And that’s the problem. The cost of new IT deployment comes with an even bigger challenge: making sure that new technology investments are actually used, and used well, throughout the organization. Otherwise, that IT investment was a waste of precious budget and time.
The answer to this challenge is within government’s grasp: change management.
A successful technology implementation requires more than holding a training workshop with an overview of the changes and sending out a departmentwide instructional e-mail. Instead, the introduction of IT to any organization must take into account the human and cultural aspects of the change — how people may react — and must develop specific ways to ensure that people understand, support and ultimately implement the change. This understanding is the hallmark of true change management.
As change management is integrated into the business of government, agency officials should address six key components of successful change management:
- Governance. Change management starts at the top, but leadership from afar is not sufficient. Timely and effective decision-making at all levels of the change process is critical. Employees must be able to see that management is engaged in the change, giving it top priority at every level in the agency. An absence of leadership can make room for burgeoning apathy, which can create major roadblocks to full change implementation.
- Education and training. Provide people with the skills and knowledge they need to implement change. Management sometimes decides that implementation of the change is obvious, or easy, and then neglects to provide the training necessary to realize the full benefits of the change. Training alone is often not enough; for complex activities, people may need education that provides them with the background knowledge needed to perform their new tasks effectively.
- Organization and process redesign. For complex IT changes, processes, jobs and organizations must be redesigned to take advantage of the new technology. New jobs need to be designed, as well as new promotion paths and new skill requirements created. All of this must become part of the human resources system in the organization.
- Communication. Employees must know what is happening to them before anything actually occurs. Depending on the size and scope of the change, begin your communication months — or years — in advance.
- Local involvement. Employees will more easily accept and implement change when they hear about what is happening from people just like themselves. Use a local-level subject matter expert to explain the change and to listen to employee responses.
- Measurement and feedback. With no feedback, the process is like operating in a vacuum with no ability to address concerns as they arise. Create opportunities for employees to communicate to those who are responsible for the change. Take advantage of blogs, wikis and other new technologies to foster a two-way communication exchange. Use feedback mechanisms to help gauge employee participation in the change, set up field agents who can rate the attitudes of employees and other stakeholders, and monitor wikis and other communications for reaction.
Problems will pop up in every change implementation, especially when the change involves new technologies. Comprehensive change management allows government to identify and respond to problems before they can cripple the project. At the same time, change management can help to protect and even maximize government’s technology investments.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Mitch Fleischer
Quelle/Source: Federal Times, 24.08.2008
