Tools for Teaching Change Management: The Matrix of Change and Supporting Software.

This paper presents recent developments in provision of support tools for change management and explains how they have been effectively used for teaching students about information technology (IT) -enabled change management in the core IT classes at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and Stanford University (California) . It also describes new software for use in both the teaching and practice of business process reengineering. The software was developed using the Visual Basic programming language and executable versions will be available for delivery over the World Wide Web for classroom use. The core of the new teaching sequence is a new tool, the Matrix of Change, which helps to characterize such change management features as the feasibility of proposed changes, the preferred speed of execution, and the best sequence of changes. It works by identifying complementary and interfering work practices. Figures include a Matrix of Change analysis and screen shots from the Matrix of Change software. (AEF) ******************************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ******************************************************************************** TOOLS FOR TEACHING CHANGE MANAGEMENT: THE MATRIX OF CHANGETm AND SUPPORTING SOFTWARE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) O This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. O Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. Erik Brynjolfsson Stanford University and MIT Marshall van Alstyne University of Michigan and MIT Abraham Bernstein MIT Amy Austin Renshaw MIT One of the key advantages of information technology is its ability to support new organizational forms. The task of shifting between old and new forms, however, can be a difficult, time consuming, and haphazard process (Davenport, 1993, Davenport and Stoddard, 1994; Hammer, 1990). Interactions among various work practices can lead to numerous unanticipated side effects as mangers alter individual practices without considering whole systems of work. In particular, the importance of complementarities among different practices has been formalized mathematically in the economic literature (Milgrom and Roberts, 1990). However, practicing managers and students have had difficult in applying these insights. This talk will present recent developments in providing support tools for change management and explain how they have been effectively used for teaching students about IT-enabled change management in the core IT classes at MIT and Stanford. It will also demonstrate new software for use in both the teaching and practice of business process reengineering. The software has been developed using the Visual Basic programming language and executable versions will be available for delivery over the Worldwide Web for classroom use (see http://ccs.mit.edu/ MoC). 10 "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY T. Case TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)." The core of the new teaching sequence is a new tool, the Matrix of Change, which helps to characterize such change management features as the feasibility of proposed changes, the preferred speed of execution, and the best sequence of changes It works by identifying complementary and interfering work practices. Complementary practices reinforce one another. Doing more of one complement increases returns to another. Narrow job functions, for example, increase a firm's ability to offer piece rate pay so these practices are complementary. In contrast, interfering practices work at cross-purposes. A flatter managerial hierarchy, for example, shifts more strategic decisions to workers, decreasing a firm's ability to offer piece rate pay. The experience of a large consumer products company provides an instructive example. Top management sought to use IT to drive a revolution in its manufacturing processes and #ley understood well that simply introducing IT was not enough to get the results they required. Accordingly, they specified a detailed plan for changed business practices in several areas including supplier relations, product variety, inventory policy, job responsibilities, management systems and incentives. After an investment of millions of dollars in highly Proceedings of the 12th Annual Conference of the International Academy for Information Management