Paper Number
1849
Paper Type
Completed
Description
The traditional implementation of an information system assumes that the IT system to be implemented is highly structured (HSS), carrying out regulatory functions expressed in organizational rules scripted into the system. Subsequent implementation seeks users’ compliance with stated regulatory needs. We propose an alternative view of implementing IT systems when such systems are weakly structured (WSS). In these systems, most scripted rules express the composition and behavior of digital objects, which organizational members tend to voluntarily enact as part of their tasks. By using analytical inference and illustrative examples, this work extends the Trifecta model of organizational regulation by developing a vocabulary and a process model for the evolution of the rule system during the implementation of WSS. The offered model depicts IT implementation as a movement from local practices, where system uses are discovered as affordances, to wider rule sets that regulate and enforce the shared deployment of such affordances.
Recommended Citation
Fomin, Vladislav; Lyytinen, Kalle; Haefliger, Stefan; and de Vaujany, Francois-Xavier, "Implementation of weakly structured systems: moving from local practices to common organizational rules" (2023). ICIS 2023 Proceedings. 3.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2023/itadopt/itadopt/3
Implementation of weakly structured systems: moving from local practices to common organizational rules
The traditional implementation of an information system assumes that the IT system to be implemented is highly structured (HSS), carrying out regulatory functions expressed in organizational rules scripted into the system. Subsequent implementation seeks users’ compliance with stated regulatory needs. We propose an alternative view of implementing IT systems when such systems are weakly structured (WSS). In these systems, most scripted rules express the composition and behavior of digital objects, which organizational members tend to voluntarily enact as part of their tasks. By using analytical inference and illustrative examples, this work extends the Trifecta model of organizational regulation by developing a vocabulary and a process model for the evolution of the rule system during the implementation of WSS. The offered model depicts IT implementation as a movement from local practices, where system uses are discovered as affordances, to wider rule sets that regulate and enforce the shared deployment of such affordances.
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