In my opinion, the development methodology used at southern company was Waterfall. This model is a proportionately linear sequential design approach for a project. In such a method each stage is handled after the completion of the previous phase till the end of the whole process. The project at Southern Company was handled on a similar basis: outline, personalize and build. It was not the wisest approach since the key players were not involved in the project since its inauguration. They were unwilling to change. They were as well not inclined to work on new arrangements. IT department had already gotten used to their daily routine. For a fact, it meant that they lacked a great familiarity with the new system; this created an extra workload for them. They encountered more change requests than they expected.
Describe how Traynor could have applied Levin’s three-stage model of change in implementing the ECM? What would have been the advantages of applying Lewin’s three stage model? Lewin’s three-stage change model is made up of three phases; Unfreeze, Change and Refreeze. In the first stage, there is attempting to prepare an organization for a change. In Change-phase, people get to understand the way new things are done. When everyone gets used to the new system, the organization can now Refreeze. In the during this final section, Traynor might have initially found out managers from IT for various areas of the project to urge their buy-in, as they were the ones most wedged with their work modified. These managers would, then, deal with their subordinates by getting them used with the new system, who in turn teaches their juniors. In this way, the knowledge of the new system can be achieved at the grass-root level. The next step would be educating the stakeholders to understand the whole system well. This lot would then be crucial during the testing phase. With a lot of expertise in hand, there would be fewer chances of any more change request being created. In the Refreeze stage modifications are formed and therefore used in the future.
Assess Southern’s ECM system on the four dimensions of project success? How successful do you think this project is?
If we opt for Resource constraint, I think the project did reasonably well because there is no mention of time constraint even the article does not bring up any details of a missed deadline in the course of the project operationalization. There was no evidence of lack of expertise too since during the change-stage Traynor chose the skilled IT team as the face of the project. Also, there is no mention overspending during the project. If the Impact on the customer could be put into consideration, initially the IT team was not involved in the project but chipped in during the second phase, when Traynor spend a lot of time getting buy-in from them choosing them as the ambassadors. They were then appointed to train their juniors. After the second phase, they gave Traynor positive reviews. Considering Business Success- Prime goal was to execute the risk-based approach whereby Traynor implemented a system that would only focus center on high-handed risk and emergencies. As a culmination of this, the advisory board was now meeting once per month unlike before, where they met thrice in a week. The advisory committee was no longer wasting time and resources and could now focus on important matters and the future of the project. The real success came in when the IT ambassadors were appointed; They had a hand in designing system changes. Traynor believed he had benefited a lot from their potential and also wanted them to start training other employees.
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