Cultural Differences and Technology Management
Technological Culturation:
Technological culturation is the adoption of technology from different cultural backgrounds in to a different culture. The culturation of Information Technology (I.T) into the Arab world has been hindered by cultural differences that exist between the west and the Arab world. Factors that hinder IT adoption include high costs, lack of training and awareness, language barriers, cultural conflict, lack of infrastructure, security, availability, technological barriers and inappropriate content-just to mention but a few. These barriers can be overcome by the management of the technology projects through various ways that encourage technological culturation.
These include offering training and education in hardware and software usage, creating awareness, setting up the appropriate infrastructure, making technological innovations such as programs running in native languages (Kamel, Straub & Loch, n.d). Exposure to beneficial elements of the technology through pilot programs in a few organizations may also stir interest and adoption in other organizations or within the clientele served by the technology. Championing for the creation of national bodies such as ministries that can oversee the introduction of technologies such as Egypt’s “Ministry of Communications and Information Technology” can help make technology more acceptable as a government initiative.
The involvement of government and top private organizations may help spread the IT technology into the populace at a faster rate. Cultural harnessing is also important, and managers in such projects could use positive cultural aspects that can encourage the spread and acceptance of technology. Of particular interest in this is the patriarchal and collectivist nature of the Arab world according to Hofstede indices.
Arabs are particularly patriarchal and they have a high collectivist index, and therefore; the culturation should take this into consideration possibly by making sure the introduction focuses on the top echelon of people in society in terms of leadership and education. Whilst making cultural considerations it also important to ensure that cultural differences are considered-assumptions of cultural uniformity may not help in making culturation, but may rather cause hindrances (Kamel, Straub & Loch, n.d).
Change Management:
In order to effectively implement organizational change there is a need to understand how technology, organizational culture and organizational strategies are related. This is because new technological implementations such as changes in IT are linked to the organization’s workforce and as such they are interdependent and inseparable. As a result, managers and designers of new technological implementation should not view the changes as purely technological, but also as being related to the human workforce. Occupational, national and organizational cultures should be recognized by managers as the two most important forces that shape how an organizations workforce operates.
These forces may also affect the implementation of new technology because they influence the workforce. Occupational and national cultures may be least influenced because a person joins an organization when these are fully developed. Therefore, the main focus should be laid on organizational changes which can be modified as employees join a company. This implies that a focus on organizational culture can be the strongest way of implementing changes that may be technologically based and managing a people’s behavior in an organization. The consideration of culture is thus basic in the implementation of changes in technology because technology brings changes to people’s habits and culture.
The success of the new technology depends on whether the culture at hand can run well with the technology or whether it requires changes. In cases of incompatibility there should be some change assessment to ascertain that what changes are required to fit the technology to the operations of the organization. This can be attained through vertical fitting (alignment of technology to strategy and organization’s capability which adds to value generation) and horizontal fitting where the technology is integrated with the technical and social subsystems. The human resource and structure has to be adapted to the new technology. Existing procedures and decision-making channels are most likely affected by technological changes and as such these have to be reviewed too in technology implementation (Barajas, Cabrera, & Cabrera, n.d).
Collaborative culture
There are various sub-cultural groups that exist in various organizations and each sub-cultural group has its own practices, norms and values. The differences in these groups are as a result of the differences in the kinds of tasks that these people engage in. The differing relations and tasks call for different approaches, outlooks and orientations. These sub-cultures may seem harmless, but they could at times reduce efficiency through impeding collaboration and sharing of information among the sub-cultural groups. In order to eliminate this negative trend there is a need to develop a ‘collaborative’ and ‘open’ culture that can foster smooth operations.
One such proposition for implementation includes the creation of “hybrids” i.e. people from different sub-cultural groups that have learned something about other sub-cultural group in order to enhance integration. But prior to the implementation of any measures it is prudent to observe the various sub-cultures and try to understand how they affect the implementation of IT/IS. This may be important to the development of any strategy with regard to handling sub-cultural differences and their effects.
The observed differences should be accepted and viewed from each group’s perspective so that adaptations can be done constructively and in an acceptable manner. The breaking of sub-cultures may not help or it may encounter great resistance and therefore, the diversity should be readily accepted and not denounced. The papers finding imply that managers need to be cognizant of the sub-cultural differences as well as the potentials and opportunities for harnessing.
The managers may also make use of metaphorical differences to set out the differences and create better understanding and communication among sub-cultures. There is also a need to find out about the various stakeholder parties that exist. The creation of knowledge redundancy may also be adopted as a means of preventing inter-group conflicts (Pan, Galliers & Huang, n.d).
Implications of organizational cultures of high and low Sociability and Solidarity
Project management in technology implementation in any organizations usually consider facts such as good monitoring and control, sound strategic planning, adequate resources and risk assessment, but little do they consider other aspects. In this work solidarity and sociability are also identified as being important factors that determine the ability to integrate new technology into the operations of a business. Sociability is the friendliness with which people can relate in an organization; this enhances sharing of ideas, values attitudes and interests. This also enhances creativity, team work and morale.
Highly sociable organizations have cliques that can subvert decision-making. On the other hand, solidarity enhances the ability of people to pursue goals jointly without much of individual considerations. This generates single minded ability to efficiently pursue business goals. The understanding of sociability and solidarity by managers is important in helping them to anticipate challenges in the in introduction of new technology within their organization and as such it is important for them to study these two factors before making any considerations on introduction. High solidarity enhances quicker and faster acceptance of new technology due to common aim held in solidarity.
This is because solid groups are more receptive. The solidarity in such groups blunts tangential views and allows for quick integration of technology. Networked organizations present a challenge whether they have high solidarity or not, because of the gaps created by the network in spatial terms thus breaking the thread of solidarity across the network. As such manager dealing with such organizations should anticipate more challenges.
On the other hand, managers in highly sociable organization should also anticipate more challenges because of factions that may disrupt the projects. Highly sociable organizations may also encounter bias reporting which may pose a challenge. Managers in highly sociable organizations should therefore; exercise stronger leadership and seek support from the top authority to make their work easier (Klepper & Hoffman, n.d).
Cultural and Social Factors influencing Information Technology Transfer (ITT)
In order successfully transfer IT into the operations of a business in countries with diverse culture there is a need to comprehend the micro-level behaviors and beliefs that relate to technology. These beliefs and cultural aspect order the people social life and since IT represents a change to that order, then it becomes an important consideration. The Arab world specifically has a social structure that has a hierarchy based on occupation groups and these define culture differently. The single identified significant influence the socio-cultural aspect of the Arab culture.
For example the face-to-face preference to dealing with people and establishment of a family-like culture in organizations makes it unattractive to take on technology that may alter such socio-cultural settings. The upholding of religion and conservationist thoughts also acts as impediments to technology assimilation. According to the survey reports those Arabs that showed a different opinion were found to have had an extensive exposure to non-Arab technological set ups, but they were still characteristically Arab in culture and belief. This implies that introduction of the technology does not change Arabs because they continue to view it from an Arab perspective.
Therefore, any managers undertaking a program of ITT should learn how to make the technology appear culturally relevant, because it will be evaluated from the local perspective rather a new perspective. As a result, managers working on ITT projects should consider cultural aspects that affect how ITT projects are perceived and viewed. After such a review it is essential to set up a plan that introduces the technology in a culturally relevant manner. Thus an incorporation of cultural considerations is essential for any manager undertaking such a project (El-Shes, Straub, Loch & Hill, n.d).
References
Barajas, S. Cabrera, F. E. And Cabrera, A. (n.d),. The Key Role of Organizational Culture in a Multi-system View of Technology-driven Change
El-Shes, K. Straub, W. T. Loch, D. K and Hill, C. E. (n.d),.A Qualitative Assessment of Arab Culture and Information Technology Transfer
Kamel, S. Straub, W. T. and Loch, D. K. (n.d),. Diffusing the Internet in the Arab World: The Role of Social Norms and Technological Culturation
Klepper, R. and Hoffman, N. (n.d),. Assimilating New Technologies: The Role of Organizational Culture
Pan, S. Galliers, D. R. and Huang, C. J (n.d),. Dangerous Liaison? Component-Based Development and Organizational Subcultures
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