A Missed Opportunity? Technology Implementations Can Drive Cultural Change
By William J. Fritz
Associate Provost for Academic Programs
Georgia State University
At many institutions, IT leads technology implementations and their number
one concern is a smooth implementation process-not systemic change or improved
results. These institutions are likely to see some users complain about functionality
after the system is implemented, largely because the implementation process
did not fully engage their users. And, too often, institutions do not try to
leverage the potential, far-reaching outcomes of a technology implementation.
This all adds up to a significant missed opportunity for meaningful change.
The bigger the implementation, the greater the opportunity for change. At
Georgia State University, we consciously leveraged the implementation of
our SCT Banner administrative system to refocus our entire campus on placing
students first, faculty second, and staff third. Our previous legacy system
was quite staff-friendly but not very responsive to students' needs, so we needed
to change that. Still, some of our staff resisted the implementation of a new
administrative system. To overcome their objections and to effect lasting change,
we created 17 cross-functional teams that included staff, faculty, and IT to
guide our implementation.
At the most basic level, this was an excuse-a good excuse-to bring everyone
together "at the table." Members of the teams had to sit down and
hammer out common processes in support of students and faculty. This helped
break down silos among departments that did not communicate with each other
previously, and it fostered deep discussions about leadership and change. As
a result, we achieved much-improved working relationships even before the software
was implemented.
Beyond that, our faculty team included a senate chair. This way, we had a supporter
in the senate to promote the need to institute best practices among faculty-taking
full advantage of the features of the new system, rather than modifying the
software to fit our existing business processes. This furthered our goal of
using our new administrative system to change our business practices in support
of our learners.
We also used the implementation as an opportunity to develop new leaders. At
the time, Georgia State was lacking depth in its next generation of leaders.
Indeed, many of the people who were appointed as team leaders for the implementation
in fact had very little leadership experience. We hired an outside consultant
who provided leadership training in the areas of conflict negotiation, decision-making,
and group dynamics. Since the implementation, the majority of these team leaders
have been promoted in the university, and some have crossed over from the IT
side to the administrative side and vice versa.
As a result of the approach we took at Georgia State, we have experienced a
significant cultural shift, and that is leading to improved student satisfaction
and retention. Any large-scale software implementation presents an opportunity
for changes far greater than improved functionality. Institutions should learn
to leverage these occasions.