Resistance to Technological Change in Academia

Abstract

Initiating changes in technology, promoting utilization, and managing resistance by faculty may be among the most pressing challenges for academic leadership. Change that involves new technology is an ideal example of the systemic nature of organizational change because it includes infrastructure, expert knowledge, training, long-term vision, cost-benefit equations, and sufficient utilization to sustain the change. The literature on organizational change supports this premise that is exemplified in this article by anecdotal evidence from two universities. The first example describes the challenges in promoting utilization of Internet2 technology and the second describes the introduction of a project involving Voice-over Internet Protocol.