Information technology and
organizational change
F.Pichault
Course description (1/3)

Focus:



organizational aspects of IT change
management of information systems (MIS)
Aims:


development of an analytical framework
confrontation to the current debates in the scientific
literature
Course description (2/3)

Timing:
S1: theoretical introduction
 S2: debate on the proposed analytical framework
 S3: analysis of 3 selected papers
 S4: selection of 3 relevant papers (to be validated)
 S5-S6: group presentations
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Evaluation:
1/3: individual involvement during the seminar
 2/3: group presentations

Deliberate/emergent change
Deliberate
strategies
Realized
strategies
Unrealized
strategies
Emergent
strategies
IT and Organizational change
Specific
contexts
IT design &
organizational
aims
Impacts
Change
management
Information systems
CENTRALISED
Central unit
with data entry
pool or
«distributed»
terminals
Taylorian
model
DECENTRALISED
INTEGRATED
OPEN
mini-computers,
PC's
Local network, EDI, Extranet,
Intranet, shared Internet,
data bases, ERP e-business
applications
Scandinavian
model (local
autonomy, job
enrichment)
Japanese model
(TQM,
corporate
culture,
knowledge
management)
Californian model
(virtual
enterprises, new
organizational
forms)
New organizational forms
H
i
e
r
a
r
c
h
y
M
a
r
k
e
t
Individualized forms
Homeworking
Pendular telecommuting
Work in telecentres
Mobile work,
body shopping
Structural forms
Redesign of the relations
centre/periphery via shared
facilities
Teleservices provision
Inter-organisational
partnerships, restructuring
of the value-added chain
Partnership diversity
+
-
Organizational aims linked to IT
design
Functions
Information
Partners
Communication/
Cooperation
Transaction
Final
consumer
Institutional
Institutional
web site
Web-site
E-mail
Business
partners
Market
intelligence
On-line bid
E-procurement
virtual market
place
Internal
partners
Bulletin
board
On-line poll
E-HRM
Function complexity
E-commerce
Coordination/
Integration
CRM
Groupware
ERP
+
IT and Organizational change
Specific
contexts
IT design &
organizational
aims
Specific contexts: organization
Machine
(instrument)
Machine
(closed)
Entrepreneurial
Missionary
Revitalization
Demise
Demise
Professional
Adhocracy
Revitalization
FORMATION
STAGE
DEVELOPMENT
STAGE
MATURITY
STAGE
DECLINE
STAGE
Other specific contexts
Private vs public & non-profit sectors
 Traditional vs new economy
 Western vs developing countries
 Rigid vs open regulatory framework
 Pre-existing IS infrastructure vs none
 Etc.

IT and Organizational change
Specific
contexts
IT design &
organizational
aims
Change
management
Key questions in change
management
Capacity to take into account the various
stakeholders
 HRM issues related to the change process
 Capacity to integrate emerging changes
 Communication efforts
 Upper-management support
 On-going assessment

Key questions in change
management (#2)

Users involvement:
Who? (committee, final user, representatives, etc.)
 When? (functional analysis, test, implementation,
etc.)
 How? (observation, interviews, questionnaires,
etc.)
 On which matter? (initial aims, functionalities,
ergonomics, etc.)

IT and Organizational change
Specific
contexts
IT design &
organizational
aims
Impacts
Change
management
Main theoretical models

Planning model:
IT design => change management => impacts

Contingent model:
specific contexts => IT design => impacts

Political model:
change management => IT design => impacts
Impacts

Quantitative impacts:
productivity gains reported to initial objectives
(planning model)
 however… methodological & conceptual limits


Qualitative impacts:
adequation to context (contingent model)
 satisfaction of divergent interests (political
model)

Next steps
SESSION 2:
 Presentation of the analytical framework
 2 papers to download from:
www.egss.ulg.ac.be/pichault
 First discussion on the « political » model
 Second discussion on its relevance within
network organizations
Next steps (#2)
SESSION 3:
 Analysis of 3 selected papers to download
from:
www.egss.ulg.ac.be/pichault
 Theoretical model adopted?
 Links with the proposed analytical
framework
Next steps (#3)
SESSION 4:
 Selection & validation of 3 recent papers
(10-15p.) concerned with :
IT design & organizational aims
 specific contexts in which IT are developed
 change management linked to IT
 impacts of IT introduction

Next steps (#4)
SESSIONS 5-6:
 Group presentations structured in 3 parts:
main arguments developed in each paper (10
min.)
 main theoretical models emerging through the
3 papers (2 min.)
 explicit/implicit —and perhaps missing— links
with the proposed analytical framework (8
min.)

Proposed journals

LENTIC’s Library:
MIS Quarterly
 Organization Studies
 New Technology, Work & Employment


Graulich’s Library:
California Management Review
 Sloan Management Review
 Administrative Science Quarterly
 International Journal of Human Resource
Management

Proposed journals (#2)

Via http//:search.epnet.com
(userid : s9596572 / password : ulg) or
www.sciencedirect.com/science/journals/busmanacc:
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Information & Management
Information & Organization
International Journal of Information Management
Technology in Society
Technovation
The Journal of Strategic Information Systems