Designing the Future of Banking: Lessons Learned from the Trenches

This case study in retail banking reviews the work of a Wharton School research team which has been tracking the process of change at one of the larger American commercial banks. The bank is referred to by the pseudonym "National Bank." The team's research focuses on how a bank chooses what changes to make and how to implement changes as new technologies, increasing competition, and more demanding customers force it to rethink product offerings and distribution channel design. In the case of "National," these forces resulted in a massive re-engineering effort designed to restructure the branch delivery system. The goal of the redesign was to streamline branch processes and relocate many administrative tasks and routine servicing of accounts to centralized locations. The physical layout of branches was changed so customers would be encouraged to use ATMs and call centers rather than consult with branch employees. Branch employees' efforts were to be directed toward sales rather than service and information systems and call centers were expanded. As pilot experiments developed and the project matured, the bank's initial focus on changes in physical layout of branches, information systems, and design of key business processes gave way to focus on changes in key jobs in the branch systems, human resource practices that supported these jobs, and on employees' reactions to the changes. As these changes were implemented, several problems arose and were addressed. First, rural branches in the early pilots felt that the new changes were inappropriate for their market, leading to a decision to abandon the original model of standardization across the entire system. Second, implementation of new technology proved a slower process than had been expected. Third, branch employees often found it difficult to successfully refocus on sales rather than service. Fourth, some customers were unhappy with changes that routed all their calls to a centralized location rather than to the their local branch. Finally, it was difficult to implement the human resource practices necessary to support the new organization. New position levels changed employee expectations of moving up in the hierarchy and caused some internal dissatisfaction and confusion. Employees feared layoffs. In dealing with these problems, a second pilot redesign was tested in urban and suburban markets, incorporating a number of process modifications to address these issues. New challenges have arisen, including introducing the changes to branches that have been acquired recently through mergers and acquisitions and introducing standardized innovations within a decentralized management system. These and a range of human resource issues continue to be addressed by the team. Despite the many challenges to implementing an effective new delivery paradigm at National, a number of the early pilots have demonstrated success in moving routine transactions to more official channels, while achieving the goals of increased sales and customer satisfaction. As a result of their ongoing analysis of National's redesign process, the authors have identified six key factors for success: Have a good phone center in place early and believe in it as a critical component of retail service delivery; Acknowledge the importance of human resource issues; Not only acknowledge but address the human resource issues early and clearly; Clarify employees' roles and develop new skills when needed; Not all employees need the same kinds of commitment; Be ready and willing to adapt your model, but be confident to resist attempts to maintain the status quo for the wrong reasons.

Information technology as boundary object for transformational learning

Collaborative work is considered as a way to improve productivity and value generation in construction. However, recent research demonstrates that socio-cognitive factors related to fragmentation of specialized knowledge may hinder team performance. New methods based on theories of practice are emerging in Computer Supported Collaborative Work and organisational learning to break these knowledge boundaries, facilitating knowledge sharing and the generation of new knowledge through transformational learning. According to these theories, objects used in professional practice play a key role in mediating interactions. Rules and methods related to these practices are also embedded in these objects. Therefore changing collaborative patterns demand reconfiguring objects that are at the boundary between specialized practices, namely boundary objects. This research is unique in presenting an IT strategy in which technology is used as a boundary object to facilitate transformational learning in collaborative design work

Changing Tools Changing Attitudes: Effects of introducing a computer system to promote learning at work

The use of computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) tools to manage and support learning at work offers a lot of advantages, such as the increase in the availability and access to knowledge. However, computer systems also introduce new ways of doing things, which may impact on their acceptability and usage in an organisation. The study considers the issue of re-mediating human activity through the introduction of a CSCL system to support collaborative organisational learning (COL) activities as a way of promoting learning at work. A comparative study into the effects of remediating work practices in an organisation was conducted 'before' and 'after' the introduction of a CSCL system using three selected constitutive elements of COL namely: collaboration, knowledge sharing and interactivity. The study used activity theory as a framework for examining the support mechanisms for the selected elements of COL from a social and cultural perspective in terms of how they occur, and how they are supported in context. Findings highlighted the importance of accounting for social and cultural issues relating to the tool user, prior to the introduction of a CSCL system to support learning at work, as these could impact on the usage and acceptability of such a tool

Integrating sustainability into Project Management practices: the perspective of professional institutions

This is paper is based on a work in progress research project, therefore results and conclusions are preliminary.Synopsis: ‘Sustainability’ in its broadest meaning has acquired a great importance in modern society, and consequently influences almost every aspect of social life. This paper analyses the transformation that the project management profession is undergoing towards the integration of sustainability into its core values and practices.Research design: This research uses qualitative data from a mix of semi-structured interviews and archival evidence – professional bodies of knowledge,codes of ethics, newsletters, websites, social media platforms, blogs, onlinedatabases, and international standards – with the intention of answering thefollowing research question: ‘what is the influence of professional associationswith regard to the institutionalizing of sustainability practices into projectmanagement (PM) tools and techniques?’Main findings: There are different players which influence, in different ways, thePM profession. Our analysis reveals that the nature of these actors is veryheterogeneous, and the influence of the professional world of PM on theinstitutionalization of sustainable project management is manifested in thedifferent actions carried on by the entities we highlighted above. Therefore, theshift towards SPM is the result of the combination of each actor’s individualstrategy (Muzio, Brock, & Suddaby, 2013).Research implications: The analysis of sustainable project management (SPM) isaimed at contributing to the PM academic literature, describing thetransformation of PM practices, and to the practitioner literature, engaging withPM professional associations on the way they introduce the set of new practices

Greening information management: final report

As the recent JISC report on ‘the ‘greening’ of ICT in education [1] highlights, the increasing reliance on ICT to underpin the business functions of higher education institutions has a heavy environmental impact, due mainly to the consumption of electricity to run computers and to cool data centres. While work is already under way to investigate how more energy efficient ICT can be introduced, to date there has been much less focus on the potential environmental benefits to be accrued from reducing the demand ‘at source’ through better data and information management. JISC thus commissioned the University of Strathclyde to undertake a study to gather evidence that establishes the efficacy of using information management options as components of Green ICT strategies within UK Higher Education environments, and to highlight existing practices which have the potential for wider replication

New public management and employee share ownership plan in Fiji’s public sector

This article provides insights into the implementation of new public management (NPM) practices in Fiji Telecom and whether the use of the employee share ownership scheme was helpful in the organisational change process. The NPM practices were influenced by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund who were the lenders to Fiji government. The adoption of NPM practices was part of a political, economic and public sector reforms introduced after 1989. The paper discusses the background and obstacles of the reform and how the employee share ownership scheme practice at a privatised Telecom Company assists employees to assimilate commercial business norms. The authors finally make recommendations for policy-makers in Fiji and other developing nations