Improvisation in Action: Making Sense of IS Development in Organizations

TY - GEN

T1 - Improvisation in Action

T2 - Making Sense of IS Development in Organizations

AU - Bansler, Jørgen P.

AU - Havn, Erling C.

PY - 2003

Y1 - 2003

N2 - The paper discusses the role of extemporaneous action and bricolage in designing and implementing information systems in organizations. We report a longitudinal field study of design and implementation of a Web-based groupware application in a multinational corporation. We adopt a sensemaking perspective to analyze the dynamics of this process and show that improvisational action and bricolage (making do with the materials at hand) played a vital role in the development of the application. Finally, we suggest that this case study provides an occasion to reconsider how we conceptualize information systems development (ISD).

AB - The paper discusses the role of extemporaneous action and bricolage in designing and implementing information systems in organizations. We report a longitudinal field study of design and implementation of a Web-based groupware application in a multinational corporation. We adopt a sensemaking perspective to analyze the dynamics of this process and show that improvisational action and bricolage (making do with the materials at hand) played a vital role in the development of the application. Finally, we suggest that this case study provides an occasion to reconsider how we conceptualize information systems development (ISD).

M3 - Article in proceedings

SP - 51

EP - 63

BT - International Workshop on Action in Language, Organisations and Information Systems (ALOIS 2003)

ER -