Management of change

Ewan Sutherland, Centre for Informatics

Change

• social
• economic
• organisational
• personal

National policies

• education
• training
• employment
• industry
• economy
• finance

Economic policies

• interventionist (e.g., France)
• non-interventionist (e.g., USA under Reagan and Bush)
• sectoral initiatives (e.g., microprocessors or software)
• locational initiatives (e.g., Sophia Antipolis and “Silicon Glen”)
• national champions (e.g., ICL and Rover Group)

Smoke stack industries

• Ted Heath’s lame ducks in early 1970s
• the despair of operating the life support machine, for example,
• iron and steel
• shipbuilding
• manufacturing
• immobility of people (c.f. USA)
• need for revitalisation of local and regional economies

Widespread use of IT

• need to encourage use in
• society at large
• in companies
• in bureaucracy
• in families
• examples such as:
  • Minitel (France)
  • Information Superhighway (USA)

IT ‘82 -- Information Technology year 1982

• Kenneth Baker, Minister of State at DTI
• microcomputers in schools
• Office Automation Pilot Projects
• Computer Integrated Manufacturing
• Alvey Programme
• all done under Mrs Thatcher

France

• withdrawal from declining sectors
• entrance into growth sectors
• promotion of exports

• of insulation of government policy-making from the direct influence of parliament and pressure groups
• the establishment of a broad nationalist-conservative coalition
• participation in the European Community
• the provision of subsidies in response to demand, at the same time as investing in modernisation

Phases of intervention

• post-war reconstruction
• consolidation sparked by the creation of the Common Market
• adjustment to changes in the global economy in the early 1980s
• election of Balladur in 1993

Nora and Minc

• a report commission in 1976 by President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing
• published in 1978
• extremely wide ranging and deeply intellectual
• potential threats to social consensus and national independence
• changes in the structure of employment
• dominance of IBM

Simon Nora

Any thought that is given to the computer and society reinforces the conviction that the stability of modern civilization depends on a mixture difficult to achieve, i.e., blending the increasingly powerful assertion of the prerogatives of the state (even if they are more strictly confined) with the growing impatience with restraint that characterizes modern society. For better or for worse, information processing will be one of the major ingredients of this mixture.

Globalisation

But sooner than most people think, our belief in the ‘nationality’ of most corporations will seem quaint. It is already out of date.

Ohmae, Kenichi (1990) “The Borderless World” page 10.

Information super-highways

• Vice-President Al Gore (VicePresident@WhiteHouse.GOV)
• National Information Infrastructure (NII)
• connect up schools, libraries, hospitals and so on
• global community
• free flow in information
• spirit of the first amendment
• universal service

National Information Policy

• encourage private investment
• provide and protect competition
• provide open access
• take action to avoid information “haves” and “have nots”
• encourage flexible and responsive governmental action

We cannot tolerate -- nor in the long run can this nation afford -- a society in which some children become fully educated and others do not; in which some adults have access to training and lifetime education, and others do not.

Nor can we permit geographic location to determine whether the information highway passes by your door. ... So let me emphasize the point: We must work to ensure that no geographic region of the United States, rural or urban, is left without access to broadband, interactive service.

Vice-President Albert Gore, Royce Hall, UCLA, Los Angeles, California, January 11, 1994

European Union

• the European economy’s potential growth rate has shrunk from around 4% to around 2.5% p.a.
• unemployment has been steadily rising from economic cycle to cycle
• the investment ratio has fallen
• our competitive position vis-à-vis the USA and Japan has worsened:
  • employment
  • share of export markets
  • incorporation of R&D in goods
  • development of new products

EU competitiveness

• dawning of a multimedia world
• by 2000 there will be 10 times as many television channels and 3 times as many subscribers to cable television
• 200 of the USA’s largest companies already use information highways
• information society and the infobahn are crucial to our future

• promote the use of information technologies
• provide basic trans-European services
• create an appropriate regulatory framework
• develop training on new technologies
• improve industrial and technological performance

Bangemann Report

The main risk lies in the creation of a two-tier society of have and have-nots, in which only a part of the population has access to the new technology, is comfortable using it and can fully enjoy its benefits. There is a danger that individuals will reject the new information culture and its instruments.
[HLCIS (1994) page 6.]

• teleworking
• distance learning
• a network for universities and research centres
• services for SMEs
• road traffic management
• air traffic control
• healthcare
• electronic tendering
• trans-European public administration networks
• city infobahns, into the home

Computer literacy

• use of the super-highway implies
  • physical access
  • economic access
• it also requires computer literacy and thus education
• who wants to be computer literate?

Resistance and inertia

• it is for another generation
• it will never catch on
• we will buy a computer for the kids
• the kids play games

Education and training

• IT throughout the curriculum
• computer literacy
• use as a tool for work
• use as a way to learn
• multi-media
• shift to the individual from state provision
• availability of skilled labour is a major economic factor

Redeployment of the workforce

• how do we re-train?
• ship yard workers
• steel foundrymen
• how does a nation afford not to have them work?

Changes in jobs

• elimination of mindless jobs
• factory work
• clerical
• managerial
• casualisation
• commitment

Managing change

When you want to change people you need courageous patience.

James I Owen, Deputy Commissioner, Internal Revenue Service, USA

Guidelines in user involvement

• senior management should initiate the process
• functional management should immediately follow senior management
• IT professional should be involved
  • to begin technical discussions
  • to brief management on development in applications
• Users should be included sufficiently early to build trust
• to build trust
• but only once management are certain what they are doing
• before users are brought in management should be able to answer
• are we ready to expand the group?
• are we clear on the objectives?
• do we have the correct technological perspectives?
• have we considered organisational issues?

Leadership

To manage is to lead, and to lead others requires that one enlist the emotions of others to share a vision as their own

Henry Boettinger, Formerly, Director of Corporate Planning, AT&T

Making it happen means involving the hearts and minds of those who have to execute and deliver. It cannot be said often enough that these are not the people at the top of the organisations, but those at the bottom.

Sir John Harvey-Jones, Making it Happen

Nowadays we are all leaders

• identify change
• develop change
• encourage change
• welcome change

The manager as consultant

• coach
• counsellor
• leader
• mentor
• problem finder
• problem solver

Barriers to understanding

• cultural assumptions
• personal defensive filters and biases
• expectations based on previous experiences

Organisational politics

In victory vengeance
In defeat malice

Helping yourself to change

personalised consumption personalised education

Changing the mind set

• we are all leaders
• we must all work in teams
• individuals and organisations must learn
• we must develop our intellectual capital
• new technology presents opportunities and challenges

Conclusion

• similar sets of problems, albeit at different levels
• need to educate, train and to take people with you

Readings

• Bangemann Report
• Japan's Intellectually Creative Society