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"The Robots Are Coming": Caught Between Two Worlds in a Cultural Change Process

Westin, Jennifer LU and Plaga, Sandrine LU (2018) BUSN49 20181
Department of Business Administration
Abstract
This study aims to provide insight into cultural change processes within mature organizations given an increasingly digitalized business environment. Therefore, we take the reader inside ScandiBank, a large Scandinavian financial organization with around two-hundred years of organizational history. The study is rooted in an interpretive research paradigm, and the data was gathered through semi-structured interviews. Firstly, the study sheds light on ScandiBank’s efforts to craft a narrative around Artificial Intelligence by presenting it as a grand solution, humanizing the technology, and sending an underlying “comply or else” message. Secondly, our findings acknowledge that these efforts at initiating cultural change appear to be working... (More)
This study aims to provide insight into cultural change processes within mature organizations given an increasingly digitalized business environment. Therefore, we take the reader inside ScandiBank, a large Scandinavian financial organization with around two-hundred years of organizational history. The study is rooted in an interpretive research paradigm, and the data was gathered through semi-structured interviews. Firstly, the study sheds light on ScandiBank’s efforts to craft a narrative around Artificial Intelligence by presenting it as a grand solution, humanizing the technology, and sending an underlying “comply or else” message. Secondly, our findings acknowledge that these efforts at initiating cultural change appear to be working to some degree. However, several tensions emerged during our investigation in the form of doubt and fear, siloed thinking, a power struggle, an uncertain future, and organizational misalignments. A discussion on these findings draws on the idea that ScandiBank finds itself caught between two worlds, leading to the conceptualization of a culture which cannot let go of its past and move forward into a new digital reality. Therefore, our study contributes insight into cultural change in mature organizations given an increasingly digitalized business environment by furthering our understanding of the underlying mechanisms which may complicate and hinder cultural change processes. (Less)
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author
Westin, Jennifer LU and Plaga, Sandrine LU
supervisor
organization
course
BUSN49 20181
year
type
H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
subject
keywords
organizational culture, cultural change, mature organization, digitalization, Artificial Intelligence
language
English
id
8947798
date added to LUP
2018-06-25 15:17:47
date last changed
2018-06-25 15:17:47
@misc{8947798,
  abstract     = {{This study aims to provide insight into cultural change processes within mature organizations given an increasingly digitalized business environment. Therefore, we take the reader inside ScandiBank, a large Scandinavian financial organization with around two-hundred years of organizational history. The study is rooted in an interpretive research paradigm, and the data was gathered through semi-structured interviews. Firstly, the study sheds light on ScandiBank’s efforts to craft a narrative around Artificial Intelligence by presenting it as a grand solution, humanizing the technology, and sending an underlying “comply or else” message. Secondly, our findings acknowledge that these efforts at initiating cultural change appear to be working to some degree. However, several tensions emerged during our investigation in the form of doubt and fear, siloed thinking, a power struggle, an uncertain future, and organizational misalignments. A discussion on these findings draws on the idea that ScandiBank finds itself caught between two worlds, leading to the conceptualization of a culture which cannot let go of its past and move forward into a new digital reality. Therefore, our study contributes insight into cultural change in mature organizations given an increasingly digitalized business environment by furthering our understanding of the underlying mechanisms which may complicate and hinder cultural change processes.}},
  author       = {{Westin, Jennifer and Plaga, Sandrine}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{"The Robots Are Coming": Caught Between Two Worlds in a Cultural Change Process}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}