Question

1) What operational and organizational impacts must be considered when transitioning from the planning to the implementation phase of your project? What else is impacted? Think about operational activities, resources, responsibilities, and dependencies.

Answer 1

Q.1) What operational and organizational impacts must be considered when transitioning from the planning to the implementation phase of your project? What else is impacted? Think about operational activities, resources, responsibilities, and dependencies.

Answer :-

The objective of organizational change management is to enable organization members and other stakeholders to adapt to a sponsor's new vision, mission, and systems, as well as to identify sources of resistance to the changes and minimize resistance to them. Organizations are almost always in a state of change, whether the change is continuous or episodic. Change creates tension and strain in a sponsor's social system that the sponsor must adapt to so that it can evolve. Transformational planning and organizational change is the coordinated management of change activities affecting users, as imposed by new or altered business processes, policies, or procedures and related systems implemented by the sponsor. The objectives are to effectively transfer knowledge and skills that enable users to adopt the sponsor's new vision, mission, and systems and to identify and minimize sources of resistance to the sponsor's changes.

Implementation of a large-scale informational technology (IT) transformation project affects the entire organization. In a technology-based transformation project, an organization often focuses solely on acquiring and installing the right hardware and software. But the people who are going to use the new technologies—and the processes that will guide their use—are even more important. As critical as the new technologies may be, they are only tools for people to use in carrying out the agency's work.

Fig. Organizational Transition Model

As shown in Fig. the discipline of organizational change management (OCM) is intended to help move an organization's people, processes, and technology from the current "as is" state to a desired future "to be" state. To ensure effective, long-term, and sustainable results, there must be a transition during which the required changes are introduced, tested, understood, and accepted. People have to let go of existing behaviors and attitudes and move to new behaviors and attitudes that achieve and sustain the desired business outcomes. That is why OCM is a critical component of any enterprise transformation program: It provides a systematic approach that supports both the organization and the individuals within it as they plan, accept, implement, and transition from the present state to the future state.

Navigating the Change Process :-

Fig. An Organizational Change Process

By defining and completing a change process, an organization can better define and document the activities that must be managed during the transition phase. Moving through these stages will help ensure effective, long-term, and sustainable results. These stages unfold as an organization moves through the transition phase in which the required transformational changes are introduced, tested, understood, and accepted in a manner that enables individuals to let go of their existing behaviors and attitudes and develop any new skills needed to sustain desired business outcomes.

It is very common for organizations to lose focus or create new initiatives without ever completing the change process for a specific program or project. It is critical to the success of a transformation program that the organization recognizes this fact and is prepared to continue through the process and not lose focus as the organizational change initiative is implemented. Commitment to completing the change process is vital to a successful outcome.

Creating the Organizational Transition Plan:-

The successful support of individuals and organizations through a major transformation effort requires a transition from the current to the future state. Conducting an organizational assessment based on the Burke-Litwin Model provides strategic insights into the complexity of the impact of the change on the organization. Once the nature and the impact of the organizational transformation are understood, the transformation owner or champion will have the critical data needed to create an organizational transition plan.

Typically, the content or focus of the transition plan comes from the insights gained by conducting a "gap" analysis between the current state of the organization (based on the Burke-Litwin assessment) and the future state (defined through the strategy and vision for the transformation program). The transition plan should define how the organization will close the transformational and transactional gaps that are bound to occur during implementation of a transformation project. Change does not occur in a linear manner, but in a series of dynamic but predictable phases that require preparation and planning if they are to be navigated successfully. The transition plan provides the information and activities that allow the organization to manage this "non-linearity" in a timely manner.

It should be noted that large organizational change programs, which affect not only the headquarters location but also geographically dispersed sites, will require site-level transition plans. These plans take into account the specific needs and requirements of each site. Most importantly, they will help "mobilize" the organizational change team at the site and engage the local workforce and leaders in planning for the upcoming transition.

Strategic Organizational Change Communications

Fig. The Strategic Organizational Communications Process

A key component of the transition plan should address the strategic communications (see Fig.) required to support the implementation of the transformation. Open and frequent communication is essential to effective change management. When impacted individuals receive the information (directly and indirectly) they need about the benefits and impact of the change, they will more readily accept and support it. The approach to communication planning needs to be integrated, multi-layered, and iterative.

Responsibilities:

1. Activity and resource planning

2. Organizing and motivating a project team

3. Controlling time management

4. Cost estimating and developing the budget

5. Ensuring customer satisfaction

6. Analyzing and managing project risk

7. Monitoring progress

8. Managing reports and necessary documentation

Dependencies:-

1. Logical dependencies-- Also known as causal dependencies. These dependencies are an inherent part of the project and cannot be avoided. Tasks characterized as logical dependency usually use the output of the preceding tasks as input so you can’t run them in parallel. Consider baking a cake as your project. You can’t start the process unless you have all the ingredients you need.

2. Resource dependencies--This dependency originates from a project constraint as it deals with the availability of shared resources. If two tasks require the same resource for completion, then they’ll be dependent on the completion of the other.

3. Preferential dependencies--These dependencies generally depend on the team members, other stakeholders, and industrial practices. Preferential dependencies arise when tasks are scheduled to follow developed standard practices.In most cases, the project can compete even if you ignore the preferential dependencies in your tasks, but there will be some quality issues.

4. External dependencies--No matter how much you plan, there are things bound to be out of your control. Some tasks are dependent on outside factors and project managers can’t do anything to influence their progress. To deal with these dependencies, it’s recommended to have a backup plan.

5. Cross-team dependencies--This is a common occurrence in large organizations. Sometimes multiple teams work on a single, complex project and they rely on each other to complete the project on time.