Organizations failing to learn: Roadblocks to the Implementation of Standardized Information Systems

Abstract

Purpose: Implementing standard health indicators aims at harmonizing fragmented information systems. However, they have not always met this expectation. This article argues that standard information systems fail because organizations fail to learn effective ways of solving problems.

Design: Using an interpretive phenomenological approach, we draw examples from the implementation of standard health indicators in Cameroon to explore why organizations fail to learn. We collected data from April and September 2017 from 25 staff in healthcare facilities and district offices. 

Findings: Staff at the peripheral level encountered multiple levels of organizational challenges. We argue that these challenges are deeply rooted in the organizational structure. Using organizational learning as a lens, we theorize the factors (i.e., a disincentive for learning, educational barriers, and organizational culture) that hinder learning. Then identify three beliefs (i.e., technological fix, silver bullet, and emperors of the same empire) embedded in organizational structure that hinder organizational learning. Finally, we propose practical measures to mitigate the challenges that impede the implementation of standard health indicators in Cameroon and beyond.

Conclusion: Organizations often misplace their attention on what and how they should learn. While they are fast to learn from external sources and are often eager to accommodate information systems, they fail to provide a conducive atmosphere where local experiences thrive, do not value learning from experiences, and adopt few processes to promote learning.

Originality: Linking the challenges encountered by staff at the peripheral level after implementing standard health indicators to poor organizational learning opportunities offers a novel perspective to conceptualize the challenges of implementing information systems in low and middle-income countries.