The role of Information systems

Information is an extremely important component of operations at H&B. At H&B, information systems smoothen operations by concentrating on order entry issues where there is a probability that within each activity of order processing, problems or errors can occur. The problems that are handled by the company are majorly internal, and they encompass customer providing wrong details of a product, billing information or perhaps the shipping address. Information systems also help within the inquiry. A customer might be unsure of the merchandise that they need and would need advice from H&B customer service. In turn, the customer can decide not to communicate clearly, or the employee makes a mistake, and it is in this occasion that information system helps to solve the problem (Whitaker, & Schlegel, 2014).
The internal and external trade-offs between reconfiguring the old information system and designing a new one are diverse. The new system had the advantage of streamlining the flow of information to help in sales operations as well as supply chain management, finance, marketing, and accounting. The management understood that it required a new system to upgrade the underperforming shipping record because only an approximate 40 percent of the order was shipped on time. The new information system selected was the enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. It helps by making all the process effective through storing all the H&B information in one database and automatically updating the information in each production stage. However, the implementation of the new information normally takes a lot of years, and the change from the old system to the new is cumbersome. The new information system (ERP) helped H&B in achieving bottom-line savings as well as improved employee morale since frustration from continuous tasks and missing information reduced (Whitaker, & Schlegel, 2014).

1. Reasons for difficult in the transition from the old to the new system

The change from the past to the new system had many challenges. First of all, the process of implementing the new system resulted in a significant loss of time and profits since the new enterprise resource planning system required many years to become fully operational and effective. The new information had to be thought to the employees who did not know how to use it. This slowed down the operations of the company, and it also led to use of many resources to implement the system and make it operational. Some of the employees in the company were doubtful, and their acceptance to the new system was low (Whitaker, & Schlegel, 2014).
Attempts to bring changes in an organization often fails. However, the 8-steps suggested by Kotter can help organizations avoid failure and succeed in its changes. The first step is creating a sense of urgency. This will enable the management to understand the necessity for a sense of urgency and ascertain whether the organizational condition is either complacent or false urgency where people seem busy working, but their actions are not productive. The second step is creating a guiding coalition. There should be a coalition of effective individuals to provide guidance, coordination and communicating the activities. The third step is forming a strategic vision and initiatives that specify how the future will be different from the past and how the future can be made to be a reality via the actions related to the vision. Developing a volunteer army is the fourth step that will help the transition by making employees rally around the common objective. The fifth step is facilitating action through the removal of obstacles to give freedom to the employees to work and bring real impact. The organization can generate short-term wins through recognition, collection, and communication to check on the progress and encourage persistence. Sustaining acceleration is the seventh step where there is relentlessness in initiating transitions after transitions until the goal is realized. The eight step is instituting change through communication of the relationships between the new behaviors and the success of the organization, ensuring that they continue until they become energetic enough to replace old means (Coutts, 2011).

2. Reasons for Change Resistance and Stress

Majority of people do not welcome change due to many reasons. The first reason is that these people would not want their cultural traditions or group relationships disrupted. Others resist change due to personality conflicts and lack of or poor timing because the change may come at the wrong time. Surprise and fear of the unknown is also another reason that makes individuals resist change. H&B could have overcome the resistance by introducing a culture of commitment to change. This would create a mindset which ties the employee to the organizational course of action that is necessary for successful implementation of the change initiative (Whitaker, & Schlegel, 2014).

References

Coutts, P. (2011). Kotter’s 8 Steps to Successful Change.
Whitaker, M., & Schlegel, K. (2014). How digital and social media helped 100-year-old Louisville Slugger brand stay relevant. Journal of Digital & Social Media Marketing, 1(4), 335-339.