This article identifies the role of power and politics in systems implementation under a critical epistemology. Research in information systems has typically adopted a positivist or interpretive approach. This article highlights the use of the critical epistemology, providing a case study exploring the power and politics in the systems implementation process. Previous implementation studies that have investigated human and political factors involved in systems implementation have taken a simplistic view of power and politics. A critical, poststructuralist view of power provides a lens for observing the selection and implementation of an enterprise-wide learning management system. Such an approach has important implications for research methods as the critical epistemology needed is challenged by acceptance of bias and the need to expose it as an important factor in explaining success and/or failure in systems implementation. This article illustrates how useful a critical approach is in seeking out the real impact of power and politics in systems implementation and offers an alternative perspective that provides more insight into the observed process.
Corbitt, B. J. (1995). Homeless students, schools and the policy process. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.
9.
Corbitt, B. J. (1997). Uncertainty and equivocality in the adoption of electronic commerce by SMEs’ in Australia. Paper presented at the Department of Information Systems, University of Melbourne.
10.
Corbitt, B. J. (2000). Developing an intraorganizational electronic commerce strategy: Understanding the internal and external demands in implementing electronic commerce in an Australian Corporate Finance Institution. Journal of Information Technology (UK), 15, 113-130.
11.
Corbitt, B. J., & Thanasankit, T. (2002). Accepting and leadership: Hegemonies of e-commerce policy perspectives. Prometheus, 20(1), 39-57.
12.
Cragg, P., & King, M. (1983). Small-firm computing: Motivators and inhibitors. MIS Quarterly, 17(1), 47-60.
13.
Creswell, J. (1994). Research design: Qualitative and quantitative approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
14.
Davis, G. B. (1974). Management information systems: Conceptual foundations, structure and development. New York: McGraw-Hill.
15.
DeLone, W. D., & McLean, E. R. (1992). Information systems success: The quest for the dependent variable. Information Systems Research, 3(1), 60-95.
16.
DeLone, W. D., & McLean, E. R. (2003). The DeLone and McLean model of information systems success: A ten-year update. Journal of Management Information Systems, 19(4), 9-30.
17.
Denscombe, M. (1998). The good research guide: For small-scale social research project. Philadelphia: Open University Press.
18.
Downs, E., Clare, P., & Coe, I. (1988). Structured system analysis and design method: Application and context (2nd ed.). Hemel Hempstead, UK: Prentice Hall.
19.
Fairclough, N. (2001). Critical discourse analysis. In A. McHoul & M. Rapley (Eds.), How to analyse talk in institutional settings: A casebook of methods (pp. 25-38). London: Continuum.
20.
Foucault, M. (1977). Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison. London: Penguin.
21.
Foucault, M. (1978). The history of sexuality, volume 1: An introduction (1st American ed.). New York: Pantheon.
22.
Foucault, M. (1980). Power/knowledge: Selected interviews and other writings, 1972-1977 (C. Gordon, L. Marshall, J. Mepham, & K. Soper, Trans.). Brighton, Sussex, UK: Harvester Press.
23.
Gane, C., & Sarson, T. (1979). Structured systems analysis: Tools and techniques. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
24.
Ginzberg, M. (1981). Early diagnosis of MIS implementation failure: Promising results and unanswered questions. Management Science, 27, 457-478.
25.
Goffman, E. (1959). The presentation of self in everyday life. New York: Doubleday.
26.
Gubrium, J. F., & Holstein, J. A. (2000). Analysing interpretive practice. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (2nd ed., pp. 487-508). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
27.
Hawryszkiewycz, I. T. (2001). Introduction to systems analysis and design (5th ed.). Frenchs Forest, NSW, Australia: Prentice Hall.
28.
Hoffer, J. A., Valacich, J. S., & George, J. F. (1998). Modern systems analysis and design (2nd ed.). Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
29.
Hofstadter, R. (1963). Anti-intellectualism in American life. New York: Knopf.
30.
Howarth, D., & Stavrakakis, Y. (2000). Introducing discourse theory and political analysis. In D. Howarth, A. J. Norval, & Y. Stavrakakis (Eds.), Discourse theory and political analysis: Identities, hegemonies and social change (pp. 1-23). Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press.
31.
Howley, A., Pendarvis, E. D., & Howley, C. B. (1993). Anti-intellectualism in U.S. schools. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 1(6). Retrieved from http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v1n6.html
32.
Katchadourian, H. A., & Boli, J. (1985). Careerism and intellectualism among college students. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
33.
Kincheloe, J. K., & McLaren, P. (2000). Rethinking critical theory and qualitative research. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (2nd ed., pp. 279-313). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
34.
Klein, H. K., & Myers, M. D. (1999). A set of principles for conducting and evaluating interpretive field studies in information systems. MIS Quarterly, 23, 67-93.
35.
Krovi, R. (1993). Identifying the causes of resistance to IS implementation: A change theory perspective. Information & Management, 25, 327-335.
36.
Kvale, S. (1996). Interviews: An introduction to qualitative research interviewing. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
37.
Lingard, R. (1991). Policy-making for Australian schools: The new corporate federalism. Journal of Education Policy, 6(1), 85-90.
38.
Lingard, R. (1993). The changing state of policy production in education: Some Australian reflections on the state of policy sociology. International Studies in the Sociology of Education, 3(1), 25-47.
39.
Lingard, R., O’Brien, P., & Knight, J. (1993). Strengthening Australia’s schools through corporate federalism. Australian Journal of Education, 37, 231-247.
40.
Lucas, H. C. (1981). Implementation: The key to successful information systems. New York: Columbia University Press.
41.
Markus, M. L. (1983). Power, politics and MIS implementation. Communications of the ACM, 26, 430-444.
42.
Mitev, N. N. (2001). The social construction of IS failure: Symmetry, the sociology of translation and politics. In A. Adam, D. Howcroft, H. Richardson, & B. Robinson (Eds.), Re-defining critical research in information systems (pp. 16-34). Salford, UK: University of Salford.
43.
Myers, M. (1997). Qualitative research in information systems. Retrieved July 20, 2005, from http://www.qual.auckland.ac.nz/
44.
Nguyen, L. (2000). Incorporating design explanation within formal object-oriented method (FOOM). Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia.
45.
Ngwenyama, O. K., & Lee, A. S. (1997). Communication richness in electronic mail: Critical social theory and the contextuality of meaning. MIS Quarterly, 21, 145-167.
46.
Orlikowski, W. J. (1992). The duality of technology: Rethinking the concept of technology in organizations. Organization Science, 3, 398-427.
47.
Orlikowski, W. J., & Baroudi, J. J. (1991). Studying information technology in organizations: Research approaches and assumptions. Information Systems Research, 2, 1-28.
48.
Rockart, J. F. (1979). Chief executives define their own data needs. Harvard Business Review, 57(2), 81-93.
49.
Somers, M. T., & Nelson, K. (2001, January). The impact of critical success factors across the stages of enterprise resource planning implementations. Paper presented at the Proceedings of the 34th Hawaii International Conference on Systems Sciences, Hawaii.
50.
Stake, R. E. (2000). Case studies. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (2nd ed., pp. 435-454). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
51.
Turner, V. W. (1957). Schism and continuity in an African society—A study of Ndembu village life. New York: Humanities Press.
52.
Turner, V. W. (1980). Social dramas and stories about them. Critical Inquiry, 7, 141-168.
53.
Yin, R. (1994). Case study research: Design and methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
