Page 189 - DMGT520_ORGANIZATION_CHANGE_AND_DEVELOPMENT

Organization Change and Development

Notes
very user friendly way, so that all the other people in the organization have access to this.
As I said before the only way that we can succeed is by enhancing our productivity. We do
all this to enhance reusability. So this electronic body of knowledge helps us in a big way
whenever we want to do the second project in the same year or when we have to replicate
an experience. This is extremely critical to an organization like ours.
Internet

The next one of course is about internet. Everybody knows about internet. But the key
thing about internet is it reduces the gap between the technology process, the technology
advancement that is taking place in other countries and the organizational processes,
organizational learning that happens in India. So our aim is to make sure that we get
knowledge of all these things as quickly as possible. We have provided a desktop access to
at least fifty to seventy-five people in the industry whosoever may need it and we have
got a Cybercafe where anybody can go and access information from internet. Of course,
obviously this again is Netscape-based. This also provides us access of worldwide, web,
FTP, telnet, etc. The biggest advantage of internet is, it provides instant access to latest
technology. Today there is absolutely no excuse if any Indian engineer, he or she, would
come and tell us that they have no access to latest technology. Thanks to internet.
The third and perhaps the most important thing that we have done is to use the simulation
to have our own strategic planning. It is the system dynamic tool. It is called Ithink. It is
the result of Ph.D. thesis at MIT by an Egyptian student. And this is a process model which
uses closed loop and casual relationships in modeling. We have modeled the entire company
in this particular tool. It includes HRD, finance, quality, delivery systems, planning itself,
training, etc; it includes all aspects of the company.
In strategic decision-making we are into a new product, a new set of services. We are in a
position, of course subject to the veracity of this model, subject to the efficacy of this
model, to be in a position to say what are the implications of a particular decision that we
take today, or what are the implications of an event that takes place today or in the coming
3 or 5 years.
Three things that have been done at Infosys, which have been critical to us include: first,
Intranet, as a vehicle for dissemination of communication or dissemination of information
across the organization; second, Electronic body of knowledge, for enhancing reusability;
and third, Simulation as a tool for corporate and strategic planning.

There is something else which we had done, which is worth a mention, to enhance the
productivity of the people and to find out where the bottlenecks are. At the end of the day
tools and technologies will be used in designing and implementing systems. We use two
things: one is called InConcert from Xerox Corporation and another called Ultimus. We
have implemented systems in projects in a manner that at all points of tome we know who
is the bottleneck and how much how long the particular thing is waiting. Basically we
simulate the entire process.
Now coming back to the response from the system, we found that force and diktats do not
work in an organization. People are to be measured for what they bring to the table rather
than what their titles are, what they are. They also need to see benefits. Most people want
to see not just a long-term benefit, but also the short-term benefits. If they do not see short-
term benefits they turn off. So the key to successfully implement a system is to show some
short-term benefits and then explain how that will bring long-term benefits. The third
thing that we found was that the electronic systems require a tremendous discipline. And
most of our work force is very very young. And it is their first job. So we find that it is

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