Abstract
There is a growing focus on achieving “openness” in the design and transformation of organizations, in which the enabling role of ICTs is considered increasingly central. However, bureaucratic organizations with rigid structures continue to face significant challenges in moving towards more open forms of organizing. In this paper, we contribute to our understanding of these challenges by building on existing conceptualizations of openness as a form of boundary work that transforms by challenging both internal and external organizational boundaries. In particular, we draw on a performative view derived from actor-network theory to analyze a case study of ICT-based administrative reforms in a judicial system. Building on our case analysis, we develop a typology of the various roles that ICTs can play in both enabling and constraining ongoing boundary work within the context of their implementation. We thus present a view of ICT-enabled open organizing as a process where ICTs contribute to problematizing, shifting, and augmenting ongoing boundary work. This view highlights the inherently equivocal nature of the role of ICTs in transformations towards higher levels of openness.
Recommended Citation
Faik, Isam; Thompson, Mark; and Walsham, Geoff
(2019)
"Designing for ICT-Enabled Openness in Bureaucratic Organizations: Problematizing, Shifting, and Augmenting Boundary Work,"
Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 20(6), .
DOI: 10.17705/1.jais.00548
Available at:
https://aisel.aisnet.org/jais/vol20/iss6/7
DOI
10.17705/1.jais.00548
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