Discussion board

Discussion board… must include original questions or comment with reply… no special format or cover page needed no ref needed.. must answer in your own words… answers must be (Each question) 130 words min and 150 max…

1. Chapter 5 focuses on how VUCA “produces conflicting demands for decision-makers” (Gibbons, 2015). That the volatility of the problem at hand tends to suggest the need for a speedy response, when in fact, there should be a lot of deliberation due to the uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (Gibbons, 2015). I couldn’t agree with this more as I have experienced this first hand in just about every place I have worked. I’m sure most of you have too. Yet, these same places continue to make this same mistake over and over again, and don’t learn by this mistake. I am currently up against this yet again. The owners are not happy with the software that I implemented. The owners son chose this software rather abruptly when it would have been more prudent to have done a little more research on this vendor before making the decision. We would have found that this company had purchased this software that wasn’t completed, and that the software is loaded with bugs and on I can go with a list of other issues. So we are at a cross road where the owners think it may be in our best interest to change again. The other branch has suggested Quickbooks, so the owner seems to think this is the ticket, and wants the change done by the first of September. I suggested in light of the bad decision made with the current software, we need to learn by our past mistake and do more diligence before deciding if Quickbooks will truly meet our needs. The owner’s son had a contact with Quickbooks but they would not give us more than an hours time for a demo, leaving much to speculation, but seeing enough for my buyer and I to realize it is not a good fit. When we pointed out the short falls of the software, the owners response was “rather than looking for the pitfalls, we need to look to see if we can modify it enough to make it work for us”. My heart sank. This bias coming from him is purely driven by cost, as he mentioned it would be far less expensive than the current system.

2.  What a great insight, Alynn. I have experienced similar issues related to software. One issue I saw was the over promising of the new software and how great it was compared to the current system. The expectations are so high that everyone gets excited about it and at the time of launch, any flaw of malfunction results in disappointment and bad mouthing of the software. Leaders need to be realistic and set expectations that the launch may present challenges and fixes will be in place as the launch goes through its faces. In the long run, more credibility and realistic feedback can be provided to minimized negative bias and reactions. This is a big steps towards change management.