The Potential Change Implementation Program - Research Paper Example

Introduction of a new technology, creation of paperless environment, outsourcing of different areas of business, restructuring of an organization, elimination of redundancies are some of the examples of change that an organization can introduce in its organizational dynamics. This article demonstrates introduction of change in examination department of a university. The beginning of this diagnosis highlights the identification and reasons for a change that needs to be made in the university, followed by the potential implications on human resource of that change, the likelihood of the resistance to change that may have to be faced and the driving forces that contribute to bring in the change in the university’s administration. Recommendations that align with the strategic position of the university relating to the change conclude this article. Identification of Change Since the inception of academic activities of XYZ University, the examination department of university has been maintaining a system of examination in which students like most of other university students, follow the paper-pen-pencil strategy while attempting the examination as per the university policy. As the university has shown tremendous growth in number of students enrolled and admitted in the university, for examination department within a short span of time, it has become very challenging to complete the process of examination which mainly includes the printing of question papers, collection of question papers and answer scripts, dispatching them to respective faculty members and then recollecting them to compile and announce the results. This whole process has many loopholes that examination department has to face, most of them are loss of answer scripts while dispatching and recollection from the faculty members, unnecessary delays from the faculty members, loads of burden on examination personnel when result deadline approaches etc. All the above mentioned issues cause harms to the quality of assessment which actually becomes the reflection of the performance of the students. As a result, some deserving students become unfortunate as their results are not the true pictures of their hard work and some careless students love their fortune to end up with flying colors courtesy the poor quality performance of the examination department. Reasons for the Change The examination committee along with the dean and registrar of the university are put forward the following reasons to bring in the change in the examination process. The reasons include: Late announcement of results then the scheduled announcement date Improper and blank results for those students whose marked answer scripts are not received by the examination department Major discrepancies in the results Hassle work environment for examination personnel especially in the period between exam sessions and the announcement of results. Substantial redundancy costs of printing question papers, answer scripts, invigilation, examination department workforce etc Change – Paperless Environment Because of the above mentioned reasons of current state of examination process, all the concerned authorities of university are provided a significant but long-term solution to overcome the current issues of the examination department. The major change that can facilitate generally the overall departments of university but specifically can help the examination department is the introduction of paperless environment in the whole examination process. The key points of paperless environment with respect to examination department are given below: Conduct examinations in designated, well equipped computer laboratories of the university. Formulation of question papers on soft copy and the students are provided the soft copy of question paper during the examination time period. Completion of examination by students saving their work in the designated folders along with the questions provided earlier. Dispatch of the examination question and answer files to the respective faculty members via email wherever they are. Back-up the examination material in case if it is lost by the respective faculty member or for future retrieval if required for whatever purpose. Collection of examination material from respective faculty members along with the grades and marks via email Compilation of results through specific sophisticated software interface and uploading of the results Potential Implications of the Change The potential change in the examination department of XYZ University can have significant implications upon the management, administration and specifically to the personnel of the examination department who will be directly influenced by this decision. The next discussion comprises the favorable impacts of the potential change and then adverse effects of the potential change are analyzed including the resistance to change from those employees who will be directly influenced by the implementation of the change. Favorable Effects of the Change The implementation of the change to bring in the paperless environment in examination department can be a helpful strategy by and large. The following are the potential positive aspects of the potential change: Time savings for every concerned stakeholder including examination department, faculty member and the students Reduction in the unnecessary costs pertaining to printing of question papers and answer scripts Reduction in the redundancy costs pertaining to extra employees as they will be replaced by the new paperless environment More reliable and quality-based results would be generated Less hassle on the shoulders of examination department to compile results within the deadlines Storage space will be saved as there would be no more paper records of the performance of students Exam markers and graders will feel convenient to carry with them the soft copies of question papers and answers scripts rather than bulky hard copies Fear of the loss of examination material can be reduced in the presence of backup material Adverse Effects of the Change Besides having the many benefits of introducing new system, there is a likelihood that the administration of the university may have to face the potential resistance in coping up with the change. The following forms of resistance are likely to come up: Survival Mentality – Those employees who manage to secure their jobs in the examination department may feel afraid of losing their jobs as well sometime in future. The IT department will be overburdened with the introduction of this system and more IT experts need to be hired. Heavy initial expenditure in respect of purchasing of the new technology will have to be incurred and more training and development will have to be conducted to prepare for the future examination. There are likelihoods of system failures during an exam session which might cause inconvenience for IT department, examination department and the students. Recommendations No single change strategy has ever emerged in which everything is positive. Loopholes are still there which need to be worked out. After taking a closer look on both the positive and negative aftereffects of the implementation of the potential change, the heads of examination department, IT department, Dean and Registrar of the XYZ University should take into account the other quantitative and qualitative factors as per their own concerns. Overall this change implementation strategy seems to have more benefits over its costs, therefore, as a consultant, I strongly advice to appropriate higher authority to bring in this change on gradual and experimental basis so that the potential consequences and resistances from the concerned stakeholders can be analyzed and appropriate actions can be taken in order to remove their complaining attitude regarding the potential change implementation program. References Mills, Jean Helms. (Ed.). (2003). Making sense of organizational change. Routledge USA. Morder, Tony. (Ed.). (2004). Principles of Management. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.,  Poole, Marshall Scott. (Ed.). (2000). Organizational change and innovation processes: theory and methods for research. Oxford University Press. Robbins, Stephen. P. & Coulter, Mary. (Ed.). (2008). Management. Pearson Education India. Read More