CHANGE MANAGEMENT
Introduction
There
is a story told of a doctor who has just completed a surgical procedure. "The operation was a success" he says
"but unfortunately we lost the patient".
There are too many similar stories in the world of project management. The project delivers what it was supposed to 'technically', yet the end product is considered a failure: It does not gain acceptance from key stakeholders and in worst case scenarios is completely abandoned. In many such cases, the cause of the failure is poor change management. Unfortunately, many leading Project Management Methods still give little or no attention to this increasingly important aspect of project management.
There are too many similar stories in the world of project management. The project delivers what it was supposed to 'technically', yet the end product is considered a failure: It does not gain acceptance from key stakeholders and in worst case scenarios is completely abandoned. In many such cases, the cause of the failure is poor change management. Unfortunately, many leading Project Management Methods still give little or no attention to this increasingly important aspect of project management.
What is Change Management?
While the discipline of change management
is a crucial issue and the subject of many learned tomes, we are concerned
with the issue of change management as it applies to IM&T projects -
particularly those of a substantial nature. Change Management is the
collection of disciplines and tasks which are necessary to help the
people in an organisation successfully cope with bringing about the 'new
order'.
As with many other project management principles, the underlying concept of change management is simple: ensure that every stakeholder is fully prepared for the way in which the project outcomes will affect them. In some ways 'Change Management' is a bit of a misnomer. Our real goal is to manage organisational 'readiness' in all its various forms.
"So, change management is all about effective communication and training right?"
Well, sort of.. The specific activities to be undertaken depend on many variables, such as the type of project, the degree of change, the business of the organisation and the experience of stakeholders to name a few. Assuming the project will be bringing on reasonable change, you could expect the change management activities to include the following:
Read more
As with many other project management principles, the underlying concept of change management is simple: ensure that every stakeholder is fully prepared for the way in which the project outcomes will affect them. In some ways 'Change Management' is a bit of a misnomer. Our real goal is to manage organisational 'readiness' in all its various forms.
"So, change management is all about effective communication and training right?"
Well, sort of.. The specific activities to be undertaken depend on many variables, such as the type of project, the degree of change, the business of the organisation and the experience of stakeholders to name a few. Assuming the project will be bringing on reasonable change, you could expect the change management activities to include the following:
- Gaining meaningful support of key executives
- Gauging
potential impacts and corporate readiness
- Identification
of stakeholders
- Developing
/ implementing strategies, plans and schedules for training and
communication
- Creating
support services
- Assisting with implementation plans
- Developing / implementing new business processes, work-flows, structures and job descriptions
Read more
Photo used under Creative Commons from LuMaxArt
