Running to Stand Still: How Organizations Get Users to Willingly Participate in Maintenance Upgrades
Abstract
Maintenance upgrades are projects to replace an existing version of packaged software with a later version to facilitate maintenance. Encouraging willing user participation in such projects is challenging, since users receive little benefit. Through a case analysis of maintenance upgrades using the lens of communicative framing, we discover that a negatively valenced frame is best for encouraging willing user participation. Such a frame focuses on the need to upgrade to ensure organizational survival. Users are informed that their participation is important, not to improve benefits, but to ensure the organization can maintain existing business operations. This frame means the focus of a maintenance upgrade differs from traditional enterprise implementation projects in that both change management and project championship are less critical. In a maintenance upgrade, techniques for encouraging willing user participation focus on maintaining the status quo, not organizational change.
Recommended Citation
Khoo, Huoy Min and Chua, Cecil Eng Huang, "Running to Stand Still: How Organizations Get Users to Willingly Participate in Maintenance Upgrades" (2009). International Research Workshop on IT Project Management 2009. 8.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/irwitpm2009/8