The corporate culture within organizations has been modified through advances in technology. Smith (1994) believes the ‘Information Revolution will create the thousand points of light of an entrepreneurial culture, where power and creativity are dispersed, decentralized and democratized’ (Wood et al 1998:39). Creativity and innovation are rife in this new corporate culture, as they are becoming vital to the competitiveness of corporations in the modern market.
At Proctor and Gamble, for example, top managers influenced the culture of their organization towards greater participation in decision-making, in order to improve creativity and innovation (Wood et al 1998:447).
The new competitive environment also requires a shift in culture towards a more customer-focused outlook. Workers are increasingly being required to recognize the customer, and not their employer, as their boss (Crandall & Wallace 1997:27-36). Technology has also caused new subcultures to emerge in the corporate environment.
Referred to as “techno-nerds” by Edwards (1997, June 16) a culture of ‘code slinging’, net surfing employees has developed, who ‘spend most of their waking hours with technology while having minimal human interaction’.
This sort of culture dominates the Microsoft Corporation, with one reporter commenting that Microsoft’s biggest problem is ‘getting the software engineers to come out of cyberspace long enough to cash their paychecks’ (Hubbard 1995, April:48-54).
The negative impacts that have arisen in organizations facing technological change need to be addressed by managers. Firstly, managers need to recognize that any change is a process, and will therefore have less of an impact if implemented in a series of stages. These stages could be determined using the stages of unfreezing, making the transition and refreezing, as recommended by Kurt Lewin (Iskat & Liebowitz 1996:3-5).
In the unfreezing stage, the employees need to be informed about the specific steps of the transition.
Giving the employees information about other companies in similar situations, which have implemented a similar technological change and been successful as a result, can also help to unfreeze them (Iskat & Liebowitz 1996:3-5). In the transition stage, employees need to be shown how the change will be of benefit to them, so that they will be encouraged to help implement the new technology (Iskat & Liebowitz 1996:3-5). The establishment of a Transition Management Team can also be effective, giving employees the chance to offer their input and express their needs (Iskat & Liebowitz 1996:3-5).
In the refreezing stage, top management needs to consistently behave in ways that support the change. This may require that executives be trained along with staff so that they may use the technology or system that has been implemented. Hubbard (1995:48-54) makes the comment that there is nothing more ‘heartening to the staff than to see the president sitting beside them, fumbling through their first E-mail transaction’. In this stage, counseling and Employee Assistance Programs should be introduced, in order to combat employee anxiety and stress (Iskat & Liebowitz 1996:3-5).
Human resources are vital to organizations in the modern, turbulent environment, as it is people, and not technology, that are able to gauge threats and opportunities. For this reason, managers need to focus on the human element when implementing technological change, as any anxiety, stress or resistance experienced by the employees will impede their ability to do this (Hubbard 1995:48-54). As Hubbard (1995:48-54) comments, ‘People don’t come in “Plug and Play”. It is extremely important for organizations to have effective technology training programs.
Ongoing training could be a particularly useful tool, as would be a permanent team of technical experts to help and support employees should problems arise. While just focusing on this human element, recognizing and minimizing the fears and apprehensions of employees, appears to be such a simple solution, it is often overlooked. An example of this can be seen in a meeting between programming staff and a number of users in a large insurance corporation after a new system had just been introduced.
After the meeting, the programming staff reconvened to make some of the requested changes, and the comment was made that “You know, guys, this is one of the most powerful and feature rich systems we’ve ever designed. It would run pretty damn well if it weren’t for the users’ (Edwards 1997, June 16). The impacts of technological change on the workplace are often massive and able to reverberate through all levels of an organization. Technological change has the ability to create, destroy and completely rearrange jobs.
It can also dissolve the framework of an organization, flattening hierarchies to create virtual corporations. These huge transformations caused by technology will obviously have an impact on the individuals and groups working within the organization. Resistance to change can occur in employees who are fearful of the unknown, of their job security, or their ability to work with the new technology. The anxious and stressed behaviour that results from this can be offset by minimizing resistance to the change through informing, training and negotiating with the employees.
It is essential that managers implement strategies to deal with any resistance to change encountered in their organization, whether it comes from groups or individuals, as when stress and anxiety invade the minds of workers they will be unable to be productive. More importantly, they will be unable to gauge and respond to changes in the organisation’s external environment, which could potentially cause the corporation to lose its competitiveness and fail, given the dynamic and turbulent nature of the environment in which they now operate.
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