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Life Cycles and Change
By Justin L. Bennett (TNU 2008)
Life Cycle Management
Every activity that a business performs has an impact – on a social, economic, and environmental level. Life Cycle Management (LCM) developed as a business approach for managing the total life cycle of products and services. Life Cycle Management is a framework for business planning and management that helps businesses to analyze and understand the life cycle stages of the business, product, or service; identify the potential economic, social, or environmental risks and opportunities at each stage; and establish proactive systems to pursue the opportunities and manage or minimize the risks.
Example of a Life Cycle of a Product = Design----Materials----Production----Distribution----Consumer and End Life----Landfill.
Life Cycle Management is simply about helping you make these decisions in a more deliberate and systematic way so you can engage in more sustainable production and consumption, and clearly define and measure the business value you are gaining by doing so. It is a systematic approach, mindset, and culture that is embraced throughout the business, where decisions are made that affect both the input and outputs of your product or service life cycle–from corporate strategy development, product design, production, purchasing and procurement, marketing, human resources and more. Governments around the world are introducing regulations and co-regulatory schemes that are prompting businesses to take action on becoming more sustainable and implement Life Cycle Thinking (e.g. Europe - End of Life Directives for Vehicles and Electronic Equipment, Japan – Law for the Life Cycle Economy, Australia–National Packaging Covenant and proposals for similar co-regulatory schemes for TV’s and Computers).
“What Is Life Cycle (LCM)?” 25 Sept 2008. http://www.epa.vic.gov.au/lifecycle/whatis.asp
A holistic lifecycle change management (LCM) solution enhances communication, collaboration, and coordination by breaking down existing information silos and by tightly integrating all aspects of the systems and software development lifecycle. LCM improves information transfer between the different roles working across the lifecycle to enhance the quality of their work. Improved information flow between teams, facilitated by lifecycle change management, can reduce time to market, while process automation ensures the processes are as followed.
“Lifecycle Change Management.” 20 Sept 2008. http://www.telelogic.com/products/change/lifecycle-change-management.cfm
As employed information technology management, it is a process for administering system software, hardware, and support over the life of a system. In this process, the emphasis is on the introductory and installation stages because they constitute the largest components of the system cost and determine its utility.
“Life Cycle Management” Business Dictionary. Volunteer State Comm. Lib. Gallatin. 21 Sept 2008 http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/life-cycle-management.html
In life cycle cost analysis, the time span for a project may cover many years and involve many future uncertainties. For different projects, different cost components should be concerned in the life cycle analysis. On a building development project, for example, six categories of cost items classified in the simulation model of the life cycle cost analysis. Capital cost-includes land costs, fees on acquisition, professional fees, construction costs, and other capital costs; Finance cost-includes finance of intended operation and loan charges. Operation cost-includes fuel, cleaning, security, health, staff, management, administration, and land charges. Maintenance-includes main structure, external decorations, internal decorations, finishing/fixture/fittings, plumbing and sanitary services, heating, air treatment, ventilating installations, gas installations, lift and conveyor installations, communication installations, special installations, external works, and landscapes. Sundries cost-includes energy conservation measures, equipment for building occupiers, and internal planting; and salvage and residuals cost-includes resale value, related costs, capital gains tax, and value added tax.
Zhi, He. “Simulation Analysis in Product Life Cycle Cost.” Cost Engineering. Morgantown: Dec 1993. Vol. 35, Iss. 12; pg. 13.
Successful project leaders are aware of the links between completion of the project life-cycle phase and the changing internal and external variables affecting project management. For the present study, we employed a four-phase life-cycle model including project selection, planning, execution, and termination, as suggested by Hormozi, McMinn, and Nzeogwu (2000). As a project moves through each phase, the project manager and senior management should continually monitor the project’s critical success factors to ensure it is still viable. After interviewing more than 400 project managers, Slevin and Pinto identified the 10 most common critical factors relevant to project success: Project mission, top management support, project schedule and plans, client consultation, personnel, technical tasks, client acceptance, monitoring and feedback, communication, and troubleshooting. Managing conflict is a fundamental part of overseeing complex projects.
Jiang, Bin, Daniel R. Heiser. “The Eye Diagram: A New Perspective on the Project Life Cycle.” Journal of Education for Business. Washington: Sept/Oct 2004. Vol. 80, Iss. 1. pg. 10. Volunteer State Comm. Lib. Gallatin. 15 Sept 2008 http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=736144851&sid=10&Fmt=4&clientId=16074&RQT=309&VName=PQD
Cases of Changes:
Michael F. Golden, President, and Chief Officer of Smith and Wesson Holding Corporation engaged in one of largest changes in management since the existence of the company. “Economic conditions and their impact on consumer discretionary spending have impacted the hunting-related long gun portion of the business. As in the case in any manufacturing organization, reduced volumes create added pressure on our infrastructure, built to service higher levels of operation. Until the market for these products strengthens, we remain focused on making sure that our factories operate efficiently. We have made the difficult decision to eliminate 80 production jobs in our New Hampshire manufacturing operations. At this time, we have also acted to ensure that the sales and marketing functions throughout our company become increasingly streamlined, maximizing our responsiveness to the market conditions in which we operate. We are executing these changes in a manner that assures that we can continue to be responsive to the needs of our customers.”
This includes a total shift in the structure of an organization that has conducted business a certain way for many years.
“Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation Announces Management Appointments, Hunting Long Gun Production Cuts.” PR Newswire-First Call. 25 Sept 2008. 26 Sept 2008 http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/09-25-2008/0004892772&EDATE=
Susan Heathfield (a management and organization development consultant who specializes in human resources issues and in management development) explains change is not going away; change is manageable; organizations can do change well. Successful change management requires the following:
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effective communication
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full and active executive support
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employee involvement
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organizational planning and analysis
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widespread perceived need for the change
Heathfield, Susan M. “Change, Change, Change: Change Management Lessons From the Field”About.com. 25 Sept 2008 http://humanresources.about.com/od/changemant/a/change_lessons.htm
Conclusion
After performing a meta analysis, there were several different systems and processes related to change. It is obvious that there are systems and processes available for each manufacturing, service, and product need. Understanding how each system and process works will aid in the success of the method of change management. Not only can the systems and processes be used in the work place, but they can also be used in everyday activities and non-profit organizations such as churches.
Works Cited
“Leading Change toward Sustainability: A Change-Management Guide for Business, Government and Civil Society.” International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education. Bradford: 2004. Vol. 5, Iss 2; pg. 217.
“Change Management Models-Making the Right Decisions.” Futurics. St. Paul: 2003. Vol. 27, Iss. 1/2; pg. 85.
George Alukal, “Keeping Lean Alive.” Quality Progress. Milwaukee: Oct 2006. Vol. 39, Iss. 10; pg. 67.
“Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation Announces Management Appointments, Hunting Long Gun Production Cuts.” PR Newswire-First Call. 25 Sept 2008. 26 Sept 2008 http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/09-25-2008/0004892772&EDATE=
Heathfield, Susan M. “Change, Change, Change: Change Management Lessons From the Field”About.com. 25 Sept 2008 http://humanresources.about.com/od/changemant/a/change_lessons.htm
“Organizational Change, Training, and Learning” 22 Sept 2008. http://www.businessballs.com/organizationalchange.htm
Markus, Lynne M. “Technochange Management: Using IT to Drive Organizational Change.” Journal of Information Technology. London: Mar. 2004. Vol. 19 Iss. 1 pg 4.
“What Is Life Cycle (LCM)?” 25 Sept 2008. http://www.epa.vic.gov.au/lifecycle/whatis.asp
“Lifecycle Change Management.” 20 Sept 2008. http://www.telelogic.com/products/change/lifecycle-change-management.cfm
“Life Cycle Management” Business Dictionary. Volunteer State Comm. Lib. Gallatin. 21 Sept 2008 http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/life-cycle-management.html
Zhi, He. “Simulation Analysis in Product Life Cycle Cost.” Cost Engineering. Morgantown: Dec 1993. Vol. 35, Iss. 12; pg. 13.
Jiang, Bin, Daniel R. Heiser. “The Eye Diagram: A New Perspective on the Project Life Cycle.” Journal of Education for Business. Washington: Sept/Oct 2004. Vol. 80, Iss. 1. pg. 10. Volunteer State Comm. Lib. Gallatin. 15 Sept 2008 http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=736144851&sid=10&Fmt=4&clientId=16074&RQT=309&VName=PQD
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