Successful Technology Implementation Research Articles

Critical attributes of organizational culture that promote knowledge management technology implementation success

Many scholars and practitioners claim that a supportive organizational culture can enable the successful implementation of knowledge management (KM) technology initiatives. However, little empirical research has been conducted to define the key organizational culture attributes that support more effective application of KM technologies. In this study, the 44 cultural attributes of the organizational culture profile (OCP) and the knowledge management technology profile (KMTP) instruments were used to identify and rank the most critical organizational culture attributes that promote knowledge sharing and KM technology implementation success. Data were collected from 26 US organizations that were implementing KM. The results of the data analysis revealed sufficient evidence to establish a correlation between specific cultural attributes and the successful implementation of knowledge management technology and knowledge sharing.

An extension of the technology acceptance model in an ERP implementation environment

This paper presents an extension to the technology acceptance model (TAM) and empirically examines it in an enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation environment. The study evaluated the impact of one belief construct (shared beliefs in the benefits of a technology) and two widely recognized technology implementation success factors (training and communication) on the perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use during technology implementation. Shared beliefs refer to the beliefs that organizational participants share with their peers and superiors on the benefits of the ERP system. Using data gathered from the implementation of an ERP system, we showed that both training and project communication influence the shared beliefs that users form about the benefits of the technology and that the shared beliefs influence the perceived usefulness and ease of use of the technology. Thus, we provided empirical and theoretical support for the use of managerial interventions, such as training and communication, to influence the acceptance of technology, since perceived usefulness and ease of use contribute to behavioral intention to use the technology.

Speaking Up in the Operating Room: How Team Leaders Promote Learning in Interdisciplinary Action Teams

ABSTRACT This paper examines learning in interdisciplinary action teams. Research on team effectiveness has focused primarily on single‐discipline teams engaged in routine production tasks and, less often, on interdisciplinary teams engaged in discussion and management rather than action. The resulting models do not explain differences in learning in interdisciplinary action teams. Members of these teams must coordinate action in uncertain, fast‐paced situations, and the extent to which they are comfortable speaking up with observations, questions, and concerns may critically influence team outcomes. To explore what leaders of action teams do to promote speaking up and other proactive coordination behaviours – as well as how organizational context may affect these team processes and outcomes – I analysed qualitative and quantitative data from 16 operating room teams learning to use a new technology for cardiac surgery. Team leader coaching, ease of speaking up, and boundary spanning were associated with successful technology implementation. The most effective leaders helped teams learn by communicating a motivating rationale for change and by minimizing concerns about power and status differences to promote speaking up in the service of learning.

Framing for Learning: Lessons in Successful Technology Implementation

The decision to adopt a new technology in the health care setting is merely the first step in an implementation journey. While some new technologies are readily embraced by those who must use them, most are met with some resistance. In some cases, members of diverse groups—including administrators, clinicians, and technicians—must work together for a new technology to effectively take hold, becoming incorporated into routine practice in an organization. This article reports on a qualitative study of hospitals adopting a new technology for minimally invasive cardiac surgery that uncovered substantial differences in both approach and implementation success. Four case studies are presented to illustrate distinct, tacit frames held by the leaders of each implementation project and how these influenced the team learning process and, in turn, implementation success.

When bad implementations happen to good systems.

Successful technology implementation requires thorough, consistent change management.

Measuring Organic and Mechanistic Cultures

Knowledge workers in today's high-technology organizations require environments with organic characteristics. To retain highly skilled knowledge workers, managers need to determine whether their organizations exhibit organic or mechanistic cultures. Culture is an important factor in successful technology implementation, innovation, mergers, acquisitions, job satisfaction, organizational success, and team effectiveness. This article discusses organic and mechanistic organizational cultures and the organizational culture assessment (OCA) tool. The tool gives an organization's culture type and a numerical score for each of five culture elements. Survey results indicate that the OCA adequately measures organizational culture.

Organizational and strategic predictors of manufacturing technology implementation success: an exploratory study

In this study, we empirically investigate how organizational and strategic variables are related to success in technology implementation. Organizational culture, operations strategy, and the outcomes associated with manufacturing technology implementation are assessed from data collected from a sample of manufacturing plants across a wide range of industries. We then analyze the relationships between these variables using multiple regression analysis. Our findings indicate that both culture and strategy variables are significantly related to technology implementation, but the relationships are dissimilar for different types of implementation outcomes.

Organizational Culture and Successful Information Technology Implementation

Information technology has been the catalyst for the new source of economic wealth during the current economic period called the Information Age. Some industries and specific organizations have successfully implemented numerous information technologies and, as a result, enjoy great competitive advantages. Others have not. This article explores whether the internal environment enjoyed by an organization contributes to this success or failure. It also investigates whether the organization's cultural climate and its balance of concern for production issues vs. people issues play a role in implementation success. Data from this 3-year study of 18 companies involved in government and commercial ventures suggest a correlation between specific cultural attributes and the successful implementation of information technology systems. We found that people-oriented rather than production-oriented aspects exerted the most significant influence.

An Examination of How Science Teachers' Experiences in a Culture of Collaboration Inform Technology Implementation.

This paper presents a case study of Technology Enhanced Secondary Science Instruction (TESSI), a school-university collaboration designed to explore what can be accomplished when teachers and researchers work together to bring technology into the secondary science classroom. Features that contributed to a successful and powerful collaboration are explored. The paper illustrates how a “culture of collaboration” may contribute to significant technological reform, and foster conceptual change leading to distinctive pedagogy and praxis. The findings support Kimmel and Deek's contention that teachers should take a central role in reforms that direct the implementation of technologies within the classroom. The study highlights the value of drawing upon teacher experience, perspectives, and knowledge of classroom contexts, and illustrates how these may serve as a basis for designing successful technology implementation.

Ten Commandments for Successful Technology Implementation and Staff Development

President Clinton has set a goal of a computer in every classroom by the year 2000. What will be done with those computers once they are installed? Parents, teachers, students, and community members are likely to hold principals accountable for producing evidence that tech nology is enhancing teaching and learning in the classroom.

Negotiating successful technology implementation a motivation perspective

Abstract A framework based on expectancy theory, equity theory, and integrative negotiation strategies is proposed for improving the success rates of technology implementations. Negotiation strategies can be used to create integrative solutions such that the incentives to use the technology are distributed most effectively. Many of the current approaches to technology implementation focus on increasing the ease of use of the technology by lowering organizational and/or technological barriers blocking implementation success. An additional approach is to increase motivation to use the technology. Ease of use must be combined with making technology use desirable to the users. Implementers who approach implementation as an integrative negotiation will be best able to structure successful solutions.

Cognitive Elements in the Implementation of New Technology: Can Less Information Provide More Benefits?

Organizations have come to rely on technological innovation as a central component of their competitive strategy. While new technologies hold tremendous promise for enhancing organizations' efficiency and effectiveness, much of this potential is never realized. One study of 2000 U.S. companies found that 40% had not achieved the intended benefits from implementing an office technology. Significantly, less than 10% of these implementation failures appeared to stem from technical problems; most occurred for human and organizational reasons, such as poor technology management, including users' misunderstanding of the meaning and/or uses of the technology.Griffith and Northcraft previously proposed a model of cognitive determinants of technology implementation success. That model emphasizes that differences in cognitions (e.g., thoughts, perceptions, and constructed understandings) among users, designers, and implementers are critical determinants of implementation success. Prior researchers have provided broader models of implementation the Griffith and Northcraft (1993) model focuses on the problematic human and organizational components of technology implementation success.This research note explores the major mechanisms within the Griffith and Northcraft cognitive model. This model offers a fine-grained view of how user and implementer understandings influence implementation success. While broader implementation models suggest structural and process strategies for increasing the likelihood of implementation success, this model describes user and implementer understanding, and can be used to design appropriate implementation strategies.