change india

8/3/2019 Change India

1/14

Exploratory^Study Global Journal ofFlexible Systems tVlanagement2008, Vol. 9, Nos. 2 & 3, pp 41-54CRM Change Managem ent n an Emerging Country Context:

An Exploratory Study in IndiaDarshan Desai260, Roanoke Street,

Woodbridge, NJ-07095, U.S.A.Ph: 01-732-925-9314; Em ail: [email protected]

Subrat SahuInstitute of Petroleum Management,Gandhinagar Highway, Raisan, Gandhinagar - 382 007. Gujarat, India.Ph: 91-79-23276911 - 18; Fax: 91-79-23276364; E mail: [email protected]

AbstractAll over the world, change managem ent has found to be very crucial for CRM success. However, the CRM change managementdoes not work the same way across different contexts. Few studies in developed countries a ssume that a set of prescriptive CR Mchange management activities works well in any 'given' context. These studies ignore the interplay of organizational actionsand the broader context. Drawing on the institutional theory, this study explores this interplay; based on the repertory grid datacollected from Indian organizations, it finds how structural and cultural context of an emerging country affects CRM changemanagement activities.Keywords: Customer Relatiotiship Management (CRM), CRM change, change management, emergingcountries, institutional theory, socio-cultural context, national context, repertory grid technique

port for a CRM c hang e . Despi te of i tsof CRM ch ange managem ent. Apart from bland

and processes are at risk (Bould ing, Staelin, Ehret,

CRM change implies transitioning from a current stateto a desired future state; this transition involves alignmentof organizations' strategies, people, processes, systems,technologies, structure, skills and values to the goals ofcustomer centricity, customer relationships and customerengagem ent. CRM change managem ent is a structuredapproach for such transition. This approach can be planned(Lewin 1940) or emergent (Garvin 1993; Bumes 2000) or acombination of both. There is no 'one best way' to managea CRM change. A change management approach dependson the context of change (Bumes, 2000). Sometimes, the bestchange management approaches for the organizations indifferent contexts are radically different. The same CRMchange strategy that has succeeded in the context ofdeveloped countries may be a sure way to failure inemerging markets. There are inherent values embedded inthe CRM literature that do not reconcile with the values ofpeople in emerging Asian countries (Peppers & Rogers2002). The literature has implicitly assumed that peopleunerringly respond to the basis of self-interest and self-gratification and CRM change management works the sameway across different contexts and cultures (Peppers & Rogers2 0 0 2 ) . These assumptions do not hold true in manyemerging countries of Asia. Certain cultural values like filialpiety, delayed gratification, loyalty to family and clan, andthe structural differences of an emerging country (Sharma& Iyer 2006) related to infrastructure development and


2/14

42 Darshan Desai and Subrat Sahuinstitutional environment are important in affecting CRMchange management approaches and activities.

The significance of the effects of the context should notbe over emphasized (Avgerou 2001). Invariably, CRMchange management in emerging countries involves transferof strategies, technologies and organizational practices,which have been originally proved useful in the context ofthe developed countries. However, their potential value andtheir fit in local socio-organizational conditions can not betaken for granted. Therefore, the study aims to explore theeffects of structural and cultural context of an emergingcountry on CRM change management activities. Repertorygrid technique (RGT) is used to explore the perceptions ofthe senior executives of 29 Indian organizations about theeffects of an emerging country context on CRM changemanagement activities. Findings of the study highlight howthe context affects the CRM change management activities.Such consideration of the effects of a context is morerelevant for countries , _ / - * / ^ .. . .i . .< i j j ^i.where organizations ^ ^ ^^'^^ ^^ ^ change Strategy that has succeeded in thepursue their CRM context of developed coun tries may be a sure w ay to failure invision by emulating emerging m arkets.o ther r eg ion s ' ' ^ " successful strategies and practices. The paper is organizedas fo l lows. The next sect ion descr ibes conceptualbackground and research questions. This is followed by adescription of the research method utilized for this study.The subsequent section provides an analysis of data and adiscussion of resul ts . The paper concludes wi th theimplications of the study for practice and research andinherent limitations.Conceptual Background and Research QuestionsTheoretical Un derpinnings

manifestation of a more fundamental theoretical distinabout a relationship between an action in the organizand i t s context (Avgerou 2001) . The theorunderpinning of technical ra t ional perspect ive emphasizes rationally planned actions can be traced tresource dependency theory (Lawrence & Lorsch Pfeffer & Salancik 1 978). This school of thought a ttto explain development of the organization in termavailable strategic choices, promote the decision mcapacity, and therefore, focuses more on rational princDespite being widely influential in the business managliterature, this view has been challenged (Ciborra Avgerou 2001); some scholars argue that it is not po"to explain what is happening in the organizatioconsider ing only ' ra t ional ' act ions of managerstechnology experts and provide a conceptual platforstudy 'irrationalities' stemming from the institutional coof the organization as well as from the cultural sy

embedded in t(Avgerou 2001, pAn inf lueal ternat ive theorstudy an organizachange is

institutional theory. This theory highlights the imporof considering the effects of subjective aspects assowith the institutional context and the cultural systemdoes not deny that the actions in the organizations incalculated choices, but complements efficiency-concaccounts of the organizations with subjective elemassociated with institutional forces and cultural systema context. Institutional theory addresses the interplaycontext and organizat ional act ions that leads torganizational change (Greenwood & Hinings 1996; O1992).

CRM c hange is general ly a cross- func t ional andorganizational change. Two different theories explain theprocesses of an organizational change; first theory considersthe processes of a chan ge as ra t ional ly p lannedinterventions, while the second one perceives them in termsof situated actions that involve political and subjectiveaspects. The most frequently told story in the CRM literatureis of rationally planned interventions and methodologicaldevelopment of processes and technologies (Buttle 2001;Sue & Morin 200 1; Winer 2001 ; Payne & Frow 2005). Dueto high failure rates and significant doubts about therelevance of CRM, academic literature has focused more onmethodological development of processes and technologies;it has ignored apparently 'irrational', subjective and politicalelements of actions that are specific to a context. Theliterature has implicitly assumed that CRM takes place thesame way across different contexts. Except for a couple ofstudies that focused on CRM from European perspectives,(Mack, Mayo & Khare 2005; Van Bentum & Stone 2005),there is a significant dearth of research that addresses effectsof contexts or culture on CRM.

The distinction between technical rational and situatedapproaches to s tudy an organizat ional change is a

According to insti tutional theory, interplay oorganization's CRM change management activities ancontexts lead to a CRM change. In general , acadliterature ignores this interplay of CRM change managactions with the contexts. A couple of studies on change management (Kale 2005; Comer & Rogers 2004conducted in the developed country context, and adCRM change management as an organizational action'given' context. Instead of assuming a 'given' context,important to explore CRM change management in difcontexts to highlights its effects and interplay with change management act iv i t ies . Indian context , culturally and structurally quite different from a 'developed country context , i s sui table to s tudyinterplay. The forces of Indian context are importacreating pressures against or in favor of a CRM chResponse of the organization in terms of CRM cmanagement activities to these contextual forces depenits intra-organizational dynamics (Greenwood & Hi1996). The intensity of these intra-organizational preis again the outcome of their l inks with the co(Greenwood & Hinings 1996), and hence, it is importanalyze the context. There are many different wa


3/14

CRM Change Management in an Emerging Country Context: An Exploratory Study in India 43

of Socio-cultural C ontext on CRM Change

context: power distance, individualism, masculinity,Bond 1988) .

resources, which in turn enable a CRM change. For example,at MKS, an IT consulting firm based in India, a CRM relatedknowledge mangement initiative failed to get off the grounddue to neglect of some of these socio-cultural dimensions(Lam 2005). However, till date, very limited knowledgeexists about how these socio-cultural dimensions affect CRMchange management. Hence, the study aims to explore.Research Question 1: How does the Indian socio-culturalcontext affect CRM change management?Effects of National Structural Context on CRM ChangeManagementNational s t ruc tura l context tha t a f fec t CRM changemanagement mainly refers to two dimensions: infrastructuraldevelopment , and country 's ins t i tut ional environment(Sharma & Iyer 2006; Sheth & Sharma 2005). Country'sinfrastructure development refers to such elements as roads,telecommunications, spread and use of data processing

, A- ' w n devices, computers, andThe forces of the Indian cultural and structural context are accessibility to internet' important in creating pressures a gainst or in favor of a CRM and broadband (Shethchange.

Agrawal & Haleem 2005), use of information systems

There is some evidence in the literature (Ralston et al,Overby 2005; Hofstede 1985) that suggests that the

Dash, Bruning & Gain 2006) supports the effects of

i& Sharma 2005). An -institution refers to anystanding, social entity that exerts influence and regulationover other social entities (North 1990), and country'sinstitutional environment in this study refers to differentformal or semi-formal institutions within a country thatregula tes and inf luence CRM change management .Country's institutional environment includes governmentlaws, other regulatory national or international agencies,financial, marketing and educational institutions, industryassociations, social networks. It also includes efficient andeffective distribution and communication channels (Iyer1997).

Previous research has examined the effects of these twodimensions on marketing practices (Iyer 1997; Johnson &Arunthanes 1995; Sharma & Dominguez 1992), informationsystems (King et al 1994; Wang, Klein & Jiang 2006), andorganizational change (Geppert, Matten & Williams 2003;Golembiewski 1991; Bhattacharyya 1980). These studiessupport relevance of effects of country's infrastructuredevelopment and institutional environment on a range ofmanagement practices. These institutional and infrastructurefactors can affect managers' risk related decisions (Makhija& Stewart 2002); availability and mobilization of requiredresources for a CRM change (Aveni 1978), availability andqualities of human resources required for a CRM change(Gooderham, Nordhaug & Ringdal 1999) , and ski l l ,education and training of the people; these all factors areimportant in affecting CRM change. The literature providessome evidence that country's national-structural contextinf luence CRM change management For example , inabsence of an automated electronic data capture systems atthe retail check-outs, during the implementation of a CRMchange, a producer of consumer products in India faces alot of hurdles in accessing customer information (first stageof CRM) due to their reliance on individual retailers. In


4/14

44 Darshan Desai and Subrat Sahumanaged without formal systems and customer relationshipsare based on personal, informal contacts of a shop-owner,who lacks enough incentives to share it with the producer(Sharma and Iyer 2006). However, to our knowledge, tilldate, very limited knowledge exists about how these factorsaffects CRM change management. Therefore, the study aimsto explore.Research Question 2: How does the Indian national-structural context affect CRM change management?MethodologyResearch MethodDue to considerable lack of research in this field, broadresearch questions are derived. These questions are moreexploratory and less defined. Repertory Grid Technique(RGT) provides a solution to some of the challenges foraddressing these less defined and more exploratory researchquest ions. RGT is away of capturing whattheor ies people areusing to make sense ofsometh ing ,quant i fy ing andthat

Repertory Grid Technique is used to capture the theories that \ themanagers use to make sense of the effects of the Indian contextson CRM change management.

qualitative feedback (Rogers & Ryals 2007). It helps toobtain rich, qualitative feedback covering both descriptiveand value-based explanation. To explore how a certaingroup of individuals interpreted the effects of Indian contexton CRM change management, semi-structured interviews areconducted to collect RGT data. The RGT contains threemajor components: i) elements, ii) constructs, and iii) links(Easterby-Smith 1991).The elements are objects of attentions or items that theparticipant will evaluate. These elements can be elicitedfrom the participants or can be supplied by the researcher.The majority of studies in the psychology literature utilizeindividuals or roles as the elements (Neinieyer et al. 2002);however, business researchers have employed a wider rangeof elements, including work activities or tasks (Brook &Brook 1989; Smith 1980), methods of communication(Hutchison 1998), different types of information systems(Whyte & Bytheway 1996), and the activities that comprisethe performance appraisal process (Wright & Lam 2002).Some scholars have indicated that the elements must beunique or non-overlapping (Hunter & Beck 2000), however,o thers have argued for less rest r ic t ive requirements(Neimeyer et al. 2002; Wright and Lam 2002), so long asthe e lements fa l l wi th in the respondent ' s range ofconvenience (Fransella et al. 2004; Davis & Hufnagel,2007). Objects of attention in this study are activities of aCRM change management process. Due to complexity ofCRM change management process, its activities are inter-related with each other; it is not possible to dissect the wholeprocess into discrete and unique activities. Hence, it is veryimportant to ensure that the elements fall within respondent'srange of convenience and they don't have different meaningfor different research participants.

Elicit elements from the participant is a way of enthat the e lements fa l l wi th in respondents rangconvenience, however it restrict study's ability to coresults among the group of executives, and the elchange management activities may not be representatthe all the phases of CRM change management prHence, to ensure that the elements are relevant andwithin respondents' range of convenience, three d iscussions have been conducted in the three workshops, where the executives, involved in CRM cmanagement, have elicited eight important CRM cma nage men t act iv i t ies . To ensu re that these cmanagement act iv i t ies are not repet i t ive and representative of the area being investigated (Beail Easterby -Smith 1980) , in-depth in terviews wi thacademicians and four CRM consul tants have conducted. These interviews have helped identifyingof the repetitive activities and related activities that c

merged together. ] in terviews,c

management acti have been short-These e lements

been described in Table-1. During the semi-struinterviews, while rating for the effects of the contextensured that these s ix e lements don ' t have di fTable 1 Elements Description

e l

e2

e3

e4

e5

e6

ElementsAssessing readiness forCRM change

Setting & CommunicatingCRM change strategiesfor next CRM change

Building leadership teamfor mobilizing CRMchange

Aligning organization forCRM change

End user training &Empowerment

Assessing changeperformance andfeedback for nextCRM change

DescriptionAssess external context,operating environment, &mental models; evaluatereadiness and required chin the people, process andtechnologyVision of the overall chandestination; Prioritize busiimpact of a set of requiredspecific changes; Setting acommunicating a methodspath of these changes.Taking charge of the chanInfluencing and persuadinpeople; Create changechampions and build leadteam.Creating linkages; Alignmeremoval of structuralimpediments;Creating newroutinesCapability and confidencebuilding; Provide opportulearn, ownership andchallenging goals.Compare expected changechange achieved; Comparexpected business impact change vs. actual businessimpact; Gain feedback formore informed change; L


5/14

CRM Change Managem ent in an Fmerging Country Context: An Exploratory S tudy in India 45

The literature about the effects of socio-cultural context

Agrawal & Haleem 200 5; Band yopad yay and

The constructs are used to structure the

understand ing. Each respond ent has been asked todiscuss the -The most frequently elicited contextual factors affecting CR Mchange man agemen t are power distance, infra-structuredevelopment and institutional environment.

The technique incorporates a series of "how"

Table 2: Constructs Descript ion

l

3

5

6

7

ConstructsPower distance

Individualism

Masculinity

UncertaintyavoidanceConfuciusDynamismInfrastructuredevelopment

InstitutionalEnv i r onmen t

Descr ipt ionDegree to which a society acceptsa unequal distributions of powerDegree to which society valuesindependence vs, groupmembershipDegree to which society definesachievement in terms ofacquisition of materialpossessionDegree to which society toleratesambiguous situationsFocus towards future

Structural elements that providethe supportive framework such as,roads, telecommunications, computers,internet, broadband etc.Institutions within a country thatregulates and influence CRM changemanagemen t

For linking elements with the constructs, the participants

itself. Respondents have also been asked

activities in their organization. At the end of the interview,when repertory grid has been completed, a preliminaryconfirmation has been obtained regarding which contextualfactors are of the highest importance. This process hasentailed visual comparison of rows in the completedrepertory gdd.Sample and Research Participants40 executives from Indian banking, telecom and retailorganizations have been approached. These organizationseither have already implemented CRM, or they are planningto implement CRM, A copy of the overall study report hasbeen promised to the participating organizations for their

internal evaluation anduse. Study has adoptedjudgment s ampl ingmethod for choosingthe right sample. Outof the 40 executives,29 executives have been willing to participate in the study.These 29 executives have been from the 29 firms infollowing industries: retail (n=7), telecom (n=7), andfinancial service (n=15) in India, Out of 15 financial servicesorganizations, 9 organizations have implemented CRM,while other 6 organizations are planning to implementCRM, All the te lecom organiza t ions a lready haveimplemented CRM, Four retail organizations have alreadyimplemented CRM, while other three are still planning forit. In the 29 organizations, interviews have been conductedwith the senior level executives. During the interviews, it isensured that the participant has a good knowledge about

organization's CRM change management initiatives. Thesample includes senior level IT (n=8), marketing (n=10),general management (n=6), and CRM executives (n=5). Agesof the all interviewees have been in the range of 35-57years, 12 executives have been below 40 years of age, 15have been in between 40 and 50 years of age, and 2 havebeen above 50 years of age. In general, the semi structuredinterviews have lasted around 30-45 minutes. They aremainly conducted in English, With the permission of theparticipants, the interviews have been tape recorded ortranscribed to ensure that the fieldwork produced qualitydata. The data set, derived from each interview, has beenset out as a grid. An example of a Repertory grid is shownin Appendix- I,Data AnalysisThe complete grids can be submitted to different methodsof analysis. The study combined qualitative and quantitativemethods of repertory gdd analysis.Qualitative Content AnalysisDuring the content analysis, to understand how eachconstruct affect CRM change management activities, allelicited statements of the semi-structured interviews havebeen grouped into themes, where there appeared to becommonality in wording and/or meaning. Next, all thethemes explaining how each construct affect CRM change


6/14

46 Darshan Desai and Subrat Sahurecorded. The content analysis has elicited a total of 323themes about how seven contextual factors affect the sixCRM change management activities. A coding frame hasbeen agreed, and then, the themes have been sorted by code.Following further consideration, some of the codes have beencombined to create broader emerging themes. This has beencarried out manually by two separate researchers workingindependently. In general, both the researchers agreed on thecommon themes.Quantitative Grid Analysis

lead to less frequent, and distorted two-way communicatDespite of the easy acceptance of top-level decisions,to less frequent dialogues, it is challenging to getinputs, participation, and fresh new ideas about a Cchange . Hence , for e m e r g e n t and bot tom-up chastrategies, a lot of structural and cultural changesrequired, while for a planned CRM change strateinitiating a change is easier, but, the change implementaface a lot of hurdles. During the implementation of a Cchange, sometimes, it is perceived as a "management pto get the people share their contacts and gain more poWhen information is considered to be a source of positpower, cross-functional integration is also difficult. Pe

have more fear to lPrinciple component analysis with Varimax rotation has beenconducted for each individual grid. This analysis has helpedto ident i fy centra lconstructs for each grid, i jp^g fg high power distance cu lture in India, emergent changeCentral constructs are gfj-^^fgoies require a lot of Structural and cultural changes,the most important and

positional power,

"^ planned CRM change strategies, initiating a change peasier, but, the change implementation faces a lot of hurdles, change. In shighly correlatedcontextual factors

affecting CRM changemanagement in each grid. Construct centrality refers toimportance of a construct in relation to all other constructs(Tan & Hunter 2002) . In this study, it addresses theexecutives' perception about the most important contextualfactors affecting CRM change management. For testingvalidity of this analysis, the central constructs for each gridhas been compared with the respondents' conflrmation aboutthe most important constructs. In all 29 cases, the centralconstructs of the grid have included the most importantconstruct mentioned by that participant. To understand howcontextual factors affect different CRM change managementact ivi t ies di f ferent ly , e lement preferences have beenexplored. Element preferences are average column scores foreach grid; they indicate the perceived desirability of eachelement compared to all other elements (Tan & Hunter2002). In this study, the most preferred elements describethe CRM change management ac t iv i t i es , which areperceived to be highly affected by Indian contextual factors.Results and DiscussionsResults of Qualitative Content AnalysisResults of a qualitative content analysis generate a list ofthe most common themes, which represent the participants'perceptions about how the contextual factors affect CRMchange management activities. These cotnmon themes canbe disaggregated into two categor ies. The one set ofcommon themes explain the effects of socio-cultural contexton CRM change management, and answer the first researchquestion, while the another set of the common themesexplain the effects of national-structural context on CRMchange management , and answer the second researchquestion. These two categories of the common themes aresummarized in this section.Effects of Socio-cultural Context on CRM ChangeManagementAccording to the common themes, during the readiness

implementationcon tex t , it b e c o

more important to seek influential political suppormobilizing CRM change. It is very important to build and conf idence. Emerging middle class wi th aambi t ion to gain more posi t ional power provoppor tun i t i es to f ind good change agents to bleadership team, where a again a positional power can"cost-effective" reward.

Low individualist culture is another socio-culdimension that affects CRM change in the contexemerging countries of Asia. Less individualist culture mtimes leads to less compet i t ive people, who aremotivated to use technology to achieve personal goalsuch context, CRM technology may be perceived as aconsuming burden, and, in init ial phases of end-training, "hand-holding" may be required. Due tocol lect ive cul ture, relat ionships are considered important over tasks and informal communications amcolleagues/friend becomes quite relevant. At such flowing 'positive stories' about CRM change throughright change agents helps a lot in making people readchange as well as in mobil izing change. Now, snetworks play increasingly important role in flowing "positive stories". When people are more likely to cowith the opinions of "important others", training, orientby "important other" also makes it more effective. Dhigher levels of social-bonding in teams, peer pressucomparatively more relevant in adoption of CRM chan

D ue to more feminine cul ture in many emercoun t r i es , peop le cons ider ach ievement in t e rmreputation, human contacts, relationships and the qualithe living environment. In such context, improvemerelationships and living environment provides reasogood motivation to adopt a CRM change. Perception ease of use becomes more important than usefulness ofsystem. Easy to use and "effort-free" CRM system sufflcient tech support is more important than a systemrequires some more efforts for achievement of work


7/14

CRM Change Management in an Emerging Country Context: An Exploratory Study in India 47and organizations. The cultural 'differences' between thecountries may be vanishing, while cultural diversities andidentities within the countries are getting stronger. Morespecifically, in India, the high linguistic, region, and religiondiversity adds to the cultural diversity within the countryHere, it is a very well "co-existence of extremely differenbeliefs and people". Hence there are opportunities tocapitalize, cultivate and take advantage of cultural diversityin forming CRM team, and adoption of CRM change.

,. . , ,. . , .. \ . . ' -. . \ Effects of Nationalcollectivist culture when relationship is more important over \ structural Context o:, flowing 'positive stories' about CRM change through \ cRM Changeright change agents helps a lot. j ManagementDue to underdeveloped IT, and telecom infrastructures, the emerging

country organizations have highly fragmented customer dataIn this context, organizations need to put more efforts andinvestment for creating and maintaining a good qualitycustomer database. In absence of proper te lecominfrast ructure, organizat ions face more resistance foinitiating a CRM change that involves setting up callcenters. However, the under-developed telecom infrastructurecreates enormous growth oppor tuni t ies for te lecomorganizations; Indian telecom organizations focus more onthe core business and likely to t ie-up with global ITcompa nies for CRM . These kinds of collaborations and tieups create more contextual pressures to go for a CRMchange and spread global best practices. Because of lowespread of house hold PCs and peoples' fear to use onlinchannel for shopping and banking, organizations face moreresistance for e-CRM change init iatives. However, anemerging class of people in India uses intemet for the firstime through their cell-phones, as it is comparatively cheapeand more efficient alternative of PC. This trend opens upnew opportunities for e-CRM and m-CRM changes andaccelerates the use of intemet channels.

d be performed by whom and when. Due to higher

titative results. In

Low uncertainty avoidance culture leads to higher levels

pet i t ive adva ntage. Hen ce, whi le imi tat ing best

Organizations with Confucian dynamism culture avoidona l CRM changes and l a rge- sca le

ore time, efforts, and investments are needed

Some of the themes emerged during the study have

time. The typically 'we stem ' values of individualism and

Indian governments' regulations related to opening upof a sector affects competition. Increased competition leadto increased organizat ion, investments, adopt ion osophisticated technology, innovation, which in turn, enableCRM change. With technology adoptions and increased usof internet, an organization uses increasing numbers ochannels; increased numbers of channels create more needfor channel integration and generate more contextuapressure for CRM change. However, when the Indianorganizations do not monitor channels for quality assuranceit can be difficult to assure quality of customer service, andmore efforts are needed to align organizations' performancmeasurement and reward systems around CRM change.

These common themes emerged dur ing the studyhighlights that in addition to government regulations andchannel networks, the other institutional development of thcountry also affects CRM change. In absence of credit ratingagencies, important customer information related to credihistories, and etc. is not available outside the organizationhence, a good quality customer database is more importan


8/14

48 Darshan Desai and Subrat SahuConfuc ian dynamism, in s t i t u t iona l deve lopmen t infrastructure development. Central constructs in the rindust ry execut ives ' reper tory gr ids are mascul iindividualism, uncertainty avoidance, Confucian dynaminstitutional development and infrastructure developmeTable 3: Central Constructs and Element Prefere

impor tance of customer data , and less re l iable lawenforcement, some public sector banks still face fear ofcustomer data theft, and don't outsource their call centreoperations to BPOs, instead they prefer to have their captiveunits. Increasing spread and importance of professional andunprofessional social networks create a "buzz" around aCRM change. Higher numbers of good low cost universitiesin the country generate a pool of college educated, young,energetic people, who may participate in the CRM change.However, screening of really useful people & their trainingis more challenging. CRM training in the country is notwidely available; B-schools don't place required attentionon CRM. Fragmented retail structure has created challengesfor e-retailing and adoption of e-CRM related changes inretail sector. With the entry of big players in retail segmentand recent improvement in retail supply chain integration,retail organizations may face more contextual pressure foradoption of CRM changes. Fewer legal restrictions in thecountry regarding getting and using customer informationopen more alternatives for CRM change.

Overall, the most frequently elicited contextual factorsaffecting CRM change management are power distance,infra-structure development and institutional environment.These three constructs cover 58 percent of the themesel ic i ted . Across the three indust r ies , inf rast ructuredevelopment and institutional environment are among themost frequently elicited constructs. However, it is interestingto note the inter- industry differences related to mostfrequently elicited socio-cultural factors. In the bankingindustry, most frequently elicited socio-cultural construct ispower-distance. In the telecom industry, most frequentlyelicited socio-cultural constructs are Confucius dynamism,and individualism. In the retail industry, most frequentlyelicited socio-cultural constructs are Confucius dynamism,and uncertainty avoidance.Results of Qua ntitative Grid Ana lysisUsing statistical software SPSS, factor solutions are obtainedfor each individual grid (Bell 1997). All solutions performsatisfactorily in terms of Bartlett's test of sphericity and theKaiser, Meyer, Olkin (KMO) measure of sampling accuracy.Table 3 describes factors (central construct/s) and percentageof variance explained by each grid factor solution. Varianceexplained varied from 55 per cent to 96 per cent. Theanalysis produces 11 single-factor solutions, 18 two-factorsolutions and 1 three-factor solution. In Table 3, first 15grids present the perceptions of banking executives, nextseven grids present the ^ _perceptions of telecom Wh en a Culture is more feminine, easy to use and "effort-free" presents elemexecutives and last I CRM system with sufficient tech support is more im portant preferences of aseven grids present the | fj^^^ ^ ^^^^^ ^j^^ requires some m ore efforts for achievem ent ^^^' "''^. ^ i" ^"percept ions of re ta i l f u i JJ J i ndus t r i e s , Cexecut ives. As observed i -^ ' -^ ^ ' ' ?^ ^-* * - - chan ge ma nage min Table 3, central constructs in the banking industry activit ie s, which perceived to be highly affected by Indian contextual fac

are: i) accessing readiness for CRM change, and ii) seand communicating CRM change strategies. The C

Gridno .123456789101 1121314151617181920212 22 324252 6272829

Factors(CentralConstructs)cl,c7c3,c5,c7c2,c3c2,c6c3,clc6,clc6, clc3, clc2c3,c2c7c6cl, c7c l , c7c7c4c6,c7c6c7c5, c6c5,c6c5,c7c4c5c2,c6c7c2c3, c4c4, c7

% ofVarianceexplained8 09273848188788856815 57 59 589757 4967491878482766889746 8849 0

Element Preferencese l4 .03. 72.54 .02 .83.23.13. 23.43.43. 63. 53. 53.83.73. 53. 53. 53. 53. 23. 23. 23.22 .52.23.02 .52.73.0

e23. 43. 54 .03. 53. 53. 83. 83. 53. 43. 43.23.23. 23.03. 23. 53. 52.72.73.23.03.02.22.73.02.52.73.02.7

e33.02 .92.72.73.53.22.52. 53. 03. 03. 43. 02.03. 83. 22. 23. 03.02.22.53.03.02.22. 52.52. 52.52.52.5

e43.02 .93.22.52.82.73.03.03.23.23.22.72.72.83.02 .22.73.02. 12.53. 23. 22.53. 03. 52.53. 03.23. 0

e53.23.53.23.23.53. 03. 33. 33.23.23.22.73. 43. 43.22.73.03. 02.73.23.23.22.22.53.02.52.52.52.5

Tab le -3

3

223

2

executives' repertory grids are power distance, institutionalenvironment, infrastructure development, masculinity andindividualism. Central constructs in the telecom industryexecutives' repertory grids are uncertainty avoidance. change management activities, which were perceived t


9/14

CRM Change Managem ent in an Emerging Country Context: An Exploratory Study in India 49highly competitive and dynamic Indian telecom serviceprovide r s ' o rganiza t ion cu l ture and CRM changemanagement can be quite different from CRM changemanagement in Indian public sector bank. Competitiveindustry requirements of telecom and retail industry may beimportant in nullifying the som e of the socio-cultural effectsof collectivism, feminism, or high power distance. Moreimportant socio-cultural factors affecting CRM changemanagement in these industries are related to uncertaintyavoidance and Confucius dynamism. Despite having somecommon findings among qualitative content analysis andquantitative grid analysis, it was interesting to understandthat the most frequently elicited constructs of contentanalysis are not always the most common central constructsin quantitative grid analysis. For example, individualism is

\an dmpor tan t

ent across the three industries. Both the constructs

e l ic i tedsocio-cultural construct, , ^ . ^ . . I- - ^ . . J one of the mostIn low uncertainty avoidance culture, fast intuitive decisionmaking processes can be sources of competitive advantage;hence, while imitating best practices, orga nizations m ust be by telecom executives,careful that they do not replace a source of a competitive while the mostadvantage with less an efficient process. commonconstruct centra lof theseexecutives is Confucian dynamism.

Analysis of element preferences suggests that theactivities related to early phases of CRM change are more"context-sensitive". This result supports the findings of thestudy by Damanpour and Schneider (2006); this study hasfound that the contextual factors have significantly differenteffects on the different ph ases of innovation ado ption. Earlyphase of CRM change include acdvities like assessingreadiness of CRM change and des igning of changestrategies. These activities are more concerned with tuningto the environment and people 's mindse ts in theorganization (Nilakant & Ramnarayan 2006). As both theseearly phase activities involve more subjectivity, they maybe more likely to get affected by the contextual factors.ConclusionsThis paper is a response to call for research on people issuesrelated to CRM change management (Boulding et al 2005)and qualitative aspects of CRM (Comer & Rogers 2004). Itis the first study that addresses the effects of an emergingcountry context on CRM change management. Theoreticalins ights f rom the ins t i tut ional theory highl ight theimportance of political and subjective aspects of the contexta long with technica l and ra t ional aspects of CRMimplementation. Repertory grid analysis of the data collectedthrough semi-structured interviews provides further insightin exploring the research questions. This study is importantin explaining how the cultural and national context of anemerging country affects CRM change management. Inaddition, from methodology point of view, it is one of therare studies in IS research that combines qualitative andquantitative approaches of analyzing repertory grid data.

Majority of studies in CRM and IS research contributeto the tradition of "best practice" without the contextualconsiderations. Few IS scholars (Bhatnagar & Odedra 1992;


10/14


11/14

CRM Change Managem ent in an Emerging Country Context: An Exploratory Study in India 51

Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management, 6 (1),

Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management, 6(2), 31-45.

Industrial Management and Data Systems, 103(5), 324-

The Sociological19 (2), 185-202.

Information System Journal, 11, 43-63.Information Technology in Context:

from the Perspective of Developing Countries. Ashgate, London.ExploringPrentice Hall, Hemel Hempstead.

Effect of Culture onComm unications of AIS,

RepertoryN, Beail (ed,). Brookline Books,

Social Implications ofountries. Tata, Mcgraw-Hill, N ew D elhi.

Group &5(4), 418-437.

Journal of Marketing, 69, 155-166.Principles of Marketing (2nd edition).

Journal of Organizational Behavior, 10(2), 169-178.Marketing Business, February,

Ciborra C. (2000). From Control to Drift: The Dynamics of CorporateInformation Systems. Oxford University Press, Oxford.Christensen E. W. and Gordon G. G. (1999). An Exploration of Industry,Culture and Revenue Growth. Organization Studies, 20(3), 397-422.Corner I. and Rogers B. (2004). Monitoring Qualitative Aspects of CRMImplementation: The Essential Dimension of Management Responsibilityfor Employee Involvement and Acceptance . Journal of Targeting,Measurement and Analysis for Marketing, 13 (3), 267-274.Covaleski M. A. and Dirsmith M. W. (1988). An Institutional Perspectiveon the Rise, Social Transformation and Fall of a University BudgetCategory. Administrative Science Quarterly, 33, 562-587.Damanpour F . and Schneider M. (2006) . Phases of the Adopt ion ofInnovation in Organizations: Effects of Environment, Organization andTop Managers. British Journal of Management, 17(3), 215-236.Dash S., Bruning E. and Gain K. K. (2006). The Moderating Effect ofPower Distance on Perceived Interdependence and Relationship Qualityin Commercia l Banking: A Cross-cul tura l Compar ison. InternationalJournal of Bank Marketing, 24(5), 307 - 326.Davis C. J. and Hufnagel E. M . (2007). Through the Eyes of Ex perts: ASocio-cognitive Perspective on the Automation of Fingerprint Work.M /S Quarterly, 31(4), 681-703.Easterby-Smith, M. (1980). The Design, Analysis and Interpretation ofRepertory Grids. International Journal of Man-M achine Studies, (13),3 - 24 .Fransella F., Bell R. and Bannister D. (2004). A Manual for RepertoryGrid Technique, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., Chichester, England.Geppert M., Matten D. and Williams K. (2003). Change Management inMNCs: How Global Convergence Intertwines with National Diversities.Human Relations, 56(7), 807-838.Greenwood R. and Hinings C.R. (1996) . Unders tanding Radica lOrganizational Change: Bringing Together Old and New Institutionalism.Academy of Managem ent R eview, 21(4), 1022-1054.Golembiewski R. T. (1991). Organizational Development in the ThirdWorld: Values, Closeness of Fit and Culture-Boundedness. InternationalJournal of Human Resource Managem ent, 2(1), 39-53.Gooderham P. N., Nordhaug O . and Ringdal K. (1999). Institutional andRat ional Determinants of Organiza t ional Prac t ices : Human ResourceManagement in European Firms. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(3),5 0 7 - 5 3 1 .Hofstede G. (1985). The Interaction Between National and OrganizationalValue Systems. Journal of Managem ent Studies, 22(4), 347-357.Hofstede G. (1997). Culture and Organizations: Software of the Mind,Revised Edition. Mcgraw-Hill, New York.Hofstede G and Bond M.H. (1988). The Confucian Connection: FromCultural Roots to Economic Growth. Organizational Dynamics, 16(4),4 - 2 1 .Hunter M. G. and Beck J. E. (2000). Using Repertory Grids to ConductCross-cul tura l Informat ion Sys tems Research . Information SystemsResearch, 11(1), 93-101 .Hutchison J. R. (1998). Using the Role Repertory Grid Technique forItem Generation in a Survey of Knowledge Use, Journal of ConstructivistPsychology, (11), 149-162.King J. L., Gurbaxani V., Kraemer K. L., McFarlan F. W., Raman K. S.and Yap C. S. (1994). Institutional Factors in Information TechnologyInnovation. Information Systems Research, 5 (2), 139-169.Lu Y. and Heard R. (1995). Socialized Economic Action: A Comparisonof Strategic Investment Decisions in China and Britain. OrganizationStudies, 16 (3), 395-424.Iyer G. R. (1997). Comparative Marketing: Interdisciplinary Frameworkfor Institutional Analysis. Journal of International Business Studies, 28(3), 5 3 1 - 5 6 1 .


12/14

52 Darshan Desai and Subrat SahuJohnson J. L. and Arunthanes W, (1995). Ideal and Actual ProductAdaptation in US Exporting Firms: Market Related Determinants ofPerformance. International Marketing Review, 12 (3), 31-46.Jones M. (1999). The Institutional Determinants of Social Responsibility.Journal of Business Ethics, 20, 163-179.Kale S. H. (2005). Change Management: Antecedents and Consequencesin Casino CRM. UNLV Gaming Research &a mp; Review Journal, 9(2),55 - 67 .King S. F. and Burgess T. F. (2008). Understanding Success and Failurein Customer Relationship Management. Industrial Marketing Management,37 , 421-431 .Lam W. (2005) . Successful Know ledge Managem ent Requires aKnowledge Culture: A Case Study. Knowledge Management Researchand Practice, 3(4), 206-217.Lawrence P. R. and Lorsch J. W. (1969). Organization and Environment.Richard D. Irvin, Homewood, IL.Mack O., Mayo M. C. and Khare A. (2005). A Strategic Approach for aSuccessful CRM: A European Perspective. Problems and Perspectives inManagement, 2, 98-106.

.Makhija M. V. and Stewart A. C. (2002). The Effect of National Contexton Perceptions of Risk: A Comparison of Planned Versus Free-marketManagers. Journal of International Business Studies, 33(4), 737-756.Martinson M.G. and Hempel P. S. (1998). Chinese Business ProcessReengineering, International Journal of Information Management, 18(6),3 9 3 - 4 0 7 .Martinsons M. G. and Davisons R. M. (1996). Cultural Considerations inBusiness Process Change. Proceedings of AIS 96 Conference, 1-35.McCarthy B. (2004). The Two Dimensions of Organizational Change.Strategic HR Review, 4(1), 1-4.Montealegre R. (1999). A Temporal Model of Institutional Interventionsfor Informat ion Technology Adopt ion in Less-Developed Countr ies .Journal of Management Information Systems, 16(1), 207 - 232.Myers M. and Tan F. (2002). Beyond Models of National Culture inInformat ion Sys tems Research . Journal of Global InformationManagement, 10(1), 24-32.Ndubisi N. O. (2004). Understanding the Salience of Cultural Dimensionson Relationship Marketing, i ts Underpinnings and Aftermaths. CrossCultural Management, 11(3), 70-89.Nilakant V. and Ramnarayan S. (2006). Change Management: AlteringMindsets in a Global Context. Sage Publications, London.North D. C. (1990). Institutions, Institutional Change and E conomicPerformance. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Oliver C. (1992). The Antecedents of Deinstitutionalization. OrganizationStudies, 13, 563-588.Overby J. W., Woodruff R. B. and Gardial S. F. (2005). The Influence ofCulture Upon Consumers' Desired Value Perceptions: A Research Agenda.Marketing Theory, 5(2), 139-163.Payne A. and Frow P. (2005). A Strategic Framework for CustomerRelationship Management. Journal of Marketing, 69 (October), 167-76.Payne A. and Frow P. (2006). Customer Relationship Management: FromStrategy to Implementation. Journal of Marketing Management, 22, 135-168 .Peppers D. and Rogers M. (2002). Customer Relationship Managementin Asia- A Cross-culture Case Study Based on Aetna Universal Insurance.www.ltol .com. last accessed 7* February, 2004.

Pfeffer J. and Salancik G. R. (1978). The External CoOrganizations: A Resource Dependence Perspective. Harper New York.Ralston D. A., Holt D. H., Terpstra R. H. and Kai-Cheng, Y. (1Impact of National Culture and Economic Ideology on Managervalues: A study of the United States, Russia, Japan, and China. JInternational Business Studies, 28(1), 177-207.Redding S. G. (1982). Cultural Effects on the Marketing PSoutheast Asia. Journal of the Market Research Society, 24(2),Rogers B. and Ryals L. (2007). Using the Repertory Grid to AUnderlying Realities in Key Account Relationships. Internationaof Market Research, 49(5), 595- 612.Sekaran U. (2000). Research Methods for Business. 3rd ed., Jo& Sons, New York, NY,Sharma A. and Dominguez L. V. (1992) . Channel EvoluFramework for Analysis. Journal of the Academy of Marketing 20 (1), 1-15.Shane S., Venkataraman S. and M acMillan 1. (1995). Cultural Din Innovation Championing Strategies. Journal of Managemen9 3 1 - 9 5 2 .Sharma A. and Iyer G.R. (2006). Country Effects on CRM Journal of Relationship Marketing, 5 (4), 63-78.Sheth J. N. and Sharma A. (2005). Intemational e-marketing: Oppand Issues. International Marketing Review, 22(6), 611-622.Smith M. (1980). An Analysis of Three Managerial Jobs Using RGrids, Journal of Management Studies, 17(2), 205-213.Soh C. and Sia S. K.(2004). An Institutional Perspective on SoERP Package-Organisa t ion Misal ignments . The Journal of Information Systems, 13(4), 375-397.Srite M. and Karahanna E. (2006). The Role of Espoused NationalValues in Technology Acceptance. MIS Quarterly, 30(3), 679-7Sue P and Morin P (2001). A Strategic Framework for CRM. (April , 13, 2002) [available at crm-forum .com].Tan F. B. and Hunter M. G. (2002). The Repertory Grid TechMethod for the Study of Cognition in Information Systems. MIS Q26(1) , 39-57.Van Bentum R. and Stone M. (2005). Customer Relationship Maand the Impact of Corporate Culture- A European Study. JoDatabase Marketing and Customer Srategy Management, 13(11Wang E., Klein G. and Jiang J. J. (2006). ERP Misfit: Country oand Organizational Factors. Journal of Management Information 23(1), 263 -292.Whyte G. and Bytheway A.(I996). Factors Affecting Information Success , International Journal of Service Industry Man age7 4 - 9 3 .Winer R. S. (2001). A Framework for Customer Relationship ManCalifornia Management Review, 43, Summer, 89-105.Wresh W. (2003). Initial E-commerce Efforts in Nine Least DCountries: A Review of National Infrastructure, Business ApproaProduct Selection. Journal of Global Information Management67- 78 .Wright R. P. and Lam S. S. K. (2002). Comparing Apples withThe Importance of Element Wording in Grid Applications, Jotiiiistructivist Psychology, 15(2), 109-119.


13/14


14/14

change india

Documents