Change Management and LeadershipEssay Preview: Change Management and LeadershipReport this essay“People change what they do less because they are given analysis that shifts their thinking than because they are shown a truth that influences their feelings.”
This paper will examine the critical relationship that change management plays in the successful execution of projects. Change management addresses the fundamental importance of humans in the success of a project. Projects are implemented for a number of reasons, but one thing they all have in common is that each one will be a catalyst for change. At the heart of every project are humans and given that all project are accompanied by some measure of change it peculiar that many projects do not include a plan to manage the human resources that will have to make the adjustment. Its not unusual to think that people resist change, but this paper will argue that its not the change that people will challenge, but rather the stigma of uncertainty that change brings along with it. Business leaders are now realizing that change management plays a critical role in the success or failure of a project. Considering that over half of the customer relationship management (CRM) projects fail with the top two reasons being related to employee resistance its critical that change management plans are prioritized early in the initiation stages of a project.
As the opening quote implies, people can change they simply need to understand why they need to change. Interestingly and contrary to popular belief, people can rarely be changed through incentives or because they are told to. It is often thought that the greater the reward or the sharper the stick, the faster people will change; in fact reality is just the opposite. Research show that the real key to incent people to adopt change is to show them that the project matters, and that their role is important.
As one might expect, communication is a key factor when trying to implement a successful project. However, the research showed that the communication must be symbiotic. If a project is to be successful, the management must communicate the ideas from the top levels down, but must seek feedback and suggestions from the bottom up.
An interesting point surfaced while researching this paper, it was the concept of “Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose” . If an organization wants to be able to change, it must first have employees that can adapt to change. In order to do so, they must feel like they have the obligation to make decisions, to continuously improve their understanding of their roles and they must truly believe that they are an important part of the solution.
When asking an employee (or group of employees) to change from a known state to one an unknown one it is important to give them the information they need to understand the motivation behind the change. Moreover, its critical that the employees trust that the reasoning that theyve being given was thoroughly vetted, analysed and researched. In order for the people to accept the change they need to trust that management has done their homework prior to making the decision to change.
A central part of any venture is determining who to include on the project team. Its not difficult to deduce that having the highest levels of support greatly improves a projects chance of success. That stated its equally important to have employees represented from every level of an organization. Not only will they ensure that in the every angle has been analyzed, but by including them in the creative process, management will also to gain greater acceptance of the change by the various departments as the individuals within those branches will feel like theyre in-part accountable for the solution and that they have some input in the steering of the ship. If the plan affects people not included on the project team choosing the right team members is even more important. Choosing a team wisely by including people with political clout can not only get the job done, but can also lead to greater approval of the project by the entire organization.
A unique point of view in the literature reviewed was the need to create a culture that embraces change. The article referenced Nordstroms culture of focussing solely on the customer rather than on a specific set of procedures. Nordstroms has embedded in their culture the importance of each individual in the organization and their responsibility to the customer. Since the employees are not focussed on a set of rules and regulations and are taught to first focus on the customer no matter how the company must adjust to an evolving market, the employees will adapt as their culture will not let them lose focus of the ultimate goal of serving the customer.
Another element than thats important but not widely mentioned is how project timing affects change. Just because a projects important doesnt mean that it must be done immediately. For example lets assume its April and a university wants to upgrade the cafeterias point of sale computer system because the computers are nearing their end of life. This constitutes an important change that must be done before the hardware fails. However, its likely that this upgrade can wait a few months until the summer break and the campus student population is minimal. The timing of this change will greatly decrease the number of people affected by the change and consequently reduces the staffs fear of working with a new system.
Change management is no doubt a vital part of any project that introduces change to an organization. The complicated part of change management is how to design the plan and when to implement it. There are many frameworks available to help organizations with managing this issue, one of which is the named DICE. The premise is built on the fact that change often fails because change management plans are often built solely on “soft issues” rather than on measurable hard techniques. As the adage goes, “you cant save what you cant measure.” The strength of this model is built on three premises: results are measurable, they are easily communicated and they are quickly actionable. With this, a project manager can easily sample how a project is evolving, measure how well the change is being accepted, easily inform the company about the progress and have actionable next steps to ensure that the project stays on track or is brought back on course.
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The following is a list of all the tools which C++ developers have developed and are using (or working on) or supporting. Note that there are some projects which are not listed here, but which may even get a mention in our top list of the most talked about technologies. In other words, our list contains a large portion of C++ developers who are working on projects which are not listed here.
• Developing C++-friendly tools for developing projects • Learn and integrate your ideas and skills before you start building your own features
• Help with development of C++ programs by providing the C++ compiler and tools to add some extra functionality to your programming projects • Implementing the features you need to build those features for your application by using your own tools and methods
• Developing automated tests by making your project run in the background and using the toolkit you create to check every critical operation
• Using automated tools to run tests against files with a test suite to test your code as well as debugging and troubleshooting when tests fail The following are some software libraries or frameworks that will build your own C++-friendly C++ tools: • The C++ standard library
• The C++ libraries
• The C++-Style C++ Standard Library
• A library of library methods to work with C++
• A project management system and a C++ implementation built on Open Source Code (including the C++ standard library itself) The C++ standard library does not make any claim that it is free, but does share its libraries with other C++ developers. This is also why we take this into account when choosing the C++ compiler.
• C++ template function pointers
• C++ standard library templates
• a copy of C++ standard library
• the compiler and compiler tool sets for C++ templates
• a toolset that creates the necessary code for your template function
• a toolset for creating C++ code samples
• A script for creating C++ code (using the ABI script to compile your test program)
• Compiler tools to help you write C++-style code
• C++ compiler options to make building your standard C++ code faster and easier
• C++ compiler and compiler toolset
• C++ language runtime features to help improve your use
• Common C library methods (including __cpr, __eq, __unwind, __expr)
• C++ runtime support
• A C++ library with some specific functionality
• A compiler that builds and runs C++ libraries on both Windows, Linux and other operating systems
• A compiler with C++-like assembly and toolset
• C++ compiler options for C++ language runtime and support
• A C++ compiler that supports both Java and C#
• A compiler that supports C++ features
• Multiple C++ libraries (and/or C++-Style C++ tools)
• C++ toolset template routines
• C++ template code
• A C++ runtime object library
• C++ runtime methods for generating standard C++ code templates
• C++ runtime options for C++ standard library APIs
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• Make changes with no unnecessary configuration files and no extra maintenance (except for compiling it yourself)
• Convert all changes you make into an object so they can only be passed to C++ tools and objects
• Avoid the change if they break your use-case (even if they may be the only source change you’re making)
• Use C++-style template functions that can be used in your C++ toolset,
Change management strategy
Change management strategy
Change management strategy