Organisational Culture and the Management of Technological Change: A Theoretical Perspective

The modern business environment is characterised by constant economic upheaval and incessant technological changes and the pace of change has accelerated with the emergence of the Internet. Consequently the management of technological change has become a major challenge for almost all organisations. Increasingly researchers have refocused their attention from planned models of change management to understanding the emergent nature of change. It is now widely acknowledged that one of the major obstacles to managing change is organisational culture. Since cultural concepts have their origins in anthropology, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the contribution which anthropology can make in the study of organisational culture and, by implication, the management of technological change. This paper recognises some of the inherent weaknesses with existing cultural models and approaches within the literature; most studies assume that culture is static over time; that culture is homogenous (disregarding cultural pluralism) and there is a tendency to represent culture in terms of conceptual dichotomies. In this paper, a theoretical framework originating from anthropology (grid and group cultural theory) is put forward as a more coherent and interpretive research framework for examining organisational culture and the management of technological change.

[1]  R E Miles,et al.  Organizational strategy, structure, and process. , 1978, Academy of management review. Academy of Management.

[2]  D. Bell,et al.  Natural Symbols: Explorations in Cosmology. , 1972 .

[3]  Eileen M. Trauth,et al.  Situating culture in the global information sector , 2002, Inf. Technol. People.

[4]  Ray Hackney,et al.  The efficacy of information systems in the public sector , 1995 .

[5]  W. Orlikowski.  Using Technology and Constituting Structures: A Practice Lens for Studying Technology in Organizations , 2000 .

[6]  B. Bernstein.  Theoretical Studies Towards a Sociology of Language , 1972 .

[7]  Edgar H. Schein,et al.  Coming to a new awareness of organizational culture , 1984 .

[8]  Yehuda Baruch,et al.  Cultural Theory and Organizations: Analytical Method and Cases , 1998 .

[9]  Barry Shore,et al.  Role of national culture in the transfer of information technology , 1996, J. Strateg. Inf. Syst..

[10]  Katarina Steinwachs,et al.  Information and culture - the impact of national culture on information processes , 1999, J. Inf. Sci..

[11]  Wanda J. Orlikowski,et al.  Information Technology and the Structuring of Organizations , 2011 .

[12]  Robert D. Macredie,et al.  IT-enabled change: evaluating an improvisational perspective , 1999 .

[13]  C. Hood.  The Art of the State: Culture, Rhetoric, and Public Management , 1998 .

[14]  Robert Chia,et al.  On Organizational Becoming: Rethinking Organizational Change , 2002, Organ. Sci..

[15]  David E. Avison,et al.  Information systems and anthropology: and anthropological perspective on IT and organizational culture , 1995, Inf. Technol. People.

[16]  Edgar H. Schein,et al.  On dialogue, culture, and organizational learning , 1993 .

[17]  S. Kanungo.  An empirical study of organizational culture and network-based computer use , 1998 .

[18]  Madeleine Akrich,et al.  A Summary of a Convenient Vocabulary for the Semiotics of Human and Nonhuman Assemblies , 1992 .

[19]  G. Hofstede,et al.  Culture′s Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values , 1980 .

[20]  G. Carroll,et al.  Keeping the faith: A model of cultural transmission in formal organizations , 1991 .

[21]  M. Lynne Markus,et al.  Technochange management: using IT to drive organizational change , 2004, J. Inf. Technol..

[22]  Roger Elvin,et al.  A new framework for managing IT‐enabled business change , 1999, Inf. Syst. J..

[23]  Jeffrey D. Ford,et al.  Logics of Identity, Contradiction, and Attraction in Change , 1994 .

[24]  Madeleine Akrich,et al.  The De-scription of Technical Objects , 1992 .

[25]  P. Adler,et al.  Two Types of Bureaucracy: Enabling and Coercive , 1996 .

[26]  Wanda J. Orlikowski,et al.  Studying Information Technology in Organizations: Research Approaches and Assumptions , 1991, Inf. Syst. Res..

[27]  W. Orlikowski,et al.  An Improvisational Model of Change Management: The Case of Groupware Technologies , 1996 .

[28]  Catherine E. Connelly,et al.  Information systems research and Hofstede's culture's consequences: an uneasy and incomplete partnership , 2003, IEEE Trans. Engineering Management.

[29]  M. Feldman.  Organizational Routines as a Source of Continuous Change , 2000 .

[30]  F. Fukuyama.  Trust: The Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity Penguin London , 1995 .

[31]  Nava Pliskin,et al.  The effects of information systems integration and organizational culture on a firm's effectiveness , 1996, Inf. Manag..

[32]  P. Adler.  Market, Hierarchy, and Trust: The Knowledge Economy and the Future of Capitalism , 2001 .

[33]  Gerry Johnson,et al.  Strategic Change and the Management Process , 1987 .

[34]  Jong-min Choe,et al.  The consideration of cultural differences in the design of information systems , 2004, Inf. Manag..

[35]  K. Eisenhardt,et al.  The Art of Continuous Change : Linking Complexity Theory and Time-Paced Evolution in Relentlessly Shifting Organizations , 1997 .

[36]  W. Galston.  Trust: The Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity , 1996 .

[37]  Basil B. Bernstein,et al.  Class, codes, and control : theoretical studies towards a sociology of language , 1975 .

[38]  Wanda J. Orlikowski,et al.  Improvising Organizational Transformation Over Time: A Situated Change Perspective , 1996, Inf. Syst. Res..

[39]  Randall Collins,et al.  Class, Codes, and Control* , 1981 .

[40]  G. Johnson.  Managing Strategic Change; The Role of Symbolic Action , 1990 .