BUS 503 Trident International Module 2 Individual Resistance to Change Case Study Module 2 – Case INDIVIDUAL RESISTANCE TO CHANGE Case Assignment Read the

BUS 503 Trident International Module 2 Individual Resistance to Change Case Study Module 2 – Case
INDIVIDUAL RESISTANCE TO CHANGE
Case Assignment

Read the following case study:

Nelsen, B. J., & Valadez, M. S. (2012). Resistance to technological change: The case of the unused calculators. Journal of Case Studies, 30(2), 14-20. Retrieved from EBSCO—Business Source Complete.

Then, in a well-written 5- to 6-page paper, please respond to the following:

Part One: Briefly summarize the circumstances confronting Ms. Figueroa in her quest to have the calculators widely used at the ASD?

Part Two: Identify the key individuals (stakeholder groups) in the unused calculator case, and discuss the extent to which each stakeholder is resistant to change (i.e., is amenable to use of the technology). How might the different perspectives of each of the major stakeholders in this case have come together to further increase the overall resistance to change at the ASD?

Part Three: Using the background readings, what factors—other than the technology itself—do you believe contributed to the resistance to change on the part of each of the major stakeholders you have identified in Item #2 above (mistrust, fear, loss of job security)?

Part Four: Conclude your paper by commenting on the following: Is it possible that Ms. Figueroa can resolve this situation such that the calculators can be used at the ASD? Or is the resistance to change at the ASD now impossible to overcome? Be sure to explain your reasoning.
The following articles may be helpful to you in completion of the Module 2 Case:

Unicorn HRO. (2016, June 7). Handling resistance to technological change in the workforce. Unicorn HRO. Retrieved from http://www.unicornhro.com/blog/handling-resistance-to-technological-change-in-the-workforce

Quast, L. (2012, Nov 26). Overcome the 5 main reasons people resist change. Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/lisaquast/2012/11/26/overcome-the-5-main-reasons-people-resist-change/#4e88687f3efd

Assignment Expectations
Your paper must be at least 5–6 pages in length.
Be sure that you incorporate sources found at the Background page into your written analysis.
Be sure that you properly cite all sources used in your paper (APA Style) in-text and in your end referencing. Journal of Case Studies
www.sfcrjcs.org
November 2012, Vol. 30, No. 2, p. 14-20
ISSN 2162-3171
Resistance to Technological Change:
The Case of the Unused Calculators
Dr. Bonalyn J. Nelsen, University College of Cayman Islands
Miriam Santana Valadez, Rochester Institute of Technology
This case and teaching note was prepared by Bonalyn J. Nelsen and Miriam Santana Valadez
and is intended to be used as a basis for class discussion. The views represented here are those
of the case authors based on their professional judgment and do not necessarily reflect the views
of the Society for Case Research. Copyright © 2012 by the Society for Case Research and the
authors. No part of this work may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means without
the written permission of the Society for Case Research.
Introduction
Inez Figueroa sighed as she packed up the sophisticated TI-Nspire TM handheld calculators in her
office. The calculators had come to symbolize Inez’s growing frustration with her colleagues
and, more broadly, her new job as a mathematics instructor at the American School for the Deaf
(ASD), a private high school that enrolled only deaf students. Figueroa’s passion was teaching
mathematics using innovative learning technologies, and she had been hired by ASD to introduce
new technologies that would help deaf students succeed in math and science courses. But her
attempts to introduce new learning technologies had been met with disinterest and disdain. For
instance, neither her colleagues nor her supervisor had adopted or endorsed the new calculators
even though the devices represented a vast improvement over the graphing calculators
traditionally used at ASD. Indeed, her supervisor even chided Figueroa for using the devices in
her own mathematics classes, and eventually told her to stop using them. The widespread
resistance to new learning technologies and lack of support had left Figueroa increasingly
demoralized and questioning why she had been hired in the first place. Was she hired because
she was a Latina (and thus valuable in regards to diversifying the teaching staff) rather than an
innovative mathematics instructor? Or were there other factors that contributed to the lack of
interest in using the TI-Nspire TM ? As Figueroa lifted the box of calculators and headed back to
her office, she wondered “How can I overcome the faculty’s resistance to new learning
technologies and should I even try?”
Inez Figueroa: A Passion for Learning Technologies
In 2006, Inez Figueroa worked for the local city school district as a certified math instructor.
Her reputation for identifying and incorporating exciting, innovative learning technologies in the
classroom was well established throughout the district. When the superintendent of her school
district wanted to introduce the TI-NspireTM calculators to its mathematics instructors, Figueroa
was an obvious choice to plan and implement a demonstration of the device. When approached
about offering a workshop to showcase the features and benefits of the TI-NspireTM and the
computer software that accompanied the product, Figueroa leapt at the chance (see Appendix).
She planned and led a well-attended workshop on the calculators and software for math
instructors throughout the city’s school district. Figueroa’s enthusiasm for the technology
proved contagious, and both the workshop and the calculator were well received by the audience.
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After the workshop, Figueroa was approached by a representative (rep) of Texas Instruments, the
company that manufactured the TI-NspireTM. Impressed by her mastery of learning technology
and enthusiasm for incorporating learning technologies in the classroom, the company rep
offered Figueroa an opportunity: If Figueroa would submit a grant application stating her
willingness to act as a product representative and hold similar workshops to educators in the
area, Texas Instruments would provide her with 50 new TI-NspireTM calculators and computer
software free of charge. The company also agreed to provide her with advanced training on the
use of the calculators and software, as well as planning and implementing demonstrations and
workshops designed to display the device’s advanced features and classroom benefits. After
Figueroa held her workshops and submitted 200 completed workshop evaluation forms to Texas
Instruments (which provided proof that she had demonstrated the product to at least 200
educators), the calculators and software were hers to keep.
Figueroa eagerly submitted a grant application, confident that she could obtain the required
number of evaluations easily. Her grant was accepted and the calculators and software arrived as
promised. She regularly gave presentations and workshops on new learning technologies in her
school district, and was increasingly asked to do so in other school districts. Figueroa was in the
process of gathering evaluations when she learned of the job opportunity at ASD.
Teaching at the American School for the Deaf
In late 2007, Inez Figueroa applied for the job at the American School for the Deaf, a private
high school that focused on preparing deaf students for mainstream, career-oriented collegiate
education. Because many deaf students had not received adequate support in public schools,
they were sometimes deficient in basic mathematics, science, and writing skills; ASD aimed to
improve these skills so students could excel in college and university programs. The position
seemed like an ideal fit for Figueroa and her interests: ASD’s job advertisement stated that the
ideal applicant was an experienced mathematics instructor who could introduce and integrate
new learning technologies in the classroom. Although the job required proficiency in American
Sign Language (ASL) because many students could neither hear nor speak, the college was
willing to provide one year of training in ASL at no cost to the successful applicant. Figueroa
applied for the job and was delighted to be selected. Upon starting the job, Figueroa was told
that the hiring committee liked the fact that she integrated innovative learning technologies into
the classroom, and that her expertise in this area was a deciding factor in their hiring decision.
Figueroa could hardly wait to begin introducing new technologies that would help deaf students
excel in the classroom, and the TI-NspireTM seemed to offer an ideal start. Unlike traditional
graphing calculators that displayed only functions and the numbers entered by a student, the TINspireTM allowed instructors and students to download and upload files directly from a personal
computer; this allowed everyone in the class to share and collectively work with mathematics
problems, graphs, tables, words, text, equations, functions and numbers. This capability allowed
the calculator to work like a small, hand-held computer. The instructor could prepare files
containing mathematics problems on a laptop or desktop computer, download them to the TINspireTM, and bring them to class for students to solve individually or collectively. For example,
Figueroa could develop a geometry model on her laptop computer and download the model to
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the calculators, so students could actually manipulate the model themselves rather than simply
watching the instructor demonstrate manipulations while explaining them to the class. In
statistics courses, Figueroa entered a database and graphs into the calculators, which allowed
students to work statistics problems and modify graphs and tables. Students could also upload
data from the TI-NspireTM to computers and smart boards in the classroom, which allowed other
students and the instructor to see and share their work. Because the TI-NspireTM was capable of
storing files, students could save and retrieve work that had been completed earlier for reference,
comparison, and revision. In short, the TI-NspireTM enabled instruction and learning to be more
collaborative, experiential, flexible, timely and, most importantly for deaf students, more visual
(with the aid of a smart board, a technology available in all ASD classrooms).
Figueroa believed that the TI-NspireTM was a significant improvement over the simple graphing
calculators currently used at ASD, and she was eager to introduce the calculator’s capabilities to
her colleagues. For example, working out math problems with a paper and pencil was
completely unnecessary for students proficient in using the calculators. Students could compare
their work to that of others by sharing files, and see alternative solutions to problems or why they
had answered a problem correctly or incorrectly without trading calculators or problems on
paper. Collaborative, team-based work in the classroom was easier using the TI-NspireTM
because all devices shared the same data sets and problems. The device’s enhanced visual
displays and capabilities were a boon to students who could not hear and were often unable to
speak. Offering a workshop on the calculators and software would also allow her to gather more
workshop evaluations for Texas Instruments. However, Figueroa first had to master American
Sign Language.
For the next three months, Figueroa embarked on an intensive effort to learn ASL. American
Sign Language is a language distinctive from Standard English, and Figueroa was attempting to
become fluent in only one year. Although learning to sign was a daunting task Figueroa’s
passion for learning technology was undimmed, and she longed for the opportunity to
demonstrate her calculators. She received her chance when her supervisor invited her to give a
presentation on the benefits of the TI-NspireTM in Spring 2008. However, the supervisor insisted
upon one condition: Figueroa must deliver the presentation entirely in ASL—no spoken English
could be used. Figueroa was taken aback by this requirement; she had been learning to sign for
only three months and was not yet fluent; it seemed unrealistic to give a technical presentation to
instructors using only ASL, particularly after receiving only three months of training. When she
expressed concern about giving the presentation entirely in ASL, her supervisor remarked, “Sign
language was the ‘learning technology’ in this school long before computers and calculators
came into use. It’s critical to what we do.”
The importance of ASL in Deaf culture generally, and at ASD specifically, was not lost on
Figueroa. Hearing impaired people in the United States generally identified with one of two
social groups: the deaf and Deaf (Moore and Levitan, 2003; Paddon and Humphries, 2006).
People who were deaf (denoted by a lower case letter‘d’) preferred to mainstream with hearing
society and did not base their social identities on deafness. In contrast, the Deaf (denoted by an
upper case letter ‘D’) based their social identities primarily on their deafness and considered
themselves to be an empowered, capable group with a distinctive language and culture.
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The Deaf community is characterized by a high degree of physical, sociocultural diversity. For
example, members may be able to read lips and speak clearly, or they may be incapable of lipreading, speech, or other forms of communication that facilitate interaction with hearing people.
The Deaf community also exhibits the same degree of sociocultural diversity exhibited in
American society at large (Sparrow, 2005; Paddon and Humphries, 2006). Age, race, ethnicity,
social and economic status, and other demographic characteristics were therefore not the basis of
Deaf identity. The group had forged a strong sociocultural identity on the basis of only two
shared elements: the use of ASL for communication and the conviction that deafness is not a
disability (Moore and Levitan, 2003; Paddon and Humphries, 2006). Deaf people strongly
objected to the notion that they were “hearing impaired” because it implied that deafness made
them less capable than hearing people. For this reason, members of this community insisted on
being called Deaf rather than hearing impaired or handicapped.
Many Deaf people also viewed efforts to mainstream non-hearing people into hearing society as
unnecessary and offensive (Paddon and Humphries, 1990; Lane, 1999). For example, the Deaf
community has many outspoken critics of technological advances such as cochlear implants and
emergent communication techniques for non-hearing people like signed English, on the grounds
that these mainstreaming “advancements” are unnecessary and pose a threat to their sociocultural
identity (Lane, 1999; Levy, 2002; Sparrow, 2005). Figueroa realized that it was possible that her
supervisor and fellow instructors—who were both Deaf and hearing—were using her
presentation as a sort of “test” to determine not only her mastery of ASL, but also her willingness
to embrace Deaf culture and its values. Aware that protesting her supervisor’s demand would
neither further her technological ambitions nor impress her colleagues, Figueroa reluctantly
agreed to the condition and set about preparing a presentation on the TI-NspireTM in ASL. After
several weeks of intense preparation, she was finally ready.
The Demonstration at the ASD
On the appointed day, about one dozen senior colleagues and her supervisor joined Figueroa in a
conference room for her presentation. Figueroa distributed the calculators to the attendees and,
somewhat nervously, began to explain in ASL how the device could be used to teach
mathematics to deaf students. During the presentation her colleagues and supervisor asked many
questions about how Figueroa would explain mathematical concepts using ASL, but very few
questions centered specifically on the TI-NspireTM. Indeed, the attendees showed scant interest
in learning about the device or its classroom applications. Figueroa did her best to answer the
questions and finished her presentation. As she wrapped up the session, she asked all attendees
to fill out an evaluation form on the session and device, a customary practice in workshops at
ASD. However, both her supervisor and colleagues left the session without completing a single
evaluation.
Undeterred, Figueroa approached each attendee in his or her office and asked them to complete
an evaluation form. Most were extremely reluctant, and offered a variety of excuses for not
complying with her request. “I didn’t fill it out because I don’t want to be bothered by Texas
Instruments,” claimed one. Others pleaded that they were “just too busy” to fill out evaluation
forms or take the time to master new technologies, and one senior colleague announced that he
was uninterested in learning about new classroom technologies due to his pending retirement.
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Shocked and confused at being rebuffed, Figueroa tried to discuss the incident with ASD faculty
who were known to use learning technologies in the classroom. Without exception, her
colleagues advised her to forget about new learning technologies and focus on improving her
signing. Figueroa began to suspect that the entire presentation had indeed been a ruse intended
to test her developing signing skills and acculturation into the Deaf community rather than learn
about the calculators. Still, she took the hint and dropped the matter, but resolved to continue
using new learning technologies in her own mathematics classes.
Figueroa continued to practice American Sign Language and began to teach mathematics classes
at ASD. She made active use of her TI-NspireTM calculators and software, which were a hit with
students. The students enjoyed having the ability to save and retrieve problems on the
calculators, share data more easily, not have to laboriously write out answers with pencil and
paper, submit their homework to Figueroa electronically, and to see their work projected on
classroom smartboards. Still, many colleagues disparaged or dismissed her efforts to integrate
learning technology in the classroom. After walking by the classroom where Figueroa was
explaining the use of the calculators to students, her supervisor caustically remarked that hers
“was more like a calculator class than a math class”—that is, a class in calculator use. Others
seemed annoyed at her persistence in talking about and using new learning technologies,
advising that “You can’t impose new things, Inez”; or “Our old technology is working great.
Why change the technology if it’s working well for our students?” Eventually, Figueroa’s
supervisor flatly told her to stop using the TI-NspireTM in ASD classes. When she asked for an
explanation, Figueroa was told that students should learn to solve math problems on older-style
calculators because they were more commonly used on college campuses: “If the students’ next
math instructor doesn’t know how to use the TI-NspireTM and doesn’t want to learn, our students
may have problems. Besides, it’s our policy.” Figueroa knew of no formal policy at ASD that
forbade the use of this or any other advanced educational technology, but her orders were clear.
Sadly, she packed up the calculators and took them home.
What Next?
The resistance to the new calculators left Figueroa frustrated and confused. She had been told
that she was hired because of her expertise with learning technologies, and ASD was known for
its reputation in technological innovation. Yet, every attempt to share her expertise had been
rebuffed or dismissed, and even her own use of learning technologies met with criticism. She
began to wonder if her expertise with learning technologies was truly the reason she had been
hired. Figueroa also puzzled over why her colleagues seemed so reluctant to embrace new
teaching technologies. While it was true that new technologies would force instructors to learn
how to use the technology and revise lesson plans and teaching materials (problem sets,
exercises, examinations, etc.), this seemed like a reasonable tradeoff for the improvement in
student learning. “If this is an innovative school,” she wondered, “where is all the innovative
learning technology?” Or, her colleagues’ aloofness could be more personal in origin. Figueroa
had been hired to replace a Deaf mathematics instructor. ASD preferred to hire Deaf instructors
when possible, and hearing faculty were a minority in the high school. Could the resistance to
her calculators be a subtle, indirect protest against the hiring of a hearing instructor? Another
possibility was that she had been hired because, as a Latina, her addition to the faculty helped
ASD meet aggressive, self-imposed goals for workforce diversity. ASD had voluntarily
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developed an aggressive Affirmative Action policy that advocated hiring qualified women and
members of minorities whenever possible. At the time of this incident, ASD employed
approximately 90 faculty members, four of whom were ethnically ladinos. Figueroa was the
only female faculty member with Ladino roots. Could she be a token hire, she wondered,
someone who was meant to be seen but not heard?
Although Figueroa’s suspicions were difficult to prove, one thing was certain: the prospect of
doing nothing but teaching math classes held little appeal, and she began to question her fit with
ASD. Figueroa wondered, “Why should people be so resistant to using this learning technology,
and why should they care if I do? Moreover, should I continue to press the issue and introduce
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