Welcome to our last in the series of 7 articles where we look at the Challenges experienced in implementing IT Changes. If you have missed any in this series, please pop over to the Bushey LinkedIn page, where you can pick up the back copies and whilst there please Follow Us to ensure you don’t miss any future articles from us.
What we have learnt over this series of articles is that implementing IT changes within an organisation can be a difficult journey, often laden with hurdles. One of the most significant and often underestimated challenges and being covered in this last article are those of cultural resistance. As businesses strive to integrate new technologies and modernise their processes, the deep-seated cultural norms and attitudes can pose formidable barriers. Understanding and addressing these cultural challenges is crucial to ensuring a smooth and successful transition. In the Bushey team we collectively put our heads together for the last time on this subject and we have listed out our challenges that we have experienced in the projects that we run covering muti-country projects (and so multi-cultural) and programmes.
Fear of the Unknown
Cultural resistance often stems from a fear of the unknown. Employees who have been accustomed to a particular way of working may feel threatened by the introduction of new technologies and new ways of working. We can see this in institutional organisations such as local government where investment is limited, and staff can spend the majority of their working life in the same roles. The fear of change can manifest as reluctance to adopt new tools, scepticism about their benefits, or even overt opposition.
One of the Bushey Team remembers working with a local government roll out of a new system and when he came to this department it was like walking back in time, and there was a lady who had been doing the same job for the last 25 years. When we explained the changes that were being rolled out, she asked why do we need to change, is there something she had been doing wrong, why does it need to change?
It’s essential for project managers and business leaders to recognise these fears and address them through transparent communications, focused training, and reassurance during the change stages.
Clearly the development of the new system that was being rolled out by the team should have analysed the stakeholders and in this case a benefit would have been engaging this long-term user to assist with the analysis and development of a new system. If nothing else she certainly would have a great understanding of the existing system and where it works and does not.
By engaging this user early on and including her in some of the development and analysis meetings, she would feel a part of the change and buy into the new platform being rolled out.
Loss of Control
Sometimes, staff can also feel that new IT systems will disrupt their established workflows and reduce their autonomy. This resistance is particularly pronounced in organisations with hierarchical structures where individuals are accustomed to a certain degree of control over their processes. To mitigate this, organisations must involve employees in the change process, allowing them to have a say and feel a sense of ownership over the changes. Development and Project Teams must undertake a Change Assessment to understand the impact of their system implementations. IT systems are automated business process systems, understanding how existing department use the system will greatly help in the development and as discussed above with our lady employee of 25 years can bring valuable insight to how existing systems work or do not and how they as a department use the system.
Generational Divide
The generational divide within the workforce can also contribute to cultural resistance. Younger employees who are more tech-savvy may embrace IT changes with enthusiasm, while older employees may struggle to adapt. This disparity can create friction and hinder the overall adoption of new technologies. Bridging this gap requires tailored training programs that cater to different learning styles and technological proficiencies.
Again, taking our lady of 25 years’ service, when she started her job in the local government, the system may have been used for data entry into the system, today of course with new technology, data can be optically read from forms, and/or extracted from other Applications (entered into the system once) and of course with online Applications, the user themselves enters their data into the system, eliminating the need for staff to undertake data entry. Systems, people’s roles and the processes used in organisations continues to evolve, staff must embrace change to keep up with the organisations aspirations.
Misalignment of Values
Cultural resistance can also arise when there is a misalignment between the organization’s values and the perceived impact of IT changes. For example, if an organisation values human interaction and customer service, employees may resist IT changes that appear to automate and depersonalise these interactions. To address this, organisations should emphasise how new technologies can enhance rather than replace human interactions and align with the company’s core values.
There is nothing more apparent that what we see in the market now, with AI bring such rich data to us all, whether through chat, voice recognition commands, creating meeting transcripts, avatars replacing humans in videos, robotics and the release of new creative AI systems seems to bombard us weekly, each one seems like a change that years ago would have been an annual leap. Keeping up with the releases and understanding how they can assist us in our daily roles and automate our work processes seems almost like a full time job on its own. All are a challenge and some pick new systems up quicker than others.
Communication Breakdown
Effective communication is critical in overcoming cultural resistance. However, organisations often fall short in this area, cutting back on time spent in the early stages to expedite development and throwing systems at staff expecting them just to pick them up and bring value to the business. A lack of clear and consistent communication about the purpose, benefits, and impact of IT changes can fuel resistance. Business and project leaders must prioritise open and honest communication, regularly updating employees on progress and addressing their concerns.
Over the past seven weeks we have brought to you a series covering the challenges Project and Programme Managers, Business and Change Leaders must overcome daily in ensuring their project/change/system release is successful. Much of the changes experienced are technology based, but IT leaders must consider that they cannot just focus on the technology, but their people involved and the process for change must accommodate the impact this has on people who are using the systems. If this is ignored, then the business will not recognise the benefits or values they had planned when they started their change journey.
We hope you have enjoyed our Bushey journey through these Challenges, none are difficult to overcome but recognising them is the first step to being successful.
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