Investigating the Dynamics of IT-Enabled Change: The Appeal of Clinical Inquiry

Abstract

Since the 1950s the process of introducing information technology (IT) into work organizations has posed formidable challenges all too frequently resulting in reports of significant underperformance and failure. On closer inquiry it emerges that such poor outcomes are due, in no small way, to a distinct inability to effect an integrated approach to change, an approach that concurrently attends to economic, technical, human, and organizational facets of change. Considering that extant research fails to adequately address this enduring dilemma, this chapter acknowledges weaknesses in dominant positivist approaches to inquiry and establishes the case for a more collaborative approach to inquiry, an approach that is firmly embedded in the post positivist tradition. In particular, the case for one such collaborative approach, clinical inquiry, as a legitimate and profoundly important research approach to investigating the dynamics of IT-enabled change is presented.