Posted by [IP Address: 202.9.175.244] 'Subramanian' on March 10, 2001 at 02:05:44 EST:
In Reply to: The importance of change management within an ERP implementation posted by [IP Address: 202.9.175.244] 'Maria' on February 20, 2001 at 12:37:07 EST:
Hi
We used the following story to handle our change management initially it helped us a lot.
The story started about a couple months ago when various process teams were being drawn up. Paintoo, a young energetic guy is an active member of this Asian Paints family and believes in keeping himself abreast of happenings around him. He is also in the habit of discussing his work with his grandfather, who is a wise man and was been the sarpanch of village for 30 years until he decided to come to Mumbai with his son. Paintoo has been keeping his grandfather posted on all the developments on the ERP front.
One day Paintoo heard people talking about a ‘change management’ team among various other teams. He also heard that this team will manage the ‘people’ side of SAP implementation. Paintoo was very puzzled and all sorts of thoughts emerged in his mind. Thoughts like ‘what is this change they are talking about’, ‘how are they going to manage whatever this change is’, etc. He decided to find all this out and requested Karan, who is a part of the ERP team, to explain him the ‘changes’. That night when he reached home he decided to share his newly acquired knowledge with his grandfather.
Paintoo: Grandpa, I have been telling you about ERP, processes instead of functions, seamless integration, etc. Today, I got to know about a strange concept called change management.
Grandpa: Why do you call this change as strange ? What are they saying about change which you did not comprehend ?
Paintoo: They are saying that with the implementation of SAP, the way we work is going to undergo a change.
Grandpa: This was bound to happen. If you are undertaking a big improvement process, way of working will change. Now, let me tell you what happened when we started ‘Waste Disposal and Recycling’ initiative at our village. Our vision was to implement a system wherein individuals would segregate waste into separate containers before disposal. The contents of the containers would then be discharged in specially created recycling chambers. Now, this involved different and increased work on the part of residents of not throwing the garbage on the road in front somebody else’s house.
Paintoo: Do you mean to say that all the residents of the village had to work differently ?
Grandpa: Not only differently, but more systematically as well. Have you heard this saying, ‘ jaisa karoge vaisa bharoge’ which means that if you want to higher gain, you will have to invest accordingly higher. To see a clean and hygienic environment, the residents of the village were motivated to work in a different way.
Paintoo: I see your point, but one thing is still not clear. How would the roles change ?
Grandpa: When the Disposal and Recycling System was fully in place, municipality personnel no longer had to collect garbage from the streets. Their role got transformed to ensuring the segregated containers are maintained well and the recycling chamber was working well. Similarly, those in charge of waste disposal to the nearby river has their work cut out. They could concentrate on finding better ways of waste from the recycling chamber so that it doesn’t pollute the nearby river. The essence, with some systematic effort from all, a lot of non-value adding and fire-fighting work was eliminated. People was were better off with new found cleanliness and hygienic conditions and could concentrate on other improvements.
Paintoo: I now understand this change in way of working and roles. But, do you have any inkling of what this change management team will do ?
Grandpa: In the beginning of our implementation, only members of panchayat were aware of the reasons for taking up the initiative and potential benefits. But, we soon found out that for this initiative to succeed, everyone needs to understand the why’s. People must be aware and convinced of the new approach to extend their wholehearted commitment. For this purpose, we formed various fora where panchayat members would explain the benefits and the work involved to excel with the new system. They also prepared skits and puppet shows to communicate and win commitment. A notice board was prepared at the chowk where progress was posted regularly. Is your organization doing such things ?
Paintoo: Yes, we have a newsletter called Sankalp which keeps us updated on what’s happening and makes us aware of all the latest jargon. They are also thinking of taking up user training in a bit way.
Grandpa: Training of users make the difference between excellence and average. In our village, we invited people from our nearby village which had already implemented this system and got our people trained. We also organized model demonstrations for all the residents on how segregate and dispose waste. Only after all the users were comprehensively trained did we breathe properly.
The duo of Paintoo and Grandpa ended the night’s discussion there
i hope the story of paintoo will help you too.
subbu
: Hi,
: I am currently working on my dissertation which is based on the topic of the importance of the management of change within an ERP imlementation.
: I am looking for any useful information, advice or view points on the following topic areas:
: To discover:
: · How to ensure a successful ERP implementation (taking SAP as the ERP software to be studied)
: · Provide a list of key success factors (through analysis of the successful and problematic cases)
: · How important is the management of change to a successful ERP project
: · What are the most fundamental changes that a client might face when implementing an ERP project?
: · Development of a framework to assist with the management of change involved with implementing a new information system
: can anyone help please?
: thanks in advance, Maria