IT Management Issues

This document discusses the issues and recommendations for IT management in the business environment. It covers topics such as business operations, innovation, resistance to change, and technical glitches. Recommendations include implementing a change management program, outsourcing IT activities, and providing customer service training. The document also suggests the development of a cloud-based model for efficient management of IT activities.

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IT Management Issues
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IT Management Issues 1
Contents
Part 1............................................................................................................................................1
Business Operations in Inaugurating Innovation.........................................................................1
Issues to Operate Innovation in Business....................................................................................3
Recommendations for Business...................................................................................................4
Part 2................................................................................................................................................5
Recommendations........................................................................................................................5
References........................................................................................................................................7

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Part 1
Business Operations in Inaugurating Innovation
As discussed in the case study that the company Cut Short is currently suffering from various
managerial challenges in the environment. The company needs to manage the efficiency of the
business functions so as to retain the customers in the environment. Being placed in a service
industry, it is important for Cut Short Company to provide effective core services to the
customers along with quality augmented and supplementary services as well. The satisfaction
level of a client is uplifted when they receive overall beneficial services in the environment
(Antikainen, & Valkokari, 2016). As the company is facing issues in managing the waiting time
of customers due to which they have aimed to initiate various strategies in the business to reduce
their waiting time. In order to increase the profitability, the business has started pre booking
appointment from the website of the company so that the customers can book the date and time
according to their suitability.
Along with the time, the case also choose the service that they want to get through website and
pay then and there only so as to eliminate the fuss caused at the salon. The company would
confirm the booking of the customers who have paid through the website in 24 hours of taking
appointment while other customers booking would immediately get cancelled (Li, Wang, Van
Jaarsveld, Lee, & Ma, 2018). In order to increase the online sales, the company also aimed to
provide discounts to the customers booking through the website of the company while delayed
customer will have to pay surcharge as well. The customers will also get the advantage to
purchase the products online and pick up from the company outlet as well (Nylén, & Holmström,
2015). Thus, these are the innovative features that the management is suggesting in the business
functions of Cut Short.
In response to initiate such business operations, the management should perform the following
business actions in the environment.
 Development of IT Team: before occurrence of such event, the company did not found
any need to hire IT team to manage the functions of the business because earlier there
was no technical work required in the business. However, now the business would
require setting up new IT team who would manage the online activities of the company.

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The members would gather adequate resource required for functions the digital marketing
strategies of the company and they would also hire qualified staff to manage day to day
activities and eliminate traffic on website (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, & Wright, 2017).
 Training: After recruiting the IT management team, the company would train the
employees based on the requirement of the business. It is important for the management
to make the employees understand the vision of the business so that they can effectively
initiate the activities accordingly. The management also need to train other employees of
the company to welcome the change that they are implementing in the business. It is
important for the management to initiate change management program in the
environment so as to motivate the employees and attain their confidence in the
functioning of the company (Leonidou, Christofi, Vrontis, & Thrassou, 2018).
 Monitor Action: After attaining the confidence of the employees, the company should
implement the online sales of the products and services in the environment. They should
initially start trial of the activities and then gradually go on with initiating all the
functions on the website. The higher level authority of the company should manage the
functions in the environment and scrutinize all the activities to analyse the results (North,
& Kumta, 2018).
 Follow-up: On the basis of results so obtained, the management should aim to eliminate
the deviations from the program with an aim to increase the satisfaction level of the
customers of the company. Under this process, the top level management should make
the employees make changes in the business functions based on the history of activities.
Further, the company should also seek feedback from the customers of the business who
have initiated online sales. Through such feedback, the business will get to obtain a better
picture about the functions of the company and how they are providing satisfaction to
customers in the environment (Cabanes, Galy, Le Masson, & Weil, 2016).
Thus, in this way, the business Cut Short should initiate digital market functions to increase the
profitability of the company in the external environment.
Issues to Operate Innovation in Business
Clashes in Appointments: The website can provide appointments to clients, but it can never tell
that the appointment on that time is already taken. For instance, one person has taken

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appointment of 4.30 for blow dryer service and the other customer has also taken the
appointment for the same type of service at the same time. Then it can create clashes in the
business as the site will not tell them which slot is free for them. Also it should be noted that,
people with longer hair might take long time doing the same service as compared to people with
shorter hair. Resulting in which, the appointment of next person might get delayed in the
environment. This aspect can increase the dissatisfaction level of the client in the environment
(Johnson, 2015).
Unavailability of employees: there might be a possibility that someday the company is short of
staff and on that they the website gives them bundle of appointments. Thus, this situation can
cause various issues for the business they will not be able to deliver adequate services to the
customers within time due to shortage of employees. The customers do not know that the
company is having few employees so they will make the appointment anyways. Thus, this aspect
can create bundle of problems for the employees of the company (Makkonen, & Komulainen,
2018).
Resistance to change: The Cut Short is implementing various innovative changes in the
environment resulting to which, the employees might resist towards changes in the environment.
Resistance to change is one of the biggest issues that can create problem for the business. In
order to successfully adopt the online means of sales, initially it is important for the management
to make the employees adopt such changes in the business. If they will resist to such changes in
the environment then ultimately the business will not be able to succeed in implementing such
innovation. So, it should be noted that resistance to change is one of the biggest issue that can
dysfunction the innovative practices of the company (Ali, Warren, & Mathiassen, 2017).
Technical Glitches: Due to heavy traffic on the website, the management might face problem in
attaining the counts of appointment and the customers might also face problem in booking for an
appointment through the website. Technical issues can lower down the server of the website due
to which the employees and customers will not be able to perform any action on the website.
Recommendations for Business
Below mentioned are the recommendations provided to the company Cut Short in order to
reduce the issues and increase the efficiency of the business:

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Implementation of Change Management Program: resistance to change is one of the biggest
issue struck with the functioning of the company in the external environment. The company
should make use of Lewin change management model to eliminate resistance to change activities
in the environment. The business should initially unfreeze the environment and make changes in
the business (Rothaermel, 2015). While implementing the unfreezing activity they should
sincerely focus on making the employees understand the need and importance of change
management process in the business. Under this process, the company should prepare themselves
to break down the resistance of the employees and make them open towards change in the
environment.
The step of change management is most stressful and difficult to implement. So, they should cut
down the way things are to be done and put every person off the balance, further they need the
strong reactions of the people for implementation of this process (Schmidt, Groeneveld, & Van
de Walle, 2017). Further, business needs to re-examine the core activities and create a controlled
crisis situation which will turn into strong motivation as soon as the employees will realize the
need of change management program. Further, after unfreezing process the company will
implement change in the business and then again refreeze the environment to effectively initiate
changes in the business (Cummings, Bridgman, & Brown, 2016).
Outsourcing of IT activities: the fact should be clearly noted that Cut Short Company is known
for their salon activities so investing the focus on IT activities can affect the core business
activities of the company. So, the company should outsource the IT activities so that the IT team
can effectively manage the customer appointments along and allocate the work the present
employees within specific time frame (Goffin, & Mitchell, 2016).
Introduction of on call appointment confirmation: After every booking of appointment, the
company should call to the customers so as to confirm their appointment and at the same time to
should cross check the availability of human resource at that time. This aspect will eliminate the
problem of two appointments at the same time. Confirmation call for appointment will give
satisfaction to the clients as well that their booking is made and they can attain services from the
company (Lyytinen, Yoo, & Boland, 2016).

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Thus, with the help of these recommendations the company will easily resolve all the IT related
problems that the company is facing in the environment.
Part 2
Recommendations
Customer Service Training: Customer service training refers to the process of teaching the
employees in such a way that they attain knowledge about the skills and competencies that are
required to increase the customer satisfaction. An employee of the company interact with the
customers on regular basis so it is important for them treat the customers appropriately so as to
manage their level of satisfaction. The course content of this type of training program greeting
the employees, understand their needs from the company, listening to their issues without
making judgements and opinion. It is important for the employees to eliminate the use of jargons
and treats the customers respectfully (Overall, 2015).
So, it should be noted that the company Cut Short is a service providing organization thus the
only way through which they can satisfy the customers is by providing them adequate service in
the environment. In the process of service delivery, the company need to train the employees to
provide them services according to their expectations in the environment. They need to train the
employees to make face to face interaction while managing their tone and body language. They
also need to train the employees to dealing with the angry customers and increase the level of
satisfaction by solving their problems. There would be ‘n’ number of benefits that the company
will receive by initiating customer training program in the business.
Development of Cloud Based Model: The cloud based for implementation of IT techniques in
the business will help the management to keep this department in their business and efficiently
manage the activities as well. Cloud based system will help the management to attain
information about the rotational week offs of the employees of the company. The cloud will also
attain information about the line of customers that each employee is having and which employee
will get free early. Through cloud based model, the company will be able to provide services to
the customer at the specified time that they booked as it will manage the booking on the basis of
average time invested in the activity and availability of employees as well. The cloud will store

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all information which will also help the management to easily find out deviation in the process
and which activity is taking more time in the business (Lyytinen, Yoo, & Boland 2016). Thus, in
this way the company can easily increase the satisfaction of the customers by introducing cloud
based system to manage internal as well as external activities of business.

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References
Ali, A., Warren, D., & Mathiassen, L. (2017). Cloud-based business services innovation: A risk
management model. International Journal of Information Management, 37(6), 639-649.
Antikainen, M., & Valkokari, K. (2016). A framework for sustainable circular business model
innovation. Technology Innovation Management Review, 6(7).
Cabanes, B., Galy, P., Le Masson, P., & Weil, B. (2016, July). Technical staff management for
radical innovation in science-based organizations: a new framework based on design
theory. In R&D Management Conference.
Cummings, S., Bridgman, T., & Brown, K. G. (2016). Unfreezing change as three steps:
Rethinking Kurt Lewin’s legacy for change management. Human relations, 69(1), 33-60.
Goffin, K., & Mitchell, R. (2016). Innovation management: effective strategy and
implementation. Macmillan International Higher Education.
Johnson, M. P. (2015). Sustainability management and small and medium‐sized enterprises:
Managers' awareness and implementation of innovative tools. Corporate Social
Responsibility and Environmental Management, 22(5), 271-285.
Leonidou, E., Christofi, M., Vrontis, D., & Thrassou, A. (2018). An integrative framework of
stakeholder engagement for innovation management and entrepreneurship
development. Journal of Business Research.
Li, Y., Wang, M., Van Jaarsveld, D. D., Lee, G. K., & Ma, D. G. (2018). From employee-
experienced high-involvement work system to innovation: An emergence-based human
resource management framework. Academy of Management Journal, 61(5), 2000-2019.
Lyytinen, K., Yoo, Y., & Boland Jr, R. J. (2016). Digital product innovation within four classes
of innovation networks. Information Systems Journal, 26(1), 47-75.

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Makkonen, H., & Komulainen, H. (2018). Explicating the market dimension in the study of
digital innovation: a management framework for digital innovation. Technology Analysis
& Strategic Management, 30(9), 1015-1028.
Noe, R. A., Hollenbeck, J. R., Gerhart, B., & Wright, P. M. (2017). Human resource
management: Gaining a competitive advantage. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill
Education.
North, K., & Kumta, G. (2018). Knowledge management: Value creation through organizational
learning. Springer.
Nylén, D., & Holmström, J. (2015). Digital innovation strategy: A framework for diagnosing and
improving digital product and service innovation. Business Horizons, 58(1), 57-67.
Overall, J. (2015). A conceptual framework of innovation and performance: The importance of
leadership, relationship quality, and knowledge management. Academy of
Entrepreneurship Journal, 21(2), 41.
Rothaermel, F. T. (2015). Strategic management. McGraw-Hill Education.
Schmidt, E., Groeneveld, S., & Van de Walle, S. (2017). A change management perspective on
public sector cutback management: Towards a framework for analysis. Public
Management Review, 19(10), 1538-1555.