Information
Technology (IT) has become a backbone of many organizations as it plays a vital
role in meeting business requirements of an organization. As the scale of
organization’s dependence on IT increases, the need of establishing and
implementing best practices to optimize those IT services with managing IT
technology becomes extremely important. Information Technology Service
Management (ITSM) is a proven and effective framework to optimize IT services
and manage IT technology. ITSM is process centric approach to IT management in
contrast to technology centric approaches to IT management. ITSM leads to focus
on quality of services provided by the IT service provider and hence the
improved customer satisfaction. Well, till now we tried to understand the need
to optimize the IT service through ITSM. But how are we going to implement ITSM
in an organization. What is going to be a major challenge in implementing ITSM.
Implementing ITSM means the Change – Change in long followed organization
culture, and changes to processes often requires organizational change, and
managing these changes can be daunting one.
So
question is what are the major barriers in implementing ITSM? Answer to the
question is as follows -
- Requires too much change in organizational culture
- Lack of organizational guidance
- Lack of experienced consultants
- Insufficient internal professional staff
- Can’t justify ROI
Now,
how are we going to deal with these barriers and overcome the resistance and
increase the organizational change success rate?
Top Management Support
To implement any major change – Organizational change in
our case, strong support of top management is must for success. Top management
has to facilitate not only the project funding and resources but also the
strong support. Top management has to actively deal with both passive and
active resistance. And to gain the confidence of top management, organizational
goals should be linked to the process improvements from implementation of ITSM
Assessment and Planning
Once the support from top management is obtained, next step is to
conduct the gap analysis between the current state and organization’s desired
state. Gap analysis will include the current state assessment against goals and
IT objectives of organization. The output of this analysis should be used as
platform to develop the process improvement plan i.e. ITSM implementation plan.
A well-defined gap analysis helps build the rationale for why change is
required, both for the organization overall and IT specifically. This is a key
element in getting buy-in and support from stakeholders, who will have to
enable the change to happen.
Step by Step Implementation
Project management should be applied for the effective
and efficient management of resources, budgets and risks. A program for process improvement should
govern the projects that are tasked with process improvement. Process
improvement projects should be implemented in shorter –duration phases which
will allow the marketing of successes, corrective actions, and the pursuit of
budgets and approvals of subsequent phases. This will not only speed up the
recognition of success, but it also rein force the notion of incremental
process improvement over time. Having stakeholders begin to see and feel the
incremental benefits will build positive momentum, and will help to gradually
reduce active and passive resistance.
Formal Organizational Change Plan
New or changed processes leads to organizational
change as it changes the way people work and more importantly the way they view
their jobs changes as well. Interpersonal trait is something which cannot be
ignored while planning an organizational change. Rather than focus solely on
processes and technology, groups tasked with process improvement should
formally develop plans that reflect required organizational changes and the
methods to achieve them. A formal communication plan should be made to ensure
that various stakeholders are receiving clear and consistent messages on what
and why changes are needed and how each of them will be impacted.
Employee Involvement
Involvement of employees during process improvement is very
important. Firstly, they are aware of the problems. Secondly, they may have
recommendations on how to make improvements. Finally, involving them throughout
the program will make them understand the need of change and also employees can
be involved in the selection and implementation of changes in a manner that
helps them internalize the changes. This will lead to reduction in resistance
to the change from employees.
Revise Performance Measures, Compensation and Job Descriptions
Changes to performance measures and job descriptions should be covered in the organizational change plan, but they are critical enough also to warrant their own mention. If ignored, they are apt to act as "rubber bands," drawing the organization back into old modes of behavior, which is dangerous. Instead, changes to performance measures and job descriptions must be reviewed in light of the desired process changes, and be revised accordingly.
New roles and responsibilities must be reflected in performance metrics, and if necessary, in job description changes, to help institutionalize the changes against the resistance to ITSM implementation.
Bottom line is to gain confidence of top management to implement process improvements and plan well their implementation after detailed assessment. Involvement of employees in step by step implementation of ITSM will result into successful reduction of resistance to organizational change. And ultimately the realization of expected value of ITSM implementation.
About Author:
Harish Mani is senior consultant and part of Systems Plus Pvt. Ltd. think tank. He in Systems Plus actively contributes to technology and information security. He can be contacted at: harish.m@spluspl.com
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