After reading the case study, imagine you have been tasked by the VP of Manufacturing of your firm to develop a 2-to-4 page technology strategy evaluation memo.

Your memo should briefly describe the technology described in the white paper, its purpose, the return on investment and risks inherent in implementing the technology.

Then, you should make and articulate some assumptions about the level of development maturity of the technology, what a technology roadmap might look like for this type of decision making software and what you think the adoption or commercialization path will look like for this technology. I.e. Who will be the innovators, early adopters, etc.

Finally, when analyzing the risks inherent in implementing the technology, what do you think the authors mean when they say “The biggest obstacle (in implementing this technology) is no longer technology but social order?”

Using some of the concepts from the leadership and culture module, imagine and describe the cultural impediments and challenges for a company that would adopt this technology. Here we are asking you draw deeply upon your experience and imagination to those visible things that have to be changed.

Please be specific.

Requirements: report

Answer preview

Furthermore, cultural impediments and challenges in an organization affect social order and adoption of the technology. For instance, employees with low computer literacy or mistrust issues with technologies and language differences are cultural barriers that may prevent the organization from adopting the technology (Beekhuyzen et al., 2005). Before changing the employees’ mindsets about the mistrust issue or enhancing the literacy levels may not be easy. Additional costs would be required for the literacy training, promoting cultural awareness, and having interpreters translating to employees with language differences. Generally, this process could be expensive for the organization preventing the successful adoption of the technology.

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