Part III: Change Management

Chapter List

Figure 1: Organization of Part III.

I am all for progress it s the change I can t stand. Mark Twain

In Parts I and II focus has been on technology and the operations-process aspects of POM. In Part III attention will turn to the human processes or the people aspects of change (see Figure 1).

Effective change management requires planning, implementing, and sustaining change to support business strategy. The focus of Part III will not be on whether or not to make a change. We will assume the decision for the change has already been made. The focus in Part III will be on how to plan, implement, and sustain change. The emphasis will be on getting people to buy-in to and use their new tools.

Chapter 8 will focus on the planning phase of change management. Although change planning is always critical, planning is especially challenging in POM changes because the interests of stakeholders outside of the organization must also be considered. Chapter 8 will discuss the three most popular approaches to organizational change and how to apply them to POM change.

Chapter 9 is devoted to the implementing and sustaining phases of change management. Even the best-planned change may stall during the implementing and sustaining phases. Therefore, critically important is that change leaders be aware of the psychological, sociological, cultural, educational, and political reasons for resistance to change.

INTRODUCTION

Planning for purchase order management (POM) change is more challenging than...