Abstract
The master thesis is about the implementation of a mobile personal digital assistant in four home based care units in Almesund and Bakkøy in Norway. The research questions have come up as a result of an inductive process. The empirical data has been a result of interviews with 18 users and their leaders conducted in the four chosen units.
The theory that is used to present this case is a combination of organizational theory, pedagogy theory and information systems theory. I use four themes to describe how the implementation has been done in the four home based care units. First, I look at how the organisational structures assign the PDA-project responsibilities to certain leaders in the organisation. Secondly I address how the involvement of leaders in the project is important in how the organisation uses and accepts the PDA-project. Thirdly I look at how the user support is conducted in terms of training courses, training at the workplace and how ‘super users’ support the health personnel in the beginning of the implementation and in continued use. Lastly I look at how the motivation at the workplace for using the PDA, as well as who encourages use, influences the use of the technology.
The main conclusion is that to achieve a successful implementation process as well as continued use of the PDA tool in home based care, it is important to have project owners that have both authority and resources to move the project forward. Another important result from this thesis is that implementation of technology in organizations need to be deeply rooted at the workplace, both with support from the management and from the users of the tool.
Keywords: Home based care, PDA, organizational change, user support, super users, team work, motivation, learning in organizations, leader involvement.