A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR TECHNOLOGY-ENABLED ORGANIZATIONAL TRANSFORMATION By James Robert RengstorffThe Implementation of the Business Integration System Appendices-1 1. Recognition of need Lets begin with a need, a perception by a person or group of people, that a change is needed. Something is missing or not as good as it could be. We need to start a change; a process needs to take place to take us from were we are, to where we want to be. A. Influences, either internal or external, have created the perception that a change is required. I. Internal a. Processes are inefficient b. Worker retention problems and poor moral due to frustrating processes, practices, bureaucracies c. Current systems are not meeting needs of the organization. These needs can either be technology needs, operator needs, or management needs. d. Previous changes quickly revert back to status quo II. External a. Customer complaints b. Market changes, lost share c. Competition d. Product obsolescence e. New and emerging markets f. Change in technology makes current process obsolete. If you maintain the current systems, your competition will soon be more efficient with new technology. 2. Begin the Transformation Process (Covert 1996)The Implementation of the Business Integration System Appendices-2 A. Forming a powerful guiding coalition (Kotter 1995) Given the need for a change, a person or group decides to explore the possibility of changing. The initial group that perceives the need for change decides to start the process. This driver group is usually small and is rarely representative of all of the cultures and personnel affected by the proposed change. Assemble a group with enough power to lead the change effort comprised of the executive sponsor and the process owners. Now is the time to assign roles to people. (Kotter 1995) Hint: Executive support ranked 2nd in success factors (Standish 1996) Hint: The technology culture should be represented by the CIO. The CIO has the authority to define and approve infrastructure constraints and changes. Red flag: Choosing A CIO who is technology-oriented rather than user-oriented (DWI) Red flag: Starting with the wrong sponsorship chain (DWI) Red flag: No initial involvement of business managers (Paul 1997) Hint: Encourage the group to work together as a team (Kotter 1995) Hint: Commit 20% to 50% of the chief executive's time to the project. The time commitment may begin at 20% and grow to 50% during the implementation stage. (Covert 1996) Red flag: The CEO set budgets and deadlines before project team is established (Paul 1997) B. Summary assessment the current state of the organization by guiding coalition (Covert 1996) The guiding coalition makes a cursory assessment of the organization's environment. Is a full transformation needed? Perhaps the change required is needed only a small scale. The scope of the change is assessed. Hint: now is the time to stop if the scope is small.The Implementation of the Business Integration System Appendices-3 Hint: if the decision to continue is made by the guiding coalition, the stakeholders should now be included to assess their needs and desires. C. Assess the need for change with the stakeholders All possible stakeholders should now be included and should include representatives from all 3 cultures. The engineers who will be charged with the technology, the operators who will be affected, and management who will sponsor the change effort should all be included. Hint: now is the time to pause if the stakeholders are not on board. Either bring them on board or scrap the effort. D. Illustrate the desired state, create a vision When all of the stakeholders are committed, they will need the opportunity to create a shared vision of the new organization. This can be accomplished by a simple exercise of everyone sharing their desires for the new organization, and the group sifting through all of them until a core set of action statements is distilled and agreed upon. Hint: time to get real, expose those warts. Support: (Senge 1994) A shared vision is not an idea. It is, rather, a force in people's hearts, a force of impressive power. At the simplest level, it is the answer to the question, “what do we want to create?” A vision is truly shared when you and I have a similar picture and are committed to one another having it. We are connected, bound together by a common aspiration. Red flag: one person's vision does not a shared vision make. The CEO cannot create a shared vision. A vision is not pushed down or coerced, but created. Support: Creating a vision to help direct the change effort and develop strategies for achieving that vision (Kotter 1995)The Implementation of the Business Integration System Appendices-4 Red flag: Possible attitudes toward a vision. (commitment, enrollment, genuine compliance, formal compliance, grudging compliance, noncompliance, apathy) (Senge 1994, pp219) Hint: Set an aggressive target. The target must span the entire business unit to ensure sufficient breadth. (Covert 1996) Hint: Include the goal of becoming a learning organization in the vision. Use words like adaptable, flexible, willing to change, willing to learn, willing to “go deep.” E. Create a communications campaign for change (Covert 1996) Communication and involvement is critical to retaining the commitment of the stakeholders. If they become disengaged, their ownership decreases. The process becomes someone else's processes. Hint: Establish a sense of urgency (Kotter 1995) Support: Communicate the vision; use every vehicle possible to communicate the new vision and strategies beyond the guiding coalition and key stakeholders. (Kotter 1995) Support: Incomplete requirements and lack of user involvement accounted for 25% of failure factors (Standish 1996) Red flag: Overlook communications. Companies always underestimate the level of communication that must occur during the implementation stage. It helps to assign a top-level manager to develop and implement an on-going communication program. (Covert 1996) 3. Create the team (Covert 1996) A. Establish the roles for performing the transformation (Covert 1996) The roles that are vital to a successful organizational transformation are: an executive sponsor, the process owners, the reengineering team, the steering committee, and a reengineering specialist.The Implementation of the