Change Factors in Enterprise 2.0 Initiatives: A multi-case comparison

The growing importance of Enterprise 2.0 is not adequately reflected in research on its implementation. This study contributes to understanding the change factors specific to Enterprise 2.0 initiatives. It draws upon grounded theory to compare sixteen case studies, integrates the findings in the context of socio-technical change and discusses similarities and differences compared to the field of ERP. The resulting change factors specific to Enterprise 2.0 initiatives can support practitioners in avoiding pitfalls of change management and present a starting point for researchers to empirically investigate change in Enterprise 2.0 initiatives

Introduction of Enterprise Collaboration Systems: In-depth Studies Show That Laissez-faire Does Not Work

Inspired by the perceived success of the Social Media, an increasing number of companies have started to introduce social-media-like software systems (Enterprise Collaboration Systems). In order to study the issues and challenges that such introduction projects bring about, we selected a sample of companies and conducted interviews with managers, IT experts and users. The analysis of the responses shows that the experiences among the companies and among people in the same roles in these companies are very similar. All case companies used an approach that could be described as experiential, or laissez-faire, meaning that they installed the system and invited their staff to use it – without clear instructions or management controls. This led to a certain degree of insecurity and the adoption rate was lower than expected. We argue that the laissez-faire approach did not stimulate (the full potential of) project success. The findings also show that the introduction of social software brings about cultural rather than technical challenges. These cultural challenges can be anticipated and should be managed ex ante, not ad hoc