Power, politics and legitimacy in information systems implementation : an ethnographic study

Systems implementation is inherently a political process. However, the majority of the literature in the area of systems implementation takes a simplistic look at factors attributed to success. These studies provide empirical evidence that &ldquo;human factors&rdquo; such as &ldquo;top management support&rdquo; contribute to a successful implementation. Rather than accept this, we challenge this view and explore two &ldquo;human&rdquo; issues &ndash; power and legitimacy inside systems implementation. By exploring the implementation of a learning management system at the University of New Zealand, issues such as power and legitimacy affect the way an implementation team collaborates. Systems implementation is a complex and messy process and we need to understand the implementation process, acknowledging that top management support is not always necessary to &ldquo;successfully&rdquo; implement a system.<br /

Factors Influencing Negotiation in the Sourcing Process between Partners in E-Procurement: A Focus on Actors

Negotiation is an essential business activity for establishing trade relationships between partners (Yuan and Turel 2004). As the business environment becomes more dynamic in this global setting, negotiation between partners is required more often. Negotiation is the key decision-making approach used to reach consensus whenever partners cannot achieve their goals (Thompson 2000). Advanced technologies such as e-procurement can facilitate effective solutions for negotiation between trading partners (Bichler et al 2003). With the shift from traditional procurement to electronic procurement, there is a need to explore the social issues in the negotiation process and in the electronic procurement environment in particular. Actor Network Theory (ANT) will be used as guidance. Through a case study at an Australian University, factors influencing negotiation in the sourcing process between partners in their e-procurement environment were identified. The significance of this research is to provide knowledge to practitioners on the importance of the negotiation process between partners in an e-procurement network. Furthermore, identifying and understanding the social issues that influence the negotiation process will improve the value chain between partners. As such, it is hoped that greater success with e-procurement will be achieved

Cultural dimensions in online learning

The increase of competitiveness in the higher education global market demands many universities to find innovative approaches in providing education services. Online learning technology offers higher education providers a potential solution to compete. As in most parts of the world, the growing trend towards online learning has also taken shape in Australia. The increasing number of international students brings a cultural diversity to the online learning environment while existing literature tends to suggest that on-line learning environments tend to be more suitable for students from individualism and low power distance cultures. A case study of two fully online subjects indicated that students with collectivism and high power distance cultural background felt uncomfortable with the online learning environment. Findings from this study would enable various institutions and their teaching staff to help students with diverse of cultural backgrounds feel more comfortable and positive in the online learning environment

Cultural Dimensions in Online Learning

The increase of competitiveness in the higher education global market demands many universities to find innovative approaches in providing education services. Online learning technology offers higher education providers a potential solution to compete. As in most parts of the world, the growing trend towards online learning has also taken shape in Australia. The increasing number of international students brings a cultural diversity to the online learning environment while existing literature tends to suggest that on-line learning environments tend to be more suitable for students from individualism and low power distance cultures. A case study of two fully online subjects indicated that students with collectivism and high power distance cultural background felt uncomfortable with the online learning environment. Findings from this study would enable various institutions and their teaching staff to help students with diverse of cultural backgrounds feel more comfortable and positive in the online learning environment

Power and politics in a system implementation

The central concern of this study is to identify the role of power and politics in systems implementation. The current literature on systems implementation is typically divided into two areas, process modelling and factor based studies. Process modelling classifies the implementation into a linear process, whereas factor based studies have argued that in order to ‘successfully’ implement a system, particular critical factors are required. This literature misses the complexities involved in systems implementation through the human factors and political nature of systems implementation and is simplistic in its nature and essentially de-contextualises the implementation process. Literature has investigated some aspects of human factors in systems implementation. However, it is believed that these studies have taken a simplistic view of power and politics. It is argued in this thesis that human factors in systems implementation are constantly changing and essentially operating in a dynamic relationship affecting the implementation process. The concept of power relations, as proposed by Foucault (1976, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1982), have been utilised in order to identify the dynamic nature of power and politics. Foucault (1978) argued that power is a dynamic set of relationships constantly changing from one point in time to the next. It is this recognition that is lacking from information systems. Furthermore, these power relations are created through the use of discourse. Discourse represents meaning and social relationships, forming both subjectivity and power relations. Discourses are also the practices of talk, text and argument that continuously form that which actors speak. A post-structuralist view of power as both an obvious and hidden concept has provided the researcher a lens through which the selection and implementation of an enterprise-wide learning management system can be observed. The framework aimed to identify the obvious process of system selection implementation, and then deconstruct that process to expose the hegemonic nature of policy, the reproduction of organisational culture, the emancipation within discourse, and the nature of resistance and power relations. A critical case study of the selection and implementation of an enterprise-wide learning management system at the University of Australia was presented providing an in-depth investigation of the implementation of an enterprise-wide learning management system, spanning five years. This critical case study was analysed using social dramas to distinguish between the front stage issues of power and the hidden discourses underpinning the front stage dramas. The enterprise-wide learning management system implemented in the University of Australia in 2003 is a system which enables academic staff to manage learners, the students, by keeping track of their progress and performance across all types of training activities. Through telling the story of the selection and implementation of an enterprise-wide learning management system at the University of Australia discourses emerged. The key findings from this study have indicated that the system selection and implementation works at two levels. The low level is the selection and implementation process, which operates for the period of the project. The high level is the arena of power and politics, which runs simultaneously to the selection and implementation process. Challenges for power are acted out in the front stage, or public forums between various actors. The social dramas, as they have been described here, are superfluous to the discourse underpinning the front stage. It is the discourse that remains the same throughout the system selection and implementation process, but it is through various social dramas that reflect those discourses. Furthermore, the enactment of policy legitimises power and establishes the discourse, limiting resistance. Additionally, this research has identified the role of the ‘State’ and its influence at the organisational level, which had been previously suggested in education literature (Ball, 1990)

Enterprise Systems and Organizational Agility: A Review of the Literature and Conceptual Framework

The impact of enterprise systems (ES) on organizational agility (OA) is an under-researched area. Given that most organizations are heavily investing on ES infrastructure and the increasing demand for agility, the lack of research on ES and OA is a critical oversight. This article reviews previous literature on information systems in general and ES in particular and organizational agility. The article offers a comprehensive and deepened perspective toward the existing discourses on ES-enabled organizational agility. Using insights from the dynamic capability theory, we propose a conceptual framework that highlights how organizations can exploit ESs to improve their agility in two significant ways―by creating and constantly developing an ES-enabled sensing and responding capability. We also argue that the quality of the ES competence provides the necessary technical and business platform for deploying and exploiting ES in building and rebuilding sensing and responding capabilities. The proposed framework sheds light on three important missing factors in the realm of IT-enabled organizational agility, namely ES competency, the alignment between ES-enabled sensing and responding capability, and environmental dynamism. Our theorizing makes an original contribution to ES and IS research by extending previous works of IT-enabled organizational agility by introducing the three constructs previously mentioned

There are always two sides to a story: the use of social dramas as a mode of data analysis in information systems

With the continually evolving social nature of information systems research there is a need to identify different &ldquo;modes of analysis&rdquo; (Myers, 1997) to uncover our understanding of the complex, messy and often chaotic nature of human factors. One suggested mode of analysis is that of social dramas, a tool developed in the anthropological discipline by Victor Turner. The use of social dramas also utilises the work by Goffman (1959; 1997) and enables the researcher to investigate events from the front stage, reporting obvious issues in systems implementation, and from the back stage, identifying the hidden aspects of systems implementation and the underpinning discourses. A case study exploring the social dramas involved in systems selection and implementation has been provided to support the use of this methodological tool.<br /

Abridgment of traditional procurement and e-procurement: definitions, tools and benefits / Noraizah Abu Bakar ...[at al]

The main aim of this paper is to contribute to our understanding of traditional procurement and electronic procurement process. Through the study of the literature, this paper concentrates on the traditional procurement and e-procurement from the perspectives of its definitions, tools and benefits. Considering the apparent shift from traditional procurement to an electronic procurement environment, public and private sector agencies worldwide can improve their procurement process, with the use of Internet-based technologies to procure goods and service. As stated by Neef (2001), if there is one sector in the economy where e-procurement can and will have an enormous effect, it is in the government. Thus, this paper makes a significant contribution to e-procurement field in rural areas development studies and research

Power relations in cyber communities

Peoples\u27 need to socialize with others and greed for power can be best captured with Aristotle\u27s description of human beings as &quot;political animals&quot;/&quot;social animals.&quot; This paper reports on observations of how cyber communities, such as Web-based forums and mailing lists, manifest themselves through social interactions and shared values, membership and friendship, and commitments and loyalty. The paper highlights the importance of power relations in these communities, how they are formed, exercised and evolve. This paper explores power relations as they emerge in two online Vietnamese communities and suggests a new understanding of the formation and evolution of power in virtual societies.<br /