Information Technology and Organizational Learning

Managing Behavioral Change in the Digital Age

Arthur M. Langer

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781138238589
• eBook ISBN: 9781351387583
• Edition: 3
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Management
• Index: Business

Focusing on the critical role IT plays in organizational development, the book shows how to employ action learning to improve the competitiveness of an organization. Defining the current IT problem from an operational and strategic perspective, it presents a collection of case studies that illustrate key learning issues. It details a dynamic model for effective IT management through adaptive learning techniques—supplying proven educational theories and practices to foster the required changes in your staff. It examines existing organizational learning theories and the historical problems that occurred with companies that have used them, as well as those that have failed to use them.

1

THE “RAVELL” CORPORATION

Introduction

Launching into an explanation of information technology (IT), organizational learning, and the practical relationship into which I propose to bring them is a challenging topic to undertake. I choose, therefore, to begin this discussion by presenting an actual case study that exemplifies many key issues pertaining to organizational learning, and how it can be used to improve the performance of an IT department. Specifically, this chapter summarizes a case study of the IT department at the Ravell Corporation (a pseudonym) in New York City. I was retained as a consultant at the company to improve the performance of the department and to solve a mounting political problem involving IT and its relation to other departments. The case offers an example of how the growth of a company as a “learning ­organization”—one in which employees are constantly learning during the normal workday (Argyris, 1993; Watkins & Marsick, 1993)—­utilized reflective practices to help it achieve the practical strategic goals it sought. Individuals in learning organizations integrate processes of learning into their work. Therefore, a learning organization must advocate a system that allows its employees to interact, ask questions, and provide insight to the business. The learning organization will ultimately promote systematic thinking, and the building of organizational memory (Watkins & Marsick, 1993). A learning organization (discussed more fully in Chapter 4) is a component of the larger topic of organizational learning.

The Ravell Corporation is a firm with over 500 employees who, over the years, had become dependent on the use of technology to run its business. Its IT department, like that of many other companies, was isolated from the rest of the business and was regarded as a peripheral entity whose purpose was simply to provide technical support. This was accompanied by actual physical isolation—IT was placed in a contained and secure location away from mainstream operations. As a result, IT staff rarely engaged in active discourse with other staff members unless specific meetings were called relating to a particular project. The Ravell IT department, therefore, was not part of the community of organizational learning—it did not have the opportunity to learn along with the rest of the organization, and it was never asked to provide guidance in matters of general relevance to the business as a whole. This marginalized status resulted in an us-versus-them attitude on the part of IT and non-IT personnel alike.

Much has been written about the negative impact of marginalization on individuals who are part of communities. Schlossberg (1989) researched adults in various settings and how marginalization affected their work and self-efficacy. Her theory on marginalization and mattering is applied to this case study because of its relevance and similarity to her prior research. For example, IT represents similar characteristics to a separate group on a college campus or in a workplace environment. Its physical isolation can also be related to how marginalized groups move away from the majority population and function without contact. The IT director, in particular, had cultivated an adversarial relationship with his peers. The director had shaped a department that fueled his view of separation. This had the effect of further marginalizing the position of IT within the organization. Hand in hand with this form of separatism came a sense of actual dislike on the part of IT personnel for other employees. IT staff members were quick to point fingers at others and were often noncommunicative with members of other departments within the organization. As a result of this kind of behavior, many departments lost confidence in the ability of IT to provide support; indeed, the quality of support that IT furnished had begun to deteriorate. Many departments at Ravell began to hire their own IT support personnel and were determined to create their own information systems subdepartments. This situation eventually became unacceptable to management, and the IT director was terminated. An initiative was begun to refocus the department and its position within the organization. I was retained to bring about this change and to act as the IT director until a structural transformation of the department was complete.

A New Approach

My mandate at Ravell was initially unclear—I was to “fix” the ­problem; the specific solution was left up to me to design and implement. My goal became one of finding a way to integrate IT fully into the organizational culture at Ravell. Without such integration, IT would remain isolated, and no amount of “fixing” around this issue would address the persistence of what was, as well, a cultural problem. Unless IT became a true part of the organization as a whole, the entire IT staff could be replaced without any real change having occurred from the organization’s perspective. That is, just replacing the entire IT staff was an acceptable solution to senior management. The fact that this was acceptable suggested to me that the knowledge and value contained in the IT department did not exist or was misunderstood by the senior management of the firm. In my opinion, just eliminating a marginalized group was not a solution because I expected that such knowledge and value did exist, and that it needed to be investigated properly. Thus, I rejected management’s option and began to formulate a plan to better understand the contributions that could be made by the IT department. The challenge was threefold: to improve the work quality of the IT department (a matter of performance), to help the department begin to feel itself a part of the organization as a whole and vice versa (a matter of cultural assimilation), and to persuade the rest of the organization to accept the IT staff as equals who could contribute to the overall direction and growth of the organization (a fundamental matter of strategic integration).

My first step was to gather information. On my assignment to the position of IT director, I quickly arranged a meeting with the IT department to determine the status and attitudes of its personnel. The IT staff meeting included the chief financial officer (CFO), to whom IT reported. At this meeting, I explained the reasons behind the changes occurring in IT management. Few questions were asked; as a result, I immediately began scheduling individual meetings with each of the IT employees. These employees varied in terms of their position within the corporate hierarchy, in terms of salary, and in terms of technical expertise. The purpose of the private meetings was to allow IT staff members to speak openly, and to enable me to hear their concerns. I drew on the principles of action science, pioneered by Argyris and Schö n (1996), designed to promote individual self-reflection regarding behavior patterns, and to encourage a productive exchange among individuals. Action science encompasses a range of methods to help individuals learn how to be reflective about their actions. By reflecting, individuals can better understand the outcomes of their actions and, especially, how they are seen by others. This was an important approach because I felt learning had to start at the individual level as opposed to attempting group learning activities. It was my hope that the discussions I orchestrated would lead the IT staff to a better understanding than they had previously shown, not only of the learning process itself, but also of the significance of that process. I pursued these objectives by guiding them to detect problem areas in their work and to undertake a joint effort to correct them (Argyris, 1993; Arnett, 1992).

Important components of reflective learning are single-loop and double-loop learning. Single-loop learning requires individuals to reflect on a prior action or habit that needs to be changed in the future but does not require individuals to change their operational procedures with regard to values and norms. Double-loop learning, on the other hand, does require both change in behavior and change in operational procedures. For example, people who engage in double-loop learning may need to adjust how they perform their job, as opposed to just the way they communicate with others, or, as Argyris and Schö n (1996, p. 22) state, “the correction of error requires inquiry through which organizational values and norms themselves are modified.”

Despite my efforts and intentions, not all of the exchanges were destined to be successful. Many of the IT staff members felt that the IT director had been forced out, and that there was consequently no support for the IT function in the organization. There was also clear evidence of internal political division within the IT department; members openly criticized each other. Still other interviews resulted in little communication. This initial response from IT staff was disappointing, and I must admit I began to doubt whether these learning methods would be an antidote for the department. Replacing people began to seem more attractive, and I now understood why many managers prefer to replace staff, as opposed to investing in their transformation. However, I also knew that learning is a gradual process and that it would take time and trust to see results.

I realized that the task ahead called for nothing short of a total cultural transformation of the IT organization at Ravell. Members of the IT staff had to become flexible and open if they were to become more trusting of one another and more reflective as a group (Garvin, 2000; Schein, 1992). Furthermore, they had to have an awareness of their history, and they had to be willing to institute a vision of partnering with the user community. An important part of the process for me was to accept the fact that the IT staff were not habitually inclined to be reflective. My goal then was to create an environment that would foster reflective learning, which would in turn enable a change in individual and organizational values and norms (Senge, 1990).

The Blueprint for Integration

Based on information drawn from the interviews, I developed a preliminary plan to begin to integrate IT into the day-to-day operations at Ravell, and to bring IT personnel into regular contact with other staff members. According to Senge (1990), the most productive learning occurs when skills are combined in the activities of advocacy and inquiry. My hope was to encourage both among the staff at Ravell. The plan for integration and assimilation involved assigning IT resources to each department; that is, following the logic of the self-dissemination of technology, each department would have its own dedicated IT person to support it. However, just assigning a person was not enough, so I added the commitment to actually relocate an IT person into each physical area. This way, rather than clustering together in an area of their own, IT people would be embedded throughout the organization, getting first-hand exposure to what other departments did, and learning how to make an immediate contribution to the productivity of these departments. The on-site IT person in each department would have the opportunity to observe problems when they arose—and hence, to seek ways to prevent them—and, significantly, to share in the sense of accomplishment when things went well. To reinforce their commitment to their respective areas, I specified that IT personnel were to report not only to me but also to the line manager in their respective departments. In addition, these line managers were to have input on the evaluation of IT staff. I saw that making IT staff officially accountable to the departments they worked with was a tangible way to raise their level of commitment to the organization. I hoped that putting line managers in a supervisory position, would help build a sense of teamwork between IT and non-IT personnel. Ultimately, the focus of this approach was to foster the creation of a tolerant and supportive cultural climate for IT within the various departments; an important corollary goal here was also to allow reflective reviews of performance to flourish (Garvin, 1993).

Enlisting Support

Support for this plan had to be mustered quickly if I was to create an environment of trust. I had to reestablish the need for the IT function within the company, show that it was critical for the company’s business operations, and show that its integration posed a unique challenge to the company. However, it was not enough just for me to claim this. I also had to enlist key managers to claim it. Indeed, employees will cooperate only if they believe that self-assessment and critical thinking are valued by management (Garvin, 2000). I decided to embark on a process of arranging meetings with specific line managers in the organization. I selected individuals who would represent the day-to-day management of the key departments. If I could get their commitment to work with IT, I felt it could provide the stimulus we needed. Some line managers were initially suspicious of the effort because of their prior experiences with IT. However, they generally liked the idea of integration and assimilation that was presented to them, and agreed to support it, at least on a trial basis.

Predictably, the IT staff were less enthusiastic about the idea. Many of them felt threatened, fearing that they were about to lose their independence or lose the mutual support that comes from being in a cohesive group. I had hoped that holding a series of meetings would help me gain support for the restructuring concept. I had to be careful to ensure that the staff members would feel that they also had an opportunity to develop a plan, that they were confident would work. During a number of group sessions, we discussed various scenarios of how such a plan might work. I emphasized the concepts of integration and assimilation, and that a program of their implementation would be experimental. Without realizing it, I had engaged IT staff members in a process of self-governance. Thus, I empowered them to feel comfortable with voicing new ideas, without being concerned that they might be openly criticized by me if I did not agree. This process also encouraged individuals to begin thinking more as a group. Indeed, by directing the practice of constructive criticism among the IT staff, I had hoped to elicit a higher degree of reflective action among the group and to show them that they had the ability to learn from one another as well as the ability to design their own roles in the organization (Argyris, 1993). Their acceptance of physical integration and, hence, cultural assimilation became a necessary condition for the ability of the IT group, to engage in greater reflective behavior (Argyris & Schö n, 1996).

Assessing Progress

The next issue concerned individual feedback. How was I to let each person know how he or she was doing? I decided first, to get feedback from the larger organizational community. This was accomplished by meeting with the line managers and obtaining whatever feedback was available from them. I was surprised at the large quantity of information they were willing to offer. The line managers were not shy about participating, and their input allowed me to complete two objectives: (1) to understand how the IT staff was being perceived in its new assignment and (2) to create a social and reflective relationship between IT individuals and the line managers. The latter objective was significant, for if we were to be successful, the line managers would have to assist us in the effort to integrate and assimilate IT functions within their community.

After the discussions with managers were completed, individual meetings were held with each IT staff member to discuss the feedback. I chose not to attribute the feedback to specific line managers but rather to address particular issues by conveying the general consensus about them. Mixed feelings were also disclosed by the IT staff. After conveying the information, I listened attentively to the responses of IT staff members. Not surprisingly, many of them responded to the feedback negatively and defensively. Some, for example, felt that many technology users were unreasonable in their expectations of IT. It was important for me as facilitator not to find blame among them, particularly if I was to be a participant in the learning organization (Argyris & Schö n, 1996).

Resistance in the Ranks

Any major organizational transformation is bound to elicit resistance from some employees. The initiative at Ravell proved to be no exception. Employees are not always sincere, and some individuals will engage in political behavior that can be detrimental to an...

Table of contents

• Cover-Page
• Half-Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• Author
• Introduction
• CHAPTER 1 THE “RAVELL” CORPORATION
• CHAPTER 2 THE IT DILEMMA
• CHAPTER 3 TECHNOLOGY AS A VARIABLE AND RESPONSIVE ORGANIZATIONAL DYNAMISM
• CHAPTER 4 ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING THEORIES AND TECHNOLOGY
• CHAPTER 5 MANAGING ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING AND TECHNOLOGY
• CHAPTER 6 ORGANIZATIONAL TRANSFORMATION AND THE BALANCED SCORECARD
• CHAPTER 7 VIRTUAL TEAMS AND OUTSOURCING
• CHAPTER 8 SYNERGISTIC UNION OF IT AND ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING
• CHAPTER 9 FORMING A CYBER SECURITY CULTURE
• CHAPTER 10 DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION AND CHANGES IN CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
• Chapter 11 INTEGRATING GENERATION Y EMPLOYEES TO ACCELERATE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
• Chapter 12 TOWARD BEST PRACTICES
• Chapter 13 CONCLUSIONS
• Glossary
• References
• Index