A Framework for Selecting Change Strategies
in IT Organizations
Jan Pries-Heje
The IT University of Copenhagen,
jph@itu.dk
&
Otto Vinter
DELTA IT Processes,
otv@delta.dk
The ImprovAbility™Model
Foundation
Initiation
• Sensing urgency
• Idea creation
• Idea processing
•
•
•
•
•
Vision and strategy
Organisational culture
Expectation management
Knowledge management
Management competence
Projects
• Project goal and
requirements
• Project team
• Project competence
and knowledge
•
•
•
•
In Use
•
•
•
•
Product quality
Deployment strategy
Deployment means
Roles and
responsibility
• Operations and
maintenance
Project process
Project prioritising
Management support
Involvement of others
From Interviews to Recommendations
Using the ImprovAbility™ Model
Foundation
Initiation
Interview
In Use
Projects
Management,
Projects and Users
Observations
and scoring
Prioritise
Based on score.
Assessors
Prioritise
Importance for business.
Management
Scope of change
questionnaire
Dialogue
Interviewees
Database of change
approaches
Matrix
Relations between
• Parameter profile
• Change Principles
and known change
approaches on the
organisational level
Scope of change
Focus
filter
Change strategy
questionnaire
Dialogue
Management
Change strategy
Recommendations
The 10 Organizational Change Strategies
Reengineering – Change is driven by fundamentally rethinking and redesigning
the organization to achieve dramatic improvements
Optionality – Change is driven by the motivation and need of the individual or
group. It is to a large degree optional whether the individual takes the
innovation into use
Socializing – Change in organizational capabilities is driven by working through
social relationships. Diffusion of innovations happens through personal contacts
rather than through plans and dictates
Specialist driven – Change is driven by specialists, either with professional,
technical, or domain knowledge
Exploration – Change is driven by the need for flexibility, agility, or a need to
explore new markets, technology or customer groups
Commanding – Change is driven and dictated by (top) management. Management
takes on the roles as owner, sponsor and change agents
Employee driven – Change is driven from the bottom of the organizational
hierarchy when needs for change arise among employees
Learning driven – Change is driven by a focus on organizational learning,
individual learning and what creates new attitudes and behavior
Metrics driven – Change is driven by metrics and measurements
Production organized – Change is driven by the need for optimization and/or
cost reduction
Prioritised list of the Change Strategies (Case B)
71 % Optionality
65 % Commanding
59 % Socializing
58 % Production organized
56 % Specialist driven
40 % Metrics driven
34 % Learning driven
29 % Exploration
28 % Reengineering
18 % Employee driven
The 10 change strategies are all anchored in Change Management literature
More Information ?
Talent@IT
www.talent-it.dk
Otto Vinter
DELTA IT Processes,
Tel: +45 7219 4000, Fax: +45 7219 4001
otv@delta.dk
The ImprovAbility™ Products
• Organisational assessment (typical)
– 1½ Management (SPI / IT Management) interview
– 2 project group interviews
• covering at least 3 projects (SPI or IT)
– 2 user group interviews
• covering the use of at least 3 products (same kind as above)
• Project assessment
– 1 project team interview
• the project team (or part of it)
– (1 management interview)
• optional for mission critical projects
Differences between the two assessment types
Organisational
Project
• Assessment based on what has
• Assessment based on
been done in the past (i.e.
completed projects being used
by users)
• Includes all 20 parameters
• Recommendations for the
organisation on how to improve
on a general level
• The recommendations are
adjusted to the change approach
most suitable for the company
expectations in a (newly) started
project (i.e. the project not
completed)
• Includes 17 parameters
• Recommendations for the project
on what to include in their work to
increase the likelihood of success
• The recommendations are
discussed and adjusted in
dialogue with the project team to
suit their conditions
The new things in ImprovAbility™
• ImprovAbility™ is not a maturity model but measures
parameters, that are important for success
• ImprovAbility™ provides recommendations for parameters,
that are important for the business / project and has a low
score. The recommendations comes from a large database
of proven disciplines and techniques.
• The organisational assessment includes a survey that
prioritises 10 different approaches to change management.
In this way it is possible to optimise the recommendations to
the company – what has the highest likelihood to work for
them.
ImprovAbility™ vs. Capability Models
Less detailed
Scope of
ImprovAbility™
Scope of
Capability Models
Detailed
Exploration
Extending an idea from:
Systems Engineering Beyond Capability Models, 2002
by Sarah A. Sheard and William W. Schoening
Development
Strategic
Management
Technical
Management
General
Engineering
Specific
Tasks
Operations
Process improvers
What is process improvement
and innovation?
Management
Process
improvement
(= innovation)
New processes
or tools
Managers
IT developers
IT product
End users
Product development (= innovation)
Experiences using ImprovAbility™
• 2 complete organisational assessments
– One manager concluded: No I know why things has not worked
the way I expected (based on the top 2 change approaches most
suitable for the company)
• 1 SPI focused organisational assessment in a high maturity company
– They could use our recommendations and liked the concept
• 6 project assessments
– A big variation in project complexity, size, maturity and parameters
selected for recommendations
– The process highlights strength and weaknesses to the project
team and provides usable recommendations
What do we offer to our customers
• Organisational assessment (from 16.000 €)
• Project assessment (from 5.400 €)
• 5 day certified Project Assessor training course (3.000 €)
– Project assessment can be made internally by certified
assessors