Implementation Case on Information Technology Coursework

Implementation Case on Information Technology - Coursework Example When it comes to managing change, the main problem that the management faces is employee resistance. This problem is addressed by involving all the employees in the process of managing change and by creating a communications structure which shows to the organization that the top management is committed to making a successful transition. These factors were not addressed in the case. And as a result, the project team members lost confidence in the project’s credibility. The critical success factor was to choose a project leader who had the right skills and experience. This did not appear to be the case as the chosen project leader was unable to resolve the conflicts between the different parties involved in the project. There was controversy as personnel from the department of accounting and finance felt excluded from project management (Bernier, Roy & Brunelle, 2006C). This indicates that there was lack of inter-departmental coordination. This led to difficulties in project man agement. It was the project manager’s responsibility to ensure that all the team members were equally represented. However he failed in this task. As a result the implementation process was held up. The project manager also did not have the right focus. He focused on project completion rather than on whether the implementation was being conducted in a manner which was strategically aligned to the business processes. As a result there were complaints from the team members. The implementation was focused too much on delivery times. In implementing ERP, the critical success factor is to ensure that the software functionalities are aligned to the business processes. It is more effective to change the software to suit the business processes than otherwise. However because the project leader’s only concern was to complete the implementation in time, the strategic alignment process was ignored. As a result the user groups began to question the credibility of the IT department . The user groups also complained that the project manager had become involved in political games which made him favor the IT department. Therefore the project manager had failed to involve all the departments in project management. The result was a confrontation between the IT department and the user groups and this led to difficulties in the implementation process. Although the user groups had been involved in the project management team, they did not know how their efforts were tied to the strategic focus of the company. One of the team members complained that he was constantly writing progress reports. Other team members felt that their time was not being used productively. Because the project manager was focusing too much on completion, the departmental requirements were not addressed. As a result the team members lost confidence in the implementation process and felt that the chosen software was not the right one for the organization. In these circumstances the project team me mbers did not feel motivated to invest their time and efforts in implementing the project. This situation was jeopardizing the future of the project. Because of the defective communications process, there were conflicts between the user groups and the software experts. The user groups felt that the software functionalities did not address the business processes effectively while the software experts were convinced they had the right configuration of options. In this situation there were problems in various dimensions of the project. The