Exploring Human Dynamics in Global Information System Implementations: Culture, Attitudes and Cognitive Elements

2. Information System Implementation Dynamics

Our conceptual framework to investigate an organisation in transformational change due to a global information system implementation has emerged from previous work (Egmond van et al., 2012), which builds on the work of Lyttinen and Newman (2006, 2008), who defined the concept of a punctuated equilibrium for system development (Figure 1). Lyttinen and Newman propose that within the settings and dynamics of any existing organisation, information system implementation processes start in an AS IS situation X (or homeostasis X) aiming to develop and emerge towards a TO BE situation Y. Hence the start of an implementation causes a disruption of an organisational equilibrium and induces a phase of transformation. Lyytinen and Newman (2008) view information systems development and implementation as a process of socio-technical change in which technologies, human actors, organizational relationships and tasks change, driven by configurations in work systems, building systems and the environment, and their misalignments and gaps.

Therefore it is much more difficult for major transformational change to occur, or be implemented, because it typically involves a profound reformulation of an organisation’s mission, structure and management, and fundamental changes in the basic social, political, and cultural aspects of an organisation. In addition, global information system implementations in multinational organisations generally display added complexity created by the legal, political, economic, cultural, and technical differences at different sites according to Nickerson et al. (2003). We are particularly interested in human elements as external variables in global information system implementation and concurring transformational changes.