PROJ6003 The Importance of Change Management Assignment Sample

• Subject Code : PROJ6003
• University : Laureate International Universities My Assignment Services is not sponsored or endorsed by this college or university.
• Subject Name : Management

Project Execution and Control 

This paper has provided am analysis of the need for change in project management. It has discussed about project change management. Change management refers to the processes, tools and methods, which focus at managing people-related change into achieving the desired outcomes from business. It has two components, viz., the change, and project management. This report has been written to investigate the reasons underlying these changes and to understand how these changes can be managed. Change management and project management are two important domains for all businesses. They increase the likelihood of organisations to achieve their goals. As Heraclitus has aptly said, “The only constant in life is change.”, businesses should take this discipline seriously to stay relevant in this fast-paced world of business. Organisations should have a clear strategy, strong common ambitions among employees and focus on employees are some recommendations for effective change management.

Chittoor (2012) describes change as inevitable. Change management is a lot more than just the management of natural alterations. It refers to the management of these alterations for achieving organisational goals. It results in modified culture in organisations. Such modifications become necessary as new business processes driven by technology are implemented by organisations. Change management is actively pursued by managers so that the ways of working can be modified to suit new environments. It initiates learning new procedures.

Buehring (2020) has pointed out that the role of change management has become vital today. Change management makes sure that the technologies delivered into an organisation are efficiently made use of by the people working in the organisation. It is evolving as a complete career option in itself and therefore, the importance of training in change management should not be underestimated. Dependency of success on change, enablement of cross-functional changes, engagement of people in change processes, preparations for organisational transitions and reduction of costs are a few reasons why change management is important. Change management is a necessary component of project management because almost every ongoing project faces the challenges of change and thus it becomes important to manage these changes.

Vorobjeff (2018) has mentioned that change management in information and communication- (ICT) based projects requires systematic planning. It seeks to improve the quality of services for customers. The given case study has identified that most of these projects at the state, national or global levels are mismanaged and often result in failures. A lot of government ICT-based solutions are old-fashioned. Law Enforcement Assistance Program (LEAP) was an online database which the Victoria Police used to collect, record, review and analyse information on crimes, victims, offenders, family incidents and missing persons (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2013). The database included details about the people involved in incidents and their geographical locations. LEAP was a dated and incompetent system. Its maintenance costed a lot, was tedious and time consuming. In 2005, data leaks from LEAP brought embarrassment to the Victoria Police. It was then decided to replace LEAP with the Link Project. Queensland Government (n.d.) has pointed out that a change manager has to make sure that the information systems must be changed in such a way so that it has a minimal risk to the information.

Sigal (2019) has pointed out that change management in ICT-based projects can be a daunting task for most organisations as they lack the skills and capacity to implement such changes. The problem with the Link Project was that it was too costly to implement, for which the estimated cost of around even A$50 million was insufficient, and was later revised to A$60.5 million. Another problem was that no proper business case analysis was done beforehand. The business case could only be prepared by February, 2006. It was later observed that the benefits the business case report aimed at accumulating were unachievable and unmeasurable. Some benefits of ICT projects are that it functions as a catalyst in economic growth and development and increases transparency (Alawode, 2017). Link was badly planned and its customisation was such that it made Link feel and look exactly like LEAP. Over the course of four years of development, in 2009, the stakeholders realised that the project was underfunded by A$80 million. This was another big setback.

Zhu (2018) has identified some strategies by which change management can be carried out efficiently. Reflection and evaluation of IT management systems, active participation in strategic decisions and innovative inventiveness help managers explore new possibilities. Team development, organisational learning and moving towards a digital paradigm shift are essential parameters on which the success of organisations is based. Listening to people’s feedbacks and involving them in change management helps in gaining insight (StratoServe, 2011). The Link Project did not include these. Developing a work environment in which independent thinking is encouraged makes teamwork more productive (GB-Advisors, 2019). The application of dynamic facilitation practices in an effort to foster team performance helps achieve organisational goals (Latif, et al., 2018). Communication should be collaborative and cross-functional to ensure that the stakeholders are aware of the ongoing activities. There was regular communication between the different parties in the Link Project, but standard project development guidelines were not followed, which resulted in an underestimation of the project’s funding requirements. Change must be managed systematically using specific standard change management frameworks so that success can be ensured in projects (Goncalves, 2020). Link did not make use of any such framework. Strategic planning, considering every individual as a stakeholder and deploying end result-based measurement practices are some other factors which move a project in the direction of ultimate success.

References for The Importance of Change Management

Alawode, J. A. (2017). What are the benefits of ICT at the national level? Retrieved, September 30, 2020, from: https://www.researchgate.net/post/What_are_the_benefits_of_ICT_at_the_national_level

Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2013). 4533.0 – Directory of Family and Domestic Violence Statistics, 2013. Retrieved, September 30, 2020, from: https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4533.0main+features100062013

Buehring, S. (2020). The importance of change management. Retrieved, September 29, 2020, from: https://www.knowledgetrain.co.uk/change-management/importance-of-change-management

Chittoor, R. (2012). Importance of change management for project success. Retrieved, September 29, 2020, from: https://project-management.com/importance-of-change-management-for-project-success/

GB-Advisors. (2019). 6 advantages of using teamwork for IT project management. Retrieved, September 30, 2020, from: https://www.gb-advisors.com/using-teamwork-for-it-project-management/

Goncalves, L. (2020). Change management framework for organisational insights. Retrieved, September 30, 2020, from: https://adaptmethodology.com/change-management-framework/#:~:text=0Xing-,Change%20management%20framework%20is%20a%20process%2C%20a%20structure%20to%20follow,people%20affected%20by%20the%20change.&text=People%20often%20need%20a%20structure%2C%20a%20process%20to%20follow.

Latif, Z., Latif, S., Ximei, L., Pathan, Z. H., Salam, S. & Jianqiu, Z. (2018). The dynamics of ICT, foreign direct investment, globalization and economic growth: Panel estimation robust to heterogeneity and cross-sectional dependence. Telematics and Informatics, 35(2), 318-328. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2017.12.006

Queensland Government. (n.d.). ICT change manager. Retrieved, September 30, 2020, from: https://www.qgcio.qld.gov.au/information-on/ict-careers-and-skills-framework/ict-change-manager#:~:text=The%20ICT%20change%20manager%20is,the%20business%20and%20the%20information.

Sigal, L. (2019). Defeating technology change management issues in small businesses. Retrieved, September 29, 2020, from: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2019/12/17/defeating-technology-change-management-issues-in-small-businesses/#3706a6e54e48

StratoServe. (2011). Feedback is really important in the ICT model of input-process-output. Retrieved, September 30, 2020, from: https://stratoserve.com/2011/08/feedback-is-really-important-in-the-ict-model-of-input-process-output.html#:~:text=Privacy%20Policy-,Feedback%20is%20really%20important%20in,Model%20of%20input%2Dprocess%2Doutput&text=To%20understand%20the%20importance%20of,is%20to%20what%20organizations%20do.

Vorobjeff, A. (2018). Business change management in ICT customer projects- Systematic planning and implementation of business change management- Case ICT service provider. Retrieved, September 29, 2020, from: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/a17e/486937f4e97758d91b8f2fe771af2ccb12f0.pdf

Zhu, P. (2018). 12 IT change management practices. Retrieved, September 29, 2020, from: https://www.cio.com/article/3324368/12-it-change-management-practices.html

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