Conclusions
The aim of this study was to examine and assess the effectiveness
IT migration project in a state-owned airline, with
respect to the phased change process proposed by Kotter
(1995). The research questioned the validity and the extent
of deviations in these eight phases through the critical
analysis of interviews from the staff that had key roles and
responsibilities in this project. The results obtained have indicated
that in general there is an agreement with the characteristics
of each phase; however, a closer look is necessary
to distinguish some peculiar findings. In particular, despite
the top management’s commitment to migrate to new electronic
services (selection of outsourcing solution, built-up
of a highly skilled project team, project support), there were
issues that obstructed and slowed down the process.
One of the factors that allowed the successful completion of
this migration project, as recognized in the research, was the
commitment of the project team, in terms of project leadership
(guidance, control, risk management). Project team had
to face the different challenges faced with respect to the
organizational change that had to take place in this state
owned company, just right from the early start of the project
to the final launch of the new electronic services. Thus, one
may consider that a significant degree of this success has to
be attributed to staff improvisation, rather than the company’s
(top management) strategic efforts (lack of systematic
and efficient reward system, absence of incentives for
morale boost, etc). An additional finding was that although
everyone was aware about the criticality of the situation, the
top management did not direct or coordinate the update
and training of the staff involved in the project, in terms of
modeling new behaviors for transitioning to a new organizational
culture. Unofficially, the project team has assigned to
carry on this responsibility, in addition to their education duties.
Every organization that goes through change gets into
a transition period of non-smooth operation until the staff
becomes accustomed with the new products and acquires
new knowledge from using them. Therefore, trained and educated
staff that knows more can do more, when management
enables them with the right resources and strategies
(Conner at al., 1992).
Based on the results, the participants changed their perspective
about customer services and the competitiveness
of the airline, which enabled them not only to change their
own viewpoints, but also to assess the general performance
of the company. This fact provides a clear indication of a
transformative learning process; a critical reflection on the
current knowledge, attitudes and beliefs that put new and
current practices into a new perspective (Mezirow, 1981;
Mezirow 1998). However, these reflection skills do not seem
to be widespread since the company staff (from top to bot