CHANGE MANAGEMENT CASE STUDY

Change Management Case study

Change Management Case study

Introduction

Different market forces, current and emerging information technology (IT) capabilities such as communication, data accessibility and common systems, affect the design and construction firms that play a major role in the construction sector. These effects result in increased integration, increased inter-dependence and inter-relatedness, inter-organizational business relationships, intra-organizational coordination and adaptable organizational structures, i.e., networks and clusters. The changing business environment and increased IT capabilities are translating into a more focused emphasis on integration (Irtishad, Jeffrey 1995, pp. 163-171).

Today, there is a lot of software developed especially for the in-house functions of construction firms. However, this software cannot answer all the different requirements of all construction firms, does not have enough flexibility to meet the changing condition of firms and is not designed according to the relations between different functions. In other words, in most cases, integration among functions cannot be accomplished.

Another solution for IS requirements is to integrate commercially available software packages. Although, due to known reasons stated by Brauer and Fischer (BRAUER, FISCHER), AEC firms are in need of significant information handling requirements, they are unable to use opportunities provided by IT to the full extent and efficiently. On the other hand, IT and IS are constantly going through an evolution and development process.

Approaches to and Methods for IS Analysis

In its general sense, in the relevant literature, there are numerous sources and methods related to the function of IS planning, which consists of two main phases, namely IS analysis and IS development. In literature, context wise, IS analysis can be explained as the information requirements determination or the information needs analysis.

As it is well known, an information system should meet the needs of the host organization it serves. The requirements for the information system are thus determined by the characteristics and procedures of the organizational system. However, correct and complete information requirements are frequently very difficult to obtain. Simply asking prospective users of the information systems to specify the requirements will not suffice in a large percentage of cases.

A strategy can be defined as an approach for achieving an objective. Strategies are general approaches. A method is defined as an orderly or systematic procedure. A methodology is a set of methods and techniques. Methods and techniques are detailed means of undertaking the strategies.

Asking.

There are four strategies for determining information requirements (David, 1982 pp.4-30):

Asking.

Deriving from an existing IS.

Synthesizing from characteristics of the utilizing system.

Discovering from experimentation with an evolving IS.

For each strategy, there are a number of methods and methodologies that differ in the amount of structure provided. Some provide conceptual structure, but little process and documentation structure; others provide detailed structure for all tasks and all documentation. Several methods have been proposed for performing information requirements determination: Normative analysis methods are based on the fundamental similarity of classes of object systems; these fundamental characteristics lead to a prescribed or normative set of requirements (Carlson, 1979 ...