The situatedness of work practices and organizational culture: implications for information systems innovation uptake
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Research article
The situatedness of work practices and organizational culture: implications for information systems innovation uptake Faraja Teddy Igira Department of Informatics, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway Correspondence: FT Igira, Department of Informatics, University of Oslo, Gaustadalle´en 23, PO Box 1080 Blindern, Oslo 0316, Norway. Tel: þ 47 22852533; Fax: þ 47 22840592; E-mail: [email protected]
Abstract This paper addresses work practices and organizational culture as situated actions and the implications for information systems innovation uptake. It reports research being conducted in Tanzania that brings an ethnographic research approach to understanding relations between local health care practices and health information systems development, by asking how health workers’ practices and everyday actions are influenced by the context of their specific situation. The research is being conducted in the context of a globally distributed open source software project to introduce and enhance health information systems in developing countries. Drawing on cultural historical activity theory, the study highlights the need for understanding each information system user’s and each organization’s specific and detailed work processes, and how situational and organizational factors may come together with the health information systems innovation processes in meeting the challenges discussed. In order to establish fully the potential of activity theory to innovation processes, situatedness of work practices focusing on the organization context is emphasized. Journal of Information Technology (2008) 23, 79–88. doi:10.1057/palgrave.jit.2000132 Published online 18 March 2008 Keywords: information systems; work practices; organizational culture; situated action; cultural historical activity theory; innovation uptake
Introduction n Tanzania, like in many other developing countries, there have been attempts to develop and implement health information systems (HIS) as part of a globally distributed open source software project known as the Health Information Systems Programme (HISP). HISP aims at strengthening and further developing HIS in public health in an expanding network of developing countries including South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania, Malawi, India, Ethiopia, Mali, Botswana, Nigeria, and Vietnam (see Braa and Hedberg, 2002; Braa et al., 2004; Braa and Muquinge, 2007; www.hisp.info). These HIS innovation processes, however, do not take place in a vacuum but within the context of the organizational setting. The work practices, which involve the collection, storage, analysis, and transmission of routine health data throughout the health care administrative hierarchy, are influenced by the context of workers’ specific situations. The work practices
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and existing health workers’ actions are often in tension with situational, individual, and organizational aspects of work. Organizational context in particular s
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