Research Approaches 1

Research Approaches Used in Information Systems Development within Organizations

Edgardo Donovan

ITM 603 – Dr. Wenli Wang

Module 5 – Case Analysis

Monday, June 20, 2011

Research Approaches 2

Research Approaches Used in Information Systems Development within Organizations

As information technology processes continue to evolve in step with ongoing technology

improvements, researchers will continue to be challenged to offer theories, paradigms, and

operationalize variables related to systems development both from a behavioral and systems

design perspective to cater to the varied situational practitioner need for adaptive methodologies

to guide long term information technology investment.

There has been a wide variety of research approaches used in information systems

development within organizations ever since the potential of information technology to

transform organizations became a persistent theme in both the management and information

systems literatures when computers were first introduced commercially in the 1950s. During the

1990s, as computers became networked within and across organizations, prediction of virtual

organization emerged. More recently, the Internet has spawned still another set of projections for

electronic commerce among boundary-less organizations and intranet systems within them.

Programs of business process reengineering have given way to broader agendas for

organizational transformation and knowledge management. (Robey 167). Two paradigms

characterize much of the research in the information systems discipline: behavioral science and

design science. The behavioral science paradigm seeks to develop and verify theories that

explain or predict human or organizational behavior. The design science seeks to extend the

boundaries of human and organizational capabilities by creating new and innovative artifacts.

Both paradigms are foundational to the IS discipline, positioned as it is at the confluence of

people, organizations, and technology (March 75). Certain systems development methodologies

Research Approaches 3

may also contain incompatible assumptions about the role of users and information systems (IS)

personnel during systems development. Deconstruction can be useful in analyzing and

interpreting Information Engineering which is a design science oriented systems development

methodology currently receiving considerable attention. This methodology's characterization of

IS-user relations and, in particular, its recommended partitioning of responsibility between IS

and users is inconsistent and contradictory. Despite a heavy emphasis on user involvement, users

are given a relatively passive role to play during development. At the same time, users are

expected to sign off on projects and take responsibility for project outcomes (Orlikowski 350).

Other theoretical methodologies more closely aligned with the behavioral science paradigm will

focus more on user preferences. As a result, usability and resistance dynamics concerning new

technology processes are often discussed as important variables concerning overall systems

development research. Resistance is a critical variable and is not entirely negatively correlated to

new system deployments as it can merely be a barrier to be removed or it also can be a means by

which users communicate their discomfort with a system that might be flawed (Lapointe 462). In

certain instances user resistance to new technological processes are not merely considered as

valid usability concerns but may be the actual center of gravity regarding new technology

adoption. In contrast to a logic of determination, a logic of opposition explains organizational

change by identifying forces both promoting change and impeding change through four specific

independent variables: organizational politics, organizational culture, institutional theory, and

organizational learning. Each variable is useful to the problem of explaining information

technology's role in an organization. Four methodological implication of using these concepts are

Research Approaches 4

also discussed: empirical identification of opposing forces, statement of of opposing hypotheses,

process research, and employing multiple interpretations (Robey 167).

Academic literature involving the study of organizational IT adoption has seen a wide

range of organization and task oriented centered methodological approaches both quantitative

and qualitative in nature. In an attempt to better explain resistance to information technology

implementation, Lapointe used a multilevel longitudinal approach to determine five basic

components of resistance to new IT process implementation: behaviors, object, subject, threats,

and initial conditions utilizing primarily a case study method to measure perceived threatening

consequences by users involved in new technology implementation (Lapointe 461). This

qualitative approach posited that group opposition emerged primarily from individual resistance

behavior. This organizational based approach centering on macro-organizational dynamics was

continued By Daniel Robey as he made the study of opposition forces central in his theories

regarding new technology adoption. Theories implying a logic of opposition and the empirical

methods associated with them account for contradictory findings in a different way than

deterministic theories and methods. Theories using a logic of opposition may be more interesting

because they deny rather than affirm the common assumption of a consistent relationship

between technology and organization (Robey 168). Orlikowsky argued that although users are

responsible for signing off on the feasibility and functionality of IT processes they are given a

relatively passive role during development. In his research it is argued that problems occur when

users are marginalized especially because systems implementation should be task oriented rather

than organizationally inclined process. Orlikowski studied the adoption and use of CASE tools

over time in two organizations. This study characterizes the organizations' experiences in terms

Research Approaches 5

of the processes of incremental and radical organizational change. The focus of this research is to

derive theoretical interpretation from data rather than to test theory against data as is traditionally

the case (Orlikowski 356). Although the move towards the development and promotion of new

IS development methodologies and the provision of tools for complete automation of the IS

development process is continuing, many researchers call for more field studies to understand

how IS are developed in today's organizations and how well methodologies are used before

proposing improvements or new methodologies (Orlikowski 354). March’s work is mostly

qualitative as he strives to provide a foundational research in the field of systems implementation

research. Equal emphasis is placed on expanding knowledge and bridging the gap between the

behavioral and systems science paradigms. Relationships are examined between business

strategy, information technology strategy, organizational infrastructure, and is infrastructure.

How people interact with technology in an organizational setting considering development of

theories, artifacts, and methodologies (March 80).

Orlikowski’s work aligns itself with the systems science oriented school of thought and

concludes that the relationship between users and IS personnel is problematic. The contradictions

in implementation methodologies reflect contradictions and ideologies in the context within

which systems development occurs. Important questions are raised about the relationship

between the production and consumption of information technology in organizations and

whether organizational aspirations are not properly aligned with user requirements (Orlikowski

350). Similarly to Orlikowsky, March tries to orient discussions involving organizational uses of

IT away from the behavioral sciences and close to design science. Rather than focusing on

people and organizational structures it is simpler as it is primarily task oriented. The design of an

Research Approaches 6

artifact and an assessment of its utility often by comparison with competing artifacts are integral

to design-science research (March 100). By taking a multilevel longitudinal perspective the

model not only explains the dynamics of group level resistance but also show how group

resistance behaviors emerge from individual behaviors. Limited internal validity because it

focuses on physicians and would have greater external validity if the studies were expanded to

other environments outside a hospital setting (Lapointe 484). Robey’s Logic of Opposition

greatest contribution is analyzing the interdependencies between the following non

operationalized systems development variables: organizational politics (groups with

incompatible interests engage in political activity using information technology as a resource

from which organizational changes emerge), organizational culture (information technologies are

produced and interpreted as cultural artifact that may symbolize a variety of beliefs, values, and

assumptions), institutional theory (patterns and practices sustain an organization's legitimacy and

are unlikely to change whereby information technologies may be adapted to institutional

practices or used to reform them), and organizational learning (existing organizational memory

may impair new learning so information technologies both enable and disable organizational

learning) (Robey 173).

Researchers tend to align themselves either closer to the behavioral science or design

science paradigms. Both paradigms are not mutually exclusive but merely have their center of

gravity either at the micro-level involving internal matters of user adoption or at the macro-level

of behavioral science analyzing the organizational culture and ecosystem of the organization

pursuing systems development. Cost overruns, missed efficiency targets, and downright failures

of IT implementations are not uncommon and are caused by different factors that may include

Research Approaches 7

varying levels of organizational focused myopia at the expense of user design and vice-versa.

For example, an organization in an attempt to achieve a result leveraging technology may

actually implement a system that does not respond to the needs of its users. In another instance,

an organization may implement an appreciated highly usable system for its users that misses the

mark in delivering the functionality required for its overall success within its ecosystem.

Given that technology will continue to progress, cost a lot of money, and provide

opportunities for both failing and successful IT process implementations the academic

community will continue to have positive incentives to define paradigms that approach IT

development both from the behavioral and systems design perspectives. Overall utility of future

research will be in the eye of the consumer depending on the situational utility of the

methodologies offered.

As information technology processes continue to evolve in step with ongoing technology

improvements, researchers will continue to be challenged to offer theories, paradigms, and

operationalize variables related to systems development both from a behavioral and systems

design perspective to cater to the varied situational practitioner need for adaptive methodologies

to guide long term information technology investment.

Research Approaches 8

Bibliography

Beath, C.M. and Orlikowski, W.J. (1994): The contradictory structure of systems development

methodologies: deconstructing the IS-user relationship. Information Systems Research, 5(4),

350-377.

Hevner, A.R., March, S. T., Park, J. and Ram, S. (2004). Design science in information systems

research. MIS Quarterly, March 2004, pp.75-108

Lapointe, L. and Rivard, S. (2005). A multilevel model of resistance to information technology

implementation. MIS Quarterly, September, 2005, pp.461-492.

Robey, D. and Boudreau, M.-C. (1999): Accounting for the contradictory organizational

consequences of information technology: theoretical directions and methodological implications.

Information Systems Research, vol. 10, no. 2 (June), pp.167-186.