Roles Models

The individuals in your organization who are the role models play a critical part in the use of technology. There are three types:

The Promoters

These individuals believe strongly in the use of technology to enhance the work process and the reliability of their organization or plant. They are the strong supporters of technology solutions and improved processes.

The Inhibitors

These individuals do not fully support the use of technology to drive improved maintenance and reliability. They are the individuals who believe that what we have is good enough – even if it is highly manual in nature and user intensive. They continually put up roadblocks to delay the delay use of tools that, when coupled with improved process, would otherwise drastically improve performance.

The Statue

These individuals believe that change in the form of new technology is not a priority and that the status quo is sufficient. I call them statues because they do not ever want to change. In many ways, they are similar to the inhibitors because they delay progress.

Role models who fit the definition of Inhibitor or Statue are difficult to change. It may be possible to win their support with a convincing business case, but getting them to see the value of the new technology will not be easy.

In those cases where you can get them to support the acquisition of new technology, great care is needed with regard to the culture. Recall the prior discussions about role models: The organization and the culture existing within the organization take their work cues from their role models. If these individuals are promoters, technology will be acquired and its use mandated. However, if the role models fall into the other categories, the technology — although acquired — may never be used.

Lack of use of the technology you acquire causes several problems.

First, the project fails, costing the organization money and time. Second, there is no progress. Third, the damage done as a result of bad implementation usually creates a situation in which the organization is not capable of additional change for a considerable time.

Cultural Infrastructure

Implementation of technology is a double-edged sword. If the technology is implemented correctly and provides what the users need to properly execute their jobs, it is truly an enabler of the change process. However, the technology could be implemented poorly, it may not serve the users’ needs, or, worse, it may make their lives more difficult. In this case, the technology becomes fuel for opponents within the infrastructure not only to undermine the technology, but also to undermine the work process that the technology was designed to support.

Therefore, the members of the cultural infrastructure and the various roles that they play within it are important in successfully implementing new technology or technology upgrades.

Story Tellers

These individuals promote the current culture through war stores about how the culture supported the business. New technology often works with the process changes to support the business in far different ways – for example, the switch from reactive maintenance to planning and scheduling of the work. Story tellers need new stories that focus on the new technology and how it vastly improves the status quo. Because they will not seek these stories on their own, you must provide them. In efforts such as technology rollouts, you must rely on frequent communication showing how the new technology is an improvement. But be careful! New stories must be based on fact; otherwise, the story tellers will see through the ruse and you will be worse off than before you started.

Keepers of the Faith

Because keepers of the faith have the specific task of maintaining the old way, you need to help them recognize the improvements of the new. One way is to include them as a part of the project team. They can then clearly see the value of the change as well as being able to represent that value to the rest of the organization. Because these individuals are viewed as mentors, their support should go a long way to promoting the change.

Whisperers and Gossips

Bad planning and execution of a technology effort, or any change effort for that matter, is food for the whisperers and gossips. If mishandled, they will work behind the scenes to undermine the efforts of the project team. However, if the effort is well planned and well executed, the members of these two groups will have little to whisper or gossip about.

Spies

Spies disrupt technology efforts by taking information out of context, passing it along to their contacts in power, and causing problems as the information is misinterpreted and acted upon. Examples include telling managers that the project is behind schedule without telling them that a recovery plan has been implemented or telling someone the consultant has not developed the training when, in reality, it has already been developed by another firm.

In each of these cases, the work is slowed down. The project team has to stop and conduct damage control when, in fact, there was no damage in the first place. Each interruption is a problem and is further exacerbated when the false or partial information is spread through the organization by the gossips and whisperers. Upfront and complete communication, including the status of the work plan, can often solve this problem

13.6 Conclusion

Technology is an important component of the change process. It enables change and many of the other elements of the change process. However, as you have seen, careful attention is needed in addressing how it impacts the other change elements as well as how it impacts the organization’s culture. If handled correctly, technology will provide great value. What hasn’t been considered in the past, and must be if we are to be successful in the future, is the way that technology affects the culture.

Copyright 2005, Industrial Press Inc., New York, NY