Why Employees Really Reject New Technologies

If you're thinking it's about change management. It isn't. And it sort of is. But it has much more to do with corporate culture. Change management plays a vital role in onboarding new technologies, but culture is the force that can disrupt the best laid change management plans. Culture is stronger than change management. It was there before the new technology and it can remain long after.

Change management strategies only regard culture in an indirect manner. The process is designed to help management roll out a new technology, such as an ERP system in order to make employees adopt it. Management's goal with a new technology is either to reduce costs through improved efficiencies, create higher profit margins and thus shareholder value or capture new markets, driving up revenues. This is especially so for information technologies.

Contrary to what most management thinks, it can set the tone for a corporate culture, but the actual culture that forms is the result of the employees actions and behaviours over time. Cultures will also differ on the system of operating that management chooses. There are, primarily, two models, or systems.

A mechanical model is a highly restrictive system that discourages ideas and innovations and uses very defined processes to deliver the output, usually a physical product. A sociocultural system is purpose driven, empowers employees and is more open to innovation and ideas. Few businesses today, in an information and data rich environment can operate as a mechanical model. Those that do are easy targets for innovation and have a much harder time integrating new information technologies.

Information is what drives a business forward. It also shapes the culture. If, for example, silos between departments and teams is common, it means a culture of secrecy and power dynamics driven by how information is managed. If a business encourages information sharing and collaboration, it will have a much more open culture and probably happier employees.

These are crucial to how a change management plan is developed and how well an information technology will be adopted by employees. In siloed systems there are always employees who retain a certain degree of power because only they know how to wrangle that database system or ERP application. Replacing it takes their sense of power away. It will also impact the silo effect as employees will find ways to wrestle that new technology to conform to the way it fits the siloed culture. The new tool may get used, but not in the way management had hoped.

Employees in a siloed business accept the new technology, but the culture rejects it by making it conform to the old ways of doing things. Or at the very least, making the necessary change very, very slow and expensive. If it is an ERP system, for example, employees may find ways to find flaws and drive up customization costs.

When management understands what the culture is and the model being used, then better change management plans can be put in place. This is part of the reason HR should be involved in planning for a new information technology investment that impacts the whole company or a couple of departments.

Always keep in mind that employees can accept and reject a new information technology at the same time. Culture eats change management for breakfast.