The Value of Business Analytics: Identifying the Path to Profitability

ORGANIZATIONAL AND SOCIETAL CULTURAL CONSIDERATIONS

Understanding is important. However, if the delivery of a message violates a contextual taboo, ignores accepted practices, or bypasses important individuals, it may be discarded out of hand. Having an understanding of the broader cultural context within which the organization and the individuals within it operate is an essential component of crafting an effective message.

Culture plays a significant role in modifying our resistance or acceptance of a given message. If a message contradicts either our own or the organization’s values or norms, it is likely to meet significant resistance. Some of the most important factors that influence our level of message acceptance include:

• Our historical experiences
• The delivery of the message
• The degree to which implicit understanding of political, relational, and organizational knowledge is expected

As discussed in Chapter 4, we suffer from a variety of biases, one of which is our innate preference to interpret things based on what we have most recently experienced. For individuals or organizations that have had previous negative experiences with business analytics, this can be a major factor in creating resistance against even considering any communication about business analytics. Acknowledging these negative experiences up front and explaining why things are or are not different along with how these problems can be avoided this time may be an effective strategy for overcoming this cultural ...