The Organisational Impact of Implementing Integrated IS in HE institutions: a case study from a UK University

This paper explores the implementation process of integrated Information Systems (IS) in Higher Education (HE) institutions. This is achieved through the analysis of a HE institution’s strategy during the implementation process of the integrated IS and the impact that the new system had on the working practices of the HE institution. Through the use of interviews, the research indicates that there has been a growth of alternative power bases within the university, new roles and responsibilities for administrative staff and a different working environment for academics

Cultural change through the implementation of an enterprise system: a UK university case study

Purpose: Organisations spend a lot of money, time and resources on Enterprise System (ES) implementation and often they do not realise the expected benefits from these complex systems. There is a gap in the literature in providing sufficient insight into the implementation process or how an ES might influence or contribute to a culture change. The aim of this article is to address the gap in the ES literature around culture by exploring the implementation that was undertaken within a large UK university. Design/methodology/approach: This paper contributes to the Higher Education (HE) and enterprise systems literature through an in-depth study of an enterprise system, SITS, implementation within a university in the UK. The study was undertaken over a three year period where one of the authors was embedded within the organisation. Findings: Using a cultural analysis framework the extensive rich data was analysed and the outcomes indicate that SITS has had a huge influence on the culture of the university; the technology’s rigid structure has imposed many changes that had not been anticipated. Originality/value: ES have recently emerged in the higher education sector where they are intended to support the management of student data and provide strategic management information. Although there are many studies which have explored important aspects of the implementation of enterprise systems, one area that appears to have been under-researched is how these systems are implicated in culture change within organisations. The results of this study will enable managers as well as IT specialists to gain rich insights into an ES implementation in the HE sector and to use this knowledge for future implementations

Competing or Collaborating Systems: Are We Ready for Health and Social Care Integration?

In 2013, the UK Government announced a major £3.8 billion healthcare initiative, the Better Care Fund. This funding was intended to be used within local health and care systems to drive closer integration, create new service efficiencies, support technological innovation and most importantly, improve outcomes for patients and people with care and support needs. This is a new experimental policy with no evaluation of early progress to date. In this position paper we propose that significant challenges lie ahead both in terms of developing new strategies for health and social care partnership development and also operationalizing these within new forms of collaborative professional working. We argue that a systems or sociotechnical approach can facilitate a better understanding of the potential challenges for integrating health and social care information systems

Towards A Critical Approach To Benefits Realisation Of Information Systems In The NHS

This paper discusses a conceptual approach to the study of benefits realisation of information systems (IS) within the context of the UK National Health Service (NHS). Benefits realisation has become an important topic of study for both academics and practitioners. The focus and concerns of such studies cover a spectrum of concepts ranging from positivist to more interpretive discussion with many prescribing practical methods for effective delivery of benefits from investment in IS. However, much of this work has failed to translate espoused ideals into successful action and insufficient attention has been given to the social and political aspects of the topic. Furthermore, closer inspection of the literature reveals that use of concepts is varied. The purpose of this paper is to review the existing knowledge on benefits realisation of IS, propose a framework that synthesises and extends existing research and suggest what is missing is a critical approach

Enterprise Systems Adoption: A Sociotechnical Perspective on the Role of Power and Improvisation

Enterprise wide integrated systems (ES) have been extensively procured in large organizations but much research fails to develop sociotechnically informed approaches that facilitate their implementation within complex organizational environments. In this paper the authors take a critically informed sociotechnical approach to power and improvisation in ES implementation. A review and synthesis of the pertinent literature, has led to the development of an analytical framework. This framework has been used to explore these concepts through a longitudinal, ethnographic study of an ES within a UK university. The contribution of this paper is a combined ‘circuits of power-improvisation' (CPI) framework which can facilitate a better understanding of ES implementation, sociotechnical theory and practice. Lessons learnt from the study may potentially be used to avoid some of the problems experienced due to the lack of recognition of the important role of power and improvisation in what may be misrepresented as planned strategic and deliberate organizational change

The systems analyst and emancipatory practice : an exploratory study in three NHS hospitals

The application of Critical Theory in Information Systems (IS) research is comparatively recent and is still at a very early stage, having hardly progressed much beyond a critique of existing approaches to systems development. It has been argued that from the perspective of Critical Theory the challenge of developing a more rational society involves the transformation of institutions so that computer-based systems facilitate emancipation rather than providing more powerful systems of control. Utopian visions of autonomy, creativity and democracy may be much removed from the realities of everyday life for participants in an IS implementation but this does not mean that certain principles cannot be adopted to facilitate emancipation at a 'micro' level. The potential of critical theory for IS implementation study can be found in the work of Hirschheim, Klein and Lyytinen who have been some of the main advocates of its importance. They believe that the design of information systems is dependent upon a process of free and open communications guided by an appreciation of the presence and value of each of the three knowledge constitutive interests identified by Habermas. Although not detailing a way forward they do suggest a number of ways of mitigating socially unnecessary impediments to and distortions of rational discourse. One such course of action could be the systems analyst acting as an `emancipator' within an IS implementation. This thesis is a result of research which has explored how the systems analyst can develop emancipatory practice within the context of integrated information systems implementation. The organisational context for this research was three NHS acute hospitals in the North East of England that were beginning the process of implementing integrated information systems (IS). Action Research was the methodology adopted and utilised to explore a framework of emancipatory practice within these IS projects. One particular objective, facilitating emancipation through less distorted communication, was explored in detail utilising IDEFO, a process modelling tool. The thesis concludes by developing reflexive insight into the research as a whole and the use of the emancipatory framework by the researcher who was also the systems analyst. It draws attention to the difficulties of carrying out this type of research for the organisations concerned, the individual actors and the systems analyst

Digital Telehealthcare Services: Exploring Future Designs of Innovative and Sustainable Service Business Models (35)

The rising elderly demographic in the UK represents a significant challenge in terms of planning for the efficient use of increasingly expensive and constrained health and care resources. Digital technology-enabled assistive living health and care (Telehealthcare) services could potentially serve to address the problem. Review of academic and practice literature suggests that one of the key barriers of large scale adoption of Telehealthcare technologies remains lack of evidence around \u27business cases\u27, creating enough value for all the stakeholders involved. Drawing perspectives from the literature on business model and service innovation, we adopt a value-driven approach that focuses around both value creation and value capture for key stakeholders and explores opportunities for value co-production with service users, network partners, collaborators and regulators to design future Telehealthcare service business models. Using a single case study with exploratory and interpretive focus, we empirically contextualise our value-driven investigative framework and present our findings that recognise critical needs for resource recombination and integration across the service ecosystem – such as the need for information flows and governance across the service ecosystem towards an integrated health and care information infrastructure

Communicating the complexity of computer-integrated operations : an innovative use of process modelling in a North East hospital trust

The English National Health Service has undergone unprecedented political, economic and technological change. This has resulted in a requirement for radical improvements in operational efficiency and effectiveness. An effective IT infrastructure supporting key operational processes and management reporting is now seen as essential. This paper outlines the findings from empirical research in a North East hospital Trust. The authors collaborated on a requirements analysis project to investigate and model business processes and information flows using an automated IDEF0 software tool. A participatory action research framework was used, informed by principles derived from critical social theory, to describe the complexity of the situation and provide improved communication amongst stakeholders. The paper concludes by reflecting on the need for more “ideal” speech situations in order to deal with complex operations management problems where political, power and social issues can obstruct effective implementation of new computer-integrated operations