Status Report

Running head: TRANSFORMING AN ORGANIZATION 1

TRANSFORMING AN ORGANIZATION 5

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Introduction

Due to a change in organizational needs and technological advancements, there is a need for an organization to introduce an information system to cater to these needs. An enterprise management system oversees the performance of the organization. It produces management reports that can predict and control future organizational performance. It assists in various functions of the organization like gathering accurate data for setting monthly and annual budgets for the organization based on the reports on how much money the organization has spent within a certain period generated by the management information system. It helps the organization make critical business decisions. Enterprise management systems boost the relationship between customers and businesses. The employees can obtain information from a single point of access, which makes them work more efficiently (Spade Technology, n.d.).

Implementation of proposed information system

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Figure 1. Enterprise management system

The implementation stage involves a series of sequential steps that leads to making a new system operational. Implementation of the management information system is a critical step. It requires both managerial and technical skills. As the project manager, I will handle the management part of the implementation stage. My role will be planning, organizing, and directing the completion of the project. The project manager will ensure that the implementation of the information system is executed on time, within the scope and budget.

A group of IT teams specialized in software is required during the implementation of the information system. They are more knowledgeable about how the system works and how it is supposed to be integrated with the current system. Time is a major factor required to implement the information system. The implementation stage has laid out phases and a timeline for implementation. The estimated time for completion of the project should be set aside to allow the implementation of the system on schedule. The organization has to allocate the resources necessary to execute the project. There is a need to define a budget that is required to source resources and cater for expenses that comes with the project.

Project risks and scope creep

Scope creep occurs when the organization's stakeholder adds new project requirements after project implementation has started. These requirements are not thoroughly reviewed and may result in a project not being completed within the budget and according to schedule. There is a considerable risk of data insecurity, breaches, and hacker attacks. The cost of setting up, implementing, and managing a new information system may incur costs that the organization did not anticipate. Hence, there is a possibility of failure of the project.

There are ways of mitigating both project risks and scope creep. One main step is documenting the project requirements. The step involves gathering all requirements from all project stakeholders and staff and documenting them in a document. In this way, the requirements and the process to change them are tracked. Based on the requirements gathering, a work breakdown structure to create a detailed project schedule. It will ensure that the project is implemented and executed on time. Verifying the project scope with the stakeholders and staff is also a way to mitigate project risk and scope creep. It is a step that ensures that all the stakeholder requirements and deliverables are understood and ensure everything that is required by the stakeholders is represented (Ray, 2021).

Change management strategy

With the implementation of a new management information system, there is a need for employee training. The training is important to equip employees with skills, capabilities, and knowledge of using the information system, and ensure they are productive when executing their roles. The staff is to receive training on all the functionality of the management information system. The finance department of the organization is to learn how to use the management information system for accounting operations and generating financial reports. The staff will be trained on using the data gathered by the system to identify and analyze customer satisfaction, and employee performance (Basu, 2017).

There are resources needed to implement an enterprise management system. Additional physical infrastructure is required to provide space for networking hardware, servers, and data centers. The facility ensures that the IT infrastructure components are connected. A server is a hardware component that is required for the enterprise management system. It hosts the information system and allows multiple users to access and share resources.

The staff at the organization will require training on all aspects of the new information system. They are to be taught how to use the system to provide customer support, and track customer activity. Based on the roles of the employees, the trainers are expected to train them based on the aspects of the system they interact with. The finance, IT, and human resource team use different aspects of the system and hence require different training on the information system use. The employees will also be trained on what aspects of the prior system have been automated and understand how to use the new system.

The transition from the old to the new system will take place gradually. The departments that operate the critical business operations of the system will be the first group of employees to transition and use the new system. In this way, the organization will be up and running. The first department that is to be transitioned will undergo training sessions to give them information and skills required in their new roles. Once they are conversant with the system, they transition and use the new system while the other departments continue using the old system as their trained until they all transition to the new information system.

Implementing a new information system often receives resistance. Employee resistance is a major setback that leads to failure in the implementation of information systems. The information system design and the interface is an areas where we anticipate employee resistance. Different staff and stakeholders have design preferences ranging from the user interface to the color palette, and the system font. Since most information systems are purchased from specialized software manufacturers, there is no room for gathering these user requirements and specifications. Thus, there is a high risk of user resistance. The aspect of increased workload that is accompanied by system implementation is a cause of user resistance. A new information system requires that employees gain new skills to use the system effectively and attain their work requirements apart from their working hours. Lack of organizational support for change is also a cause of user resistance. Organizational support refers to the provision of facilitation to allow users to adapt to changes due to information system implementation. Change in the way of work using a new information system requires a series of support from the organization such as training and resources for transition. Without these resources, employees offer resistance to the information system implementation (Xiao, 2017).

Recommended approaches to address resistance

According to Xiao (2017), the provision of organizational support is an approach to addressing employee resistance. The organization should dedicate adequate resources such as funds to ensure that the staff is trained regarding the new information system. The organization that purchases an information system should find ways to customize the system according to the preferences of the employees to eliminate user resistance due to design preferences. There is a need to match elements in a human resource like matching a person with the position. For such kinds of projects, the human resource team must select, and train an individual who will is qualified to implement an information system. There should also be matching between pa and performance. The employees will sense that their efforts in using the system will be beneficial and will even persist in making the system better. Matching pay and performance will relieve the resistance of employees to using new technology.

Evidence of feasibility

Instead of using an enterprise management system, the organization can opt to use a management information system. They help the business to analyze data and predict the future; identify business trends and model business strategies. It helps the employees and management make a critical business decisions. However, it is not as accurate and complete as the current assessment. The budgeting of such an information system is very difficult. The budgeting of management information systems is difficult and its expense is unpredictable. The effectiveness of this system decreases since there is constant change in top management.

The current assessment is correct and accurate. Many organizations have used the enterprise management system and have been quite successful. Studies have shown that the success rate of implementation of an enterprise management system is 67 percent. The information system incorporates change management, which helps it mitigate any limitations that result from its implementation.

Employees and teams of any organization have their limitations. Sometimes, employees are overwhelmed with the organization's workload. The information system mitigates this limitation since it automates some functionalities reducing the workload. The information system is accessed from one place. The challenge of trying to keep track of where certain functionalities of the system are is mitigated due to this design feature of the proposed information system.

References

Basu, K. K. (2015). The Leader's Role in Managing Change: Five Cases of Technology-Enabled Business Transformation. Global Business & Organizational Excellence, 34(3), 28-42. doi:10.1002/joe.21602.

Connelly, B., Dalton, T., Murphy, D., Rosales, D., Sudlow, D., & Havelka, D. (2016). Too Much of a Good Thing: User Leadership at TPAC. Information Systems Education Journal, 14(2), 34-42.

Rouse, M. (2018). Changed Block Tracking. Retrieved from Techtarget Network: https://searchvmware.techtarget.com/definition/Changed-Block-Tracking-CBT

Ray Stephanie. (2021, May 26). What is scope creep and how can I avoid it? Retrieved from

https://www.projectmanager.com/blog/5-ways-to-avoid-scope-creep

Spade Technology. (n.d.). Enterprise management systems. Retrieved from

https://www.spadetechnology.com/enterprise-management-systems/

Xiao, C. H. (2017). The reason and coping measures of employees resistance to information system. Journal of Human Resource and Sustainability Studies, 5, 87-93. https://doi.org/10.4236/jhrss.2017.51009