The mindless behaviours of the Data Governance Naïveté Trap: a case study

Access to quality data is crucial for business processes, and an effective Data Governance (DG) programme aims to ensure that this happens. However, an examination of industry literature suggests that the implementation of DG programmes continues to present challenges for practitioners. This is despite academic research having developed a large body of DG knowledge and potentially useful artefacts. This case study explores this disjoint by focusing on people’s behaviours and how they impact the DG programme. It surfaces root causes for the ineffectiveness of a DG programme. It emerges that a lack of constant review and revision of DG principles results in the organisation being caught in what we refer to as the DG Naïveté Trap.