Changing the way they work: A short introduction of Organizational Change Management

Summary

You’re considering to replace your current system with SAP applications and therefore expecting to have some resistence from your current system users. You want to know how to manage the transition and looking for a brief piece of writing describing the concept & methodology in plain words. If the scenario applies to you, this small write-up is for you. In business & IT (and more specifically SAP) jargon we call this work stream as Organizational Change Management (or OCM to abbriviate it).

Scenario

If you’re an owner / decision maker of a well run business and you think your decision of replacing the current system with SAP applications would just be welcomed across the organization, you may need to rethink. The strategic direction, howsoever clear it is, may not bring you the desired results unless and until a good change compaign is executed. What precisely this so called Change Management is about, is described here.

Definition

Change Management, in a SAP Implementation context, is eliminating / minimizing of the resistence and ultimately preparing the stakeholders for accepting the new applications.

Action Plan

It can be achieved if we understand the following “What, Who and How”:

• Who is required NOT to resist and react?
• What requires people NOT to react?
• How do they NOT resist?

High-Level OCM Activities

Whenever a project is to be initiated, the Change Management activities need to be started in parallel. On high-level, these activities could be classified as follows:

• Identify the affected people.
• Analyze their needs and how best the new system meet their needs.
• Inform them of the change, the benefits it’ll bring to them & to the organization.
• Make sure they accept the new system and seek their feedback regularly.

In short, we can say the OCM exercises is about finding out

• Who is affected?
• How to minimize the affects?
• Who will do the job?
• What affected people require?
• How to communicate with them? Especially the benefits?
• How their job will be changed?
• How to get feedback on what’s happening, in reality?
• Check they are ready or not?
• Did your user accept?

Call it I.T.A.M

1. Inform your people
2. Talk to them
3. Get their Acceptance
4. Monitor their performance