A Framework for Selecting Change Strategies in IT Organizations

Jan Pries-HejeThe IT University of Copenhagen,

jph@itu.dk

&

Otto VinterDELTA IT Processes,

otv@delta.dk

The ImprovAbility™Model

Foundation• Vision and strategy• Organisational culture• Expectation management• Knowledge management• Management competence

In Use• Product quality• Deployment strategy• Deployment means• Roles and

responsibility• Operations and

maintenance• Project goal and requirements

• Project team• Project competence and knowledge

• Project process• Project prioritising• Management support• Involvement of others

Initiation• Sensing urgency• Idea creation• Idea processing

Projects

InterviewManagement,

Projects and Users

Change strategyquestionnaire

PrioritiseImportance for business.

Management

PrioritiseBased on score.

Assessors

Change strategy

Matrix

Focusfilter

From Interviews to Recommendations Using the ImprovAbility™ Model

DialogueManagement

Database of change approaches

Relations between• Parameter profile• Change Principlesand known change approaches on the organisational level

Recommendations

Observations and scoring

Scope of changequestionnaire

Scope of changeDialogueInterviewees

Initiation

Foundation

Projects

In Use

The 10 Organizational Change StrategiesReengineering – Change is driven by fundamentally rethinking and redesigning the

organization to achieve dramatic improvements

Optionality – Change is driven by the motivation and need of the individual or group. It is to a large degree optional whether the individual takes the innovation into use

Socializing – Change in organizational capabilities is driven by working through social relationships. Diffusion of innovations happens through personal contacts rather than through plans and dictates

Specialist driven – Change is driven by specialists, either with professional, technical, or domain knowledge

Exploration – Change is driven by the need for flexibility, agility, or a need to explore new markets, technology or customer groups

Commanding – Change is driven and dictated by (top) management. Management takes on the roles as owner, sponsor and change agents

Employee driven – Change is driven from the bottom of the organizational hierarchy when needs for change arise among employees

Learning driven – Change is driven by a focus on organizational learning, individual learning and what creates new attitudes and behavior

Metrics driven – Change is driven by metrics and measurements

Production organized – Change is driven by the need for optimization and/or cost reduction

Prioritised list of the Change Strategies (Case B)

71 % Optionality

65 % Commanding

59 % Socializing

58 % Production organized

56 % Specialist driven

40 % Metrics driven

34 % Learning driven

29 % Exploration

28 % Reengineering

18 % Employee driven

The 10 change strategies are all anchored in Change Management literature

More Information ?

Talent@ITwww.talent-it.dk

Otto VinterDELTA IT Processes,

Tel: +45 7219 4000, Fax: +45 7219 4001otv@delta.dk

The ImprovAbility™ Products

• Organisational assessment (typical)

– 1½ Management (SPI / IT Management) interview

– 2 project group interviews • covering at least 3 projects (SPI or IT)

– 2 user group interviews • covering the use of at least 3 products (same kind as above)

• Project assessment

– 1 project team interview• the project team (or part of it)

– (1 management interview)• optional for mission critical projects

Differences between the two assessment types

Organisational

• Assessment based on what has

been done in the past (i.e.

completed projects being used

by users)

• Includes all 20 parameters

• Recommendations for the

organisation on how to improve

on a general level

• The recommendations are

adjusted to the change approach

most suitable for the company

Project

• Assessment based on

expectations in a (newly) started

project (i.e. the project not

completed)

• Includes 17 parameters

• Recommendations for the project

on what to include in their work to

increase the likelihood of success

• The recommendations are

discussed and adjusted in

dialogue with the project team to

suit their conditions

The new things in ImprovAbility™

• ImprovAbility™ is not a maturity model but measures

parameters, that are important for success

• ImprovAbility™ provides recommendations for parameters,

that are important for the business / project and has a low

score. The recommendations comes from a large database

of proven disciplines and techniques.

• The organisational assessment includes a survey that

prioritises 10 different approaches to change management.

In this way it is possible to optimise the recommendations

to the company – what has the highest likelihood to work for

them.

ImprovAbility™ vs. Capability Models

Scope of Capability Models

Less detailed

Detailed

Exploration Development Operations

StrategicManagement

TechnicalManagement

General Engineering

SpecificTasks

Scope of

ImprovAbility™

Extending an idea from: Systems Engineering Beyond Capability Models, 2002 by Sarah A. Sheard and William W. Schoening

What is process improvement and innovation?

Process improvement(= innovation)

Process improvers

IT product

New processesor tools

End users

Product development (= innovation)

IT developers

Managers

Management

Experiences using ImprovAbility™

• 2 complete organisational assessments

– One manager concluded: No I know why things has not worked

the way I expected (based on the top 2 change approaches most

suitable for the company)

• 1 SPI focused organisational assessment in a high maturity company

– They could use our recommendations and liked the concept

• 6 project assessments

– A big variation in project complexity, size, maturity and parameters

selected for recommendations

– The process highlights strength and weaknesses to the project

team and provides usable recommendations

What do we offer to our customers

• Organisational assessment (from 16.000 €)

• Project assessment (from 5.400 €)

• 5 day certified Project Assessor training course (3.000 €)

– Project assessment can be made internally by certified

assessors