MGT 426 (Harris Coorporation)

There are various types of changes that can occur within an organization and among them are the organizational structure change, personnel change, transformational change, unplanned change and remedial change. In the case of Harris Corporation acquiring new information systems, which would be classified as a transformational change that only changes the tools used to deliver the goods and services but the operations are still the same. The employees will, however, need to adjust to the new system, understand it better and receive some training to meet the objectives of the upgraded system (Hornstein, 2015). Transformational change occurs when the company understands the current needs of their consumers and puts up a system that meets the requirements. That way the company remains competitive and delivers the desired service or goods to the consumers in time and the right condition. Harris Corporation just realized that they need a better information system with more advance features and less or no downtime.

The information technology department was in charge of implementing the change and through a memo from the department manager; all employees were notified two weeks before the change was implemented. Communication is among the critical concerns of implementing change. People are a bit reluctant to embracing changes since they will need to learn a new way of doing thing differently from what they were used to. However, communication before and during the change implementation period is critical and plays a significant role in succeeding in the transformation process. During the change implementation, all employees were introduced to the new system and given guidelines and manuals in line with each person’s role in the information system. The IT department also assigned some individuals the task of responding to any urgent issues from the users especially to people who were troubled in using the new interface. The unit even went ahead to inform the consumers of the product about the latest changes through the Harris Corporation website and group email notifications. It is through this communication strategy that made the transformation process smooth and empowered every user on the new system to deliver the expected performance.

Leaders can influence a willing group of followers. During the communication, process various leaders were involved in passing the message to their followers. Among them is the previously mention IT manager who provided internal guidelines to the department members and communicated to the other managers within Harris corporations. On the other hand, the departmental managers were used as part of the change management and organized training sessions for their department members (Bolman & Deal, 2017). Besides, they were used to deliver feedback to the IT department on the changes they may need or the challenges they were facing with the new information system. Finally, the consumer representatives were used to express the concerns of the consumers, and it is through this leadership support that the contracted company was able to meet all the user needs and promote a smooth transition during the change implementation period.

It is true that the human mind is more likely to respond to a slowly initiated change as compared to a complete transition within one day. Bearing this in mind the management of Harris Corporation decided to launch the new system into modules such that people will experience a smooth transition from the old system rather than completely shutting down the old system (Carter & Mossholder, 2013). Such a model is referred to as transition model that provides a transition period for the employees to adopt the new system. Meaning some operations ran on the old information system while other ran on the new system and within a short period all modules had been integrated on the new system, and everyone was out of the old information system. The users did not feel the impact of change since they were given enough time to adapt to the new changes and the IT department together with the contracted firm worked closely with the company and provided all the required support.

In conclusion, it is clear that as much as people are reluctant to change, a company cannot remain rigid and grow its sales to the desired level. Each company needs the commitment of all stakeholders during the change implementation process. Therefore, calling for the need of the firm to prepare the stakeholders for change through effective communications and change management strategies such as understanding the type of change and knowing how to deal with the problem of resistance to change. It can be enhanced through improved awareness programs that emphasize n the need for change within the organization. Harris corporation succeeded because they enhanced effective communication and encouraged people rewards the importance of the new system in the company.

Looking at the way Harris Corporation implemented the change of their information system, one can come up with practical recommendations for any company to use and successfully achieve their objectives. The change management strategy is all about identifying the need for change as Harris Corporation discovered they needed a better system. Then prepared for a solution and came up with a design to implement the change with the support of the hired company. The company later implemented the change by incorporating various modules at different times until the company was entirely run by the new information system. The stakeholders, with the support of their leaders, sustained the changed until they were able to use the system. The IT department late monitored the way people are using the system, collected feedback from users including the consumers. In any case, the change is not effective; the team goes back to review the process right from the identification stage as shown in the graphic below.

References

Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2017). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership. John Wiley & Sons.