A genealogical study of boundary-spanning IS design
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A genealogical study of boundary-spanning IS design Susan Gasson1 1
College of Information Science and Technology, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, U.S.A. Correspondence: Susan Gasson, College of Information Science and Technology, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, U.S.A. Tel: þ 1 215 895 6398; E-mail: [email protected]
Abstract This paper presents the design of a business-aligned information system (IS) from an actor-network perspective, viewing non-human intermediaries jointly as inscriptions and boundary objects. This field study presents a situated view of IS design over time. The design process is assessed through analyzing the intersected activities of a team of seven organizational managers who were defining changes to business processes, information technology, and organizational roles and responsibilities. This view of design presents a very different view to the rational, analytical process that is usually encountered in the IS literature. Instead of an orderly progression, we see a trajectory of design definition, as the team responds to the contingencies and instrumentalities that prevail during the course of a design inquiry. These managers enacted a new reality through their interactions with external stakeholders, senior managers, specifications, procedures, business documents, and IT systems. This study provides much needed rich insights into the complexities of systems definition and negotiation, explaining the situated rationalities underlying IS design as the co-design of business and IT systems. A fifth form of boundary object is suggested by this analysis, which is based on the need to align interests across a network of actors. European Journal of Information Systems (2006) 15, 26–41. doi:10.1057/palgrave.ejis.3000594 Keywords: information system design; actor-network theory; boundary objects; situated design
Introduction
Received: 18 June 2005 Revised: 22 December 2005 Accepted: 3 January 2006
In the information systems (IS) literature, IS design is typically presented as a predominantly rational process, where deviations from a hierarchical decomposition strategy are described as ‘opportunistic’ (Guindon, 1990; Ball & Ormerod, 1995). However, studies of IS design in context have argued that design requirements are situated, subject to local contingencies and socio-cultural norms that are not amenable to rational design approaches (Suchman, 1987; Greenbaum & Kyng, 1991). IS design and adaptation is now viewed as improvisational in much of the MIS literature, as IS professionals and stakeholders attempt to balance local conventions with global IT standards (Orlikowski, 1996; Macredie & Sandom, 1999). This paper presents an alternative perspective of IS design: as a genealogical process that reflects the emergent negotiation of IS definitions and requirements across the boundaries between organizational interest-groups. The study reported here follows the trajectory of actions and interactions engaged in by a team of seven organizational managers involved in the co-design of
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