Varieties of Political Process During Systems Development

John A. A. Sillince and Samar Mouakket
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John A. A. Sillince: Management School, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey, TW20 0EX, United Kingdom
Samar Mouakket: Management School, University of Sheffield, 9 Mappin Street, Sheffield S1 4DT, United Kingdom

Information Systems Research, 1997, vol. 8, issue 4, 368-397

Abstract: This study uses a longitudinal research design with multiple data collection methods on a systems development project. Five theoretical perspectives about power have been used to evaluate the case: zero sum, processual, organizational, structurally constrained, and social shaping/social construction. Our working assumption is that power is multidimensional and therefore that any attempt to understand systems development must simultaneously use several complementary perspectives. Studies of information systems development have in the past often been based on a view of power as zero sum (with winners and losers from systems development) and of power as based on information. We will attempt to show that expansion from this narrow definition of power has much to offer information systems research. The paper will attempt to identify what unique and essential insights about the relationship between power and systems development are surfaced by each perspective.

Keywords: politics; requirements determinationy; software development lifecycle; political roles of systems analysis; organisational factors; power; zero sum power; processual power; organizational power; structurally constrained power; socially shaped power; project trajectory; organizational design (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1997
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