Role of Culture in Adoption of Enterprise Collaboration Technologies

Abstract

The primary goal of this case study is to understand the complexities of organizational culture, and the role that culture plays in using and in implementing collaboration technologies. Culture is defined by E. H. Schein as “a pattern of shared basic assumptions learned by a group as it solved its problems of external adaptation and internal integration.” The levels and types of cultures present in all organizations are explored. Collaboration is defined as the act of working together with other people or organizations to create or achieve something. Collaboration exists in all organizations in some form, structured or unstructured, formal or informal. Organizations often fail to consider existing collaboration practices when introducing new technologies. This research takes the form of a case study of a large international development organization. The case study describes the initial successful adoption of collaboration technologies in the late 1990s and considers the reasons for that success. The case study follows the organization through the next generation of collaboration technologies, and highlights how and why the original successes were lost. Ten common points of failure experienced by organizations are described. The case study suggests that success is unlikely where collaboration technologies are not aligned with existing collaboration models and where the culture of the organization is not collaboration oriented. Perspectives and experiences are shared in the hope that others can learn from these successes and failures.