Session 4

Session 3
SESSION 3: REVIEW
Topics covered:

• Drivers of World Change
• Change Management and Change Leadership

Brief Overview/ Summary
Drivers of World Change

What drives world change?? We established in class that some major drivers of World Change are:

1.    Environmental Drivers
·    Evolution
·    Environmental change (global warming, pollution and environmental contamination)
·    "Germs" (plague epidemics and the Dark Ages/ Renaissance; SARS; Bird Flu)

2.    Scientific Discovery and Technology Innovation

3.    Social, Demographic, Cultural, Ideological Change

4.    Commercial/ Business Innovation

5.    Competition

6.    Globalization

7.    Changing Expectations and "Tastes" with Changing Times

Class Presentation/Discussion

WATER AS A DRIVER OF CHANGE - Peter Wilkie (YUSUF)
 Should water be a human right or commodity?
The main reason of the water crisis is the commoditization of water. Should water access be privatized?
Water can be managed at many levels, namely, global, national and individual, but how is it best managed? (economically, ethically)

TRADE AS A DRIVER OF WORLD CHANGE (DEBBIE)
"Debt is an efficient tool. It ensures access to other peoples' raw materials and infrastructure on the cheapest possible terms. Dozens of countries must compete for shrinking export markets and can export only a limited range of products because of Northern protectionism and their lack of cash to invest in diversification." How far do you agree?
How can LDCs develop their economies and compete with developed countries in the area of exporting manufactured goods?

A MCGYVER FOR THE THIRD WORLD (AISHWARYA)
How can we manage innovation according to the needs of the developing world?
Can the large population of countries such as India be used as a tool for changing them in a positive way
Is change spurred on by individuals leading organizations (such as Amy Smith) or organizations themselves?


Change Management and Change Leadership

During this session, we discussed

• The differences between Change Management and Change Leadership.
• The issue of how to lead change
• The issue of how to manage change.
• What happens following the decision of an organization to respond to change.

Class Presentation/Discussion

THE IRRATIONAL SIDE OF CHANGE MANAGEMENT - CAROLYN AIKEN & SCOTT KELLER (JIANMING)
Are the insights of change management strategy applicable to all businesses (Small, medium & large?)
Do you see any possible setbacks for them?
What were the best change management projects that you were a part of?
Was it a success or a failure?

QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF MALAYSIAN SECONDARY SCHOOL TECHNOLOGY LEADERSHIP (ANZIE)
Given that English is not the medium of instruction in many schools in Malaysia, would it be a significant inhibitor in technology implementation?
How would you define Productivity and Professional Practice in technology usage in schools?
Is there a role in society for those who are not acquainted with technology?

THE NEW VOICE OF THE CIO(JING HAO)
Sometimes the role of CIOs seems contradictory. They have to improve services but at the same time cut costs, how do you think they can do that?
It is said that CIOs have redefined roles. They do not just perform IT roles, they also infuence business strategies. How do you think they can influence business strategies?

Interesting Observations and Ideas/Key Takeaways

Drivers For World Change
1.    Environmental Drivers

• ·    Evolution

o    Humans are anything but static. We’re a dynamic species, constantly changing and learning from the moment we are born to the moment we die.

• ·    Environmental change (global warming, pollution and environmental contamination)

• ·    "Germs" (plague epidemics and the Dark Ages/ Renaissance; SARS; Bird Flu)

o    It’s funny how something as microscopic as bacteria and viruses have the potential to cause such a large and lasting effect on the world. I still remember my experience with the Bird Flu quite vividly to this day. During the Bird Flu period, every time I’d follow my mother to the local wet market, I remember seeing many, if not all of the stalls selling raw poultry closed. Those that decided to remain open were avoided by many of the people in the market. Those were bleak times for those involved in the poultry industry indeed!

2.    Scientific Discovery and Technology Innovation
·    Increasingly, technology is becoming an integral part of our lives. So much so that almost all technological advances and scientific discoveries have the potential to cause great impact to our lives. Take mobile computing for example. Not too long ago, computers were anything BUT portable. To move a computer physically from one place to another required a tedious process of removing and disconnecting cables and later reconnecting the cables at the final location. Not only that, computers were heavy and bulky, adding to the further inconvenience of relocating computers. Nowadays, we have been blessed with the laptop! Technological advances have allowed for the miniaturization and condensation of computer components into a single, portable package. I know many of my peers would not be able to imagine life without their laptops. A more recent example of technological innovation would be the creation of Google. (The first modern laptop was created in 1988, Google, the search engine was created in 1998, 10 years later) Can you imagine browsing the web without your trusty search engine?

3.    Competition
·    Often times, competition results in the creation of bigger, better and faster. Multi-core CPUs actually resulted from the intense competition between CPU manufacturers Intel and AMD. An excerpt from http://huestones.co.uk/node/151 :

The gigahertz war
A few years back (2001) single core processors hitting speeds over 3.0GHz was what the consumer PC market was about. AMD was increasingly beating Intel at speed and price and gaining more ground with the Athlon series beating Pentium series to the ground. However as these chips got faster and smaller they consumed more power and chip manufacturers were faced with a horrible physics problem - Heat. Their faster and smaller chips were getting very very very hot and required large fans and heat sinks to cool them down.

The second core
Then came the idea that instead of doubling the processor speed, why not double the number of processors and multi-core was born. Instead of adding more speed to a chip, more cores were added to the same chip. This did not double the processors speed, but it made multi-tasking more efficient as the OS could schedule jobs on two cores, instead of one. This actually improved computer responsiveness as your virus checker would not hog up all of the processors. Given the increased responsiveness, individual core speeds could be reduced resolving the heat issue.

Change Management and Change Leadership
1.    Leadership vs. Management

• ·    Leadership: The process through which an individual tries to influence another individual or a group of individuals to accomplish a goal.

• ·    Management: The act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives.

2.    How to lead change?
In order to lead change, I believe that one has to be proactive in seeking change. Change will come to you eventually, regardless of whether you seek it, or you run away from it. However, actively seeking change will always ensure that you are amongst the first to experience change. Also, one needs to be able to readily embrace change. It’s no use seeking change only to find it but refuse to embrace it. In order to be a leader of change, one has to always be on the lookout on how to make things, bigger, better, faster and readily embrace the changes that are encountered.

3.    How to manage change?
Managing change, one the other hand, is a totally different story from leading change. The process of managing change requires the constant monitoring of change that is going on and making small adjustments to the change to ensure that at all times, the change is directed and developed towards achieving the result intended by the change.

4.    What happens following the decision of an organization to respond to change?
Once an organization decides to change, there are essentially 2 models that are followed with respect to change:

• Traditional Model: Freeze > Unfreeze > Freeze

1. This model involves the process of changing in stages. Organizations will attempt to freeze the current situation, plan accordingly and apply that to the situation although fundamental changes may have occurred during the planning stage. This process is repeated as many times as necessary to ensure the organization remains relevant.
2. This method is slow, and usually only allows the organization to “catch-up” to change. However, it may provide a sense of stability.

• Modern Model: Continuous monitoring and renewal

1. The organization will constantly monitor changes and make multiple small modifications and adjustments to its operations and various activities to ensure it always stays relevant.
2. This method enables organizations to be at the forefront of developments. However, it creates a volatile and ever changing environment within the organization.

Issues for Further Discussion
Most of the topics were quite thoroughly discussed this session. I don't have anything to add in terms of further discussion at this point in time.

Personal Ratings
(6/10) I  rate this week's session better than the following week. The discussions were much more interesting and much more contributions were made to move the discussion along. I hope to see more improvements like this in the weeks to come.