail

High Change
Low Change
Business
Business / Technology
Rate of Change
Low Change
High Change
Technology
Change Management
Measuring
Performance
Monitoring
Readiness
for Change
Communicating
Engaging
Stakeholders
Organizing for
Change
FEB
JAN
Leading Change
Planning for
Transition
•IT Change Process
Identify need for change
 Describe the change
 Assess change environment
 Position for change
 Move forward
 Follow up

Identify Need
“When it is not necessary
to change, it is necessary
not to change.”
 Result of IT top-down, strategic
planning
 Beware of Law of Hammer
“Give a kid a hammer, and
you’ll be surprised what needs
to be hammered”
Develop Need
Point out alternatives
to existing problem
 Dramatize end-users
importance in solving problem
 Convince end-users they
are capable of solving problem

Describe Change
What
 Why (strategic plan)
 Who (stakeholders)
 Where (geographic /
level of organization)
 When (preliminary)

Assess Environment

AMS identifies people who
can accelerate, slow, or
block change initiative. Who:
 is driving initiative?
 seems to be resisting?
 is empowered to make
decisions?
 can make change succeed
or fail?
AMS People

WHO:
 will be affected by
the change?
 will take an interest in
change and its effects
(e.g., regulators and public)?
 will be responsible for
change when implemented?
Department Approach
Carey studied different organizations’
success in implementing change
 Found 4 significant factors
 rigidity
 commitment to status quo
 knowledge of status quo
 exposure to change

Rigidity
Behavioral-rigidity scores
on standard personality test
 Prohibited as hiring factor
 Can offset rigid mindset by:
 changing in stages
 measure by department
 introduce change in less rigid
departments

Commitment to
Status Quo
More commitment,
more resistance to change
 Make status quo unattractive:
 higher chargeback rate
 Make change attractive
 enhance (sell) image
 increase status of those who use it

Knowledge of
Status Quo
Length of time worked
with old IT
 Supervisors, managers
 Surround strategy
 implement change elsewhere
 peer pressure

Exposure to Change
More exposure,
more positive attitudes
to change
 Early indoctrination,
training
 Prototyping

Issue
This is the era of continual
change. Therefore, we can
expect reduced resistance to
technological changes?
 Do
you agree?
 Why or why not?
Position for Change
Create steering committee
 Establish change goals
 Design measurement system
 Establish project management
system

Position for Change
Establish change team
credibility
 Design training program
 Begin to sell change
 Design change
communication system

Change Team
Credibility

Establish credibility in
 competence
 honesty
 objectivity
 empathy
Selling Change
Secure end-user
commitment
 Assume end-user
perspective
 Address end-user
concerns

Secure End-user
Commitment
Build user competence
 Make changes easier
 Human Factors
 Training

Making Change
Possible
Change
agent
IT
Make
system
more
usable
EndChange
users
Acquire
knowledge
& skills
Assume End-User
Perspective
Go to end-user work areas
 Use end-user oriented tools
 Play the role of the end-user
 The Memo exercise

Selling Change
Ferguires (1991)
 Areas of end-user concern
 Relative Advantage:
 What’s in it for me?
 How will my relative position be
enhanced by this change?

Selling Change
Compatibility:
 What is the same in
the new and old systems?
 What won’t I have to learn?
 Complexity:
 How long is the learning curve?
 Will I be able to learn
the new system?
 How long will it take?

Selling Change
Try-ability:
 Can I try it before
I commit?
 Prototyping
 Observability:
 Can I see it in action?
 Who else is using it?
 Do they like it?

Communication System
“Communication about
change is a lot like a
wooden hamburger. If you
put enough garnish on it,
somebody is going to swallow it.”
Dilbert

Need honest communication
system
Honest Communication
System
Where did we say we’d be?
 Where are we now?
 What’s the difference?
 Why?
 How will we solve this problem?
 What’s our new prognosis?

Issue
What experiences have you
had in good or bad
communication in a
change situation?
 What would you have
done differently?
Move Forward
Measure / communicate
results
 Freeze positive behavior
by rewarding change
 Continuous (not ad-hoc) training
 Shift from user reliance to self
reliance

Move Forward
Reduce resistance by:
 user involvement
 prototyping
 user feedback
 Repeat steps, if necessary
 Implementation method
 Use end-users to spread commitment

Freeze Positive
Behavior
Give rewards for change
 latest equipment
 off-site training
 Establish continuous training
 rather than ad-hoc

Shift from Reliance
to Self Reliance
Make end-users less
reliant on you
 Sacrifice your ego
 Build end-user ownership

“Old change-agents never die;
they just fade away.”
Use End-users to
Spread Commitment

Identify / select leaders
Assign them to steering
committees
 Assign them to project teams

Critical Success
Factors
Senior management
commitment
 Be sensitive to people issues
 Set aggressive improvement
targets

Critical Success
Factors
Look to top performers
for selling change
 Measure and communicate
 Instill a sense of ownership
of the change by those
undergoing the change

Discussion
Doug Busch
Manager of Intranet Operations
Intel
Points to Remember
Challenge of change
 Change process
 Critical Success Factors
