Group Process and Conflict in System Development

Daniel Robey, Dana L. Farrow and Charles R. Franz
Additional contact information
Daniel Robey: Department of Decision Sciences and Information Systems, Florida International University, University Park, Miami, Florida 33199
Dana L. Farrow: Department of Management and International Business, Florida International University, University Park, Miami, Florida 33199
Charles R. Franz: Department of Management, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri 65211

Management Science, 1989, vol. 35, issue 10, 1172-1191

Abstract: Information system development projects engage organizational members in a process with potential for conflict. Managing such conflicts in project groups is an important but often neglected aspect of systems development. This research assesses group process during the development of an information system in an insurance company, using questionnaires, recorded transcripts of group meetings, interviews, and archival data. We describe the relationships among four variables in a model of conflict---participation, influence, conflict, and conflict resolution---at five different periods over a 22-month period. Our results show that in every time period participation positively affected influence and that influence positively affected both conflict and conflict resolution. These findings are supported by an analysis of communication patterns within four project meetings and by qualitative data collected during the project. The practical implications of conflict and group processes in system development are discussed.

Keywords: information systems development; group conflict (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1989
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Downloads: (external link)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.35.10.1172 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:35:y:1989:i:10:p:1172-1191

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Management Science from INFORMS Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Asher ().