Introduction
Business change is an inevitable process for any organization that is success-oriented and is committed to achieving high levels within a given market.Some of the factors that make the change process inevitable include competition coupled with advancement in technology for instance information technology. This paper touches on the importance of people, IT, and TQM as some of the factors that affect the change process in organizations.
Main body
Business change has gained maturity over time as a result of lessons learned in the past especially concerning the fact that failure is imminent with no proper strategy.
The process of change in a business first involves strategic analysis of the firm before any major move is undertaken. Several factors have contributed to the maturity of the business process change. Processes, to begin with, facilitate the implementation of new strategies and even help to envision other opinions in the process.
Successful projects are on the track to have paid attention to factors that resist change. They have reduced these factors by first assessing the cultural readiness of the concerned parties before initiating the change process. Identification of all the processes that are required for change within an organization helps to prioritize them and has also been studied to be consistent with the organization’s strategic goals. The process of identifying crucial processes is based on data entities, data classes, functional departments, and application systems. It is after the processes identification that a task force from the top management analyzes the processes to come up with the right people to undertake process regeneration. ( James,2000).
People in an organization are very significant in the change process because they are involved in the change processes and they are also the ones who influence implementation. Process change in an organization aims at improving efficiency and effectiveness during the strategy linkage phase of regeneration This is translated into the people in an organization that is changing. It is the skills of the people which are supposed to be altered to bring about efficiency. It is also the behaviors of the people that are supposed to be monitored to bring desirable results. For instance for the sake of social responsibility, if the attitudes and perceptions of the people are not looked into, then it can be very hard for an organization to achieve such goals. Change in an organization involves a change in roles and responsibilities amongst the people therefore it means that they are part and parcel of the change process and they are the facilitators of change. During the strategy linkage phase whereby the top management’s commitment is sought, the people who are to champion the process of regeneration are identified. People also exert their effect in the process in terms of consultancy whereby there can be a consultant to serve as a catalyst to do a cost-benefit analysis for the top management Supplier from everybody at all corners is essential for any successful process. Suppliers, customers, and stakeholders are important people in the business society and they should be explained clearly why the organization needs change and how the objectives to bring change can be addressed. it is these people that are supposed to give their opinions, ideas, and perceptions on the way forward concerning the process of change that is to be carried out. During the change planning, process plans are made to manage the change and to counter potential threats and challenges that are ahead.
The process owner is named to take care of the process. The project owner plays a significant role because he’s the one doing some of the major decisions concerning the day. The team leaders train other group members and they are the ones who explain to the other employees why the organization needs to plan for regeneration. For success to be achieved in any BPR project, it is expected that all the participants have backgrounds that are cross-functional and multidisciplinary. Change in the human resources would include things like changing of job titles and positions, performance evaluation during the regeneration phase people still play a critical role in the implementation of change. The presence of IT professionals makes it easy for the deployment of new information and systems to keep the new process in motion. The people who are assigned make sure that IT is consistent with the integrated process.
Most of the processes that are fundamental for process regeneration are driven by IT. This important tool is responsible for magnifying the effects of the change process.
IT enables the creation of cohesion within the group and also helps in the automation of the workflow. Using tools such as local area networks sharing of information is possible within the group thus leading to easy access to information while within the same company. The use of IT allows for a reduction in costs and the elimination of intermediaries within the process. There is also the advantage of working from a very long distance using the IT tools for instance using the internet to work in very far locations.
It plays a critical role in eliminating the intermediaries who delay the process of change. Furthermore, it can be used to bring together parties within a regeneration process. Features of IT such as group are very significant in creating cohesion and they, therefore, facilitate the role and integration of tasks within the process.
IT tools have been utilized in organizations to enable the process of regeneration.
These tools are very important in processes within organizations for instance enhancement of process control. It has the capacity of controlling tasks in such a way that some activities can be done simultaneously. It would also have the advantage of improving the quality of output within an organization. When it comes to managerial tasks IT tools have been noted to improve analysis and participation in the entire process. They are therefore very essential in enhancing change in an organization that is adaptable to change and is focused on implementing it. This keeps everything in check for instance it can lead to minimizing errors and excesses when preparing a budget in an organization by the top mismanagement. Therefore IT is a very essential tool when carrying out regeneration within an organization. IT contributes a lot in the pathology stage and to be specific in the documentation of the previous process. Its tools technology makes this process more accurate efficient and thus reliable. Therefore it is important not to overlook the impact IT and new technology and IT can have on the overall process of regeneration.TQM is yet another important factor that determines the success of a regeneration process in an organization. TQM Its expertise is quite essential especially during the pathology stage whereby lack of previous experience in this area will result in challenges of implementation of the process. Therefore this is an important factor that should be carefully handled to achieve the set goals and eventual success in the entire process of business regeneration.TQM is essential for quality improvement when carrying out process regeneration. It is vital when trying to harmonize the products requirements and the basic needs of the customers. (Sethi, & King, 1998).
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is vital to make it clear that all the mentioned factors are crucial for the success of the business change process. This has been demonstrated in several organizations. The experience achieved from success examples brings it out clearly that the longer the organization handles the process of regeneration the more success it will get from such a process. Pressure coming from various competitors and advancements in technologies demand that businesses transform. Therefore for organizations to conform to these demands, better strategies and approaches for handling change have to be adopted based on the factors that determine and contribute towards change in the business environment. The top management and the entire team that is supposed to spearhead change within an organization need to carefully consider these factors to foster change without negatively affecting individuals or processes within the organization. A good strategy for addressing change within an organization should be one that can focus on the factors that are resisting change then capitalizing on them with the use of appropriate tools such as IT.
References
Sethi, V., & King, W. R. (1998). Organizational Transformation Through Business Process Reengineering. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, ISBN 0-13-897877-8.
James T. C. Teng in Process Think Winning Perspectives For Business Change in the Information Age,” Varun Grover and William J. Kettinger, Eds. Harrisburg and London: Idea Group Publishing, 2-21, 2000.