Description:

The purpose of this study was to analyze how a group of female employees within the home-care services within a Swedish municipality perceived and handled the implementation of a new ICT-based information system. The intentions behind the ICT-system was to increase security and care quality in the day-to-day work, but also to promote learning and competence development of the home-care workers. A basic principle underlying the design process was to try to explicate the tacit knowledge of the home-care workers in order to be able to design an ICT-support for their work. The following two questions will be addressed in this study: (a) what characterized the implementation process in terms of how the ICT-system was perceived and handled at different points in time; and (b) what factors were important for the implementation process and its outcomes.

Conceptually, the study has a focus on the notion of implementation. As conceived here implementation is viewed as a process of mutual adaptation where the system to be implemented as well as the practice of the home-care workers are assumed to change over time (McLaughlin, 1990; Spillane, Reiser & Reimer, 2002). This process of mutual adaptation is conceived as a social learning process involving interactions, co-operation, and possibly conflicts between individuals and groups at different levels in the organisation acting from differnt positions and in accordance with different values and cultural practices (Swidler, 2001).

Methodology or methods/research instruments or sources used:

Data were collected through observations and video recordings of the project meetings concerned with development of the ICT-system (researchers and home-care workers worked together in these meetings). Data were also collected through individual interviews as well as group interviews with home-care workers and their managers. The interviews were conducted before, during and after the process of development.

Conclusions or expected outcomes or findings:

Despite considerable hesitation and somewhat negative attitudes towards the ICT-system in the beginning of the implementation process, the home-care workers developed a more positive attitude towards using the system over time. After having tested the system in practice and discovering that it facilitated their work, there was also en increased use of the ICT-system on a regular basis.

At least four different factors appear to have been important for the implementation process and its outcomes. First, the participative approach, specifically, that the home-care workers were actively involved as "co-designers" in the development and implementation of the ICT-system. Second, that there was a close and clear connection between the project and the daily work of the home-care workers, that is, that they perceived the project as relevant to their work. Third, that the management strongly emphasized and supported the project in different specific ways. Finally, that the experienced practicability of the ICT-system seems to have affected their motivation to use the system in a positive way, and, thereby, also to have increased the legitimacy of the system within the group of home-care workers. To conclude, these results is used as an empirical basis for suggesting a conceptual model of the implementation process as a process of developmental learning (Ellström, 2005).

References:

• Ellström, P.-E. (2005). The Meaning and Role of Reflection in Informal Learning at Work. In: D. Boud, P. Cressey, & P. Docherty (Eds.), Productive Reflection. An Anthology on Reflection and Learning at Work. London: Routledge.
• McLaughlin, M.W. (1990). The Rand change agent study revisted: Macro perspectives and micro realities. Educational Researcher. 19,9,11-16.
• Spillane, J.P., Reiser, B.J. & Reimer, T. (2002). Policy Implementation and Cognition: Reframing and Refocusing Implementation Research. Review of Educational Research, 72, 3, 387-431.
• Swidler, A. (2001). What anchors cultural practices. I T.R. Schatzki, K. Knorr Cetina & E. von Savigny (Eds). The Practice Turn in Contemporary Theory. London: Routledge.