A quick test for you: which of the following two projects has the biggest change management challenge?
…. A $100 million new manufacturing production line
…..or a $1 million IT software project
The manufacturing production line is mostly about pieces of machinery and training a small number of people how to run it. Change Management for the new production line is fairly simple, the processes are clear and well defined. In contrast the IT project is likely to alter processes across multiple departments, impacting a large number of people. The revised processes are far more ambiguous and subject to further revision, which leads to greater uncertainty and resistance.
This may be a highly simplified example, but it highlights the highly complex impacts that can be generated by an IT project.
“IT organizations, including CIOs and project managers, often pay insufficient attention to truly motivating business users and sustaining broad adoption.” Barbara Kivowitz
Barbara continues by saying “Underestimating the impact of technology-driven process change on employees is a key factor in IT project failure, even when deploying excellent technology.”
This becomes even more problematic where staff may not understand a new technology and associated working practices, which leads to increased anxiety and fear. Therefore it is imperative to help the staff make the transition and to feel they are part of the decision process, not just a victim of the end result.
To find out more about change management and particularly how to be successful with IT related change see the related articles below.
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Related articles:
Change Management (Part 1) – Cracking the Code of Change
Change Management (Part 2) – Step Models of Change
Change Management (Part 3a) – Change Capability
Change Management (Part 3b) – Success with IT Change
The five motivators of successful change by Barbara Kivowitz
Martin Davis' Blog 
When change occurs in the workforce, it seems as if everyone stresses. There’s obvious reasons why too. When things have been done a certain way for such a long period of time and then one day that all changes, it stresses people out because they’re used to doing it a different way.
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Posted by Keynote speaker | August 13, 2012, 3:07 pmTotally agree. What have you found works well to reduce the issues caused?
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Posted by Martin | August 13, 2012, 5:02 pmI try to focus on a couple things when dealing with change at work. First, I try to focus on why the change is occurring in the first place. Most changes in an organization occur because they are benefiting the company in some way, shape or form. If it’s benefitting the company then there’s a good chance it will provide somewhat of a benefit to me.
Secondly, I reiterate over and over in my head that change is going to happen wherever I’m working and whatever I’m doing. Acceptance is key. If you can accept change, then the stress goes away.
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Posted by Keynote Speaker | August 22, 2012, 3:29 pmThanks. Totally agree, as a change leader your job is to help everyone to see the benefits, remove the fear, the stress, the resistance etc, and help them to accept the new reality.
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Posted by Martin | August 22, 2012, 7:31 pm