Construction technology: Characteristics of effective change agents

Most efforts to bring about change in an organization are met with high resistance. Thus, it is essential for companies to recruit change agents to successfully lead the effort of adopting new technologies in construction projects. Change agents can be defined as an individual or a group that is responsible for initiating and managing change in an organization.

People in the industry perceived that change agents with a good personality could contribute to the success of technology adoptions. Leaders with the right personality factors are associated with increased employee performance and leadership effectiveness. Also, leader personality influences three out of the four employee stressors hypothesized. Conversely, change agents with bad personality could hinder the technology adoption from occurring or being sustained.

The relationships between leaders with good personality traits and employees’ work outcomes were significantly mediated by the leader’s people skill. Moreover, to be able to lead and manage team members, the leader must have a good personality. Furthermore, leaders with good personality traits are most likely to adopt efficient and effective communication styles in dealing with their subordinates to achieve the predetermined organizational goals. Therefore, personality plays a central role to the other key attributes that may also influence the success of change agents.

Furthermore, it is suggested that just because an individual has the technical competency, it does not necessarily mean that the individual will make for an effective change agent. 85% of the key attributes that influence the success of technology adoption are related to human, while 11% are related to organizational and only 4% are related to technical. Past research suggests that change agents who facilitate an emotional connection to the change reduce employees’ resistance in adopting new technology. Therefore, by hiring the correct change agent, employees will have the required support to accept the new technology.

For more info on this research, visit: https://ascelibrary.org/doi/10.1061/9780784482438.055