Technology

13.1 Introduction to Technology

When someone hears the term technology in the context of change management and organizational culture, it brings to mind many meanings. In our context, the term is very specific; it refers to the software applications, and the information they provide, in support of the reliability and maintenance work processes in place within your company.

But how does technology, as defined here, involve itself in the study of organizational change at a cultural level? Before answering this question, let’s look at some examples. Think about the repair-based method of working. In that process, things broke down and we repaired them, initially using paper work orders and storing the results of our efforts, again on paper. Having detailed information to analyze our problems was not nearly as important as getting the equipment back on line. In this mode of operation, paper was certainly good enough for tracking information.

Now consider a close analogy – unit mechanics. In their most simplified form, unit mechanics are assigned to an operating process simply to fix what breaks down as quickly as possible at the direction of production. Most often these positions are justified in order to keep the small, easy repairs out of the system and to have the simple repairs made quickly. If you look closely, most of these unit mechanics work from a paper system with little or no information retained to indicate what was accomplished. This example shows a low technology / paper system at work.

In today’s reliability-focused world of maintenance, our work orders are generated by a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS). The information we obtain to support our efforts is also stored and retrieved when needed from computers. Today we are focused on equipment reliability and the concept that things are not supposed to fail. If they do fail, we don’t want only to make a repair, but also to understand why it failed, then make repairs that eliminate the root cause problems so that unplanned failure will not reoccur.

We can now answer the question asked early in this section about technology’s involvement with change. Working effectively and efficiently in our new reliability-focused work environment requires timely and accurate information. Meeting this requirement is where technology fits into the picture, both in the systems we employ and the information that they deliver. As used in our discussion, technology is the enabler of change. It supports the other seven elements of change as well as providing a reinforcing foundation for the four elements of culture.

In this chapter, we shall discuss how technology supports change and the elements of change. We will also look at how the proper use of technology can support a reliability-focused culture shift for your organization.

Any discussion of technology must also recognize a “dark side” in the incorrect use of technology and poor information. Either not having or having but not using the technology, then generating incorrect or inaccurate information, will undermine your change processes, also disrupting the new work culture that you are trying to create.