24 - The reality of managing change: the transition to Intute

Summary

Introduction

In 2003 the UK's Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) funded eight internet gateways or hubs within a collective named the Resource Discovery Network (RDN). Their brief was to identify and catalogue the best websites relevant to university and college work. The teams of people who developed the hubs were dispersed geographically across UK universities. They all worked on different subject areas and had unique identities. They had their own websites, databases, strategies and plans. But JISC was concerned: it wanted more value for money. In other words, it wanted the RDN to be used more, to be more widely known and to cost less. The hubs needed to change.

This paper tells the story of that change. It shares the experience of the transition of the RDN to Intute, and explores the cycle of organizational renewal which began in 2003 with the creation of the RDN Executive at Mimas, at the University of Manchester. As library and information professionals, managers and leaders, we operate in an environment where new technologies, shifting organizational priorities and evolving user needs are pervasive. We respond with projects and initiatives which deliver new services to our users. However, developing them in the first place can be relatively easy compared with ensuring that they are embedded in our wider operations. So we grapple with the organizational and people issues of change, perhaps taking a systematic considered approach or, more likely, relying on our enthusiasm to guide us through. Change is not easy. In the words of William Bridges (2003), ‘It isn't the changes that do you in, it's the transitions. They aren't the same thing. Change is situational: the move to a new site … the reorganization of the roles of the team …. Transition, on the other hand, is psychological; it is a three-phase process that people go through as they internalize and come to terms with the details of the new situation that the change brings about.’ Without transition change is not sustainable. This paper describes the tools and techniques used in the move to Intute and shares lessons learnt. It gives a strategic management perspective, and describes the Office of Government Commerce's (OGC) Managing Successful Programmes (MSP) approach, before going on to outline the complex people, political, cultural and leadership aspects.