Contested Networks of Practice in Innovation Adoption

Organization Network Analysis session

Bruce Cronin (University of Greenwich)
Contested Networks of Practice in Innovation Adoption

A longstanding challenge in process innovation comprises the motivational barriers that often obstruct the adoption of an apparently rational solution to widely shared problems. In particular, the promise of process redesign based on information technology solutions frequently fails to be delivered to the degree anticipated. This challenge is commonly referred to as the ‘human element’ or ‘resistance to change’, a seemingly irrational response to rational systems design, and is generally addressed heuristically, in strategy by targeting ‘quick wins’, in design through stakeholder consultation on user needs and iterative project management and in implementation through training. I argue in this paper that such pragmatic approaches are likely to produce disappointing outcomes because of insufficient consideration of the range of socially constructed and embedded practices that typically surround any mandated organisational process.

Social network analysis has recently emerged as a powerful tool in organisational design in uncovering the informal networks in which formal processes are embedded. But while SNA can provide illuminating windows into the structure of this less formal interaction, it has largely been applied statically as a snap-shot or comparative shots at different points in time and with little consideration of the complex dynamics of social interaction. This static approach leads to a view of a singular network rather than perhaps the intersection of a set of processes. And the data for comprehensive analysis of social networks within organisations are expensive to collect, limiting the business case for this approach.

This paper responds to these limitations of the traditional approach to process innovation and recent approaches to organisational network analysis through a longitudinal study of the adoption of an information sharing IT platform in a medium-sized services organisation. It makes use of a large set of continuous data and conceptual models drawn from complexity theory to avoid static bias in SNA. It demonstrates that such continuous data, readily available in such organisations, provides a robust alternative for this purpose to the collection of social network data through surveys and thus provides a compelling business case for this type of analysis.

Consistent with previous research, proximity, hierarchy and organisational grouping prove to be important influences on the adoption of the process innovation. But the longitudinal design reveals the significance and dynamics of contested and interacting practices in the course of this adoption. Managerial implications for process innovation design and implementation are discussed.