Human Aspects of managing with IT

1
Human Aspects of managing with IT

• People are now not an expense but an asset
• People can make the worst system in the world
  work and the best system in the world fail
• Managing the Human Issues is the most difficult
  part of transforming an organisation with IT

2
What are the Human Aspects?

• Leadership style
• Importance of culture
• New organisational models
• Resistance to change
• (Wargin, Dobiey)
• The span of control
• (Klein)
• Change Management theories
• (Beer, Nohria)
• Change Management in practice
• (Jones J et alia)
• Managing enduser computing
• (Henderson Treacy)

3
Motivating people in e-Business(Wargin J and
Dobiey D (2001) E-business and change - Managing
the change in the digital economy, Journal of
Change management, vol 2, p72-82)

• Recognise alienation
• Recent BPR? Downsizing? Restructuring?
• Poor identification with company
• Strong identification with peers, profession
• Overcome alienation
• Create attractive business models
• Implement using project teams, spin-off companies
• Devolve strategy and responsibility downwards
• Offer financial incentives (eg profit sharing)
• Increase training budgets and options

4
Leadership in the e-Business - Big organisations
behave like start-ups?(Wargin J and Dobiey D
(2001) E-business and change - Managing the
change in the digital economy, Journal of Change
management, vol 2, p72-82)

• Enthusiastic and encouraging management style
• Reverse mentoring (GE and HP)
• Senior executives ask younger employees to coach
  them
• Better respect comes from perceived open
  mindedness and willingness to learn. Be a role
  model
• Risk taking culture
• Fast results more important than not making
  mistakes
• Less reliance on planning models
• Willingness to create new organisational
  structures
• Dont punish mistakes kill the project
• Take personal responsibility delegate tasks,
  not responsibility
• Customer-centric mind set be sensitive to demand
  shifts

5
The importance of culture lessons from early
e-Businesses (the rules of the garage)

• Extreme level of information sharing between
  management, staff and the value chain
• Freedom to state and execute radical ideas
  (business models, technologies, partnerships,
  alliances, organisational models)
• Time with company not critical. Authority
  devolved to all willing to take responsibility to
  achieve specific objectives
• High levels of trust and communication rare in
  traditional organisations

6
New organisational models(Wargin J and Dobiey D
(2001) E-business and change - Managing the
change in the digital economy, Journal of Change
management, vol 2, p72-82)

• Vertical horizontal integration
• Matrix management
• Taskforces of specialised functional and process
  experts
• Relatively autonomous
• High degree of freedom from politics and
  interference
• Involving It specialists
• Rewarded by results
• Collaborations and extended enterprises
• Team members internal external staff
• Critical success factors
• Common vision, alignment of goals and trust

7
Some successful organizational change and
innovation qualities

• Experimentation at lower levels
  decentralization
• Organizational learning and knowledge
  acquisition, management, and transfer
• Organization culture of trust, openness,
  psychological safety, and diversity of ideas
• Reward systems that promote creativity
• Organic/project management structures and teams
  that cut across boundaries
• Source Adapted from L.R. Burns, G. Bazzoli, and
  L. Dynan, Considerations and Conclusions
  Regarding Organizational Change, Working Paper,
  Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Investigator
  Award, July, 2002.

8
Management and the Networked Organization
9
Role of senior management(Wargin J and Dobiey D
(2001) E-business and change - Managing the
change in the digital economy, Journal of Change
management, vol 2, p72-82)

• Primary role
• To match the talents coming from inside and
  outside the company to respond quickly to market
  demands and ideas for innovating business models
• Keep the organisation flexible, reconfigurable
  and not based on static units with high overheads
• Key talents
• Recruit and prepare well chosen teams with
  resources, environment and incentives
• Substitute control for enabling skills

10
E-Business widening the span of controlKlein E
E (2001), Using IT to eliminate layers of
bureaucracy, National Public Accountant (June)

• Use IT to
• Reduce job complexity
• Reduce effects of geographic separation
• Devolve responsibilities and reduce the need for
  co-ordination
• Use teams of well trained multiskilled employees
• Empower employees
• Educate managers with enabling skills

11
EMPOWERMENT
Individuals Perception of Discretion
HIGH
LOW
EMPOWERED
Organisational Focus
IMPOSED CONTROL
(Armistead and Rowland, 1996)
12
Resistance to change

• Seven Dynamics of Change 
• People will feel awkward, ill-at-ease and
  self-conscious
• People initially focus on what they have to give
  up
• People will feel alone even if everyone else is
  going through the same change
• People can handle only so much change
• People are at different levels of readiness for
  change
• People will be concerned that they don't have
  enough resources
• If you take the pressure off, people will revert
  to their old behaviour
• (Source http//www.work911.com/articles/change7.h
  tm)

13
The negative curve of large scale changes
FEELINGS
ANGER
N E U T R A L
NEGOTIATION
ACCEPTANCE
REALISATION
RATIONALISATION
DENIAL
SHOCK
DEPRESSION
TIME
(OBOLENSKY, 1994)
14
The Four Emotional Stages of Change (Anne Riches

• Disbelief and Denial
• Anger and Blame
• Reluctant Acceptance
• The Final Stage
• (Source http//www.refresher.com/!stagesofchange.
  html)

15
Countering resistance to change in e-Business
(Wargin J and Dobiey D (2001) E-business and
change - Managing the change in the digital
economy, Journal of Change management, vol 2,
p72-82)

• Top Down
• Appoint a senior e-Business Champion (Siemens) to
  provide education reassuring communication
  channels
• Bottom Up
• Create think tanks and generate high profile
  innovative initiatives backed by senior
  management (HP)
• Cut political resistance by working outside
  established structures

16
Two change theories - Alternative processes of
change
Theory E (Planned)
Theory O (Emergent)
Soft Approach

• Soft
• Based on organisational capabilities so
• Enhances learning and
• Creates a culture of change by.
• Building psychological contracts
• Europe and Asia favoured

Hard Approach

• Strong approach
• Based on economic value, so..
• Heavy use of financial incentives and.
• Drastic layoffs (downsizing) and.
• Organisational redesign/restructuring
• USA favoured

(Beer and Nohria, 2000)
17
Comparing the two theories
Theory E
Theory O
18
Limitations of the two pure theories

• Theory E
• CEOs distance themselves from employees
• They begin to see employees as part of the
  problem
• This leads to a failure to invest in people in
  the long term, damaging long term performance
• Theory O
• Commitment to employees can deter CEOs from
  making tough decisions
• Sometimes fundamental change is necessary
• Failure to make it can damage the long term value
  of the company

19
The two theories Managing the contradictions

• E O in parallel may be the worst case scenario
• O followed by E is unlikely to succeed
• Involves a sense of betrayal
• E overlapped with O may be best (eg ASDA)
• Make the Hard decisions
• Set financial targets, layoffs, restructure, from
  the top
• Engage people below from the start
• Encourage experimentation and innovation
• Be fair to those laid off
• Make the survivors feel secure

20
Change Efforts are more successful when

• Customer Feedback is used (strong customer focus)
• There is a clear and consistent communication
  from Top Management to all employees (strong
  executive leadership and clear communications)
• Workers are not just verbally acknowledged but
  formally evaluated, rewarded and trained
  (employee empowerment)

(Trahant and Burke, 1998)