Abstract
Any organization needs information technologies (IT) to attain efficient process and make effective decisions. The main discussion of this study is focused on IT as a reason of change in an organization. Besides providing a definition for information systems (IS), this chapter aims at explaining soft systems methodology (SSM) as an IS development methodology. Considering seven elements of philosophy, model, techniques and tools, scope, output, practice, and product, it clarified the SSM position in other methodologies. In this concern, it revealed the main concern of using SSM in the development of information systems (i.e., meeting the real needs of the organization through generating meaningful information based on the available data) as represented in five case studies of SSM in IT-related organizational change.
TopInformation systems development (ISD) can result in generating many terms including ‘information and communication technology’ (ICT), ‘information systems applications’ (ISA), IT or IS (Small, 2007). Various Information Technologies (IT) such as computers, software, databases, communication systems, the Internet, mobile devices and many others are involved in IS. These technologies are used to perform specific tasks, interact with and inform various actors in different organizational or social contexts (Boell, 2015).
The technical and computational aspects of IT are not primarily involved in the IS field. IS target finding the ways to appropriate and instantiate technology to enable the realization of IS that provide various actors – such as individuals, groups or organizations – with the fulfillment of their information needs and requirements on specific goals and practices (Boell, 2015).