ERP implementations are notorious for running over time, budget and scope, and the latest data from Panaroma Consulting Group’s 2016 Report supports that idea. According to Panorama’s data, the causes for project delay are numerous and varied, ranging from issues with data to training and everything in between. But the number one implementation challenge was organizational change.
Chances are you’ve heard the term “organizational change” before, and its continual abuse as a buzzword in the corporate landscape undermines its value for the success of major transformation initiatives. In some cases, organizational change is mis-interpreted as a feel good ritual meant to heal old wounds and re-open those ever-important channels of communication. In other instances, it is simply overlooked – viewed as an expendable asset that would be nice to have, but not if it means investing more time or money.
If any of these complaints sound familiar, it may be time to reconsider your misconceptions:
- “Our people are ready for change, so we don’t need to worry about organizational change.”
- We’re different – our people trust us and will follow us down this path without having to invest in organizational change.”
- “Why should we even bother with organizational change when we haven’t even selected new ERP software?"
Three Misconceptions About Organizational Change
- Organizational Change is expendable– To the contrary, organizational change is often the differentiating factor. Consider this data from Panaroma’s ERP Report “Nearly 50-percent of organizations have some sort of material operational disruption at the time of go live. Along with that, most of these disruptions are due to organizational change issues.” Far from being expendable, organizational change directly affects a company’s bottom line.
- Organizational Change is the “soft” side of change management – While organizational change can consist in or facilitate the “soft” side of change, most critical organizational change activities have concrete metrics and produce quantifiable business results. (Think: new product development, organizational re-structuring, mission and vision change, etc.)
- Organizational Change is one size fits all - Another misconception about organizational change is that it is formulaic and too inflexible to meet a diversity of needs. In general, it helps speed time to value of organizational change initiatives to start with a basic change blueprint, which is followed by an assessment to help determine the most ideal organizational change strategy. In this stage, the aim is uncover the dynamics of the organization as well as any pockets of resistance that would impede your major transformation efforts.