lecture 4: Technochange

Question 1

Techno change project

Answer 1

A project that changes an organization based on new uses of IT.

Question 2

IT projects

Answer 2

A purely technical IT project ( such as upgrading web-server)

Question 3

problems of seperation

Answer 3

the problems that comes with separating IT developments from organizational development.

Question 4

A complete desing

Answer 4

A design that not only consist of the design in IT but also the design of the changes to the organization.

Question 5

implementable design

Answer 5

a design without misfits toward key organizational characteristics such as culture, business process and incentives.

Question 6

Technochange prototyping

Answer 6

an interaktive approach that not only focused the development of IT but the organizational changes and benefits as well.

Question 7

benefits realization

Answer 7

The process of managing and organizing, such that the potential benefits arising from the use of IT are actually realized.

Question 8

benefits realization: benefits planning

Answer 8

the ability to effectively indetify and describe the planned outcome of an IS development project and explicitly specify the requirements and how they will be achieved.

Question 9

benefits realization: benefits delivery

Answer 9

the ability to design and execute the program of organizational change necessary to realize all of the benefits specified in the benefits realization plan.

Question 10

benefits realization: benefits review

Answer 10

the organizations ability to effectively assess the success of a project in terms of the potential benefits, the delivered benefits and the identification of the ways and means by which the further benefits might be realized.

Question 11

benefits realization: benefits exploitation

Answer 11

The adoption of the portfolio of practices required to realize the potential benefits from information, applications and IT services, over their operational life.

Question 12

complementary changes

Answer 12

the changes that is not IT related - but helps benefit from IT changes
- changes in business processes and workflow, new job designs, new skills training, restructuring departments or business units, new places, new performance evaluations and incentives etc.

Question 13

different between technochange and IT project

Answer 13

IT projects: Can do a big different in the short-run, the payoff from these proejcts can be signifikant but they often dont make an appreciate different in how organizations work.

Technochange projects: Using IT in a way that it is possible to trigger major organizational changes, creating high-risk BUT potntially high-reward situations.
Technochange is technology-driven organizational change. Today these project would be labelled as “transformational” or “disruptive”.

Question 14

ressistance to change

Answer 14

Resistance to change is the act of opposing or struggling with modifications or transformations of the organization.

Question 15

challenges with technochanges

Answer 15

the major challenges for technochange projects is to much seperation between system development and implementation // between IT and the organization

Question 16

seperation between IT and organization

Answer 16

The lack of IT understanding in business –> They are not always fully aware of what the IT can and can not do, and what possiblities exist for changing business processes.
Lack of business understanding in IT –> Intentionally or unintentionally, IT design decisions are often made on the basis of technical criteria
Bad strategy for collsborative innovation –> People involved in participatory design processes often produce incremental solutions, even when more radical change is needed.

Question 17

technochange lifecycle problem: time and distance

Answer 17

3 problems:

1. they are to drift away from their initial business objectives.
2. it is that the initial business needs and organizational processes will have changed, resulting in misaligned IT solutions.
3. they are to lose management attention and be terminated.

Question 18

technochange life cycle problem: exported problems to later phase

Answer 18

Exported problems are problems that arise during one phase of the life cycle but either are not recognized as problems or fixed at that time. Instead, they show up in later phases, when it may be too late or too expensive to fix them.
Classic example is when a IT problem actually are a technochange problem

Question 19

technochange life cycle problem: creating unintended consequence

Answer 19

long technochange efforts continue with exported problems, the more difficult and expensive it is to correct them. Even completed and apparently successful technochange initiatives can have unintended consequences, that were not expected or intended by executives or project personnel.

Question 20

technochange prototyping

Answer 20

Technochange prototyping is iterative / agile development + organizational changes integrated into one, and the same, process.
–> The essential characteristic of the Technochange prototyping approach is that each phase (iteration) involves both new IT functionality and related organizational changes, such as redesigned business processes, new performance metrics, and training.

Question 21

what is a good technochange solution?

Answer 21

A complete solution,
An implementable solution,
A solution where benefits actually are exploit

Question 22

what can go wrong in a good technochange solution?

Answer 22

A solution may be technically adequate but still not fit the ways people work in particular settings:
- Cultural misfits
Incentive misfits/political misfits
it is important to take potential misfits carefully into account when designing technochange solutions and when dealing with apparent cases of resistance to technochange.

Question 23

benefit realization as another way of dealing with seperation problems

Answer 23

By combining benefits realization with the ideas from technochange organizations might be in a better positions to successfully manage IS development and implementation projects.