Hbrueck

The Impact of Organisational Change Management on the
Success of a Product Lifecycle Management Implementation an Investigation into the Electronics Manufacturing Industry
Masters dissertation at:
Fachhochschule Ludwigshafen am Rhein

University of Lincoln
Submitted by:
Hans-Jrgen Brck
Date:
March 2002
Supervisors:
Mr. Karl A. Scholz

Mr. Malcolm Myers
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank a number of people that supported me and provided contribution
during my MBA study programme and especially during the time when the dissertation
was prepared and written.
My sincerest thanks to:
-
Mr. Karl A. Scholz from FH Ludwigshafen for interesting and helpful discussions
on the topic and for acting as supervisor for this project.
Mr. Malcolm Myers from the University of Lincoln for useful comments on the
dissertation proposal and for acting as supervisor for this project.
My manager Dr. Andreas Hintz, who supported me with useful hints, interesting
discussions and assisted in reviewing the dissertation.
All the people that participated in the survey and took valuable time out of their
schedules to answer the comprehensive questionnaires. Many thanks also to those,
who additionally participated in the interviews and openly discussed the issues
involved.
My employer Tyco Electronics (formerly AMP Incorporated).
John Sandwell for reviewing the abstract
Stephan Prosser, who assisted in reviewing the questionnaires.
Finally, I want to thank my family, especially my wife Katrin and my children Chiara
Luisa, Lana-Joy and Robbin Joanne for their patience and their support throughout the
time of writing the dissertation. Without them, none of this would have been possible.
ii
Abstract
The dissertation in hand discusses the implementation of Product Lifecycle
Management (PLM) in the Electronics Manufacturing Industry. In particular, the impact
of Organisational Change Management on the implementation success of PLM has been
researched. The methodology used to investigate the topic includes literature research,
quantitative research (survey) as well as qualitative research (interviews).
The environment of manufacturers is coined by time to market reduction, increased
variety and complexity resulting from trends like globalisation, mass customisation and
increased outsourcing. PLM aims to help manufacturers in this environment by
providing an "infrastructure to support management of product related data throughout
its complete lifecycle"1 (from initial concept to product obsolescence). Appropriate
solutions ensure that up to date information are accessible for the right people, in the
right format at the right time.
Especially interesting for the product lifecycle is the conceptual phase of the product
definition process where fundamental design choices are made and the product lifecycle
costs are determined to a large extent. The concept of Concurrent Engineering suggests
improving this phase by breaking down functional barriers and setting up crossfunctional teams. Globalisation and increased outsourcing require collaboration across
geographic regions and company borders. Therefore PLM systems do not only provide
functionality to control product related data but also to collaborate within a company as
well as in the extended enterprise.
The reason for failure of new business concepts like PLM is very often due to a poor
implementation phase rather than to the concept itself. It is therefore important not only
to take the technological but also the organisational perspective of PLM into account.
Collaborating and sharing of data within a company and especially in the extended
enterprise challenges existing processes and culture. An holistic implementation
approach will therefore most likely result in process as well as cultural changes. For that
reason, the success of PLM heavily depends on the willingness of the organisation to
accept change and especially on the people that must form inter-organisational and
cross-functional teams to collaboratively develop and manage products.
People are not likely to change the way they have been successfully working.
Resistance to change is therefore the natural reaction. Organisational Change
Management deals with the emotional reaction to change and aims to provide an
implementation friendly environment. Communication of the required changes and
participation of people affected by change are common means of Organisational Change
Management to address initial fears and to build trust.
cf. Portella (2000)
iii
It was found in the research, that the most critical success factors as well as potential
problems are people related issues that can be addressed by Organisational Change
Management. In conclusion, the impact of Organisational Change Management on
implementation success can be rated as relatively high.
Including Organisational Change Management methods and tools during a PLM
implementation can play an important role to facilitate changes, in processes as well as
in the corporate culture. According to the research the early involvement of people
affected by the changes and the barriers between departments and companies have to be
addressed by Organisational Change Management. However the most important factor
for success can be found in the role of senior management whose support and
commitment not least decides if the additional budget for the Organisational Change
Management initiative is released.
iv
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
ii
Abstract
iii
Table of Contents
List of Abbreviations
1
Introduction
1.1
Background
1.1.1
Product development
1.1.2
From CA -Tools and PDM to Product Lifecycle Management (the

technological perspective)
1.1.3
1.1.4
v
viii
1
1
1
2
From Concurrent Engineering and Physical Co-location to Collaborative

Engineering and Virtual Co-location (the organisational perspective)
Organisational Change Management
1.2
Main research issues
1.3
Literature comment
12
1.4
Research methodology
12
1.5
Dissertation structure
13
Literature review
14
2.1
Concurrent Engineering and physical co-location
14
2.2
Collaborative engineering and virtual co-location
15
2.3
The organisational model for collaborative engineering and virtual colocation
15
2.4
Organisational Change Management and Information Technology (IT)
16
2.5
Organisational and cultural change and the implementation of a PLM
2.6
3
solution
17
Change Management and the implementation of a PLM solution
18
Methodology and data collection
21
3.1
Secondary research (desk research)
21
3.2
Primary research
21
3.2.1
Quantitative research (Survey)
21
3.2.2
Qualitative research (Interviews)
23
Results
4.1
Results from quantitative research
24
24
4.1.1
Survey participants
24
4.1.2
Preparation for analysis
25
4.1.3
Questionnaire results
26
4.2
5
Results from qualitative research

Discussion
5.1
Interpretation of research findings
31
33
33
5.1.1
What kind of companies do implement PLM?
33
5.1.2
The role of organisational culture
33
5.1.3
The role of organisational structure
34
5.1.4
The role of the product development processes
35
5.1.5
The role of Change Management
36
5.1.6
The Return on Investment (ROI) and the impact of Change Management

on implementation success
5.2
37
The relationship of the research results to published literature and

research
37
5.3
The appropriateness of data collection and methodology
38
5.4
The effect on professional practice
39
5.4.1
The implementation strategy
39
5.4.2
Appropriate Change Management methods and tools
41
Conclusions
43
6.1
Summary of principal features
43
6.2
Major findings
44
6.3
Suggestions for business practice
45
6.4
Recommendations for future research
46
Bibliography
47
7.1
Textbooks
47
7.2
Articles
50
vi
Appendices
54
Appendix A:
Questionnaires - Summary (All)
Appendix B:
Questionnaires - Summary (Electronic Manufacturing Companies) 62
Appendix C:
Questionnaires - Summary (Software Vendors and System

Integrators)
54
74
vii
List of Abbreviations
2D
3D
anon.
CAD
CAE
CAM
cf.
CoP
CPC
cPDM
CRM
DMU
Dr.
EDM
Eds.
e.g.
EMC
EMI
ERP
et al.
etc.
EU
FH
ff.
i.e.
IGES
IS
IT
MBOM
Mr.
MRP
MS
No./n
OEM
p.
pp.
PDC
PDM
PIM
R&D
ROI
SMC
STEP
Two Dimensional
Three Dimensional
anonymous
Computer Aided Design
Computer Aided Engineering
Computer Aided Manufacturing
confer (compare)
Communities of Practise
Collaborative product Commerce
collaborative Product Definition Management
Customer Relationship Management
Digital Mock-Up
Doctor
Engineering Data Management
Editors
exempli gratia (for example)
Electronic Manufacturing Companies
Electronics Manufacturing Industry
Enterprise Resource Planning
et alii (and others)
Et cetera (and so on)
European Union
Fachhochschule
And the following
id est (that is)
Initial Graphics Exchange Specification
Information Systems
Information Technology
Manufacturing Bill of Material
Mister
Manufacturing Resource Planning
Microsoft
Number (of respondents)
Original Equipment Manufacturer
page
pages
Product Definition and Commercialisation
Product Data Management
Product Information Management
Research and Development
Return On Investment
Small and Medium Companies
Standard for the Exchange of Product Model Data
viii
SVSI
TQM
Software Vendors and System Integrators

Total Quality Management
ix
Introduction
Introduction
The introduction provides background information about the topics involved in the
investigation. Furthermore the research question is introduced and explained and set in
the context of existing research and literature. A short introduction to the methodology
used to research the topic is provided followed by a presentation of the dissertation
structure.
1.1 Background
The following pages are intended to give the reader an overview and background
information on the various topics involved in the research, namely:
Product development
Product Lifecycle Management (PLM)
Concurrent and Collaborative Engineering
1.1.1
Product development
"In today's industry, New Product Development is often the focal point of competition.
Companies that are able effectively to develop, produce and introduce new products are
the key competitors in markets where variety and time-to-market play an increasingly
important role." (Victor Paashuis, 1997)
The dominant importance of product development for the manufacturing industry as
their core competence and process is outlined by the quote of Victor Paashuis. Several
studies carried out throughout the last years have shown that the way in which product
development is executed does have a significant impact on costs and time to market and
therefore on the financial results. Nevins et. al (1989) for example found, that 80% of
product lifecycle costs are locked in the early stage of product development, when
fundamental design choices are made.
New product development nowadays is heavily influenced by industry as well as social
trends. The following section describes industry and social trends and their implications
on product development (especially in the Electronics Manufacturing Industry):
-
Increased Outsourcing: Product complexity is increasing and companies are

concentrating on their core competence. Consequently an increasing number of
components making up a product is given to outside vendors for designing and
manufacturing. The increasing number of outside vendors has somehow to be
managed and integrated. So called extended enterprises have to be established.
Alliances and Merger: The number of companies that are merging or establishing
alliances has rapidly increased throughout the past years. Similar to increased
outsourcing product development processes somehow have to be integrated or
aligned to gain synergy effects.
Introduction
Mass customisation: The role of the customer has changed. Tailor made, individual
products instead of mass-produced products are demanded. This means a shift from
make-to-stock and assembly-to-order styles of manufacturing to mass customisation
and personalisation. Therefore product development has to be much more agile and
flexible to quickly respond to customer wishes and fast changing market needs.
Globalisation: Supported through the falling of borders, the liberalisation of
markets and the explosive development of communication technology many
manufacturers have scaled to a global level. Globalisation means more opportunities
but also more competition. Power of innovation and especially time to market
reduction becomes critical. This means that product development cycles have to be
reduced and innovation has to be fostered.
After sales market/Recycling: Historically, a product was only as long important
for a manufacturer as the product was under warranty. Today the after sales market,
that was traditionally held by 3rd party vendors, is also seen as a major growth
opportunity. This trend, combined with the new EU decree for scrapping and
recycling, forces manufacturing companies to take the late product lifecycle stages
like service and retirement much more into account, especially during the product
definition phase.
Virtualisation: Prototypes are expensive and time consuming. Through
virtualisation, hardware prototypes are increasingly replaced by digital prototypes.
The advantage is that manufacturing problems can be recognised in a very early
stage of the product development process.
Virtual enterprises are established to develop, produce, operate and support new
products in order to save costs through synergy effects and increase profit through
decreased time to market. Vertical integration is replaced by virtual integration.
Information age/Internet: We are currently in a shift from the industrial age to the
information age. Information is said to be the currency of the future. Most
companies are not suffering from a lack of information. The problem is that a
consistent view on the information is not provided and the information can not
assimilated quickly enough. Therefore product related information has to be
organised in a way that it is accessible in the right format and at the right place for
the right people.
1.1.2
From CA -Tools and PDM to Product Lifecycle Management (the

technological perspective)
The reduction of product development cycle time and the improvement of design
quality has been supported in the last two decades through the implementation of
various computer aided technologies like 2D and 3D -CAD (Computer Aided Design),
CAE (Computer Aided Engineering and Analysis), CAM (Computer Aided
Manufacturing) etc... All these tools aimed to accelerate, automate and integrate various
engineering and manufacturing processes. The introduction of CA Tools, however,
was often only task instead of process oriented. Departments tried to automate their
tasks as good as possible and created an environment which best helps to meet their
targets. In practice, only little integration took place. Each CA -Tool produced its own
data format which led to so called islands of automation. This problem could only
partially be resolved by various interfaces and data exchange formats like IGES and
Introduction
STEP that were developed to facilitate communication between the different CA -tools.
Therefore, the result was often an heterogeneous, fragmented, multi-system
environment in many companies and especially in design chains for product definition.
Romano (1999) in this context states, that "during the engineering supply chain,
manufactures and suppliers need to work as design partners, however their design and
manufacturing systems are frequently incompatible. This introduces very significant
time and cost penalties as they attempt to share design information."
Moreover, the large amount of data generated by the various CA -Tools was often not
centrally organised and therefore inaccessible to others. New developments instead of
using already designed parts were often the costly consequences.
Realising this problem and the associated business opportunity several software
companies started in the mid 1980s to develop Product Data Management (PDM)
systems2 that initially provided vaulting and file management capabilities for
engineering documents like 2D CAD drawings. In the late 1980s and early 1990s
engineering change management to control and track the changes made to engineering
data was added to the functionality together with configuration and classification
management capabilities. As a result of 3D -CAD systems and teamwork approaches
entering the market PDM systems started to support the management of complex
relationships between parts, assemblies, drawings, metadata, people and groups of
people. In the mid 1990s many PDM vendors switched the operating system from
UNIX to Windows/NT and moreover various improvements in the user interfaces were
made.
Since the main functionality of PDM has been CAD -centric data and workflow
management it was mainly used in the engineering organisation, sometimes in the
manufacturing organisation. This was due to the existing technology which made the
accessibility for other than design engineering departments difficult. The software was
not usable without extensive training and the files could only be viewed in the native
CAD system.
In the late 1990s a new class of software, Product Lifecycle Management (PLM)
systems evolved from PDM systems. Besides the term PLM there are other terms
existing that were established by different Research Firms. CPC i.e. stands for
Collaborative Product Commerce and was established by the Aberdeen Group whereas
cPDM stands for collaborative Product Definition Management which is used by
Research Firm CIMData. Other terms are ePLM (electronic Product Lifecycle
Management), PDC (product definition and commercialisation) or PIM (Product
Information Management).
With the advances in user interfaces and database, viewing as well as the Internet
technology the technological prerequisites were provided to share data more easily.
Providing integrated visualisation and Digital Mock-Up (DMU) Tools, PLM systems
make it possible to view, mark-up and redline native CAD data without the need for
having access to the native CAD system. The Internet serves as highly effective
platform to communicate product data information far beyond the engineering
organisation.
2
cf. anon (1995)
Introduction
Nadamuni (1999) therefore states that "the vision for PLM is to do more than just CADcentric data and workflow management and become an enterprise application that ties
together all the information sources in a corporation".
A PLM system can be described as an enterprise-wide Information Technology (IT)
"infrastructure to support management of product definition throughout its complete
lifecycle"3 (from initial concept to product obsolescence). Including workflow
management, PLM systems, as a single source of product information, ensure that up to
date information are available and accessible for the right people in the right format at
the right time. It is also viewed as an "effective tool in managing the product definition
supply chain by serving as an informational bridge connecting OEM's, partners,
subcontractors, vendors, consultants and customers" (Miller, 1998f).
PLM systems provide a consistent view on product related information in the extended
enterprise whereas the easily sharing of product data facilitates real-time collaboration
across departmental barriers and among geographically dispersed individuals and
groups. Consequently the Aberdeen Group (2000) defines CPC respectively PLM as "a
class of software and services that uses Internet technologies to permit individuals - no
matter what role they have in the commercialisation of a product, no matter what
computer based tool they use, no matter where they are located geographically or within
the supply net - to collaboratively develop, build and manage products throughout the
entire lifecycle."
To cope with the industry as well as social trends described above and to gain
competitive advantage a new integrated approach for developing products with respect
to the whole product lifecycle has to be taken. Integration has to take place internally
(between different departments) as well as externally (i.e. with suppliers and
customers). PLM means "the management of comprehensive, accurate and timely
information over the entire product lifecycle"4 in order to realise collaborative product
development. Therefore, PLM systems are viewed as enabler for an integrated product
development approach by industry analysts from Research Firms like Aberdeen Group,
AMR Research, CIMData, Gartner Group and Forrester Research.
The future meaning of software for managing the product lifecycle in the manufacturing
industry can be illustrated by figures that were recently released by Research Firm
CIMData: " ... the world-wide [Product Lifecycle Management Solutions (software and
services)] market grew 62% to reach $2.86 billion in 2000. CIMData forecasts overall
investments to continue at a significant pace over the next five years. The firm predicts
the market will exceed $4 billion in 2001 and increase at a compound annual growth
rate of 43% through the year 2005, when they expect the market size to exceed $13
billion." (CIMData Press Release, February 28, 2001).
3
4
cf. Portella (2000)

cf. anon. (1999)
Introduction
1.1.3
From Concurrent Engineering and physical co-location to Collaborative

Engineering and virtual co-location (the organisational perspective)
According to Miller (1998e) the product lifecycle is comprised of three primary

processes: product definition, product production and operations support. Especially
interesting for the product lifecycle seems to be the product definition process and
especially the early phase where fundamental design choices are made and the product
lifecycle costs are determined to a great extent.
The iterative nature of the product design process highlights the point that a great deal
of the design activity is redefining and redesigning of ideas. Collaboration has the
potential to dramatically reduce the total number of design changes in a product's
development cycle and even more important it reduces the late and costly design
changes. Changes take place in the early design phase where their impact on cost and
time is small (anon. 1999)
In the traditional design and manufacturing practice, however, the product life cycle is a
series of independent sequential steps ranging from design and engineering to process
planning, production and servicing. Frequently, information is passed among groups in
a sequential process known as throwing over the wall. This scenario can be described
as serial engineering (CMstat, 1996)
Concurrent Engineering (sometimes referred to as Simultaneous Engineering, a later
expression is Integrated Product Development) offers a solution to the inefficient
sequential product development process by breaking down the barriers between
engineering and other key departments like manufacturing (CMstat, 1996). It describes
the involvement of different individuals with different perspectives on the product
definition process and the parallelisation of the formerly sequential process of product
development. In other terms, it describes the concurrent accomplishment of product and
process engineering (Smith and Reinertsen, 1995). Concurrent Engineering has been
defined by the Institute of Defence Analyses (Pennel and Winner, 1989) as a
"systematic approach to the integrated, concurrent design of products and their related
processes including manufacture and support."
While Concurrent Engineering used to address mainly intra-organisational aspects of
the product development process Collaborative Engineering (that has evolved with
PLM systems) addresses more the inter-organisational aspect respectively the aspect of
the (dynamically changing) extended enterprise (sometimes termed as boundary-less
value chain). Integrating internal processes as well as suppliers and customers according
to the vision of PLM requires intense collaboration across the entire product lifecycle,
inside and outside the company and across geographic regions. Companies must
therefore implement processes and structures for collaboratively sharing information
with partners, vendors and customers.
Teamwork is today the fundamental precondition for innovation. Most tasks nowadays
are just too complex for one person to be able to produce practicable and realistic
solutions (Doppler and Lauterburg, 2000). The most common mechanisms for pursuing
Concurrent Engineering approaches involves therefore a multi-disciplined, cross-
Introduction
functional and physically collocated team structure. Physical co-location in this context
means that the team members sitting close to each other, ideally within ten meters
according to a study of Allen (1977), researching the effect of distance to technical
communication. He found that the probability of communication rapidly decreases
within the first ten metres. Beyond these point the increase of distance does not seem to
have a big impact on communication.
Figure 1.1: From Allen, Managing the Flow of Technology, Figure 8.3, p. 239,
The MIT Press, 1977
The greatly enhanced communication and the team cohesiveness has been described by
Smith and Reinertsen (1995) as advantage of physical co-location. Growing
globalisation, fast changing marketplaces and the increasing trend to outsource,
however, demands globally dispersed and inter-organisational teams which makes
physical co-location increasingly infeasible. Dynamically changing and flexible teams
can only be supported by virtual co-located teams. Virtual co-location does not
eliminate the need for occasional face to face meetings, especially in the early phase of
a product development project. However, team members will mainly meet, through the
advances in Internet and communication technology being possible, either in an online
virtual workplace or in video - or telephone conferences.
When the environment is dynamically changing communication networks become
critical. Smith and Reinertsen (1995) in the context of Concurrent Engineering already
stated that frequent, open communication plays an important role since it fosters faster
and earlier sharing of information. According to Rowe (2000) the key to collaboration is
communication.
Traditional organisational structures and approaches cannot provide the competitive
basis that is required in this business environment because the product development
process is broken down across the specialist functional departments which renders poor
communication (Pawar, Sharifi, 2000). Hierarchical organisations are too slow moving
Introduction
and inefficient for this environment, therefore flexible project organisations become
increasingly important. Several theoreticians, including Drucker (1988) and Schein
(1989) suggest that hierarchical authority will probably play a much smaller role in the
future, while co-ordination and coaching skills will become more important. Doppler
and Lauterburg (2000) describe this development as the shift from the hierarchical
organisation, based on the division of labour to the easily re-configurable network
organisation. They emphasise that "thinking in organisational categories needs to be
replaced by thinking in terms of quickly changing process chains".
1.1.4
The implementation of an enterprise wide IT system involves often structural as well as

cultural changes in a company. Significant change, however, is a disruption in our
expectations of the future which is viewed as a loss of control (Marshall & Conner,
1996). Resistance to change is therefore often the reaction. People are not likely to
change the way they have been (successfully) working, especially when it is not clear
what the goal of the whole operation is and who will benefit from the changes (Doppler
and Lauterburg, 2000). Fear of the unknown and uncertainty is often the source of
resistance. People need predictability, which has something to do with our basic need
for security. Uncertainty however can reduce productivity to a great extent (Stark, 1999)
Therefore, changing a culture, structures and processes is risky and can even produce
negative results which is proved by many studies. Kotter (1995) for example found, that
two third of major change initiatives are not successful. Change has therefore carefully
be planned and the change process has to be managed and overviewed.
Organisational Change Management has proved as a useful tool to facilitate successful
cultural transformations by helping people dealing with 'unknown territory' or as
Bridges and Mitchell (2000) put it, the 'neutral zone' to ensure that the outcome of the
change initiative is positive.
The roots of Change Management can be found in so-called soft science of psychology
where Change Management is applied to help people deal with traumatic emotional
issues like death in the family or knowledge of ones own impending death (anon.,
1996). The increased popularity of Change Management in an business environment
can be dated in the mid 1990s when the under Business Process Reengineering (BPR)
summarised restructuring efforts of companies often did not deliver the promised results
Al-Ani and Gattermeyer,2000). Not addressing the resistance of people to change was
identified as key problem of the poor implementation results of many PBR projects.
Change Management, that deals with the emotional response to change is therefore
sometimes termed as the soft side of BPR that "helps stakeholders deal with dramatic
changes in how they earn their livelihoods" (anon., 1996).
Change Management suggests that resistance is a natural reaction to change that always
contains a coded message and happens on an emotional and not an intellectual level.
Accordingly it is important not to 'overcome' resistance i.e. with logical arguments or
even fight the resistance but treat resistance as an emotional process where feelings are
involved. It is also viewed as important to pause and deal with resistance immediately,
Introduction
when it appears which can mean a delay in the project plan (Doppler and Lauterburg,
2000; Block, 1981). Not dealing with it by ignoring the resistance means to risk severe
obstacles and barriers which causes significant delays since the resistance will appear
later in the process again. Therefore it is important that employees are encouraged to
express their concerns, fears and perceptions so that they pass. This can happen either in
an anonymous way, i.e. through employee surveys or in face to face meetings.
Resistance can have very different forms. Typical forms of resistance, or better
symptoms of resistance, beside the most obvious form of attacking, are: Silence,
debating unimportant things, staying away, coming to late to meetings, flooding with
detail, intrigues, rumours etc...(Block, 1981)
Different models, methods and tools have been developed to deal with the change
process. The tools and methods that are utilised are often dependent on the change that
is required. Most researchers differentiate between two main strategies: incremental and
transformational change (depending on the researcher also termed as 'radical change',
'discontinuous change', 'major change' or 'profound change). According to Stark (1999)
"incremental change does not challenge existing assumptions and culture. It uses
existing structures and processes and is therefore low risk but also slow.
Transformational changes intends to change existing structures, the existing
organisation and the existing culture". Moreover a difference is made if the change
comes from inside the organisation (proactive) or if the change is forced from outside
the organisation (reactive).
Figure 1.2 shows that a typical change process moves through several phases that are
accompanied by typical reactions of people involved and must be met by different
Change Management methods and tools. After announcing a change initiative confusion
is increasing. Fear of the unknown, not being able to cope with the new patterns and old
rules overlaying new rules are reasons for confusion. Communication as an ongoing
process during the change process as well as early participation of the people affected
by change play an important role to address the initial fears and concerns and to build
trust. Coaching people during the change process and facilitate learning of the skills that
are needed to deal successfully with the new environment is essential. In the diffusion
phase marketing of the change initiative is important for example through publishing of
first successes. In order to institutionalise the changed behaviour consistently rewarding
adequate behaviour and accordingly punishing inadequate behaviour is viewed as an
essential element (Stark, 1999; Doppler and Lauterburg, 2000). To hold the gains of the
change initiative and to avoid erosion effects the installation of a continuos
improvement process has proved as successful (Reiss, 1997).
Introduction
Implementation
Success
Supporting
Desired
State
IDEAL
REAL
Marketing
Current
State
Confusion
Diffusion
Erosion
Implementation Time
Coaching
Implementation
Failure
Figure 1.2: Success characteristics of implementation. From Reiss, Managing Change, Figure 14, p. 28,
Schaeffer-Poeschel, 1997 (translated from German)
1.2 Main research issues

Great things are expected from PLM ranging from faster time to market, closer
collaboration, better quality products to more innovation. The Aberdeen Group (2000)
terms PLM respectively CPC even as the 'next big thing' for manufacturing companies.
Indeed, implementing Product Lifecycle Management promises manufacturing
companies a competitive advantage and a major step towards increased productivity.
Regarding collaboration i.e. GM expects to double design productivity and increase
product development workflow by 70% using a collaborative system [built around a
PLM system]", according to a Press release from May, 20, 2001.
In order to realise major improvements Harrison (1995)5 and Bergh (1996) remind us
that a product information management system works best in a reengineered
environment. Business Process Reengineering (BPR) has been defined by Hammer and
Champy (1995) as "the fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business
processes to achieve dramatic improvements".
Harrison made this statement at the 'EMDS Focus 95 User Forum' (Feb. 27 to March 2, Orlando)
Introduction
The introduction of a PLM system by itself, however, does hardly initiate the changes
that are required to improve the product development process. It is therefore important
to recognise that PLM "is not a tool to improve the product development process but a
tool to support an improved product development process" (Stark, 1999)6. Before it can
work to its full potential there must be changes in organisational processes as well as in
the organisational culture.
A significant impact on the success of the introduction of a PLM system should
therefore be the willingness of the organisation to accept change7 and to develop, as
Wildermann (2001) put it an "outward-facing collaborative culture", which means a
culture that is based on openness and trust. Changing a corporate culture means
changing people's values, norms, inner attitude and behaviour. This means that the
success heavily relies on the people, making up an organisation, that must form multidisciplined, cross-organisational and virtual teams to improve and accelerate the product
development process. Lipnak and Stamp (1997) remind us in this context, that in the
establishment of virtual teams "90% is people and only 10% is technology" and Ali
(2001)8 describes the experience of Ford Motor in overcoming the barriers to using
collaboration tools as 80% people and only 20% technology'.
However, old habits die slowly and the sharing of data is often counter-cultural
(Peterson, 2001) which is why Bourke (2000) and Krouse (2001) remind us to consider
the organisational and cultural issues that are involved with a PLM implementation.
Nevertheless, the organisational and cultural implications of the implementation of an
enterprise-wide information system like PLM are often neglected or ignored in practice,
although researchers suggest that these aspects might be even more important than the
technical aspects (Bourke, 2000).
The trouble is, however, that senior managers often imagine that transition is automaticthat it occurs simply because the change is happening. But it does not. Just because
everyone does have access to the PLM system does not mean that virtual teams develop
collaboratively new products and improve the product development process in the way
the consultants promised it would (Bridges and Mitchell, 2000).
Child (1987) suggests, that technical integration should be mirrored by organisational
integration if its full potential benefit is to be realised. In essence, this would mean, that
an holistic implementation approach of PLM would not only consider the technical
issues but also the organisational and cultural issues. Changing the organisational form
(i.e. to a project based organisation to support globally dispersed and interorganisational virtual teams) and accordingly the culture (i.e. to an "outward facing
collaborative culture") to support collaboration, however, means for most
manufacturing companies not only structural alterations but a radical change.
Implementing organisational change offers "tremendous potential for improved
performance for todays product development organisations" according to Stark (1999).
But Stark (1999) also adds that it is a major activity that is "difficult, time consuming
and costly". Moreover it bears the risk of producing negative results.
6
Stark (1999) made this statement in conjunction with the implementation of PDM
cf. Miller (1998d)
8
Ali made this statement at the International Quality and Productivity Center Conference , June 2001
7
10
Introduction
Organisational Change Management, as a discipline to deal with the emotional reaction

to change has proved to support major change initiatives and should also significantly
improve the change process during a PLM implementation.
The research is therefore focused on the question if the implementation of PLM, in
practice, is understood as a change process that touches organisational and cultural
issues. Furthermore the research aims to find out if, how and to what degree Change
Management methods and tools can support the implementation process in order to
evaluate 'The Impact of Organisational Change Management9 on the Success of a
PLM Implementation'.
In order to research these issues it is intended to answer the following questions:
How does, in theory and practice, the implementation of a PLM solution influence
the organisational structure, processes and culture of a company? What are the
organisational and cultural consequences or prerequisites?
If Change Management is utilised during an implementation, what Change
Management tools and methods are utilised and can they be related to the success or
failure of the implementation?
What Change Management strategy is appropriate?
How can Change Management programmes be integrated in an overall
implementation project?
The research is focused on the Electronics Manufacturing Industry (EMI) which is
characterised by short product lifecycles and has enjoyed a time of unprecedented
growth as providers of components and products10 to the formerly fast growing markets
of communication, computers and consumer products. With the current economic
downturn combined with deregulation, emerging markets, increasing globalisation and
the rise of consumer power the competitive pressures are stronger than ever. These
driving forces require the Electronic Manufacturing Companies (EMC), beside time-tomarket reduction, innovation and cost reduction to be more agile and responsive to
changes. Since the EMI relies extensively on outsourcing, supply chain management
capabilities are extremely important (Miller, 1999a). Effective interaction and
collaboration among globally distributed design and engineering resources in the
extended enterprise is therefore vital. In conclusion, EMC have especially the potential
to benefit from the introduction of PLM.
To avoid mixing up Change Management with engineering change management which describes the
management of changes that a product faces during its lifecycle, the working title includes the term
Organisational Change Management, which is, however, also to a certain extent misleading because
change is always a personal and emotional matter and therefore organisations do not change, people do
(Marshall and Conner, 1996). In the context of the dissertation in hand Change Management equals
Organisational Change Management.
10
cf. http://www3.ibm.com/solutions/plm/pub1/05256965005b0639/6/3fc8f66c401eaaa88525684d00787896.jsp
11
Introduction
1.3 Literature comment

The importance of the product development process, especially for manufacturing
companies has been widely discussed (Smith and Reinertsen, 1995, Paashuis, 1997,
Pawar and Sharifi, 2000) and is confirmed by various studies (i.e. Nevins et al. (1989).
PLM respectively CPC systems, as relatively new IT infrastructure to support an
improved product development process are currently intensively discussed, especially
among Research Firms (like the Aberdeen Group, AMR Research, Forrester Research,
Gartner Group and the Meta Group) as an opportunity for manufacturing companies for
major improvement and competitive advantage.
The role of organisational change and IT is controversially discussed among
researchers, however, all agree that there is a certain relationship.
Organisational Change Management is described by many researchers as an appropriate
tool to support and facilitate organisational and cultural change (Kotter, 1995; Doppler
and Lauterburg, 2000; Schein, 1997).
In the context of PDM, the predecessor of PLM, various information can be found on
organisational and culture issues i.e. an end user study of product data management
users that was carried out by Dataquest in 1997 relates the implementation success of a
PDM system to organisational structure and culture.
Considering Change Management while implementing a PDM system has been
suggested by Stark (1999) and Miller (1998c) states, that "without proper cultural
change management and education, most PDM implementations fail or fall short of
expectations." In the context of PLM solutions as an inter-organisational information
system for product related information, however, only little can be found about
organisational or cultural change. Some researchers like Bourke (2000) and Krouse
(2001) remind us on the organisational and cultural implication of a PLM
implementation. Information about how these implications can be taken into account
during the implementation are very rarely found.
1.4 Research Methodology
Literature research has been used to identify the key concepts of PLM solutions and the
organisational and cultural implications that a PLM implementation might have on a
electronics manufacturing company. Accordingly for identifying different Change
Management approaches, methods and tools a literature research has been applied. The
results from the literature research have been used to develop the following hypothesis:
A company culture and organisational structure determines to a great extent the
success of a PLM implementation.
Organisational Change Management, if used properly, is a significant factor for
implementation success.
These hypothesis' have been tested by a survey, that was carried out in form of a postal
questionnaire. The questionnaires have been sent to EMC as well as Software Vendors
and Integrators and Research Firms in the field of PLM. PLM Software Vendors and
Integrators as well as Research Firms have been included in the survey to gain a broader
perspective on the implementation issues surrounding PLM.
12
Introduction
In order to triangulate the topic and to obtain different perspectives qualitative research
in form of telephone interviews has been added.
1.5 Dissertation Structure
The dissertation consists, besides the introduction, of six additional chapters.
Chapter two contains a literature review that is dealing with various concepts in the
research areas product development, Product Lifecycle Management and Organisational
Change Management.
The research methodology, outlined in chapter three, explains the different methods that
were utilised to answer the research question. Furthermore an overview is given on how
the gathered data has been analysed.
In Chapter four the results obtained through quantitative and qualitative research are
presented and described.
Chapter five discusses and interprets the findings of the research, their relationship to
the objectives set out and to the published literature. Moreover the role of theory is
discussed as well as the effect on professional practice. Also the appropriateness of
methodology and data collection is reviewed.
In Chapter six a summary of the main findings and principle features of the dissertation
is provided. Moreover, suggestions for professional practice and recommendations for
future research are given.
The bibliography can be found in chapter seven. The appendices contain the results of
the survey.
13
Literature review
Literature review
The literature review is divided into various sections dealing with the main areas of
research.
2.1
Concurrent Engineering and physical co-location
In the last decade the main focus of manufacturing companies has been the time to
market reduction in order to stay competitive (Paashuis, 1997; Smith & Reinertsen
1995; Hammer and Champy 1995). Some companies and industries could significantly
decrease product development cycle time for various products. (Smith and Reinertsen,
1995). One of the concepts underlying to reach this goal has been 'Concurrent
Engineering', sometimes termed as 'Simultaneous Engineering', 'Rapid Product
Development' or 'Integrated Product Development'. Concurrent Engineering has been
described and defined in different ways and with various implications (Garrett, 1990;
Duffy, 1989; Hurst, 1993; McKeag, 1994; Walker, 1997). A widely accepted definition,
however, has been developed by the Institute for Defence Analyses (Pennel and Winner,
1989). According to them, "Concurrent Engineering is a systematic approach to the
integrated, concurrent design of products and their related processes including
manufacture and support. This approach is intended to cause the developers from the
outset to consider all elements of the product life cycle from conception through to
disposal, including quality, cost schedule and user requirements."
Common to all of the definitions of Concurrent Engineering is the emphasis of the
integration effort on technological as well as organisational level. Technological
integration has been supported by Computer Aided Technologies like Computer Aided
Design (CAD), Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM) and especially Product Data
Management (PDM) systems that handle the access rights to product data information.
Concerning the organisational level Bessant et al. (1985) remarks that "Integrating a
Design-Engineering-Manufacturing process is much more challenging from an
organisational point of view, than introducing a single stand alone system." Tantoush &
Clegg (2001) found that during a [CADCAM] implementation technical problems are
more obvious and widely recognised than the organisational challenges involved. Child
(1987) therefore suggests, that "technical integration should be mirrored by
organizational integration if the [implementations'] full potential benefit is to be
realised." Accordingly Smith and Reinertsen (1995) state, that "to achieve the full
potential of [Concurrent Engineering] demands a fundamental change in organizational
behaviour."
In order to break down functional borders among the individuals participating in the
product development process it is proposed by Pawar and Sharifi (2000) to set up crossfunctional product development teams "comprising individuals with specialist skills,
experiences and different perspectives on the product development process." For
communication reasons physical co-location, which is defined by Rafii (1995) as
"physical proximity of various individuals, teams, functional areas ... involved in the
development of particular products or processes" is proposed by many researchers to
facilitate Concurrent Engineering (Smith and Reinertsen,1995; Bergring and Andersin,
14
Literature review
1994). Allen (1977) developed a relationship between technical communication and

distance which shows that the probability of communicating at least once a week
dramatically drops within the first ten metres. As a consequence Smith and Reinertsen
(1995) conclude, that "team members must be located close together, definitely closer
than ten meters, to communicate effectively."
2.2
Collaborative Engineering and virtual co-location
Through globalisation, increased outsourcing and the increased number of alliances

there is a gradual shift from an intra-organisational to an inter-organisational level
(Pawar and Sharifi, 2000). This also touches product development. According to Guha
(2001), however, "collaboration across company borders in the extended enterprise is
fundamentally different than collaboration among users within a company." Technical
as well as organisational integration across organisational borders has to take place. The
technical integration aspect is covered by PLM software solutions that are viewed as an
opportunity for major improvement and therefore as definite competitive advantage for
manufacturing companies (Miller, 1998; Bourke, 1999; Maynard, 2000).
In this inter-organisational context respectively the context of the extended enterprise
collaboration and cross-functional product development teams and the appropriate
organisational form hereof might be defined differently as in the classical Concurrent
Engineering environment.
Rafii (1995) therefore argues, that physical co-location is increasingly infeasible and not
an efficient use of resources as corporations become more global. Similar to Lipnack
and Stamps (1997) he sees the emerge of virtual co-location as an alternative and more
promising approach since new information technology can enable a project team of
hundreds of geographically dispersed team members.
In contrast Smith (2000) states, that even through new communication technology
(e-mail, WEB etc..) and more globally dispersed manufacturing operations and
therefore dispersed product development teams physical co-location should be preferred
whenever possible because of the informal information that gets lost in a virtual team.
Pawar and Sharifi (2000) compare in their research physical and virtual co-location.
They propose a combination of physical and virtual co-located teams and found that
virtual teams outperform physical co-located teams in changing environments whereas
physical co-located teams face less motivational and technological problems.
2.3
The organisational model for Collaborative Engineering and virtual colocation
Many researchers including Drucker (1988)11 and Kanter (1992)12 have described the
traditional model of an hierarchical structured organisation as not competitive in a fast
changing marketplace.
11
Drucker describes in his publication: 'The Coming of the New Organization" the shift from a command
and control organisation into an information based organsiation.
15
Literature review
In the context of Concurrent Engineering Pawar and Sharifi (2000) explain that
"traditional organisational structures and approaches cannot provide the competitive
basis that are required in the business environment because they break down the product
development process across the specialist functional departments which renders poor
communication." Accordingly Doppler and Lauterburg (2000) suggest, that the
traditional model of organisational structure, with it's strict hierarchical guarantees for
power at every level, involves a number of severe problems that reduce it's overall
effectiveness. Among others the 'cult of individual responsibility' is mentioned as an
effect of the strict division of labour that leads to competition instead collaboration,
both at the individual level and at the level of groups and departments.' They further
argue, that rapidly changing marketplaces and the increase of complexity demands a
different organisational model and are proposing a network organisation, that enables
quickly changing process chains instead of a hierarchical organisation, that is based on
the division of labour.
In their research about the emerge of virtual or network organisations Black and
Edwards (2000) conclude accordingly, that "when this new set of organizing rules are
overlaid with the conditions and processes facilitated by the use of advanced
communication technology and computing technology, virtual or networked
organizations are logical forms of organizations and that this form allows firms to cope
with the rapidly changing environment."
Rafii (1995) in the context of virtual co-location states, that "networks are inherently
informal and anti-hierarchical, and thus their use tends to minimise the formal
organisational structure. Knowledge and the willingness to share it, rather than position
or job title in a chart, become the key indicators of relevant contribution to a project.
These factors contribute to cross-functional integration by making functional walls
more transparent and by facilitating the measurement and evaluation of individuals and
units contributions to project success."
2.4
Organisational Change Management and Information Technology (IT)
The role of IT and organisational change has been widely discussed. Some researchers
remark, that instead of being used to support (i.e. automate) existing procedures, IT now
in large parts determines the design of work processes and has become a major
component for organisational change (Currid, 1993; Applegate et al, 1996; Bradley et
al., 1993). Furthermore many Information Systems (IS) researchers have pointed out
that the broader social and organisational context in which IT is implemented has a
profound influence on the way in which IT is used (Bussen&Myres 1997, DeSanctis
1993, Myers 1994).
Different views are provided regarding the question if new-technology based
Information Systems (IS) are enabling desirable organisational change (Scott Morton,
1991; Hammer and Champy 1993; Turner, 1998) or if IS are resulting from social
12
Kanter et al. sees the competitive model as "a more flexible organization, adaptable to change, with
relatively few levels of formal hierarchy and loose boundaries among functions and units ..."
16
Literature review
dynamics of the organisational change process (Ciborra, 1991; Orlikowski and

Walsham, 1996).
2.5
Organisational and cultural change and the implementation of a PLM

solution
The organisational and cultural implications of implementing inter-organisational

integration and collaboration via a PLM solution is emphasised by some researchers in
this field. Krouse (2001) e.g. reminds us, "that there are a number of organizational and
cultural obstacles to overcome to implement collaboration." According to him, people
often resist new procedures. Similar to Miller (1998)13 and Peterson (2001)14 he sees the
sharing of data or handing off ownership of data to others "as the project moves through
various phases of the product development" as potential cause for conflicts." Moreover
he reminds us that "Groups that previously operated autonomously may resent having to
co-ordinate their activities with others and that work styles and customs may vary
between companies located in different areas around the world."
Bourke (2000) in the same context emphasises, that "collaborative product design [in a
virtual design environment] especially implies the need for a high degree of openness
and trust for best results'. He concludes, that 'on the road to success...., addressing
cultural problems may be as important, or more important, than technical solutions.'
The importance of taking cultural and organisational implications into account is also
supported by an end user study of Product Data Management (PDM, the predecessor of
PLM) users that was carried out by Dataquest in 1997. The following was found:
Those organisations with strong information networks and lines of communication
are more apt to implement and are more successful when doing so.
Despite users feelings about the strength of information networks within their
company and how well their PDM deployments are progressing, they still see the
companies structure and culture as the biggest roadblock to expansion.
Being in line with theses findings Doppler and Lauterburg (2001) remind us, that
implementing organisational change by switching to a network organisation is a
fundamentally different way of approaching tasks together that requires "radical
structural transformation." For successfully transforming the organisational structure
they suggest that the corporate culture has to be changed to one that is based on
openness and trust.
13
Miller writes that "one of the greatest challenges .... is resolving inevitable question about who controls
data in the enterprise."
14
Peterson emphasizes, that "old habits die slowly, and while the benefits of collaboration are intuitively
obvious, the sharing of data with third parties is often counter-cultural. "
17
Literature review
2.6
Change Management and the implementation of a PLM solution
The hidden, informal dimension of change is often explained with the 'Iceberg model',
describing that only 10-15%, namely the formal systems like products, policies,
procedures etc. is visible, whereas the rest, namely the informal system like perception,
feelings, attitudes, norms, behaviour and values are below the 'water surface'. (i.e.
Bourke, 2000; Jarmai, 1997).
Many researchers including Senge et al. (1999) and Doppler and Lauterburg (2001)
therefore state, that successful change requires a inner shift in peoples' values, attitudes
and behaviours which means peoples' basic ways of thinking. Marshall and Conner
(1996) state in this context that change initiatives must be translated to implications for
each individual who will be affected.
Significant change, however, is a disruption in our expectations of the future which is
viewed as a loss of control (Marshall & Conner, 1996). Resistance is therefore the
natural reaction to change and has been described by various researchers (i.e. Reiss,
1997; Kanter et al. 1992). Block (1981) states, that "resistance is an emotional process,
not a rational or intellectual process". According to him the major cause for resistance is
'fear of the unknown'. Uncertainty in a working environment, however, reduces
productivity and can paralyse a whole organisation. Organisational change has therefore
to be carefully planned and the change process has to be managed and overviewed.
(Doppler and Lautenburg, 2000).
Implementing organisational and cultural change is described as difficult, timeconsuming and costly (Stark, 1999) and therefore the result of Kotters study (1995) that
only one third of major change initiatives is successful is not very surprising.
Many theorists and practitioners alike are proposing the utilisation of Change
Management techniques to successfully deal with the change process. Change
Management, that aims to provide an implementation and change friendly environment
within an organisation (Reiss, 1997) has been and still is one of the most popular topics
in business management. Many books and articles have been written about Change
Management including well known business researchers like Kanter, Kotter, Schein,
Schaffer and Senge.
The roots of Change Management can be found in the science of psychology. Many of
the techniques helping people to deal with traumatic emotional issues have been applied
to "help stakeholders deal with dramatic changes in how they earn their livelihoods"
(anon., 1996). The nature of change has been described by Conner (1993, 1996). Based
on Kuebler-Ross (1969) who researched the stages that terminal patients and their
families go through he developed a model (Figure 2.1) that describes the emotional
response during a change process that is viewed as negative. According to Conner
(1996) this model can also be applied to organisational change.
18
Literature review
Active
ANGER
EMOTIONAL RESPONSE
ACCEPTANCE
BARGAINING
STABILITY
TESTING
DENIAL
IMMOBILIZATIO
DEPRESSION
Passive
TIME
Figure:2.1: The Nature of Change. From Conner, D.R., Managing the Speed of Change, 1993/1996
Nadler, Shaw and Walton (1995) suggest that there are different types of change that
require different management strategies, approaches and methods. In a business context
therefore the scope of Change Management ranges from planned evolutions and reforms
to business transformation. Top-Down approaches like business transformation (i.e.
Business Process Reengineering or crisis management) are characterised by a high
degree of intervention whereas bottom-up approaches like planned evolution or reforms
(i.e. organisational development) are characterised by less intervention and by
harmonising the goals of the corporation and the affected employees (Reiss, 1997).
Traditionally the change process was described as moving from a stable state through
the unstable state of changing to the desired state, being stable again. Lewin (1951)
characterised these three stages as: 'unfreezing, changing and refreezing' the
organisation. Consequently Nickols (2000) states, that "a very useful framework for
thinking about the change process is problem solving'. He sees managing change 'as a
matter of moving from one state to another, specifically from the problem state to the
solved state."
Many researchers, however, emphasise that due to the economic environment of
constant and accelerated change the stable states of an organisations are becoming
shorter (Reiss, 1997) or even diminish. Consequently researchers remark that there also
has to be a constant change process within an organisation and that the change process
has to be viewed as a learning process (Agyris, 1985; Senge 1999; Doppler and
Lauterburg, 2000; Dobiey and Wagner, 2001). In order to facilitate a constantly
changing organisation the focus is therefore laid on changing the organisation into a so
called 'learning organisation' (Senge, 1991, 1995; Doppler and Lauterburg, 2001).
19
Literature review
Conventional reactive models aim to react in an optimal way to changes that are forced
from the environment, like technological or legal changes. In contrast hereof proactive
models like learning organisations moreover aim to anticipate change and to generate
change from within the organisation. People are not being changed, they change (Reiss,
1997). Arie de Geus (1988) in this context states, that "the only competitive advantage
the company of the future will have is it's managers' ability to learn faster than their
competitor."
Independent of the method that is used the capacity of an organisation to change is
viewed as a critical success factor and important corporate asset in a world of
accelerated and constant change (Pagliarella, 2000).
20
3 Methodology and data collection

This chapter gives an overview on the techniques that were used to research the
dissertation topic. Both, desk research (secondary) and field research (primary) has been
carried out to achieve the aims of the dissertation.
3.1
Secondary research (desk research)
Desk research has focused on examining the literature and has covered the areas of
product development, Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) and Organisational
Change Management. Moreover the Internet has been searched, especially the web
pages of System Integrators, Software Vendors and Research Firms for valuable
information about the topics involved. Subscription to various journals and periodicals
provided another source for desk research.
Literature research has been used to identify the key concepts of PLM solutions and the
organisational and cultural implications that a PLM implementation might have on a
electronics manufacturing company. Accordingly for identifying different Change
Management approaches, methods and tools literature research has been used. Moreover
desk research has been utilised to develop a hypothesis for the survey.
3.2
Primary research
In the primary or field research quantitative as well as qualitative research methods have
been used. A survey, comprised by mainly closed or partially open questions has
covered the quantitative research. Interviews covered the qualitative research. The
triangulation of the topic aims to provide different perspectives on the research topic.
3.2.1
Quantitative research (Survey)
Quantitative research has been carried out through a survey. As technique for data
collection postal questionnaires have been chosen.
The following hypothesis have been concluded from the literature research:
Especially the culture of a company determines to a great extent the success of a
PLM implementation.
Organisational Change Management, if used properly, can be a significant factor for
implementation success.
The aim of the survey has been also to find out if, to what extent and how successful
Change Management methods are utilised during a PLM implementation.
Heterogeneous sampling has been used to select the participants for the survey. In case
of the Electronic Manufacturing Companies (EMC) the participants needed to meet
specific criteria to qualify. They should at least being in the process of evaluating or
benchmarking PLM solution. In order to gain a broad perspective on the topics
investigated also PLM System Integrators, Software Vendors and Research Firms have
21
been, beside EMC, asked to participate in the survey. Table 4.1 in the next chapter
shows the number of companies that have been asked to participate and the number of
respondents categorised by profession. A great help for identifying potential participants
have been various articles dealing with PLM and conference manuals of appropriate
conferences (i.e. solutions.conference of CSC Ploenzke, eeuc-european engineering user
conference). Contacts have been made either by e-mail or phone calls.
Two different, comprehensive questionnaires have been designed. One has been sent to
EMC aiming to analyse the current state of the company and the internal
implementation process regarding organisational, cultural and Change Management
elements. A slightly different one has been sent to System Integrators and Software
Vendors (SVSI) aiming to benefit from their broader experiences in PLM
implementation projects, especially regarding Change Management elements and the
impact of those on the overall implementation success.
The questionnaire for the survey was developed in an iterative process through literature
review and conversations with various experts in the area of PLM and Change
Management. Especially Starks' 'pdm e-zine' newsletter and various publications of
Miller (1997, 1998, 1999) have been contributed to the questions in the area of PLM.
Kotters (1995) ideas in his publication 'Leading Change-why transformation efforts
fail', Senge et al. (1999) with his publication 'The Dance of Change' and Doppler and
Lauterburg (2000) with their publication "Managing Corporate Change" contributed
much to the final questions in the areas of organisational change. Mainly closed or
partly open questions have been used in the survey in order to identify trends and
patterns. For these kind of questions answers have been predefined that could be ticked
off. However, there was also space left for inserting own ideas and comments. Open
questions have been used in those areas that have been selected for further research via
qualitative research.
For better understanding and guidance the questions have been grouped into
thematically sections provided with appropriate sub-headings. The following subheadings for example have been utilised in the manufacturers questionnaire:
Product development process and relationship to customers/suppliers
Project set-up of the PLM implementation
Changes (because of the PLM implementation)
Before sending the questionnaires to the participants they have been reviewed by the
German supervisor. Moreover the questionnaires have been pilot tested. This has
influenced the questionnaires in a way, that the answers have been classified and some
questions have been formulated clearer or a complex question has been divided into two
easier questions. To make sure that the intention of the survey was well understood
telephone calls or e-mail correspondence took place with the participants before sending
the questionnaire. Additionally a covering letter has been sent with the questionnaire
and it was guaranteed to keep the information gathered by the survey confidential to
increase the reply rate.
22
Appropriate coding (two examples can be found in the next chapter) has been used to
prepare the data for analysis. Because of the small sample size it has to be mentioned
that the data will not be statistically significant. However, they highlight differences and
similarities. Tables have been chosen as the best way to display the results in order to
identify trends and patterns and compare the data received. The tables contain mostly
classification and rank or percentage values (an example can be found in the next
chapter)
3.2.2
Qualitative research (Interviews)
Qualitative research has been used to triangulate the topic in order to provide different
perspectives on the topics involved in the research. Structured telephone interviews
have been chosen to carry out qualitative research. In total, three interviews have been
conducted each lasting approximately one hour. A pilot interview has been conducted as
well. The interview partner (an individual person) have been identified and chosen after
analysing and evaluating the results of the quantitative research. In order to get the most
varieties of views the interview partner had different backgrounds. One interview
partner came from an EMC, one from a System Integrator and the third from a Software
Vendor.
Interviews have been chosen as qualitative research method since it seems the most
appropriate method to get an understanding about the relevance of so called 'soft issues'
during a PLM implementation. The topics involved and resulting questions were chosen
based on the results of the survey. Qualitative research mainly concentrated on the
organisational and cultural implications, the implementation strategy and on the utilised
Change Management concepts, methods and tools during a product lifecycle
implementation.
23
Results
Results
In this chapter the obtained results through qualitative and quantitative research are
presented. Quantitative research has been covered by questionnaires that were send to
Electronic Manufacturing Companies (EMC) on the one hand and to Software Vendors,
System Integrators and Research Firms on the other hand. The results of the qualitative
research that were conducted by telephone interviews are also presented in this chapter.
4.1
Results from quantitative research (Survey)
The result of the survey is presented in the following section. The main trends and
patterns are described and differences in the answers of EMC on the one hand and
Software Vendors and System Integrators (SVSI) on the other hand are mentioned.
Each question of the survey and its intention is presented as well as the result that was
obtained from it. Before that the response rate is introduced and an explanation is given
on how the data was prepared for analysis and interpretation. A detailed summary of the
results can be found in the appendices. The tables in appendix A consolidate the
answers of EMC and SVSI. Appendix B summarises the findings from the
questionnaires sent to EMC. The tables in appendix C show the results of the survey
from SVSI.
4.1.1
Survey participants
The overview in the following table shows how many companies have been asked to
participate in the survey and how many companies finally participated:
Category
Manufacturing Companies
System
Integrators/Consultants
Software Vendors
Research Firms
No. of companies
'Being Asked'
16
12
No. of companies
that participated
7
8
Response
Rate (%)
44
67
6
4
5
0
83
0
Table 4.1: Survey participants
The companies participating in the survey are not named explicitly because it was
guaranteed to keep the information confidential. In case of EMC the participants have
been the project leader of the PLM implementation. In case of SVSI they have mainly
been the PLM practice leader respectively knowledgeable consultants in the field of
PLM.
24
Results
4.1.2
Preparation for analysis
In order to reveal trends and patterns the answers have been summarised, ranked and
ordered as described in the examples below:
Example 1:
Most questions are organised as shown in table 4.2. For each question different
predefined answers15 are offered that could be weighted from 'very important' over
'important' and 'less important' to 'not import' (respectively 'frequently'/'occasionally'
/'seldom'/'never' or 'true'/'partially true'/'not true'). A factor is assigned to each answer as
shown in table 4.2. The numbers are then summed up and divided by the number of
respondents for that answer (sometimes not all possibilities where marked by each
respondent).
Calculation example for 'Cultural Changes' (Rank2):
7 (number of respondents that ticked that box) x 3 (factor for very important)
= 21
3 (number of respondents that ticked that box) x 2 (factor for important)
=6
2 (number of respondents that ticked that box) x 1 (factor for less important)
=2
0 (number of respondents that ticked that box) x 0 (factor for not important)
=0
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Sum
= 29
Number of respondents for that answer
No
= 12
Result
/No
= 2,4
Depending on the result the answers were reordered and assigned a rank.
What changes are required to successfully implement a PLM system?
Rank Predefined Answers
XXX
1
2
3
very
important
3
6
Weight/Factor
Reengineering/Redefinition of product
development processes (i.e.
interdisciplinary virtual team approaches,
workflow changes)
Cultural changes (i.e. open
7
communication and collaboration culture)
Empowering of people / teams (i.e.
5
designers having direct customer contact)
important
2
7
less
important
1
not
important
0
No
/No
X
32
X
13
XX
2,5
29
12
2,4
26
13
Table 4.2: Extract of questionnaire
15
However, there was also space left to insert own answers.
25
Results
Example 2:
For the second type of questions there is no range to choose from. Depending on the
question, multiple boxes or just one could be ticked. For those kind of questions a
percentage value is generated as result.
How is the implementation of a PLM system and the changes required hereof
communicated with the people affected (n=13)?
Rank
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Predefined Answer
Workshops
Intranet
Notice Board
e-mail
Internal newspaper
Employee Survey
Global Town Hall Meetings
12
10
10
7
7
5
4
%
92
77
77
54
54
38
31
Table 4.3: Extract of questionnaire
4.1.3
Questionnaire results
The implementation of a PLM solution can be used to automate existing processes and
procedures or to change existing processes and procedures. This can be done for only a
part of the enterprise or the whole enterprise. The first question16 about the most
important goals to define for the implementation of a PLM system respectively the most
important reasons for the decision to implement a PLM system therefore intents to find
out the context and scope of the implementation. Overall, time to market reduction is
viewed as the most important reason for implementing a PLM solution. Enabling
extended enterprises through integration of customers, increase of productivity and
improvement of quality are also viewed as important goals. While most of the answers
of EMC and SVSI are similar, differences can be found regarding the improvement of
the classic PDM functionality and the integration of internal islands of automation.
While EMC view the improvement of the classic PDM functionality as very important
SVSI rank this aspect very low. Integrating internal islands of automation is viewed by
SVSI as important while EMC view this as subordinate aspect. Enabling mass
customisation through the implementation of PLM systems seems for EMC as well as
SVSI less important.
The intention of the second question asking who generally is involved in the product
definition process is to find out what departments and stakeholders are typically
involved in the product design process. Manufacturing, suppliers, purchasing and
marketing are mostly named to be involved besides the typical departments like product
design and R&D. Customer, service and sales departments seem to be less involved.
The role of senior management and manufacturing in the product definition process is
viewed differently by EMC and SVSI. While SVSI state that manufacturing
departments are frequently and senior management is seldom involved the answer of
16
Numbering according to results in Appendix A
26
Results
EMC indicate the opposite. Some respondents comment that this is very different
depending on the division and the phase in the development cycle.
Accordingly the next question is about who has access to and is using the PLM system
in order to find out the scope and penetration of the PLM system. A difference is made
between using and accessing because having access does not necessarily mean that it is
also used. The result is quite similar to the second question. Contrary to the question
before the answer of EMC indicate that manufacturing departments have, except
product design departments, more than any other department access to and are using the
PLM system.
Having a vision is viewed as essential by many researchers for initiating and managing
change17. The fourth question therefore aims to find out if a vision is connected with the
implementation of a PLM system. The answers are very heterogeneous. Half of the
answers, however, indicate that a vision is defined.
Analysing the current state and developing a roadmap to reach the target state is typical
for problem solving. Change Management can be viewed as some kind of problem
solving18 and therefore those elements could also be an important element during a
PLM implementation. Nearly two third of the respondents state that an 'as is' or current
state analysis is being performed before implementing a PLM solution. Basically the
same number of respondents state that a strategy is defined how to reach the 'to be'
situation.
Establishing a pilot group is viewed by researchers as important element to successful
implement change and to minimise risk19. Question number seven therefore asks if a
pilot group is established during a PLM implementation. Nearly two third of SISV
confirm this statement whereas all of the manufacturers that responded to this question
have worked with pilot teams.
The reduction of productivity and motivation is typical for the confusion phase at the
beginning of a change process. Therefore the intention of question number eight is to
find out if the productivity is influenced during the implementation phase in order to
draw conclusions to the appropriateness of different Change Management strategies.
59 % respond that the productivity is slowed down only a little bit, whereas 35% do not
realise any negative influence on productivity. 6% realise a significant decrease of
productivity.
Question number nine and ten of the questionnaire try to find out the relationship
between PLM and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems and the resulting
ownership of data hereof which is viewed as potential source of conflict20. More than
75% of the respondents state that there is an interface to an ERP system. All variations
on how this situation is handled appear in practice. From keeping the data in both
17
cf. Kotter (1995)

cf. Nickols (2000)
19
cf. Senge (1999), Reiss (1997)
20
cf. Miller (1999a)
18
27
Results
systems (39%) to keeping the data in the ERP system (28%) respectively in the PLM
system (11%) to transferring the data from the PLM into the ERP system (22%).
Changes in processes as well as in the organisational structure and culture are regarded
by some researchers21 as prerequisite for a successful PLM implementation. Therefore,
the aim of question number eleven is to find out, if, in practice, appropriate changes take
place. Overall, the redefinition of product development processes (i.e. workflow
changes) is viewed as the most important change that is required for successfully
implementing a PLM system. Changes in the organisational model and cultural changes
have not taken place during the PLM implementation according to the respondents of
EMC. SVSI, however, view cultural changes (i.e. an open communication and
collaboration culture) as critical. Empowering of people and changes in the
organisational model are viewed as less important. One respondent added to the
predefined answers, that the management awareness of PLM related issues has to be
increased.
Question number twelve intents to find out how well the implementation of PLM and
the changes resulting hereof are communicated since this is an important element of
Organisational Change Management.22 The responses show that different ways are used
to communicate the implementation and the changes that are required. Mostly used are
Workshops and the Internet to communicate whereas employee surveys and Global
Town Hall Meetings are seldom used. One respondent remarked that awareness
sessions are utilised that are combined with feedback questionnaires. Another
respondent mentioned that 'since PLM is an integration program, a marketing and
communication strategy and roadmap is required. All channels/media for internal and
external (suppliers, customers, partners) communication should be part of this strategy.'
The aim of question number thirteen is to find out what changes are required in the
organisational structure to best support the implementation of PLM. Researchers
suggest as the future organisational model a flexible and process oriented network
organisation to deal with a quickly changing environment23. A variety of different views
is provided. The manufacturing companies that participated state that no changes in the
organisational model have taken place during the implementation whereas most of the
SISV emphasise the importance of a project or process organisation and the tearing
down of functional borders.
Question number fourteen asks for Change Management methods and tools that are
utilised during a PLM implementation like aligning and mobilising leaders and vocal
and visible support from senior management (walking the talk). The early involvement
of people being affected by the changes is viewed as very important by EMC as well as
SVSI. Establishing a communication concept as the logical consequence hereof is also
viewed as important. Moreover the establishing of a shared and motivated vision and
the creation of an atmosphere of openness and trust is ranked high. Changing the reward
systems to support the change initiative however is ranked very low.
21
cf. Stark (1999), Bourke (2000)

cf. Stark (1999), Doppler and Lauterburg (2000)
23
cf. Doppler and Lauterburg (2000)
22
28
Results
Coaching plays an important role during the change process especially during the
confusion phase24. Question number fifteen therefore aims to find out what kind of
training users receive during a PLM implementation. Of special interest has been the
question if other than software functionality is trained like working in a team to
successfully deal with the new environment. However, besides software training, other
training like team specific training (communication, conflict management, team
working) is quite seldom offered to users. According to the results intercultural training
is very seldom considered to support the PLM implementation.
Question number sixteen tries to find out the main barriers and problems during a PLM
implementation. Especially interesting in this context has been the question if the
problems can be located in the organisational culture and people related issues or if they
are centred around technical aspects. The overall result was that not enough visible and
vocal support from senior management was given the highest rank, followed by barriers
between departments and laying the focus too much on technological aspects and not
enough on people. Other answers that received a high rank were the resistance of
middle management and users to change. A remarkable difference can be found in
evaluating the technological limitation. SISV assign this problem a very low rank,
whereas EMC assign this problem a very high rank. Intercultural problems (i.e.
language barriers) seem to be no problem and are therefore ranked very low.
Aiming to find out what factors positively influence the success of a PLM
implementation question number seventeen asks for the main success factors. Overall it
was felt that the early involvement of people being affected by change and the
commitment and buy in of senior management are very important for a successful
implementation. Aligning and mobilising leaders and the commitment of middle
management are also viewed as important. Establishing a sense of urgency25 and
changing the reward system to support changes 26,however, are ranked as less
important.
The next question (18) asks if the results of a PLM implementation are satisfactory
respectively deliver the promised results. The question intents to relate the success of an
implementation to the utilised Change Management methods and tools in the
implementation phase. The overall result was that 53% classified the implementation as
satisfactory whereas 40% responded that the implementation can be rated as partially or
sometimes satisfactory. One respondent classified PLM implementations as not
satisfactory. Explanations were given on the ratings described above. One respondent
mentioned that a successful implementation actively supports users in living new
processes and leads to long-term profitability. Another respondent remarked that the
potential of benefits is so big, that it will even be hard to not be successful. A different
participant remarked that companies make different experiences that are not always
positive but that a number of visionary companies have achieved a tremendous step
forward through the implementation of PLM. Another explanation suggests that project
benefits are overestimated at the beginning of the project because otherwise the
24
cf. Reiss (1997)

cf. Kotter (1995), sometimes referred to as creating a burning platform
26
suggested by Stark (1999) and Doppler and Lauterburg (2000)
25
29
Results
management would not have invested in the system. It is stated that the actual benefits
are therefore much lower than estimated.
Question number nineteen deals with the Return on Investment (ROI) measurement of
the PLM implementation. The result shows that a ROI calculation is only done in a few
instances. Especially manufacturing companies answered that no calculation is done
afterwards. Respondents remarked that this is very difficult to do since there is no real
measure to compare. Furthermore it is difficult to find out if the improvements result
from the PLM implementation or if they are due to other changes within the company or
the environment.
Some questions have only be placed on the questionnaire for EMC respectively on the
questionnaire sent to SVSI.
The first ten questions on the questionnaire sent to EMC have been placed in order to
find out what kind of companies are implementing PLM . For that reason it was asked
for the product development process in general, the CA -tools used to support the
product development process and the internal and external flow of communication. The
results showed that most companies implementing a PLM system have also
implemented other CA -Tools like 3D-CAD, CAM and EDM/PDM. The answers also
showed that a variety of possibilities are used to communicate internally in the product
development process. E-mail is at least equally often used as the traditional
communication tools like face to face (individual as well as team) meetings. Video
conferences and collaborative workspace systems, however, are still rarely used
whereas one respondent comment that he sees this technology growing in the near
future. Concerning external communication with suppliers and customers the results
were basically the same. One comment stated that there is a growing desire to include
suppliers as part of the extended enterprise and that much more use of Collaborative
Engineering is planned for the future.
In order to evaluate the need and the level of collaboration and interaction with
customers and suppliers several questions were asked. The research found that paper
drawings are still equally often exchanged as CAD files. An analysis of the question if
engineers have direct contact and interaction with their customers found that this is only
unconfined true for 43% of the companies. The question concerning the percentage
value of the components making up the final product aims to evaluate the need for
collaboration. It was found that more than half of the companies outsource 25-50% of
their final product. Another question aiming to find out the interaction between
functional groups has been if the concept of Concurrent Engineering has been
implemented. 29% of the respondents confirm this question whereas 57% answered
with partially and one with no.
Several questions have exclusively been forwarded to SVSI aiming to benefit from their
experience gained from different PLM implementations.
Question nineteen asks for the positive impact of Change Management methods on the
success of a PLM implementation. Half of the participants respond that they would rate
the impact as high, 33% as medium and 17% as low. 42% of the participants state that
the company culture does have a high impact on the implementation success whereas
30
Results
another 42% view the impact as medium and only 16% view the impact as low. Since
the company culture seems to have a big impact on the implementation success nearly
70% of the respondents answer that their implementation approach is depending on the
company culture.
4.2
Results from qualitative research (Interviews)
Qualitative research was used to triangulate the topic. Three telephone interviews have
been conducted. The following section shows the results that were obtained from
qualitative research. The results from the interviews are categorised in those topics that
were chosen for further research after analysing the survey results.
The interviewees stated that this is different but that there is a clear tendency to
companies that can be described as modern and innovative. Furthermore the companies
that do implementing are rather big than small in size.
How does the implementation of PLM impact organisational processes?
The interviewees felt, that organisational processes are mainly impacted through
improving existing processes rather than the radical redesign of processes according to
BPR. They are mainly improved through workflow changes. A typical example is the
changing of responsibilities and transferring of tasks and people from manufacturing
process planning into product development. Moreover it was stated that PLM is
enabling new approaches and these were used to improve existing processes.
Collaboration in virtual teams is so far mainly used in selected test environments. The
change of processes is more likely to happen when external consultants are involved.
How does the implementation of PLM impact organisational structures?
In accordance with the survey results the interviews show that organisational structure
is very little impacted by the implementation of PLM. Bigger companies are showing a
tendency to process organisation and virtual teams. One interviewee argued that if the
need for change in the organisational structure would be stated a PLM project in most
cases would have no chance to get started.
How does the implementation of PLM impact organisational culture?
Organisational culture is viewed as an important success factor that can influence the
implementation strategy. The degree of openness of a company's culture can be seen on
the fact how restrictive - or not restrictive data is handled. It was remarked that there are
also different cultures within a company (between departments or between divisions)
and that the implementation approach has to take care of this fact. One interviewee
highlighted that PLM creates transparency which automatically should change the
culture.
31
Results
In what way are Change Management concepts, tools and methods utilised?
The impact of the so called soft factors is very well recognised. One interviewee stated
that he estimates that 70% on implementation success is people related. Change
Management in the implementation planning phase tends to be a topic when an external
consultant is involved or when the company has already experience with large software
projects. Change Management tools are otherwise used mainly reactively instead of
proactively. One interviewee stated, that too less attention is put on these aspects.
Defining a vision tends to be used only in large scale projects. Communication mainly
takes place through various information sessions to introduce the PLM system and to
create awareness. As especially important it was viewed by one interviewee to achieve
management awareness and recognition. In general, talking to people in order to find
out for whom the implementation is interesting and can create opportunities, is viewed
as important to find appropriate key users. Key users are used as multipliers e.g. in train
the trainer approaches. It is viewed as essential that the key users have the appropriate
acceptance within the group. To gain acceptance for necessary changes it was viewed as
important that the PLM system is easy to use and does not restrict the way people are
working.
Short term wins are used to create confidence and convince the people involved but
especially senior management. The important role of senior management support and
commitment was underlined. One interviewee emphasised the importance of 'Walking
the Talk' which means for example that when collaborative behaviour is expected also
senior management has to collaborate to serve as a role model. It was remarked that
resistance can have very different reasons and dealing with it has to happen in a flexible
way which can also mean that a PLM implementation has to be postponed.
What are commonly used implementation strategies?
A common strategy is to replace and consolidate various existing product information
systems with the PLM system.. In a second step it is tried to incrementally improve the
product definition process. Also pilot group approaches do appear.
32
Discussion
Discussion
The discussion interprets the results of the research and answers the research question.
Furthermore the results are related to the published literature and the role of theory is
discussed. Additionally the appropriateness of the research methodology and data
collection techniques are reviewed. Finally the effect on professional practice is
discussed by recommending implementation respectively Change Management
strategies.
5.1 Interpretation of research findings
This section discusses the role of organisational culture, structure and processes during
a Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) implementation. Additionally the role of
Change Management is discussed in order to answer the research question.
5.1.1
Product Lifecycle Management has evolved from various predecessors like Engineering
Data Management (EDM) and Product Data Management (PDM) over the last twenty
years. However, PLM solutions by itself are a quite young range of software. Therefore
the number of companies that have already experience with PLM software solutions is
relatively small. The companies that are implementing PLM solutions do have a long
and broad experience with different computer aided development tools as well as with
enterprise-wide software implementation like Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) . In
most cases they are one of the best in their business segment and can be described as
multinational and internationally operating companies. Small and medium companies
(SMC) do relatively seldom implement PLM solutions up to date.
Electronic Manufacturing Companies (EMC) whose business is minted by time to
market and cost reduction coupled with the demand of increased quality have mostly
already experience with management concepts like Concurrent Engineering, Business
Process Reengineering (BPR) and Total Quality Management (TQM). Change is
therefore nothing totally new for them and there management systems and
organisational structures tend to be 'modern' rather than 'traditional'.
5.1.2
The role of organisational culture
There is no doubt that an open minded organisational culture is beneficial for the
introduction of any new programme. Accordingly it is also viewed as supportive for a
PLM implementation. However, if a company's culture has to be changed is heavily
depending on the matter of fact what predominant culture exists within a company.
PLM promotes many aspects like the early sharing of data and the internal and external
need for collaboration that might be, especially in an inter-organisational context,
counter-cultural and affect the way people are working. This can cause conflicts and
negatively influence the implementation success. The success of collaboration for
33
Discussion
example is depending on the sharing of data and ideas. Openness and trust are basic
requirements for successful collaboration as well as the responsibility to timely and
accurately submit data to the PLM system so that others can benefit from it. In many
cases this behaviour firstly has to be learned and anchored in the company culture. The
research results indicate that especially Software Vendors and System Integrators
(SVSI) view cultural changes (to an open communication and collaboration culture) as
an essential element of a successful PLM implementation27. This might be the result of
the experiences that they have gained during various PLM implementations at different
companies with different organisational cultures which enables them to relate the
implementation success to a certain culture. The results of the questionnaires from the
EMC seem to be in contrast of the result found by SVSI since all of the respondents for
this questions (n=4) stated that there have been no cultural changes28. Two of them,
however commented that an open minded culture is prerequisite for the implementation
and a second commented that he expects significant cultural changes from local data
and knowledge to more global collaboration as the PLM tool set evolves29.
It can be concluded that the organisational culture seems to be a quite important success
factor for the PLM implementation, however, the importance is differently evaluated by
SVSI and EMC. This might be due to the fact that EMC tend to view the
implementation of PLM in the first place as the replacement and consolidation of
existing systems in order to improve the classic PDM functionality30 rather than a new
business concept.
5.1.3
The role of organisational structure
The organisational structure has been changed and remodelled during the last decade in
many companies. Different concepts in the 1990s like TQM, BPR, Lean Management
and Concurrent Engineering challenged traditional organisational forms and often led to
project management, team based approaches and process orientation. Although
changing the organisational structure could make sense in a few instances the
implementation of PLM will most likely not lead to radical structural changes which is
proved by the fact that all EMC, responding to this question, stated, that the
organisational structure has not been changed with the PLM implementation31. SVSI in
this context emphasise the importance of project management, process orientation and
cross-functional teams32. The implementation of network organisations as a means to
better cope with the changing environment and the virtual integration of partners,
suppliers and customers does not seem to play a role. This is not surprising when the
strategic goals that are defined with the implementation of PLM33 are reviewed. Time to
27
The impact of company culture on implementation success is viewed by 42% as high and by 42% as
medium. Moreover cultural changes are ranked as the most important change that is required after
workflow changes (cf. Appendix C, question number 20).
28
cf. Appendix B, question number 24
29
cf. Appendix B, comments to question number 24
30
cf. Appendix B, question 1. The improvement of the classic functionality is viewed as one of the main
goals by EMC.
31
32
cf. Appendix C, question number 13
33
cf. Appendix A, question number 1
34
Discussion
market reduction, better quality products and increase of productivity have already been
well known strategies before PLM evolved and have also been addressed by
programmes like TQM, BPR and the introduction of Lean Management. According to
the fact that 'structure follows strategy' the basic organisational structure remains
untouched in most cases of PLM implementations.
However, it is important to realise that along the product lifecycle different phases need
different set-ups, environments and structures. As already discussed in the
introduction34, especially the early phase of product definition has a remarkable impact
on the total product lifecycle costs. According to the concept of Concurrent
respectively Collaborative Engineering the involvement of different individuals from
different disciplines with different perspectives on the product definition process is
important in this phase. Cross-functional teams have to be established and barriers
between departments must diminish in order to run through the iteration loops as early
as possible. The organisational form in this phase has to be coined by a project and
process organisation.35 In this phase the PLM system can greatly support the product
development by offering portals to virtually meet, review and change the product
online. Although the great opportunities of online meetings exist the need for initial
physical meetings should be emphasised. In the manufacturing planning phase the
interaction between different departments becomes less important whereas in the
production phase interaction and iterations tend to produce rather negative than positive
results. In this phase functional departments will be more important than a project
organisation.
In summary it can be stated, that radical structural transformations like establishing a
network organisation are viewed neither as prerequisite nor as an important success
factor for implementing PLM. However, project management, process orientation and
cross-functional teams are viewed as supportive for a PLM implementation (especially
for the product development phase).
5.1.4
The role of the product development processes
There are two basic strategies how to handle processes during a PLM implementation.
Either the PLM system will be customised to map existing processes or the existing
processes will be customised to allow an implementation without customisations to the
PLM systems. The product development process as core process of EMC and whose
early phase determines to a large extent the product lifecycle costs36 is of special interest
during a PLM implementation. The research result indicates that the product
development process should be analysed and if necessary adjusted with the
implementation of PLM in order to improve product development. Especially SVSI
view the redefinition respectively reengineering of the product development process as
the most important change.37 EMC only partially agree38 to this statement. However, the
34
cf. Introduction, page 1

36
cf. Introduction, page 1
37
38
35
35
Discussion
research results indicate that there is certainly room for improvement since Concurrent
Engineering is only partially implemented39 in most companies. In most cases this does
not mean that the product definition process has to be redefined from scratch according
to BPR40. In many instances the workflow has to be changed to encourage collaboration
and participation. Processes can be changed by changing responsibilities and
transforming tasks in different areas without the need for changing the organisational
structure. This can for example mean that tasks from production planning are
transformed into the early design phase. It is important in this context to remark that
processes can be changed without changing the organisational structure. Also possible
is the improvement of processes through enabling of new techniques like collaborative
workspace systems.
It can be concluded, that especially the product definition process should be analysed
and, if necessary, improved. Instead of top-down approaches like BPR most likely
bottom-up approaches like workflow changes will be utilised.
5.1.5
The role of Change Management
The implementation of an enterprise-wide information system will always mean change

to a certain extent, no matter if and to what degree it challenges existing culture,
structure and processes. Therefore Change Management can play an important role to
help managing the transition. The degree of change of course depends on the
implementation strategy. Accordingly the Change Management tools and methods will
vary depending on the implementation strategy. The success or failure of PLM will to a
great extent be determined by implementation issues and especially by those that are
dealing with the so called soft factors like human behaviour and attitude41. Resistance of
users and middle management as well as putting too much focus on technological
aspects and not enough on people related issues belong to the main problems of a PLM
implementation42 whereas the early involvement of affected people belongs to the main
success factors43. Senior Management seems to play an especially important role. Their
engagement and support throughout the whole implementation process is viewed as an
important prerequisite for the implementation success.44 Communication through
different channels and in different ways45 plays an important role to gain acceptance and
to involve and integrate employees whereas workshops as an effective but inefficient
way of communication are mostly used46.
39

Hammer and Champy (1995) define BPR as 'the fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of
business processes to achieve dramatic improvements'
41
One interviewee estimated that at least 70% of implementation success are depending on people related
issues
42
cf. Appendix A, question 16.
43
cf. Appendix A, question 17
44
cf. Appendix A, question 16 and 17
45
46
40
36
Discussion
The importance of utilising Change Management tools and methods is very well
understood by PLM implementers. However, it seems that a Change Management
concept is often not embedded as an strategic element in the overall implementation
strategy, especially when no external consultant is involved. Selected Change
Management tools are mostly intuitively and reactively used based on the experiences
from former software implementations. Change Management tools that are used in
major change initiatives like establishing a sense of urgency or the change of reward
systems are relatively seldom found47.
It can be summarised, that understanding a PLM implementation as a change process is
viewed as highly beneficial. Proactively including a Change Management concept in the
implementation strategy however is very seldom found. This is also due to the fact that
senior management has to be convinced to approve additional money for a Change
Management initiative.
5.1.6
The Return on Investment (ROI) and the impact of Change Management

on implementation success
The implementation of PLM is a major investment for most Electronic Manufacturing

Companies. Therefore the ROI is always a critical factor for senior management to
investigate. Although several potential characteristics like time to market, cost reduction
or quality improvement exist to evaluate a PLM implementation it is very hard to find
reliable calculations48. This is often due to the fact that the implementation can easily
last several years and it is often not clear if improvements are resulting from the PLM
implementation or different reasons. Consequently it is even harder to calculate the
impact of Change Management on the implementation success. The research results
however indicate that implementation related issues and especially those that are
dealing with human behaviour and attitude are very important. This is proved by the
fact that all important success factors as well as implementation barriers can be
addressed by Change Management. The probability is therefore very high that
understanding the implementation of PLM as a change process has a positive impact on
the implementation.49 The hypothesis, underlying the questionnaire, that Change
Management has a significant impact on implementation success can therefore be
confirmed. To further verify this statement different PLM implementations with
different implementation approaches have to be benchmarked.
5.2
The relationship of the research results to published literature and research
The statement that an enterprise-wide information system like PLM impacts

organisational culture, structure and processes is neither new nor unique to the
implementation of a PLM system but can also be found at the implementation of other
Information Systems (IS) like ERP or Groupware. Many theoreticians as well as
47

49
50 % of the SVSI rate the impact on the implementation success as high whereas 33% rate it as
medium
48
37
Discussion
practitioners have emphasised in this context the importance of implementation issues

during the introduction of a new business concept. Rohe (1998) states, that research
indicates that 90% of failed implementations are not due to a wrong concept or strategy
but due to neglecting the implementation phase. The research results of the dissertation
in hand certainly support the view that people related issues are the most critical for
implementation success. Moreover the research results agree with the published
literature that utilising Change Management can be regarded as useful for helping
through the implementation process. However the Change Management methods and
tools that are used or are viewed as useful can differ from Change Management theory.
Changing the reward system is e.g. viewed as less important although it is common
practice to support and institutionalise changed behaviour50. This might be due to the
fact that the implementation of PLM tends to be viewed more as incremental than as
transformational change process.
Furthermore the research supports the view of Krouse (1999) and Bourke (2000), that
especially the aspect of inter-organisational collaboration challenges organisational
culture of most companies. The statement that the implementation of PLM challenges
organisational structure51, however, cannot be supported by the research. At least not
the view that the implementation of PLM should ideally be supported by a network
organisation52. Although the vertical and virtual integration (extended enterprise) is one
of the main goals during a PLM implementation53, network organisations do not play a
role. If a PLM system is to be implemented in a traditional and strictly hierarchical
organised corporation without project management and process orientation than it can
certainly agreed on this statement.
Harrison (1995) and Bergh (1996) suggest that PDM/PLM works best in a reengineered
environment. The research results show that reengineering mainly takes place in the
product development process and on the level of workflow changes. The radical
redesign of processes according to BPR54 however does not take place.
In this context an interesting comparison can be drawn on the results of the research and
a research that was carried out in 1995 (Bullinger, H. J. et al.) aiming to research critical
success factors in reengineering projects. The research found, accordingly to the
research of the dissertation in hand, the support of senior management as most
important success factor. Other success factors were a participative company culture, an
existing vision and the involvement of employees.
5.3
The appropriateness of data collection and methodology
There is no real alternative to literature research that has been used to become familiar
with the topic under research in order to identify key concepts and theories. Also the
chosen methodology of method triangulation by combining a quantitative research in
form of a survey and a qualitative research in form of telephone interviews seems to be
50
cf. Stark (1999), Doppler and Lauterburg (2000)

cf. Stark (1999)
52
cf. Introduction, p 7
53
54
cf. Hammer and Champy (1993)
51
38
Discussion
the most suitable in hindsight in order to investigate the topic in the given time frame.
Since the research started with the quantitative research and added a qualitative research
another interesting instance of the methodology would have been to start with the
interviews and then add the survey. This would have had the advantage that the
questions in the questionnaire could more precisely address the main issues.
A case study approach would have been difficult to carry out since it would have been
problematic to make generalisations from only one sample. Longitudinal or action
research did not seem possible due to the limited time frame.
It should again be stated that the research has no statistical significance since the basis
of the research is much to small.
5.4
The effect on professional practice
Different strategies can be applied to implement PLM whereas the strategies can vary in
scope and scale. The easiest way to implement is surely to understand the introduction
of a PLM system as a replacement or legacy system for an older or maybe various older
systems. In this case the implementation will most likely only result in minor changes;
for the affected people as well as for the business results. The implementation of an
enterprise wide Information System (IS) like PLM, however, can also be understood as
an opportunity to rethink and if necessary change existing processes, culture and
structure. The way these changes are implemented can vary from transformational topdown approaches to incremental bottom up approaches. Especially the transformational
approaches will most likely result in major changes but also bear the risk of producing
negative results. The following paragraph discusses different implementation strategies
and highlights specific opportunities and threats.
5.4.1
The implementation strategy
A common implementation strategy firstly replaces and consolidates existing systems in

order to achieve relatively quick wins. From this basis it is tried to incrementally
improve the status quo with the advanced PLM functionality and opportunities that
become clear during the first implementation phase. This implementation approach,
although suitable for many companies, bears two risks. The first risk is that the budget
is empty after achieving the status quo which means that the phase of improving will be
postponed or never be carried out. The second risk is that although the status quo is
incrementally improved it can be that ineffective and inefficient processes have been
improved.
Therefore it is important to realise that the implementation strategy should always be
dependent on the size, background and current situation of a company. The
implementation approach for a locally operating, 'traditional' SMC company will most
likely be different than for an international operating Fortune 500 company. Therefore
the analysis of existing product related processes as well as the predominant corporate
culture is critical. A diagnosis, based on the analysis should provide a clear basis for
39
Discussion
decision making55. Moreover, it should result in being able to answer the question if and
what kind of change is necessary and what kind of resistance the initiative will most
likely face56. A measurable goal, depending on the analysis of the 'as is' situation and
the diagnosis, should be defined, connected with a strategy in form of an
implementation plan on how to reach this goal. One of the implementation goals must
be to "harmonise a new concept with an existing context" (Reiss, 1997). The overall
concept must therefore be flexible designed in order to make customisations and
adoptions to the existing context57.
A simplified description of different change strategies diversifies in incremental and
transformational change approaches58. Incremental change that uses existing structures
is slow but also low risk59 and often uses bottom-up approaches (evolutionary process).
On the other hand transformational or radical change challenges existing structures, is
fast but also high risk.60 Transformational change concentrates on major improvements
and is mostly top down driven. All facets between those two extremes including the
combination of both are of course also possible whereas the research, especially the
research result gained from EMC, shows a clear tendency to incremental change
approaches.
It can be argued, that incremental change to continually improve existing processes with
the new possibilities of PLM systems might be suitable for a 'modern' company that has
already implemented a process oriented organisation, project management and
Concurrent Engineering. Consequently, transformational change would be suitable for a
'traditional' and strictly hierarchical organised SMC that is not process focussed yet and
firstly needs a reengineered environment before PLM can be successfully implemented.
However, it can also be argued the other way round, that the capacity for change61 in a
'modern' company is much higher than in a 'traditional' company and therefore
transformational change can only be successful here.
No matter what implementation approach is chosen it is important to realise that the
implementation of change moves always along the two dimensions of opportunity and
risk. More opportunity means more risk and vice versa. An implementation approach
that is relatively balanced and promising regarding opportunities and risks uses spinoffs, newly established departments or daughter companies to implement and test the
new approach. If successful the new approach is transferred to the rest of the
organisation or the mother company. A different approach that combines relatively high
opportunities with relatively low risks uses selected pilot areas for implementations.
The success of this strategy is of course very much dependent on the project that is
chosen and how well the chosen pilot area can act as a role model. 62 Regarding the
implementation of PLM this can mean that the new approach is either tested in a newly
established department or a daughter company. This has the advantage that new
55

cf. Reiss (1997)
57
cf. Reiss (1997)
58
cf. Stark (1999), Nadler, Shaw, Walton (1995)
59
cf. Stark (1999)
60
cf. Stark (1999)
61
cf. Pagliarelli (2000)
62
cf. Reiss (1997)
56
40
Discussion
approaches are not facing so much resistance as in well established areas. If successful,
they are transferred to the mother company. In the pilot area approach PLM would be
implemented i.e. in the most successful product line of a selected business unit and then
transferred to the rest of the organisation.
5.4.2
Appropriate Change Management methods and tools
In this section Change Management tools are introduced that are arising from the
research results respectively the interpretation of them and therefore seem to be
appropriate for a PLM implementation.
Diagnosis: Diagnosis is an important tool to evaluate the current state and condition of
a company in order to have a clear basis for defining appropriate action. A diagnosis can
be based on a employee survey or on interviews carried out for the whole company or
for a representative cross-section63. Since organisational culture seems to play an
important role, the diagnosis can aid in determine the predominant culture and defining
the target culture. To ensure neutrality the diagnosis should be done by an external
institute64.
Senior management: Senior management seems to be one of the most critical success
factors during a PLM implementation. Commitment and (vocally and visibly) support
during the whole implementation phase seems to be critical. This can i.e. mean that
senior management writes about the importance of the PLM implementation in the
internal newspaper or by frequently visiting the implementation team. Although not
directly arising from the questionnaire but from the interviews it is important that senior
management is 'walking the talk'65 and serves as an example. In practice this can mean
that senior management has to show a collaborative behaviour when collaboration is
one of the goals of the PLM implementation. Therefore it is important to create
awareness at senior management level about their important role during a PLM
implementation
Communication: Communication throughout the whole change process has mainly two
goals. The first goal is to explain why the changes are necessary and what the aims are
in order to address initial fears and resistance. The second is to involve the people that
are affected by the changes as early as possible to gain acceptance. In the context of
PLM this can mean that PLM is introduced in the internal newspaper or in the Intranet.
Although these are very efficient one way communication vehicles a more effective two
way communication vehicle would be workshops or employee surveys where feedback
from employees can be gathered.
Coaching: Coaching people during the change process and facilitate learning of the
skills that are needed to deal successfully with the new environment is essential. The
basic requirement for a PLM implementation is software functionality training.
Moreover training about the basic ideas of PLM as well as in team working should be
63

65
cf. Senge et al. (1999)
64
41
Discussion
beneficial. In the event of workflow changes where also responsibilities are changed it
can make sense to train how to handle responsibility.
Marketing: Marketing is especially important when a pilot group implementation
approach is chosen. The innovative practices have to be diffused to the rest of the
organisation. The so called 'not invented here syndrome' however makes the
transformation often problematic. Therefore a marketing concept is necessary to
introduce new concepts and publish successes. An informal but very efficient way of
diffusing are Communities of Practice (CoP)66. CoP are "groups that form to share what
they know, and to learn from one another regarding some aspect of their work " (The
Distance Consulting Company, 2000). Key can also be used to transfer the new
approaches.
Institutionalising of new approaches: According to the results gained from the survey
and interviews, new approaches are seldom institutionalised. This, however, is viewed
as an important element of a change initiative by theoreticians in order to hold the gains
of an improved state and to avoid erosion effects. Therefore, this should also be
beneficial for a PLM implementation, especially for the aspect of collaboration.
Collaboration can for example be encouraged by regular meetings between different
departments where new ideas or current problems are freely exchanged. These meetings
would serve to anchor collaborative behaviour in the company culture.
66
cf. Senge et al. (1999)
42
Conclusions
Conclusions
This chapter provides a summary on the principle features of the dissertation. The main
findings are reviewed as well as the key concepts and theories that were identified in the
literature. Additionally, suggestions for business and management practice is given
followed by recommendations for future research.
6.1
Summary of principal features
It was shown in the introduction that the environment of manufacturing companies and
in particular of Electronic Manufacturing Companies (EMC) is coined by time to
market reduction, increased variety and complexity resulting from various trends like
globalisation, mass customisation and increased outsourcing. Those companies that are
able to effectively develop and introduce new products in this environment are said to
have a competitive advantage. Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), that has evolved
from Product Data Management (PDM) can support manufacturing companies in this
environment by providing an "enterprise-wide infrastructure "to support management of
product related data throughout its complete lifecycle"67 (from initial concept to product
obsolescence). Including workflow management, PLM systems, as a single source of
product information, ensure that up to date information are available and accessible for
the right people in the right format at the right time.
According to Miller (1998e) the product lifecycle is comprised of three primary
processes: product definition, product production and operations support. Especially
interesting for the product lifecycle is the product definition process and especially the
early phase where fundamental design choices are made and 80% of the product
lifecycle costs are determined according to various studies68. The introduction explains
that the concept of 'Concurrent Engineering' aims to improve the product development
process and especially the early design phase. Breaking down the barriers of functional
departments and involving individuals with different perspectives on the product
development process by setting up physical co-located and cross-functional teams
facilitates this. Globalisation and increased outsourcing, however, require not only intraorganisational but also inter-organisational teamwork. It is therefore important to realise
that PLM does not only provide functionality for controlling product related data but
also to collaborate and support inter-organisational and virtual co-located product
development teams. PLM is therefore viewed as an "effective tool in managing the
product definition supply chain by serving as an informational bridge connecting
OEM's, partners, subcontractors, vendors, consultants and customers (Miller, 1998f).
According to the vision of PLM it requires intense collaboration especially in the early
design phase, inside and outside the company and across geographic regions.
Companies must therefore implement processes and structures for collaboratively
sharing product related information. The sharing of data and transferring of data
ownership is often counter-cultural. The implementation of PLM involves therefore not
67
68
cf. Portella (2000)

cf. Nevins et al. (1989)
43
Conclusions
only structural but also cultural changes in a company. Consequently, the success of a
PLM implementation should heavily rely on the willingness of the company to accept
change and especially on the people that must form inter-organisational and crossfunctional teams to collaboratively develop products. However, people are not likely to
change the way they have been successfully working. Resistance to change is therefore
the natural reaction. According to researchers the source of resistance is mostly fear of
the unknown and uncertainty. Uncertainty however can reduce productivity and even
paralyse a whole organisation. Changing a culture, structures or processes is therefore
risky and often not successful, which is proved by many studies (i.e. Kotter 1995).
In order to address this aspect the literature review in chapter two has shown that
researchers and practitioners alike are proposing the utilisation of Organisational
Change Management that aims to provide an implementation friendly environment.
Organisational Change Management, which deals with the emotional reaction to
change, provides different concepts, tools and methods like early communication and
early participation to gain acceptance for change.
Chapter three has explained the methodology that was used to answer the research
question about 'The Impact of Organisational Change Management on the Success
of a PLM Implementation'. Based on literature research a questionnaire has been
developed in order to find out:
What kind of companies are implementing PLM
The implications of a PLM implementation on culture, structure and processes.
If the implementation of PLM is viewed as a change process and if and what
Change Management concepts and tools are utilised
The questionnaire has been sent to Electronics Manufacturing Companies (EMC),
Software Vendors and System Integrators (SVSI) in the area of PLM. Additionally,
telephone interviews have been conducted to triangulate the topic.
6.2
Major findings
The dissertation has pointed out that many researchers emphasise that the reason for
failure of new concepts is very often due to a poor implementation rather than to the
concept itself. The literature review in chapter two has explained that not addressing
people related issues like resistance is named in most cases for implementation failure.
Accordingly also some researchers and practitioners in the field of PLM emphasise the
importance of these issues and remind us on the implications that the redefinition of
processes and the need for collaboration might have. Organisational Change
Management that has its roots in the science of psychology aims to gain acceptance for
changes by the affected people. The Change Management concepts methods and tools
vary. Basic elements however are :
A vision to align the organisation
Communicating why the changes are necessary
Involving affected people actively in the change process (participation)
Provide people with the skills to actively support the change process
Marketing of new approaches
Institutionalise new approaches to avoid erosion effects
44
Conclusions
The discussion has shown that the research results support the key concepts of the
literature that the implementation of PLM has to be viewed as a change process that
impacts organisational culture and processes. Organisational structures, however, do not
seem to be impacted. It was also shown that the results gained from SVSI support these
views even more than those gained from EMC.
Although not measurable in numbers the research results have shown that the impact of
utilising Change Management is viewed as relatively high. Although the impact is
viewed that way; a Change Management concept is seldom a strategic element of the
implementation plan. Consequently Change Management tools and methods are mainly
utilised reactively instead of proactively.
6.3
Suggestions for business practice
It is important to realise that there are two main pitfalls when implementing a PLM
system. The first pitfall can be described as defining the implementation scope as too
narrow. This includes the danger that the PLM system is implemented only as a legacy
system that replaces or consolidates various older systems without questioning
processes, responsibilities and tasks. This implementation approach will most likely
lead to only minor changes, in the organisation as well as in business results
The second pitfall can be seen in the risk of defining a too broad implementation goal
that not only implements a new product related enterprise-wide information system but
also radically challenges existing structures and culture. In this case the implementation
will be expensive, the organisation will not be capable to cope and the changes will
most likely never lead to the anticipated results.
The discussion in chapter five has shown that it is important to realise that
implementation strategy should be dependent on the type of company. An analysis of
the processes and the organisational issues is therefore essential to diagnose what kind
of change is appropriate in order to reach the implementation goal. Depending on the
result of the diagnosis an appropriate Change Management concept should be integrated
in the overall implementation plan to provide an holistic implementation approach.
The biggest challenge however might be to create awareness at senior management
level and to convince senior management to release additional money for the Change
Management initiative in order to improve the likelihood of a flawless and successful
implementation.
All change results in risk and opportunity. A promising implementation approach that
combines a relatively high opportunity for changes with a relatively low risk uses
selected pilot areas for implementation. The innovative processes have then to be
transferred to the rest of the organisation. Marketing of the new approaches plays at this
point an important role. The success of this approach is furthermore dependent on how
well the pilot area can act as a role model.
45
Conclusions
It can be concluded, that PLM offers new opportunities for EMC, especially regarding
the improvement of the product development process. To what degree and in what time
the product development process can be improved depends on several factors like the
implementation approach and the company culture. Change Management can play an
important role during the implementation phase to facilitate changes in processes as
well as in the corporate culture.
6.4
Recommendations for future research
The dissertation has shown that there are no measurement criteria existing that have
common acceptance to evaluate the success of a PLM implementation. An interesting
issue for future research should therefore be the development of a framework to
evaluate a PLM implementation in order to benchmark different implementation
strategies.
Although the research has shown that organisational culture is viewed as an important
factor for implementation success many aspects have not or only partially been
addressed and might be interesting for future research. These include the following
questions:
What company culture is best supporting PLM?
How can the company culture be changed to this culture?
How do different company cultures affect the success of supply chain collaboration?
The intercultural aspect of globally dispersed teams?
Empowering of teams in the light of intercultural aspects?
Finally, the aspect of knowledge management seems to be interesting for further
research. Especially the interviews have highlighted the aspect that PLM is also viewed
as a tool for managing knowledge in order to keep and globally provide product
development know-how. Further research could investigate what factors are important
for additionally using a PLM system for knowledge management.
46
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53
Appendix A: Questionnaires - Summary (All)

n=20
1. What goals are important to define (should be defined) for the implementation of a Product
Lifecycle Management (PLM) system? Respectively 'What were the most important reasons
for the decision to implement a PLM solution?'
Rank
very
important
3
12
11
XXX
1
2
important
less
important
1
not
important
0
No /No
Weight/Factor
2
X X
XXX
Reduce time to market
7
50 19 2,6
Enabling extended enterprises through
4
3
44 18 2,4
integration of customers and suppliers
3
Increase productivity
9
9
1
46 19 2,4
3
Improve quality
9
9
1
46 19 2,4
5
Integrate internal islands of
8
6
2
2
38 18 2,1
automation **
6
Improve classic PDM functionality *
6
9
4
40 19 2,1
6
Support the overall business strategy
6
8
3
1
37 18 2,1
9
Redefine the product development
5
10
4
39 19 2,1
process
7
More innovation/new products
6
8
1
3
35 18 1,9
8
Improve customer orientation
5
8
4
2
35 19 1,8
11
Enabling mass customisation *** (i.e.
8
6
3
22 17 1,3
through part configurators accessible via
the Internet)
*
product data vaulting/warehousing, part classification, search functionality, cross referencing, revision control,
workflow, electronic engineering change management, document management
**
integrate different CA Tools; integrate several databases storing product related data into one (single point of
access)
***
also known as built to order, manufacturing for the individual or customer driven manufacturing, the
opposite of mass production or built to stock
Comments:
Question is difficult to answer because all improvement initiatives and solutions have more or less these
same objectives. So this is not a discriminator for PLM.
A lot of customers would be happy to have this classic PDM function in place.
2. Who is normally involved in the product definition process?

Rank
XXX
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Weight/Factor
Product Design/Engineering
Research&Development
Manufacturing
Supplier
Purchasing/Procurement
Marketing
Senior Management (CEO, CTO, ...)
Customer
Service
Sales
frequently
3
18
14
5
6
4
7
7
1
2
3
occasionally
2
1
4
9
7
8
7
5
10
9
5
seldom
1
never
0
1
4
3
4
3
5
5
8
1
2
1
1
X
56
51
33
36
31
39
34
28
29
27
No
X
19
19
14
17
15
19
17
16
17
17
/No
XX
2,9
2,7
2,4
2,1
2,1
2,1
2
1,8
1,7
1,6
Comments:
-
Again difficult to answer: you are asking who IS today, not who should. Therefore I answered
occasionally for most, even though they should be involved frequently (in my opinion).
Depends on the phase in the development cycle.
54
3. Who has normally access to and is using a PLM system? (A= Access ; U =Using)
frequently
A(1),U(8)
A(1),U(11)
A(2),U(5)
A(2),U(1)
U(6)
U(2)
A(1),U(3)
A(1)
A(1)
U(2)
Research & Development

Marketing
Manufacturing
Sales
Service
Senior Management (CEO, CTO,...)
Customer
Supplier
occasionally
A(1),U(2)
U(1)
A(4),U(3)
A(4),U(2)
A(2),U(3)
A(4),U(2)
A(1),U(6)
A(2),U(2)
A(2),U(2)
A(3),U(5)
seldom
U(1)
never
A(1),U(2)
A(1),U(1)
A(1),U(4)
A(2),U(1)
A(3),U(2)
A(3),U(4)
A(3)
1
1
3
2
Comments:
Sales uses CRM (which has links to PLM), Suppliers usage is increasing
4. Is a (shared) vision with the implementation of a PLM system being established (i.e. we
want to be the No 1 in customer service/we want to manufacture the most innovative
products)?
Rank
1
2
3
4
Sometimes
Normally not
Yes
No
10
2
2
2
%
62
13
13
13
Comments:
But this is key and the vision should be provable
5. Is an as is (current state) analysis of the product development process being performed
before implementing?
Rank
1
2
3
4
Sometimes
Yes
Normally not
No
8
8
1
0
%
47
47
6
0
Comments:
We prefer a should be approach
6. Is a strategy defined how to reach the to be (target) situation defined in the vision?
Rank
1
2
3
4
Yes
Sometimes
Normally not
No
11
6
0
0
%
65
35
0
0
Comments:
For large scale projects the answer is yes.
55
7. Is a pilot group testing the new scenario being established?

Rank
1
2
3
4
Yes
Sometimes
Normally not
No
11
4
1
0
%
69
25
6
0
Comments:
More likely to be normally not, but still sometimes it happens.
8. Does the implementation slow down the productivity of companies?
Rank
1
2
3
4
A little bit
No
Significantly
Dramatically
10
6
1
%
59
35
6
Comments:
The PLM roadmap should actively deal with risks like decreasing productivity and should
include strategies to avoid or minimise these risks.
The aim clearly is not to negatively influence productivity. For that reason a strategy and a
good preparation are necessary.
9. Is there an interface to the ERP (i.e. SAP) system?
Rank
1
2
3
4
Yes
Sometimes
Normally not
No
12
4
0
1
%
71
24
0
6
Comments:
This is always customer and business specific. All the cases appear in our projects.
10. If there is an interface, how is ownership of data respectively transformation of ownership in
the product development process been regulated?
Rank
1
2
3
5
Data is kept in both systems

Master data is transferred from PLM in ERP system
Master data is kept in ERP system
Master data is kept in PLM system
7
4
5
2
%
39
22
28
11
Comments:
You will find all kind of projects. It depends of the customer and of the industry!
Project dependent.
56
11. What changes are required to successfully implement a PLM system?

Rank
XXX
1
2
3
4
5
Weight/Factor
interdisciplinary virtual team
approaches, workflow changes)
communication and collaboration
culture)
Empowering of people / teams
(i.e. designers having direct customer
contact)
Changes in the organisational model
(i.e. removing of layers, networked
organisation)
Product line rationalisation
(i.e. to enable mass customisation)
Other: Establishing a new business
model (e.g. Full Service Provider
instead of Product Manufacturer)
Other:
Management awareness
very
important
3
6
important
2
7
5
3
less
important
1
not
important
No /No
X
32
X
13
XX
2,5
29
12
2,4
26
13
24
13
1,8
17
11
1,5
1
1
12. How is the implementation of a PLM system and the changes required hereof
communicated with the people affected? (n=18)
Rank
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Workshops
Intranet
Notice Board
e-mail
Internal newspaper
Employee Survey
Other: Awareness Sessions (2 hour
Meetings) that will be combined with
feedback questionnaires
Other: PLM Solution Lab
No communication required
14
12
12
8
9
7
6
1
%
78
67
67
44
50
39
33
6
1
0
6
0
Comments:
Since PLM is an integration program, a marketing and communication strategy and roadmap is
required. All channels/media for internal and external (suppliers, customers, partners)
communication should be part of this strategy.
57
13. What changes in the organisational structure are necessary to best support PLM? Please
describe.
-
Destroy functional borders into the product definition process. Build groups with all roles to fulfil the
product definition process.
IT should be part of the product definition process end user satisfaction is key!
Ports the factory planning and simulation process earlier in the product definition process. Use the DM
function to simulate the production process as early as possible.
Changes towards process and product orientation should be initiated. This could mean more responsibility
for project managers (in product development programs) or the decision to establish product managers for
strategic product lines.
Implementation of process organisation
Implementation of project management
Implementation of cross functional teams
This depends very much on the type of organisation, the type of product and the management style the
specific company has adopted or wants to adopt. Not one answer possible.
For the implementation absolutely necessary is the end of the thinking in departments and of possessing of
product data by departments or people.
Product Managers should be stronger than department managers
Bonuses of product managers should be linked to success of PLM
People need to be motivated, solutions must be sold internally
No changes are necessary but a good project/process oriented organisation is a good starting point for
success
Establish global process, involving several partners
14. What of the following organisational change management methods/tools are used during the
implementation of a PLM system?
Rank
XXX
1
1
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
12
14
15
16
17
18
Weight/Factor
Early involvement of people being affected
Establishing a concept to regularly communicate
with people involved
Establishing a (shared and motivating) vision
Create an atmosphere of openness and trust
Planning, realising and celebrating short term wins
(to build confidence)
Aligning and mobilising leaders
Coaching of people involved
Build a critical mass for change: buy-in and stayin
Vocal and visible support of senior management
(walking the talk)
Dealing with resistance
Facilitate learning/skill building (to acquire new
behaviour)
Feedback (i.e. through employee survey, customer
inquiry, 360 Feedback)
Establishing a sense of urgency (burning platform)
Empowering people/teams to act on the vision
defined
Implementation of change agents/promoters
Institutionalise new approaches
Hiring, promoting, developing employees who can
implement the vision
Changing reward systems to support the change
initiative
frequently
/yes
3
11
11
occasionally
/partially
2
4
4
seldom
1
2
2
10
9
8
3
6
5
2
1
2
8
6
6
5
4
6
never
/no
0
No /No
X
43
43
X
17
17
XX
2,5
2,5
2
1
1
38
40
36
16
17
16
2,4
2,35
2,3
4
2
1
1
2
38
28
32
17
13
15
2,2
2,2
2,1
33
16
2,1
4
4
9
8
2
3
1
1
32
31
16
16
2,0
1,9
29
16
1,8
2
2
10
10
3
2
1
2
29
28
16
16
1,8
1,8
4
2
5
4
6
3
6
6
4
3
4
25
20
18
16
15
16
1,6
1,3
1,1
16
16
1,0
58
15. What kind of training do users receive during a PLM system implementation?
Rank
XXX
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Weight/Factor
Software training (Functionality)
Skill building regarding the PLM vision (new
process training)
Communication Training
Training in team development, team working
Training in conflict management, group
dynamics
Train how to take responsibility and have the
obligation to assist those being responsible
Intercultural Training
Always
/All
3
15
3
Sometimes
/Some
2
2
9
Normally
not
1
Never
/No
0
No /No
X
49
29
X
17
16
XX
2,9
1,8
2
1
7
8
7
6
4
6
1
3
3
26
23
20
16
16
16
1,6
1,4
1,3
19
16
1,2
15
15
1,0
16. What are the main/important problems during the implementation phase?
Rank
XXX
1
2
3
4
4
6
7
8
9
10
11
11
13
14
15
16
17
Weight/Factor
Not enough support from senior
management
Barriers between departments
Focus too much on technological aspects,
too less on people
Resistance of middle management to change
Scope not well defined, project is oversized
Resistance of users to change
Time for implementation needed, longer
than expected
Not enough resources available
Project does not have appropriate priority
Technological limitations
(performance/missing functionality)
Organisation and procedures are not adapted
to the new situation (technological and
organisational integration on different levels)
Availability of people from implementation
team
No transparent goals/objectives
Goals are to aggressive, organisation is not
capable to cope
Budget needed, higher than expected
Barriers to external stakeholders
(customers/supplier...)
Intercultural problems (i.e. language
barriers)
very
important
/True
3
10
Important
/Partially
true
2
5
less
important
1
2
8
7
6
8
8
7
8
6
4
7
6
7
3
1
3
3
6
6
5
9
7
7
1
2
4
not
important
/Not true
0
No /No
X
32
X
17
XX
2,5
36
38
15
16
2,4
2,4
35
35
39
35
15
15
17
16
2,3
2,3
2,3
2,2
1
1
37
34
33
17
16
16
2,2
2,1
2,1
31
16
1,9
31
16
1,9
6
4
4
8
4
4
2
1
30
32
16
17
1,9
1,9
5
2
6
6
2
4
3
2
29
22
16
14
1,8
1,6
20
16
1,3
Comments:
Clear goals are the prerequisite for the support of senior management. Priority one is always
the actual productivity.
59
17. What are the main/important factors for a successful implementation.

Rank
XXX
1
2
3
3
3
6
7
7
9
9
11
12
13
14
15
16
Weight/Factor
Commitment/Buy in of senior management
Early involvement of people being affected by
the changes
Align and mobilise leaders
Commitment/Buy in of middle management
Appropriate training and coaching for people
involved
Choose the right system integrator
Create an open communication and
collaboration culture (boundaryless
organisation)
Realisation and celebration of Short Term Wins
Engage, communicate and explain the changes
involved with stakeholders
Appropriate project staffing
Clarify in an early stage the ownership of data
in the product development process
Establish a shared and motivating vision
Choose the right PLM vendor
Empowering people to act on the vision defined
Establishing a sense of urgency/burning
platform
Change of reward systems to support change
initiative
very
important
3
12
13
important less
not
important important
2
1
0
5
3
1
No /No
X
46
46
X
17
17
XX
2,7
2,7
7
10
8
5
6
8
1
1
1
32
43
41
13
17
17
2,5
2,5
2,4
7
7
7
7
1
1
36
36
15
16
2,4
2,3
7
7
6
8
3
2
36
39
16
17
2,3
2,3
5
7
12
7
39
38
17
17
2,3
2,2
5
4
2
1
9
10
9
11
2
1
1
4
1
1
35
33
25
29
16
16
13
16
2,2
2,1
1,9
1,8
20
16
1,3
Comments:
-
If there is the commitment from senior management middle management often has to behave
appropriately.
18. Are the results achieved through the implementation of a PLM satisfactory?
Rank
1
2
3
4
Yes
Partially
Sometimes
No
8
5
1
1
%
53
33
7
7
Please explain:
-
A successful implementation actively supports users in living new processes and leads to long-term
profitability
A lot of companies have a lot of different experiences with PDM systems, not always being positive. A
number of visionaries have achieved tremendous steps forward by understanding PDM as a product
development methodology.
The potential of benefits is so big, that it will be hard to not be successful in achieving them.
Since the introduction of PLM solution very ... is results are often not immediately measurable. This would
only be the case when all interfaces and working methods were adopted to the new system. This state very
rarely is reached because already during the implementation phase modifications have to be done that are
changing parts of the whole concept and so not all goals can be achieved. But this seems to be a normal
process, since the internal company organisation is always changing.
No one can work without afterwards
Project benefits are overestimated at the beginning of the project otherwise the management would not
invest in the system. The actual benefits are much less than estimated.
60
19. Is the Return On Investment measured?

Rank
1
2
3
4
Sometimes
Normally not
Yes
No
7
3
2
4
%
44
19
13
25
Comments:
-
Is in most cases very difficult, because of wrong or not existing measurement processes.
...though this is one of the most difficult metrics to measure
Very hard to do, because in most cases there is no real comparison possible
Its usually not possible to define if a benefit is really due to PLM or if it is due to another change in the
company or its environment.
If the senior management asks for there is certainly a ROI done although experienced managers do know
that these measurements are based on many uncertainties. In certain instances and applications it is possible
to perform past-present investigations, but the are not representative.
In a normal company this should be done
20. If yes, how is it measured and with what results?

How:
-
Monitoring of important process specific numbers, eg. Throughput time, time to market, overall product
costs, lifecycle costs
Usually a high number of qualitative and quantitative aspects like time to cash, engineer productivity, time
to release to manufacturing, number of design iterations, design failure, number of parts used and re-used,
search time etc. are checked by various means (data residing on the system and inquiries on various
participants and users during the implementation of a PLM system). Key is that the data acquisition and
interpretation part is done with the help of a good project management and industry expertise.
Based on the original ROI calculation:
Reduced time to market
Improved efficiency (more work with less people)
Reduced amount of different types and parts
Higher reusability of existing parts
Reduced cost for changes
Time and ... comparison for certain actions, statistical analysis of mistakes
Before project start a Benefit Potential Analysis is made, with a cost calculation. These figures are used to
get the ROI.
Stated metrics at the beginning regarding the value propositions at the start of the project. Value metrics
based upon business results and business financial goals.
Only on some aspects, e.g. number of parts, re-use, less re-creation
Results:
-
company and project specific

driving PLM projects with an ROI-focus usually gives the positive results
Cost reduction up to 30 %
Reduced lead time up to 40 %
Of course always positive since the example to investigate is always chosen on ones own
The Project Plan must insure to get a time of cost amortization of the project in 2 years. This is possible if
the project focuses on quick wins and functionality with highest priority.
61
Appendix B: Questionnaires - Summary (Electronic Manufacturing Companies)

n=7
I
General Questions concerning the product development process and the

relationship to customers/suppliers
Who in your company is generally involved in product definition process?
Rank
XXX
1
2
2
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Weight/Factor
Marketing
Senior Management (CEO, CTO, CIO...)
Supplier
Customer
Sales
Manufacturing
Service
frequently
3
6
4
4
3
2
1
2
1
1
occasionally
2
seldom
1
never
0
2
2
1
2
3
1
2
1
4
1
2
2
2
3
3
1
X
18
17
17
12
12
11
10
10
8
9
No
X
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
5
6
Comments:
The R&D group does become directly involved with in the product definition process for
specific new product introductions, but are more typically focused on developing
technology that is applicable across product lines.
Very different from division to division, no standard
2
What CA Tools has your company implemented?
Rank
1
2
2
2
2
6
3D CAD
2D CAD (Computer Aided Design)
CAM (Computer Aided Manufacturing)
CAE (Computer Aided Engineering)
EDM/PDM
Digital Mockup (DMU)
7
5
5
5
5
4
%
100
71
71
71
71
57
Comments:
3D solid modelling is used for the majority of new product development, however 2D is
still being used for maintenance of legacy drawings and associated 2D drawings to 3D
models is a standard operating practice. The use of CAE is growing, however is still not the
norm.
62
/No
XX
3
2,8
2,8
2
2
1,8
1,7
1,7
1,6
1,5
How do you communicate internally (when developing products in a team)? If possible

try to rate with a percentage value.
Rank
1
2
2
4
5
6
7
Group/Team Meetings
Telephone (conferences)
e-mail
Face2Face meetings
Facsimile
Video Conferences
Collaborative Workspace Systems
(i.e. One Space, Xbrioso, ProjectLink, MS
Netmeeting...)
10/20/20/60
15/25/20/0
25/50/20/10
40/5/20/20
0/15/15/10
5/5/0/0
<5/5/0/0
%
28
26
26
21
10
3
2
Comments:
The use of viewing technology is growing as is the use of web conferencing. The future is
clearly one of collaborating as much as possible remotely and getting closer to our
customer. Pulling our vendors/suppliers in is also becoming increasingly more important
and Collaborative Engineering tools should grow in importance over the next year plus.
4
How do you communicate externally (when developing products in a team)? If possible

try to rate with a percentage value.
Rank
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
e-mail
Face2Face meetings
Telephone (conferences)
Group/Team Meetings
Facsimile
Video Conferences
Collaborative Workspace Systems
(i.e. One Space, Xbrioso, ProjectLink, MS
Netmeeting...)
25/50/20/60
40/5/20/20
15/25/20/20
10/20/20/20
0/15/15/10
5/5/5/10
<5/5/0/10
%
39
21
20
18
10
6
5
Comments:
Most communication with suppliers is today via phone however there is a growing desire to
include suppliers as part of our extended manufacturing enterprise (more use of
Collaborative Engineering tools). There is more face to face interaction with customers with
resident engineers even being on-site at larger customers. Much more use of Collaborative
Engineering being planned.
Team meetings are in most cases phone or video conferences. During phone and video
conferences Netmeeting tools are frequently in use.
5
How is information exchanged internally?
Rank
1
2
2
4
4
6
e-mail
Paper
Data Management System
(secure) ftp solutions
public directories
tapes/diskettes
7
5
5
4
4
2
%
100
71
71
57
57
29
63
How is information exchanged externally?
Rank
1
1
3
4
5
Paper
e-mail
tapes/diskettes/CDs
ftp solutions
Virtual Private Network
7
7
6
5
3
%
100
100
86
71
43
Comments:
Various significantly based upon customer and industry. The amount of paper being
exchanged with customers especially automotive customers is definitely going down with
more being electronic. Would like to see the same trend continue with key
suppliers/vendors.
FTP solutions are SSL encrypted Web Services, E-FTP via ISDN, Key suppliers are
connected via Virtual Private Network (VPN)
7
What kind of data is exchanged with external stakeholders (i.e. suppliers and
customers)?
Rank
1
1
1
4
4
6
Paper drawings
3D CAD files
specifications
2D drawing files
projects plans
other: (CAE, FMEA, etc)
6
6
6
3
3
1
%
86
86
86
43
43
14
Comments:
Other data being shared with customers includes CAE results, FMEA data, and
qualification/test data.
Depends on projects and divisions (from paper up to all)
8
Do your engineers/designers normally have direct contact/interaction with your

customers? (Note: Question only relevant for suppliers)
Rank
1
1
3
4
Yes
Sometimes
Normally not
No
3
3
1
0
%
43
43
14
0
64
How much of the components making up your final products is typically outsourced?
Rank
1
2
2
4
25-50%
0-25%
50-75%
75-100%
4
1
1
0
%
57
14
14
0
Comments:
More molded product outsourced than stamped product.
Depends on projects/divison (from 0 to 90%)
10 Do you have already implemented the concept of concurrent engineering? (Definition by
the institute of Defence and Analyses, 1989:.. a systematic approach to the integrated,
concurrent design of products and their related processes including manufacturing and
support)
Rank
1
2
3
II
Partially
Yes
No
4
2
1
%
57
29
14
Questions concerning the project set-up of the PLM implementation
11 Where are you in the process of your PLM implementation?

Rank
1
2
3
3
5
Already implemented
During
Just beginning
Not planned yet
Before
3
2
1
1
0
%
43
29
14
14
0
Comments:
We already have a core PLM solution in place for CAD vaulting, but are in the process of
significantly extending to a more full function PLM solution with [System X] which will
evolve over the next 3 plus years.
We are thinking about an implementation
65
12 What were (would be) the most important reasons for the decision to implement a PLM
solution?
Rank
very
less
not
No
important important important important
XXX Weight/Factor
3
2
1
0
X X
1
Improve quality
3
3
15 6
2
2
4
14 6
2
2
4
14 6
4
1
5
13 6
5
Redefine the product development process
2
2
2
10 6
6
Enabling extended enterprises through 2
1
2
8
5
integration of suppliers and/or customers
7
Support overall business strategy
2
3
7
5
8
3
2
1
8
6
9
Integrate internal islands of automation **
2
2
1
6
5
10
1
1
3
5
5
11
1
3
1
4
through part configurators accessible via the
Internet)
12
Our competitors started implementing
5
0
5
Other: (acquisition assimilation)
1
Other: (easy access to ALL technical data)
1
*
product data vaulting/warehousing/part classification/search functionality/cross referencing/revision control,
workflow, electronic engineering change management, document management)
**
integrate different CA -Tools, integrate several databases storing product related data into one (single point of
access)
***
Comments:
-
The biggest problem being addressed by our focused PLM plan is one stop shopping for ALL
relevant technical information and support for the concept of enter once and populate everywhere
(address data integrity issues). Other business strategies being addressed include a focus on design
reuse and increased engineering productivity.
13 What functionality of PLM systems has already been implemented? (n=6)

Rank
1
1
1
4
4
6
6
8
Engineering Change Management

Document Management
Part2Document Cross References
Classification of Parts
Data viewing capabilities (i.e. viewing of CAD Data)
Workflow Management
Collaborative Workspace systems
Part configurators
3
3
3
2
2
1
1
0
%
50
50
50
33
33
17
17
0
Comments:
-
Use of Collaborative Engineering tools is just starting and as a result is in its infancy. Our company
has had electronic global Engineering Change Management tools in place for over 10 years, has had
a global image repository for 7+ years, and has been using local CAD vaulting tools for more than 6
years. All of these current capabilities will continue to evolve with the next wave of PLM including
more integration and functionality.
66
/No
XX
2,5
2,3
2,3
2,2
1,7
1,6
1,4
1,3
1,2
1
0,3
0
14 How did you plan/execute the implementation?

Rank
1
1
3
3
2
2
1
1
Internally
Together with software vendor
Together with system integrator
Together with software vendor and system integrator
%
29
29
14
14
15 Who has normally access to and is using the PLM system?

Rank
1
2
3
3
5
6
6
6
9
10
Manufacturing
Service
Marketing
Sales
Customer
Supplier
Access
0
3
1
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
%
0
43
14
14
29
14
14
14
14
14
Using
5
3
3
3
2
1
1
1
%
71
43
43
43
29
14
14
14
Comments:
Customer access to our PLM capabilities is through our Electronic Catalog and not direct
access. Direct secure access is being planned for the coming year for Suppliers.
16 Is there an interface to the ERP system?
Rank
1
2
Yes
No
3
1
%
75
25
Comments:
Interface to MRP is currently planned through a master Part Index as a hub and not directly.
17 If there is an interface, how is ownership of data respectively transformation of
ownership in the product development process regulated?
Rank
1
2
2
4
Master Data is kept in ERP system

Master Data is kept in PLM system
Master Data is transferred from PLM in ERP system
2
1
1
0
%
50
25
25
0
Comments:
-
Data is mastered multiple places with a movement to single masters based upon the data itself.
Manufacturing data like MBOM are mastered in our MRP systems. Engineering data like
document/part revision control and part-doc relationships is mastered in our PLM tool set. The goal
is to support a global Part Index to roll-up all relevant information from different masters.
67
18 Did the implementation slow down the productivity of your company?

Rank
1
2
3
3
A little bit
No
Significantly
Dramatically
3
1
0
0
%
75
25
0
0
Comments:
-
The implementation of our ERP system has certainly had an impact on company productivity.
However the initial deployment of our new PLM tools has not had a significant impact on end user
productivity.
19 Did you in any form measure the ROI? If so, how did you measure and with what
results?
Rank
1
2
No
Yes
4
0
%
100
0
How:
Results:
20 Are you satisfied with the success of the implementation and with the results achieved?
Rank
1
2
3
Partially
Yes
No
2
1
0
%
67
33
0
Please give reasons:

-
Too early to tell and much more is planned.
21 Did you install/establish a pilot group testing the new scenario?

Rank
1
2
Yes
No
3
0
%
100
0
68
III
Changes
22 Did your product development process change with the implementation?

Rank
1
2
3
Partially
No
Yes
2
2
0
%
50
50
0
Comments:
If something has changed please describe what has changed (i.e. interdisciplinary virtual team
approaches, involvement people from different disciplines):
Our initial deployment of new PLM capabilities was focused on replacing some legacy
CAD vaulting solutions and consequently no process change was required. As new
capabilities are being added and as we begin to decommission our legacy [Engineering]
Change Management application, there is expected to be significant process changes.
Only in minor manner. Discussion ongoing
23 Has the organisational structure in your company been changed with the
implementation?
Rank
1
2
2
No
Partially
Yes
4
0
0
%
100
0
0
If your organisational structure was changed, please describe what was changed (i.e. removal
of layers; interdisciplinary, globally dispersed teams; global product family business units..):
24 Has the culture of your company changed with the implementation?
Rank
1
2
2
No
Partially
Yes
4
0
0
%
100
0
0
If the culture was changed to what has it been changed (i.e. promotion of collaboration
and communication)?
As the PLM tool set evolves there is expected to be a significant cultural change with less
local data/knowledge and more global collaboration.
You have to have an open minded culture in the company, otherwise you will not overcome
many discussions.
69
IV
25 Has a (shared) vision with the implementation of a PLM system been established? (i.e.
we want to be the No 1 in customer service/we want to manufacture the most innovative
products)
Rank
1
1
Yes
No
2
2
%
50
50
26 Has an as is (current state) analysis of the product development process been

performed before implementing?
Rank
1
2
Yes
No
4
0
%
100
0
27 Has a strategy been defined how to reach the to be (target) situation defined in the
vision?
Rank
1
2
Yes
No
4
0
%
100
0
Comments:
More work is needed to clearly articulate the Vision and communicate it.
28 How was the decision to implement a PLM system and the changes required
communicated with the people affected?
Rank
1
1
1
1
1
6
7
Intranet
Internal newspaper
Notice Board
Workshops
e-mail
No communication took place
2
2
2
2
2
1
0
%
29
29
29
29
29
14
0
Comments:
Steering Group formed as well as many one-on-one discussions with key engineering
leaders.
Information in several steps and different ways
70
29 What are the main problems and barriers during implementation?

Rank
XXX
1
1
1
4
4
6
6
6
6
6
11
12
12
12
12
16
17
2
2
Partially
true
1
2
1,5
2
1
1
1
1
2
2
3
2
1
1
1
1
6
4
5
4
2
2
4
4
3
2
4
3
4
4
2
2
4
4
4
3
1,5
1,3
1,3
1
1
1
1
1
0,8
0,7
1
2
1
1
2
2
2
1
3
3
3
2
0,7
0,7
0,7
0,5
True
Weight/Factor
Not enough (visible and vocal) support from senior
management
Time for implementation needed, longer than expected
Focus too much on technological aspects
Resistance of Middle Management to change
Availability of people from implementation team
Goals are to aggressive, organisation is not capable to cope
Organisation and procedures are not adapted to the new
situation (technological and organisational integration on
different levels)
Intercultural problems (i.e. language barriers)
No
/No
X
6
X
4
XX
1,5
1
1
2
2
2
3
2
1
1
Not true
2
1
2
1
30 What of the following organisational change management methods were used during the
implementation?
Rank
XXX
1
1
3
4
5
5
5
8
8
8
11
11
11
11
15
15
17
17
Weight/ Factor
Establishing a concept to regularly communicate with people
involved
Planning, realising and celebrating short term wins (to build
confidence)
Establishing a sense of urgency (burning platform)
Build a critical mass for change: buy-in and stay-in
Vocal and visible support of senior management (walking the talk)
Facilitate learning/skill building (to acquire new behaviour)
Empowering people/teams to act on the vision defined
Feedback (i.e. through employee survey, customer inquiry, 360
Feedback)
Changing reward systems to support the change initiative
Hiring, promoting, developing employees who can implement the
vision
yes
2
3
partially
1
1
3
2
1
1
2
2
1
1
1
1
no
0
X
7
No
X
4
/No
XXX
1,8
7
5
4
3
1,8
1,7
1
1
1
1
2
6
4
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
2
2
1
4
3
4
3
4
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
1,5
1,3
1,3
1,3
1
1
1
0,7
0,7
0,7
0,7
0,3
2
3
3
1
0
0
3
3
3
0,3
0
0
1
3
2
2
1
3
2
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
71
31 What kind of training did users receive during the implementation?

Rank
XXX
1
2
3
4
4
4
4
Weight/Factor
Training in conflict management, group dynamics
Skill building regarding the PLM vision (new process training)
Train how to take responsibility and have the obligation to assist
those being responsible
All
users
2
3
1
Some
users
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
No
user
0
1
1
2
2
2
2
No
/No
X
7
3
1
1
1
1
1
X
4
3
2
3
3
3
3
XXX
1,8
1
0,5
0,3
0,3
0,3
0,3
Comments:
A Train-the-Trainer approach was taken for global deployment of the initial PLM
application. Similar approaches are planned for the future.
32 What are the main/important factors for a successful implementation?
Rank
XXX
1
1
3
3
5
6
6
6
9
9
9
12
12
12
15
very
important
Weight/Factor
3
Early involvement of people being affected by 3
the changes
3
2
2
1
Clarify in an early stage the ownership of data
1
Appropriate training and coaching for people 1
involved
1
Vocal and visible support of senior management
(walking the talk)
Realisation and Celebration of Short Term Wins 1
collaboration culture (boundaryless organisation)
1
Communicate and explain the changes involved 1
with the implementation
Establishing a sense of urgency/burning platform 1
initiative
No /No
X
11
X
4
XX
2,8
11
10
10
5
9
4
4
4
2
4
2,8
2,5
2,5
2,5
2,3
2,3
2
2
7
4
3
2
2,3
2
important
2
1
less
important
1
1
2
2
1
3
not
important
0
NA
1
3
6
6
3
3
2
2
2
3
7
7
4
4
1,8
1,8
1
1
7
1
4
3
1,8
0,3
1
2
72
Appendix C: Questionnaires - Summary (Software Vendors and System Integrators)
Appendix C: Questionnaires - Summary (System Integrators and Software Vendors)

n=13
1. What goals are important to define (should be defined) for the implementation of a Product
Lifecycle Management (PLM) system?
Rank
very
important
3
11
9
XXX
1
2
important
less
important
1
not
important
0
No /No
Weight/Factor
2
X X
XXX
2
37 13 2,8
Enabling extended enterprises through
3
1
33 13 2,6
integration of customers and suppliers
3
Integrate internal islands of
8
4
1
32 13 2,5
automation **
4
7
5
1
32 13 2,5
5
Improve quality
6
6
1
31 13 2,4
6
Support the overall business strategy
6
6
1
30 13 2,3
7
5
7
1
30 13 2,3
8
5
5
2
1
27 13 2,1
9
Redefine the product development
3
8
2
27 13 2,1
process
10
4
5
4
26 13 2,0
11
8
5
21 13 1,6
through part configurators accessible via
the Internet)
*
product data vaulting/warehousing, part classification, search functionality, cross referencing, revision control,
workflow, electronic engineering change management, document management
**
integrate different CA Tools; integrate several databases storing product related data into one (single point of
access)
***
Comments:
-
Question is difficult to answer because all improvement initiatives and solutions have more or less these
same objectives. So this is not a discriminator for PLM.
A lot of customers would be happy to have this classic PDM function in place
2. Who is normally involved in the product definition process?

Rank
XXX
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Weight/Factor
Manufacturing
Supplier
Marketing
Service
Sales
Customer
frequently
3
12
10
4
4
3
3
4
2
1
occasionally
2
1
2
7
5
7
5
4
5
4
7
seldom
1
never
0
1
4
3
4
3
5
8
5
1
2
1
1
X
38
34
26
26
26
23
23
21
19
19
No
X
13
13
11
13
13
13
13
13
13
13
/No
XX
2,9
2,6
2,4
2
2
1,8
1,8
1,6
1,5
1,5
Comments:
-
Again difficult to answer: you are asking who IS today, not who should. Therefore I answered
occasionally for most, even though they should be involved frequently (in my opinion).
Depends on the phase in the development cycle
73
3. Who has normally access to and is using a PLM system? (A= Access ; U =Using)
frequently
A(1),U(8)
A(1),U(11)
A(2),U(5)
A(2),U(1)
U(6)
U(2)
A(1),U(3)
A(1)
A(1)
U(2)

Marketing
Manufacturing
Sales
Service
Senior Management (CEO, CTO,...)
Customer
Supplier
occasionally
A(1),U(2)
U(1)
A(4),U(3)
A(4),U(2)
A(2),U(3)
A(4),U(2)
A(1),U(6)
A(2),U(2)
A(2),U(2)
A(3),U(5)
seldom
U(1)
never
A(1),U(2)
A(1),U(1)
A(1),U(4)
A(2),U(1)
A(3),U(2)
A(3),U(4)
A(3)
1
1
3
2
Comments:
Sales uses CRM (which has links to PLM), Suppliers usage is increasing
4. Is a (shared) vision with the implementation of a PLM system being established (i.e. we
want to be the No. 1 in customer service/we want to manufacture the most innovative
products)?
Rank
1
2
3
4
Sometimes
Normally not
Yes
No
10
2
1
0
%
77
15
8
0
Comments:
But this is key and the vision should be provable
5. Is an as is (current state) analysis of the product development process being performed
before implementing?
Rank
1
2
3
4
Sometimes
Yes
Normally not
No
8
4
1
0
%
62
31
8
0
Comments:
We prefer a should be approach
6. Is a strategy defined how to reach the to be (target) situation defined in the vision?
Rank
1
2
3
4
Yes
Sometimes
Normally not
No
7
6
0
0
%
54
46
0
0
Comments:
For large scale projects the answer is yes
74
7. Is a pilot group testing the new scenario being established?

Rank
1
2
3
4
Yes
Sometimes
Normally not
No
8
4
1
0
%
62
31
8
0
Comments:
More likely to be normally not, but still sometimes it happens.
8. Does the implementation slow down the productivity of companies?
Rank
1
2
3
4
A little bit
No
Significantly
Dramatically
7
5
1
0
%
54
38
8
0
Comments:
The PLM roadmap should actively deal with risks like decreasing productivity and should
include strategies to avoid or minimise these risks.
The aim clearly is not to negatively influence productivity. For that reason a strategy and a
good preparation are necessary.
9. Is there an interface to the ERP system?
Rank
1
2
3
4
Yes
Sometimes
Normally not
No
9
4
0
0
%
69
31
0
0
Comments:
This is always customer and business specific. All the cases appear in our projects.
10. If there is an interface, how is ownership of data respectively transformation of ownership in
the product development process been regulated?
Rank
1
2
3
4
5

Master data is transferred from PLM in ERP system
Master data is kept in ERP system
Other: All of the above solutions do appear
Master data is kept in PLM system
6
4
3
3
1
%
46
31
23
23
8
Comments:
You will find all kind of projects. It depends of the customer and of the industry!
Project dependent
75
11. What changes are required to successfully implement a PLM system?

Rank
XXX
1
2
3
4
5
Weight/Factor
interdisciplinary virtual team
approaches, workflow changes)
communication and collaboration
culture)
Empowering of people / teams
(i.e. designers having direct customer
contact)
Changes in the organisational model
(i.e. removing of layers, networked
organisation)
Product line rationalisation
(i.e. to enable mass customisation)
Other: Establishing a new business
model (e.g. Full Service Provider
instead of Product Manufacturer)
Other:
Management awareness
very
important
3
6
important
2
7
5
3
less
important
1
not
important
No /No
X
32
X
13
XX
2,5
29
12
2,4
26
13
24
13
1,8
17
11
1,5
1
1
12. How is the implementation of a PLM system and the changes required hereof communicated
with the people affected?
Rank
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Workshops
Intranet
Notice Board
e-mail
Internal newspaper
Employee Survey
Other: Awareness Sessions (2 hour
Meetings) that will be combined with
feedback questionnaires
Other: PLM Solution Lab
No communication required
12
10
10
7
7
5
4
1
%
92
77
77
54
54
38
31
8
1
0
8
0
Comments:
Since PLM is an integration program, a marketing and communication strategy and roadmap is
required. All channels/media for internal and external (suppliers, customers, partners)
communication should be part of this strategy.
76
13. What changes in the organisational structure are necessary to best support PLM? (Please
describe)
-
Destroy functional borders into the product definition process. Build groups with all roles to fulfil the
product definition process.
IT should be part of the product definition process end user satisfaction is key!
Ports the factory planning and simulation process earlier in the product definition process. Use the DM
function to simulate the production process as early as possible.
Changes towards process and product orientation should be initiated. This could mean more responsibility
for project managers (in product development programs) or the decision to establish product managers for
strategic product lines.
Implementation of process organisation
Implementation of project management
Implementation of cross functional teams
This depends very much on the type of organisation, the type of product and the management style the
specific company has adopted or wants to adopt. Not one answer possible.
For the implementation absolutely necessary is the end of the thinking in departments and of possessing of
product data by departments or people.
Product Managers should be stronger than department managers
Bonuses of product managers should be linked to success of PLM
People need to be motivated, solutions must be sold internally
No changes are necessary but a good project/process oriented organisation is a good starting point for
success
Establish global process, involving several partners
14. What of the following organisational change management methods/tools are used during the
implementation of a PLM system?
Rank
XXX
1
2
2
3
4
4
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
Weight/Factor
Establishing a concept to regularly
communicate with people involved
Planning, realising and celebrating short term
wins (to build confidence)
Vocal and visible support of senior
management (walking the talk)
Build a critical mass for change: buy-in and
stay-in
Facilitate learning/skill building (to acquire
new behaviour)
Feedback (i.e. through employee survey,
customer inquiry, 360 Feedback)
Empowering people/teams to act on the vision
defined
Establishing a sense of urgency (burning
platform)
Hiring, promoting, developing employees who
can implement the vision
Changing reward systems to support the
change initiative
frequently
3
9
8
8
occasionally
2
2
3
3
seldom
1
2
2
2
7
6
6
2
4
4
4
2
2
6
5
5
6
1
2
never
0
X
33
32
32
No
X
13
13
13
/No
XX
2,5
2,5
2,5
29
28
28
13
13
13
2,2
2,2
2,2
29
29
13
13
2,2
2,2
26
12
2,2
27
13
2,1
27
13
2,1
4
4
2
6
4
8
2
3
2
1
2
1
26
23
24
13
13
13
2
1,8
1,8
22
13
1,7
4
6
4
6
2
1
18
18
12
13
1,5
1,4
16
13
1,2
1
1
77
15. What kind of training do users receive during a PLM system implementation?
Rank
XXX
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Weight/Factor
Skill building regarding the PLM vision (new
process training)
Training in conflict management, group
dynamics
Train how to take responsibility and have the
obligation to assist those being responsible
Always
Sometimes
Normally
not
1
Never
No /No
3
12
3
2
1
8
X
38
27
X
13
13
XX
2,9
2,1
1
1
7
6
6
4
6
6
1
1
21
21
18
13
13
13
1,6
1,6
1,4
17
13
1,3
15
13
1,2
16. Is your implementation approach depending on the culture of a company?

Rank
1
2
3
4
Yes
Sometimes
Normally not
No
9
3
1
%
69
23
8
Comments:
-
If the 'normal' implementation approach is leading to resistance appropriate action will be taken.
17. What are the main/important problems during the implementation phase?
Rank
XXX
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
10
12
13
14
15
16
17
Weight/Factor
Not enough support from senior management
Resistance of middle management to change
Focus too much on technological aspects, too
less on people
Organisation and procedures are not adapted
to the new situation (technological and
organisational integration on different levels)
Time for implementation needed, longer than
expected
Goals are to aggressive, organisation is not
capable to cope
Availability of people from implementation
team
Intercultural problems (i.e. language barriers)
very
important
3
7
8
8
6
important
2
6
3
2
6
6
7
6
5
5
5
less
important
1
not
important
0
No /No
2
3
1
X
33
32
31
31
X
13
13
13
13
XX
2,5
2,5
2,4
2,4
5
3
5
7
6
4
1
3
2
1
2
4
29
30
30
30
29
27
12
13
13
13
13
13
2,4
2,3
2,3
2,3
2,2
2,1
5
4
4
5
4
3
27
25
13
12
2,1
2,1
26
13
24
12
21
12
1,8
20
12
1,7
16
13
1,2
78
Comments:
Clear goals are the prerequisite for the support of senior management. Priority one is always
the actual productivity.
18. What are the main/important factors for a successful implementation.
Rank
XXX
1
2
3
3
3
6
7
8
8
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Weight/Factor
by the changes
Align and mobilise leaders
Appropriate training and coaching for people
involved
collaboration culture (boundaryless
organisation)
Realisation and celebration of Short Term
Wins
Engage, communicate and explain the
changes involved with stakeholders
Clarify in an early stage the ownership of
data
Empowering people to act on the vision
defined
Establishing a sense of urgency/burning
platform
initiative
very
important
3
10
10
No /No
2
3
2
X
36
35
X
13
13
XX
2,8
2,7
7
7
7
5
5
5
1
1
1
32
32
32
13
13
13
2,5
2,5
2,5
6
7
6
4
1
1
31
30
13
13
2,4
2,3
30
13
2,3
30
13
2,3
29
13
2,2
4
3
3
2
7
10
8
9
2
1
1
28
29
26
25
13
13
13
13
2,2
2,2
2
1,9
10
23
13
1,8
14
13
1,1
important
less
important
1
not
important
0
1
1
Comments:
If there is the commitment from senior management middle management often has to behave
appropriately.
19. How would you rate the positive impact of Change Management Methods on the success of a
PLM implementation?
Rank
1
2
3
4
High
Medium
Low
No
6
4
2
0
%
50
33
17
0
Comments:
Depends on how they are implemented
79
20. To what degree is the implementation success depending on the company culture?
Rank
1
1
3
4
High
Medium
Low
No
5
5
2
0
%
42
42
16
0
Comments:
Company culture is a reflection of behaviour and activities of individual people. Most
important is CEO responsiveness to changing market requirements and power to change.
A company culture that contradicts the introduction of a new system will not survive very long
21. Are the results achieved through the implementation of a PLM satisfactory?
Rank
1
2
3
4
Yes
Partially
Sometimes
No
7
3
1
1
%
54
25
8
8
Please explain:
-
A successful implementation actively supports users in living new processes and leads to long-term
profitability
A lot of companies have a lot of different experiences with PDM systems, not always being positive. A
number of visionaries have achieved tremendous steps forward by understanding PDM as a product
development methodology.
The potential of benefits is so big, that it will be hard to not be successful in achieving them.
Since the introduction of PLM solution very ... is results are often not immediately measurable. This would
only be the case when all interfaces and working methods were adopted to the new system. This state very
rarely is reached because already during the implementation phase modifications have to be done that are
changing parts of the whole concept and so not all goals can be achieved. But this seems to be a normal
process, since the internal company organisation is always changing.
No one can work without afterwards
Project benefits are overestimated at the beginning of the project otherwise the management would not
invest in the system. The actual benefits are much less than estimated.
22. Is the Return On Investment measured?

Rank
1
2
3
4
Sometimes
Normally not
Yes
No
7
3
2
0
%
58
25
17
0
80
Comments:
-
Is in most cases very difficult, because of wrong or not existing measurement processes.
...though this is one of the most difficult metrics to measure
Very hard to do, because in most cases there is no real comparison possible
Its usually not possible to define if a benefit is really due to PLM or if it is due to another change in the
company or its environment.
If the senior management asks for there is certainly a ROI done although experienced managers do know
that these measurements are based on many uncertainties. In certain instances and applications it is possible
to perform past-present investigations, but the are not representative.
In a normal company this should be done
23. If yes, how is it measured and with what results?

How:
-
Monitoring of important process specific numbers, eg. Throughput time, time to market, overall product
costs, lifecycle costs
Usually a high number of qualitative and quantitative aspects like time to cash, engineer productivity, time
to release to manufacturing, number of design iterations, design failure, number of parts used and re-used,
search time etc. are checked by various means (data residing on the system and inquiries on various
participants and users during the implementation of a PLM system). Key is that the data acquisition and
interpretation part is done with the help of a good project management and industry expertise.
Based on the original ROI calculation:
Reduced time to market
Improved efficiency (more work with less people)
Reduced amount of different types and parts
Higher reusability of existing parts
Reduced cost for changes
Time and ... comparison for certain actions, statistical analysis of mistakes
Before project start a Benefit Potential Analysis is made, with a cost calculation. These figures are used to
get the ROI.
Stated metrics at the beginning regarding the value propositions at the start of the project. Value metrics
based upon business results and business financial goals.
Only on some aspects, e.g. number of parts, re-use, less re-creation
Results:
-
company and project specific

driving PLM projects with an ROI-focus usually gives the positive results
Cost reduction up to 30 %
Reduced lead time up to 40 %
Of course always positive since the example to investigate is always chosen on ones own
The Project Plan must insure to get a time of cost amortization of the project in 2 years. This is possible if
the project focuses on quick wins and functionality with highest priority.
81

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The Impact of Organisational Change Management on the

Masters dissertation at:

Fachhochschule Ludwigshafen am Rhein

Mr. Karl A. Scholz

My employer Tyco Electronics (formerly AMP Incorporated).

John Sandwell for reviewing the abstract

Stephan Prosser, who assisted in reviewing the questionnaires.

cf. Portella (2000)

From CA -Tools and PDM to Product Lifecycle Management (the

From Concurrent Engineering and Physical Co-location to Collaborative

Organisational Change Management

Main research issues

Concurrent Engineering and physical co-location

Collaborative engineering and virtual co-location

The organisational model for collaborative engineering and virtual colocation

Organisational Change Management and Information Technology (IT)

Organisational and cultural change and the implementation of a PLM

Change Management and the implementation of a PLM solution

Methodology and data collection

Secondary research (desk research)

Quantitative research (Survey)

Qualitative research (Interviews)

Results from quantitative research

Preparation for analysis

Results from qualitative research

Interpretation of research findings

What kind of companies do implement PLM?

The role of organisational culture

The role of organisational structure

The role of the product development processes

The role of Change Management

The Return on Investment (ROI) and the impact of Change Management

The relationship of the research results to published literature and

The appropriateness of data collection and methodology

The effect on professional practice

The implementation strategy

Appropriate Change Management methods and tools

Summary of principal features

Suggestions for business practice

Recommendations for future research

Questionnaires - Summary (All)

Questionnaires - Summary (Electronic Manufacturing Companies) 62

Questionnaires - Summary (Software Vendors and System

Software Vendors and System Integrators

Increased Outsourcing: Product complexity is increasing and companies are

From CA -Tools and PDM to Product Lifecycle Management (the

cf. anon (1995)

cf. Portella (2000)

From Concurrent Engineering and physical co-location to Collaborative

According to Miller (1998e) the product lifecycle is comprised of three primary

Organisational Change Management

The implementation of an enterprise wide IT system involves often structural as well as

1.2 Main research issues

Organisational Change Management, as a discipline to deal with the emotional reaction

1.3 Literature comment

Concurrent Engineering and physical co-location

1994). Allen (1977) developed a relationship between technical communication and

Collaborative Engineering and virtual co-location

Through globalisation, increased outsourcing and the increased number of alliances

The organisational model for Collaborative Engineering and virtual colocation

Organisational Change Management and Information Technology (IT)

dynamics of the organisational change process (Ciborra, 1991; Orlikowski and

Organisational and cultural change and the implementation of a PLM