Mobilization Strategies of Management and Implementation of an Information System

A Qualitative Evaluation

Following the research of Lawler III (1992), several authors have acknowledged a mobilization potential in human resources processes and management practices related to communication, training, support, participation, and recognition of effort. In this article, we present part of the results of a qualitative research project of which one of the objectives was to underline the role potentially played by these management practices in employee support for implementation of an information system (IS).

Starting from the alarming record of failure in the implementation of information systems within organizations (O’Conner, Parsons and Liden, 1992; Henderson, Deane and Ward, 1995; Standish Group, 1999, 2001), and the highlighting of the importance of the role of human factors in the failure or the success of these technological changes, notably those related to the acceptance and the adaptation of information system users (Paré and Elam, 1995; Martinsons and Chong, 1999; Guérin et al., 2001), we postulated the consideration of human factors in the framework of HR mobilization strategies as the prerequisite and necessary condition to the efficient and effective usage of an IS, which is also recognized as a success criterion for the implementation of an IS (DeLone and MacLean, 1992, 2003).

From this angle, and in the framework of an IS implementation, communication may be designed to bring employees closer to their managers and directors, to explain the organizational vision, the reasons, the goals, and the anticipated results or effects of the technological change, on the basis of credible and accurate information which does not hide the risks, the difficulties and the potential negative aspects for employees. IS training can be planned to develop the employee’s competencies, on the basis of his level of education and the experience he has already acquired, and to prepare him in this way to use the IS while at the same time developing his self-confidence, and his sense of personal efficiency. Human and technical support may reassure the employee as to his capacities and encourage him or her to persevere in his utilization of the system when the time comes. The employee’s participation, at any level, in decisions concerning the implementation project can only stimulate his interest and his involvement as related to the IS. Finally, recognition for adaptation efforts put forth may improve employee commitment towards his managers, and their organizational objectives. However, all of these practices are perceived in a particular way by each individual employee according to their credibility, adequacy, pertinence, opportunity or interest and are taken into account in the evaluation process which leads to the development of the employee’s attitude and his intention as concerns the IS and its utilization. Thus, the objective of this research is precisely to explore this phenomenon so as to identify the conditions which could encourage user support and thus improve the success of IS implementations. To this end, we carried out two case studies of IS implementations in two public sector organizations in Quebec. Ten employees took part in in-depth and semi-structured interviews at the implementation phase of the IS in each of the two organizations concerned.

The analysis of the interview content shows that those management practices evaluated in a very opposite way by positive and negative employees are training, support received, incentives or recognition of effort. Employees who are positive towards the IS are generally very satisfied with training and support received, and are also quite aware of moral recognition (non-monetary), whereas the negative employees are very dissatisfied with training and support received, and are quite aware of the absence of monetary incentives or recognition. Communication and participation prove to be the preoccupations more specifically raised by employees having a negative attitude towards IS, and about which they express strong dissatisfaction, while the attitude of positive employees does not seem to be truly influenced by these two factors, except perhaps in that which concerns participation of key users.

The limits of the research are pointed out and several recommendations have been made to assist managers involved in the management of an IS implementation within their organization to facilitate its acceptance by employees. The contribution of this research lies in the continuity of research on the acceptance or the adoption of new technologies by their users (Davis et al., 1989) while putting forward the influence of mobilization strategies on the support or on the rejection of the IS by users through personal and perceptual variables such as the sense of personal efficiency, personal involvement, the perceived quality of the IS, personal attitude and the image of superiors. The importance of this last factor seems to us to be able to rehabilitate interest in continuing to consider the role of social influence of organizational origin in the support and the mobilization of employees for using the IS, in conformity with the theory of reasoned action of Fishbein and Ajzen (1975). A model of emerging research has been proposed for future validation.