Operationalising the implementation puzzle: an argument for eclecticism in research and in practice
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Operationalising the implementation puzzle: an argument for eclecticism in research and in practice RP Marble College of Business Administration, Creighton University, 2500 California Plaza, Omaha, Nebraska 68178, USA Efforts to implement organizational information systems (IS) have evolved through the years from purely technical processes to multi-faceted organizational change activities. Largely in reaction to implementation failures, numerous research models have been developed to prescribe appropriate implementation strategies and tactics. A multiple of such contributions has made the theory quite diverse and somewhat chaotic. This paper presents a survey of implementation models, research approaches, and investigation methods that have surfaced in the literature of the field. Using an implementation framework of Swanson (1988), an eclectic perspective of IS research, and an expert knowledge integration approach, a perspective is proposed that demonstrates the possibility of a unified view of IS implementation theory. European Journal of Information Systems (2000) 9, 132–147.
Introduction The implementation of automated support systems for information processing has long been regarded as an important component of corporate efforts to remain competitive. The relentless advance of capabilities made possible by information technology (IT) releases very few firms from the need to conduct such implementation efforts on a regular basis. While the collective experience of information systems (IS) professionals in the implementation of systems now spans many decades, the associated challenges and opportunities continue to harbour surprises and uncertainties. Numerous theories and models have surfaced through the years, consolidating and synthesising the lessons learned in implementation projects and research. Nevertheless, no unified view of IS implementation appears to have achieved widespread acceptance as a vehicle for better understanding and guiding implementation efforts. It is the contention of this paper, that a unified view of IS implementation already exists in the rich parquet of IS literature. This unified view must only be recognised and extracted. Unfortunately, different approaches to research and different methods of investigation appear to have obscured the unity that can be extracted from their cumulative results. Moreover, the idiographic nature of many current contributions seems to reject the outlook for comprehensiveness in the future. In this paper, it is argued that the theoretical frameworks, research approaches, and investigative methods of prior research already evince a unified path to discovery in and management of IS implementation. A first step in this argument requires that we regard
implementation theory from the perspective of expert knowledge. Incorporation of discoveries and experiences into the theory must be considered from the point of view of knowledge acquisition and r
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