Understanding the Interrelationship of Instructional Technology Use and Organizational Culture: ACase Study of a Veterinary Medical College

Abstract

Many predicted that in the latter part of the twentieth century modern technology would revolutionize higher education and “create a second Renaissance” (Sculley J. The relationship between business and higher education: A perspective on the 21st century. Commun ACM 32:1056–1061, 1989 p1061). However, as the reality of the twenty-first century has set in, it is apparent that these revolutionary prophecies have fallen short. Using the lens of Douglas’s Typology of Grid and Group, this case study examines (1) the organizational context of a veterinary medical college at a large Midwestern university; (2) individual faculty members’ preferences toward instructional technology use; and (3) the interrelationship of culture and the decision process to implement instructional technology use in curricula. The study has several implications for instructional technology use in veterinary medical educational settings that help explain how cultural context can guide leadership decisions as well as influence faculty motivation and preference. The findings suggest that a key mitigating factor to instructional technology implementation is conflict or concord between the cultural biases of faculty members and actual cultural identity of the college (Stansberry S, Harris EL. Understanding why faculty use (or don’t use) IT: Implementation of instructional technology from an organizational culture perspective. In Simonson M, Crawford M, eds. 25th Annual Proceedings: Selected Research and Development Papers Presented at the 2002 National Convention of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology, vol. 1. North Miami Beach, FL: Nova Southeastern University:viii, 507).