From technical to socio-technical change: tackling the human and organizational aspects of systems development projects

European Journal of Information Systems (2005) 14, 1–5. doi:10.1057/palgrave.ejis.3000517 Because of its critical role in support of the day-to-day operations and strategic positioning of the modern business enterprise, information technology has become a ubiquitous and increasingly significant part of the fabric of most organizations. Consequently, the implementation of information technology within organizations almost invariably results in a wide variety of, often very significant, impacts upon the design of the business, its economic performance and the working conditions of members of staff (Markus & Robey, 1983; Clegg et al., 1997; Doherty & King, 1998; Robey & Boudreau, 1999); technical change is the catalyst for organizational change. For example, the introduction of a highly integrated, enterprise resource planning system (ERP), within a manufacturing company, is likely to have a significant impact on that organization’s business processes, structure, culture and enterprise level performance, as well as the motivation, job specifications and performance of individual employees (Markus, 2004). Information technology cannot, however, be viewed as a deterministic artefact, as it does not generally behave in a well ordered and predictable manner (Grint & Woolgar, 1997). Organizational stakeholders have the potential to interpret, appropriate and ultimately shape their information systems in a wide variety of ways (Orlikowski, 1992). This view – typically termed ‘social constructivism’ (Bijker, 1995) – is supported by the wide variety of evidence that shows how the application of identical technologies, in very similar organizational contexts, can often result in radically different organizational impacts (e.g. Barley, 1986, Orlikowski, 1993). For example, Sahay & Robey (1996) have demonstrated how the implementation of a particular geographical information system, in two very similar governmental agencies, resulted in two very different organizational outcomes: a significant impact on working practices in one county government organization, as opposed to very limited change in another. Consequently, a significant problem facing the systems developer and the systems sponsor, is that the impacts and outcomes of introducing a new information system, cannot generally be predicted at the project’s outset, as the system may be interpreted and appropriated in multifarious ways, during the development period, as well as throughout its operational life (Orlikoski et al., 1995). Perhaps, an even bigger problem facing the systems developer and the systems sponsor, is that too often the organizational impacts resulting from the implementation of information systems are undesirable. As Martinsons & Chong (1999) note, IT-induced organizational change often results in user resistance and, in extreme cases, possibly even system rejection. Indeed, the incidence of negative impacts is increasingly common, to the extent that there is a growing consensus that the European Journal of Information Systems (2005) 14, 1–5 & 2005 Operational Research Society Ltd. All rights reserved 0960-085X/05 $30.00