Harris Corporation decided to upgrade their information systems to better integrate information technologies into their business transactions. They acquired a new information system from another company to replace their old system. This was a transformational change that changed the tools used but kept operations the same. The IT department communicated the change two weeks in advance through memos and trained employees on the new system. Department managers and consumer representatives also helped communicate the changes. The company implemented the new system in modules over time to ease the transition, rather than a complete shutdown of the old system at once. This allowed employees to gradually adapt to the new system.

1. Running Head: HARRIS CORPORATION CHANGE
MANAGEMENT 1
HARRIS CORPORATION CHANGE MANAGEMENT 6
Harris Corporation Change Management
Elvis Seumanu
MGT/426
John Hamilton
December 14, 2017
Harris Corporation Change Management
Harris Corporation is among the companies that have invested
in innovation having started as a printing firm in the 1980s.
However, just like any other company, growth is a necessity and
to grow the company must be ready to withstand changes. With
the increased need for integrating information technologies with
the day-to-day business transaction, The Company decided to
upgrade their information systems and accommodate more
services online. However, the contractor could not meet the
requirements, and they had to acquire a new information system
from a different company with a wholly different but upgraded
information system. The discussion below will therefore, focus
on the type of change, how it was communicated, the leaders
involved and the change model that was used.
There are various types of changes that can occur within an
organization and among them are the organizational structure

2. change, personnel change, transformational change, unplanned
change and remedial change. In the case of Harris Corporation
acquiring new information systems, which would be classified
as a transformational change that only changes the tools used to
deliver the goods and services but the operations are still the
same. The employees will, however, need to adjust to the new
system, understand it better and receive some training to meet
the objectives of the upgraded system (Hornstein, 2015).
Transformational change occurs when the company understands
the current needs of their consumers and puts up a system that
meets the requirements. That way the company remains
competitive and delivers the desired service or goods to the
consumers in time and the right condition. Harris Corporation
just realized that they need a better information system with
more advance features and less or no downtime.
The information technology department was in charge of
implementing the change and through a memo from the
department manager; all employees were notified two weeks
before the change was implemented. Communication is among
the critical concerns of implementing change. People are a bit
reluctant to embracing changes since they will need to learn a
new way of doing thing differently from what they were used to.
However, communication before and during the change
implementation period is critical and plays a significant role in
succeeding in the transformation process. During the change
implementation, all employees were introduced to the new
system and given guidelines and manuals in line with each
person’s role in the information system. The IT department also
assigned some individuals the task of responding to any urgent
issues from the users especially to people who were troubled in
using the new interface. The unit even went ahead to inform the
consumers of the product about the latest changes through the
Harris Corporation website and group email notifications. It is
through this communication strategy that made the
transformation process smooth and empowered every user on
the new system to deliver the expected performance.

3. Leaders can influence a willing group of followers. During the
communication, process various leaders were involved in
passing the message to their followers. Among them is the
previously mention IT manager who provided internal
guidelines to the department members and communicated to the
other managers within Harris corporations. On the other hand,
the departmental managers were used as part of the change
management and organized training sessions for their
department members (Bolman & Deal, 2017). Besides, they
were used to deliver feedback to the IT department on the
changes they may need or the challenges they were facing with
the new information system. Finally, the consumer
representatives were used to express the concerns of the
consumers, and it is through this leadership support that the
contracted company was able to meet all the user needs and
promote a smooth transition during the change implementation
period.
It is true that the human mind is more likely to respond to a
slowly initiated change as compared to a complete transition
within one day. Bearing this in mind the management of Harris
Corporation decided to launch the new system into modules
such that people will experience a smooth transition from the
old system rather than completely shutting down the old system
(Carter & Mossholder, 2013). Such a model is referred to as
transition model that provides a transition period for the
employees to adopt the new system. Meaning some operations
ran on the old information system while other ran on the new
system and within a short period all modules had been
integrated on the new system, and everyone was out of the old
information system. The users did not feel the impact of change
since they were given enough time to adapt to the new changes
and the IT department together with the contracted firm worked
closely with the company and provided all the required support.
In conclusion, it is clear that as much as people are reluctant to
change, a company cannot remain rigid and grow its sales to the
desired level. Each company needs the commitment of all

4. stakeholders during the change implementation process.
Therefore, calling for the need of the firm to prepare the
stakeholders for change through effective communications and
change management strategies such as understanding the type of
change and knowing how to deal with the problem of resistance
to change. It can be enhanced through improved awareness
programs that emphasize n the need for change within the
organization. Harris corporation succeeded because they
enhanced effective communication and encouraged people
rewards the importance of the new system in the company.
Looking at the way Harris Corporation implemented the change
of their information system, one can come up with practical
recommendations for any company to use and successfully
achieve their objectives. The change management strategy is all
about identifying the need for change as Harris Corporation
discovered they needed a better system. Then prepared for a
solution and came up with a design to implement the change
with the support of the hired company. The company later
implemented the change by incorporating various modules at
different times until the company was entirely run by the new
information system. The stakeholders, with the support of their
leaders, sustained the changed until they were able to use the
system. The IT department late monitored the way people are
using the system, collected feedback from users including the
consumers. In any case, the change is not effective; the team
goes back to review the process right from the identification
stage as shown in the graphic below.
References
Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2017). Reframing organizations:
Artistry, choice, and leadership. John Wiley & Sons.
Carter, M. Z., & Mossholder, K. W. (2013). Transformational
leadership, relationship quality, and employee performance
during continuous incremental organizational change. Journal of

5. Organizational Behavior, , 942-958.
Hornstein, H. A. (2015). The integration of project management
and organizational change management is now a necessity.
International Journal of Project Management, 291-298.