Computer system, behavior, ethnic diversity, and motivation

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1. Joan is an accountant who opposes the introduction of a new financial control system. For 15 years she has worked with the old, manual system. Now the firm is introducing a new, computer based system. How would you attempt to change Joan's attitude about the new system?

Answer:
A change to computer-based system is a nightmare for most employees working under a manual system. But the trauma can be minimized if done properly. In the case of Joan who has been working for 15 years using the old system, converting to a new system immediately is not an option. If done with urgency, Joan's attitude would be to resist change.
However, the firm can do this. First is training and orientation, have Joan familiarize with the parts of the computer hardware, how the unit starts up, and how to open the computer-based system. This will take one to two weeks.
Better still, apply a parallel activity during the dry run activity of the new system. This means that for one week the old manual system and the computerized system will be allowed to run using the same data. Let Joan be at the forefront of this activity.
Then a time and motion study can be applied. Let Joan and other employees involved measure the output in terms of: how long does it take for the old system to do the job, how long does it take for the computer-based system to do the same job. I'm very sure that there will be significant differences on the results favoring the computerized system.
Epstein suggested that for the company to succeed in converting from manual to computer-based system careful steps must be done. She suggested that:
If you're converting a manual bookkeeping system to a computerized system, your conversion will take a bit more time than just starting fresh because you need to be sure your new system starts with information that matches your current books. The process for entering your initial data varies depending on the software you've chosen. To ensure that you properly convert your bookkeeping system, use the information that comes with your software; read through the manual, review the startup suggestions made as you set up the system, and pick the methods that best match your style of operating.
The best time to convert is at the end of an accounting period. That way, you won't have to do a lot of extra work adding transactions that already occurred during a period. For example, if you decide to computerize your accounting system on March 15, you'd have to add all the transactions that occurred between March 1 and March 15 into your new system. It's just easier to wait until April 1 to get started even if you buy the software on March 15. While you can convert to a computerized accounting system at the end of a month, your best time to do it is at the end of a calendar or fiscal year. Otherwise, you have to input data for all the months of the year that have passed.
Whenever you decide to start your computerized bookkeeping, use the data from your trial balance that you used to close the books at the end of most recent accounting period. In the computerized system, enter the balances for each of the accounts in your trial balance. Asset, liability, and equity accounts should have carry-over balances, but Income and Expense accounts should have zero balances.
Of course, if you're starting a new business, you won't have a previous trial balance. Then you just enter any balances you might have in your cash accounts, any assets your business may own as it starts up, and any liabilities that your business may already owe relating to startup expenses. You also add any contributions from owners that were made to get the business started in the Equity accounts.
After you enter all the appropriate data, run a series of financial reports, such as an income statement and balance sheet, to be sure the data is entered and formatted the way you like it. It's a lot easier to change ...