www.sharexxx.net - free books & magazines

Table 5: Summary of Findings
Relating Cognitive Problem-Solving Style to User Resistance 201
out of 34 declined to offer even the wildest of guesses. Also, only in the case of 20
out of the 34 systems were some estimates of the installation times available, since
the other 14 were under development on an on-going basis. This indicates that there
may well be latent disadvantages in matching users and analysts of similar cognitive
styles, despite this study’s inability to find any.
It is suggested, therefore, that analysts’ and users’ cognitive styles be matched
only where either user resistance is a high-risk, high-penalty overhead, or where any
of the developing, debugging or enhancing efforts is likely to have a limited impact.
Examples of the first of these types of situation were noted during the research,
where radical changes in state policy had forced certain organizations into
corresponding computer system changes. In such cases, failure to develop and
adopt the new system quickly would have meant substantial losses. It is submitted
that it is worth matching analysts and users of similar cognitive styles to minimize user
resistance under such conditions.
Copyright © 2003, Idea Group Inc. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written
permission of Idea Group Inc. is prohibited.