MIS 2 Assignment 3: Frustrations of IS Professionals
{ Posted on 1:35 PM
by Ariel Serenado
}
• PEOPLE GENUINELY BELIEVE THAT THE PROPOSED CHANGE IS A BAD IDEA. The truth is, sometimes someone’s (even – gasp! – my) idea of change is just not a good idea. Sometimes people are not being recalcitrant, or afraid, or muddle-headed, or nasty, or foolish when they resist. They just see that we’re wrong. And even if we’re not all wrong, but only half wrong, or even if we’re right, it’s important not to ignore when people have genuine, rational reservations or objections.
Now, in any Information System Planning, support of both parties (developer and the client) is very vital on the process of the planning. A developer cannot pursue with his/her goals when the client is not doing his/her part in the planning. If there is planning, these two components is interdependent with each other. Support is essential to a successful project. Projects can fail because of lack of support, because some people in an organization hasn't actively involved key decision makers in determining project strategy and direction. Anybody who is within the organization should keep support throughout the lifecycle of their project and improving project quality down the line. IS professionals often faced with the challenge of dealing to people who are very resistant to organizational change. We all know that we are in fast-paced environment and so changes should be expected and in turn we should have to deal these changes accordingly. However, not all people in an organization is flexible enough to adapt the change, that’s why IS professional should have the ability to effectively influence others, and it is often the solution to achieve desired results. This skill is used daily in meetings and business discussions and when constructing and communicating the business case for a new initiative.
There are six externalities that bring about change. They are regulation, capital markets, competition, technology, globalization and customers. When any of these external contexts changes radically and the company is either unable or unwilling to change, it often results in failure. Company success is very much like human behavior—a result of nature and nurture. But managers refuse to say that they were blessed from above, and so they take all the credit for themselves. They succeed as long as the environment doesn’t change. The underlying theory is that many people in business succeed by accident and not by plan. But, unfortunately, people end up believing what they will succeed forever, and they become resistant to change. They get locked into one paradigm or one way of life. Or in other words, people tend to forget that the environment they are in is changing, that’s why these people never think of facing the change for they got so used to something being a certain way in their lives that they don't want it to change and if they will do will affect their lives as they believed.
Building consensus, properly managing others’ expectations, and translating a concept or initiative into a range of viable options for achieving organizational goals are all critical competencies for today's IS professional. Certainly there are many great managers who take the time and invest themselves in helping their employees understand the changes and how they affect them. Here are some of the things they do:
1. Stop periodically and take a step back to regroup. Sometimes leaders get out in front of the rest of the group and they lose people. This feels like resistance, but it is often simply confusion and a lack of understanding. Each person will "get it" and buy in at different points in the process. Telltale signs are blank stares, input that is off the mark or questions about the purpose of the changes. When it comes to explaining the WHY behind any change, repetition is the key. People will only be ready to hear it and understand it when they are personally ready--in their own time.
2. Make sure people understand that they weren't doing it "wrong" the old way. Sometimes people are hurt or insulted by changes because no one took the time to explain that. Their credibility is at stake, so they fight a personal battle against the new way.
3. Show people how the changes support the mission, vision and strategy of the organization. If they don't see how the change will be good for anything--other than more work (or even losing their job)--they aren't going to get behind it. Too often, senior managers are the only people who sit in a room and discuss the strategic reasons behind a change. Then they wonder why everyone is so "resistant." The best strategy here is to communicate the changes at every opportunity, so that people understand how the changes tie into the big picture. All the senior and middle managers need to participate in one-on-one meetings, small group sessions, round-table discussions and company-wide meetings. These should be done often and with a format that allows for maximum interaction.
4. Help each person see how the changes impact them. Discuss what's in it for them and what they can do to help make the changes in their jobs. Take it down to the details and the specifics so that people can see clearly what the change means and what their part in it is.
Communication Gap
Part of an Information Planning is the communication; it is often define as a process of transferring information from one entity to another. Communication processes are sign-mediated interactions between at least two agents which share a repertoire of signs and semiotic rules. Communication is commonly defined as "the imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing, or signs". All forms of communication require a sender, a message, and a receiver. Communication requires that all parties have an area of communicative commonality. Now let’s define Communication gap; it is define as a state that occurs when what is being said is not been communicated to the addressee properly and completely. There can be many causes of communication gap depending on where it exists. Actually Communication gap is the biggest hurdle in achieving the organizational goal and does not help at all in achievement of organizational goal. Communication gap in an organization means that the goals and objectives that are set by the top management are either not communicated to the employees of the organization at all levels or if communicated they are not been understood properly by the employees. This can be because of improper communication channels, unrealistic goals, inappropriate language etc.
Mr. Gemrald consider this gap as a cause of frustration for it is apparent in their organization. In most cases, IS professional do utilize project models as a tool for project management; this model will help the planner to initiate processes in a more specific manner. Now, in this process, one should not communicate the planner in requirements gathering only but throughout the life cycle one should be constantly communicating the planner. As what I have understood form what Mr. Gemrald stated, he experienced communication gap between himself and the office he is working to automate transactions. During the requirements gathering, both the office specified the functionalities to cater on the system that Mr. Gemrald will developed, after passing all the necessary documentations they came up to the development of the system. As he deployed the system, all specified functionalities were made and it is functional. As time goes by, there were functionalities that the office wanted to add which supposed to be addressed during the requirements gathering, in this case it is now cumbersome to the part of the IS professional to do some revisions and recoding when the system was actually delivered already. In this scenario I asked him if he were able to make some closure or agreements after every documentation. He said, he is not used to make some closure and agreements in every documentation for the systems are just in-source, and he is the one making the system so every time that certain office will request some functionalities to be added in the system, it will be cater and its part of the maintenance. To him, making some agreements and closure is only applicable to those who engaged in business process outsourcing.
From the scenario, I understand that it is an instance of communication gap. Even though adding some functionality in a system that has been deployed is part of the maintenance, still the client should have addressed his/her specifications during the requirement gathering. For, in the usual system development life cycle, requirement which includes specifications of functionalities always comes first. Also, in system development life cycle, an output of the first stage may be the input of the next stage. Therefore, there should have proper documentation in every stage of system development.
Bridging the gap is commonly the best answer for communication gap. There are many ways to bridge the gaps especially in IT communication. These include:
• Find help to assess the situation. Get an outside, third-party to conduct an assessment of IT service performance with your business executives. The assessment team can interview your key executives to provide a complete evaluation and gap analysis of your current process capability against the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL), which is a comprehensive documentation of best practices within the framework of IT Service Management (ITSM), including the provision, support, and management of effective IT services. You can’t do this as well as an outsider with no vested interest in the outcome, plus the business people will be more open because their complaints will not be directly attributed.
• Understand that perception is reality. You might view some of the feedback as unfair. IT departments moan they are over-worked and under-funded. They lament that executives understand marketing and finance but haven’t got a clue when it comes to computers. “Those people,” the complaints go, “just think of us as techies and nerds who want more expensive technology toys that increase overhead.” You need to prove them wrong.
• Manage expectations. You need to measure the communications gap and then work to close the gap. You can complain about this being a classic no-win situation, or you can take charge of managing the expectations of IT department success within the organization. Kindly explain to IT users upfront how long things take or cost.
• Open the lines of communication. The solution is not sweet talking the C-suite (“Nice tie, Mr. Bigley!”), but more consistent delivery of business value and better communication of that value. Don’t wait for the business people to invite you to lunch, take them out for a meal. Breaking bread is a powerful tool. Unfortunately, good work doesn’t stand on its own — it needs to be explained and shared with others.
• No more geek speak. Transform communications from IT jargon and alphabet soup into the language of business. Quit trying to teach them the language of IT. Instead, become bilingual so you can speak IT and business lingo like balanced scorecards and Six Sigma.
There are actually hundreds of ways how to bridge the gap, we just need to be specific with our communication tools especially if we are in the field of Information Technology, wherein not all people within your environment or organization is aware with the activities related to the field.
References:
http://www.advancinginsights.com/resistant-to-change
http://www.learningtree.com/pmpitfalls/support.htm
http://www.schulersolutions.com/resistance_to_change.html
http://www.information-management.com/issues/19980301/697-1.html
http://rhoans.org/communication-gap/
http://www.blurtit.com/q945114.html
Now, in any Information System Planning, support of both parties (developer and the client) is very vital on the process of the planning. A developer cannot pursue with his/her goals when the client is not doing his/her part in the planning. If there is planning, these two components is interdependent with each other. Support is essential to a successful project. Projects can fail because of lack of support, because some people in an organization hasn't actively involved key decision makers in determining project strategy and direction. Anybody who is within the organization should keep support throughout the lifecycle of their project and improving project quality down the line. IS professionals often faced with the challenge of dealing to people who are very resistant to organizational change. We all know that we are in fast-paced environment and so changes should be expected and in turn we should have to deal these changes accordingly. However, not all people in an organization is flexible enough to adapt the change, that’s why IS professional should have the ability to effectively influence others, and it is often the solution to achieve desired results. This skill is used daily in meetings and business discussions and when constructing and communicating the business case for a new initiative.
There are six externalities that bring about change. They are regulation, capital markets, competition, technology, globalization and customers. When any of these external contexts changes radically and the company is either unable or unwilling to change, it often results in failure. Company success is very much like human behavior—a result of nature and nurture. But managers refuse to say that they were blessed from above, and so they take all the credit for themselves. They succeed as long as the environment doesn’t change. The underlying theory is that many people in business succeed by accident and not by plan. But, unfortunately, people end up believing what they will succeed forever, and they become resistant to change. They get locked into one paradigm or one way of life. Or in other words, people tend to forget that the environment they are in is changing, that’s why these people never think of facing the change for they got so used to something being a certain way in their lives that they don't want it to change and if they will do will affect their lives as they believed.
Building consensus, properly managing others’ expectations, and translating a concept or initiative into a range of viable options for achieving organizational goals are all critical competencies for today's IS professional. Certainly there are many great managers who take the time and invest themselves in helping their employees understand the changes and how they affect them. Here are some of the things they do:
1. Stop periodically and take a step back to regroup. Sometimes leaders get out in front of the rest of the group and they lose people. This feels like resistance, but it is often simply confusion and a lack of understanding. Each person will "get it" and buy in at different points in the process. Telltale signs are blank stares, input that is off the mark or questions about the purpose of the changes. When it comes to explaining the WHY behind any change, repetition is the key. People will only be ready to hear it and understand it when they are personally ready--in their own time.
2. Make sure people understand that they weren't doing it "wrong" the old way. Sometimes people are hurt or insulted by changes because no one took the time to explain that. Their credibility is at stake, so they fight a personal battle against the new way.
3. Show people how the changes support the mission, vision and strategy of the organization. If they don't see how the change will be good for anything--other than more work (or even losing their job)--they aren't going to get behind it. Too often, senior managers are the only people who sit in a room and discuss the strategic reasons behind a change. Then they wonder why everyone is so "resistant." The best strategy here is to communicate the changes at every opportunity, so that people understand how the changes tie into the big picture. All the senior and middle managers need to participate in one-on-one meetings, small group sessions, round-table discussions and company-wide meetings. These should be done often and with a format that allows for maximum interaction.
4. Help each person see how the changes impact them. Discuss what's in it for them and what they can do to help make the changes in their jobs. Take it down to the details and the specifics so that people can see clearly what the change means and what their part in it is.
Communication Gap
Part of an Information Planning is the communication; it is often define as a process of transferring information from one entity to another. Communication processes are sign-mediated interactions between at least two agents which share a repertoire of signs and semiotic rules. Communication is commonly defined as "the imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing, or signs". All forms of communication require a sender, a message, and a receiver. Communication requires that all parties have an area of communicative commonality. Now let’s define Communication gap; it is define as a state that occurs when what is being said is not been communicated to the addressee properly and completely. There can be many causes of communication gap depending on where it exists. Actually Communication gap is the biggest hurdle in achieving the organizational goal and does not help at all in achievement of organizational goal. Communication gap in an organization means that the goals and objectives that are set by the top management are either not communicated to the employees of the organization at all levels or if communicated they are not been understood properly by the employees. This can be because of improper communication channels, unrealistic goals, inappropriate language etc.
Mr. Gemrald consider this gap as a cause of frustration for it is apparent in their organization. In most cases, IS professional do utilize project models as a tool for project management; this model will help the planner to initiate processes in a more specific manner. Now, in this process, one should not communicate the planner in requirements gathering only but throughout the life cycle one should be constantly communicating the planner. As what I have understood form what Mr. Gemrald stated, he experienced communication gap between himself and the office he is working to automate transactions. During the requirements gathering, both the office specified the functionalities to cater on the system that Mr. Gemrald will developed, after passing all the necessary documentations they came up to the development of the system. As he deployed the system, all specified functionalities were made and it is functional. As time goes by, there were functionalities that the office wanted to add which supposed to be addressed during the requirements gathering, in this case it is now cumbersome to the part of the IS professional to do some revisions and recoding when the system was actually delivered already. In this scenario I asked him if he were able to make some closure or agreements after every documentation. He said, he is not used to make some closure and agreements in every documentation for the systems are just in-source, and he is the one making the system so every time that certain office will request some functionalities to be added in the system, it will be cater and its part of the maintenance. To him, making some agreements and closure is only applicable to those who engaged in business process outsourcing.
From the scenario, I understand that it is an instance of communication gap. Even though adding some functionality in a system that has been deployed is part of the maintenance, still the client should have addressed his/her specifications during the requirement gathering. For, in the usual system development life cycle, requirement which includes specifications of functionalities always comes first. Also, in system development life cycle, an output of the first stage may be the input of the next stage. Therefore, there should have proper documentation in every stage of system development.
Bridging the gap is commonly the best answer for communication gap. There are many ways to bridge the gaps especially in IT communication. These include:
• Find help to assess the situation. Get an outside, third-party to conduct an assessment of IT service performance with your business executives. The assessment team can interview your key executives to provide a complete evaluation and gap analysis of your current process capability against the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL), which is a comprehensive documentation of best practices within the framework of IT Service Management (ITSM), including the provision, support, and management of effective IT services. You can’t do this as well as an outsider with no vested interest in the outcome, plus the business people will be more open because their complaints will not be directly attributed.
• Understand that perception is reality. You might view some of the feedback as unfair. IT departments moan they are over-worked and under-funded. They lament that executives understand marketing and finance but haven’t got a clue when it comes to computers. “Those people,” the complaints go, “just think of us as techies and nerds who want more expensive technology toys that increase overhead.” You need to prove them wrong.
• Manage expectations. You need to measure the communications gap and then work to close the gap. You can complain about this being a classic no-win situation, or you can take charge of managing the expectations of IT department success within the organization. Kindly explain to IT users upfront how long things take or cost.
• Open the lines of communication. The solution is not sweet talking the C-suite (“Nice tie, Mr. Bigley!”), but more consistent delivery of business value and better communication of that value. Don’t wait for the business people to invite you to lunch, take them out for a meal. Breaking bread is a powerful tool. Unfortunately, good work doesn’t stand on its own — it needs to be explained and shared with others.
• No more geek speak. Transform communications from IT jargon and alphabet soup into the language of business. Quit trying to teach them the language of IT. Instead, become bilingual so you can speak IT and business lingo like balanced scorecards and Six Sigma.
There are actually hundreds of ways how to bridge the gap, we just need to be specific with our communication tools especially if we are in the field of Information Technology, wherein not all people within your environment or organization is aware with the activities related to the field.
References:
http://www.advancinginsights.com/resistant-to-change
http://www.learningtree.com/pmpitfalls/support.htm
http://www.schulersolutions.com/resistance_to_change.html
http://www.information-management.com/issues/19980301/697-1.html
http://rhoans.org/communication-gap/
http://www.blurtit.com/q945114.html
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