When asset management and organizations meet: accounting for employee experiences

For some time, organisations have encountered challenges when implementing asset management, particularly when closing the gap between how the asset management is understood by employees and how they support it in practice. Maturity models, common applied evaluations for implementing asset management, have so far only addressed the extent to which implemented asset management matches prescriptive standards. In this paper, we argue that, beside the value of maturity evaluations, shortcomings of maturity models remain in accounting for employee experiences with specific operational characteristics that challenge implementation. We then offer a criteria-free, employee-based approach to complement maturity models known as Rumelt's tests. By applying this approach to the case of a Dutch transportation agency, we show how employees understand the organisation's strategy behind asset management and how they coordinate asset management activities in practice.