Targeted Change. Are You Aready Irrelevant?

Abstract

Summary form only given. No change happens in isolation, and the rate of change can have a significant impact on the acceptance level of a change. This paper reviews the interrelationships between technology, people at the micro, and macro level of organisational structure, business goals, and the external business environment as they interact within an IT change cycle. Mixing personal experience with industry case studies this paper examines how the implementation of a change cycle has an immediate feedback into the continued development of the change cycle; it demonstrates that human factors and communication mechanisms have more of an impact on the success level of a change programme than the selection of the 'right' technology or being an early adopter of new development techniques. Focusing on change within the software and IT domain examples are reviewed from the arenas of IT gaming, air traffic control, and general large-scale complex system integration change cycles. Using the Change Cycle definition developed by Brock and Salerno as a reference structure this paper examines each of the six key phases of the change cycle as they relate to staff and adoption of technical evolutions.