Title:
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Management of information system implementation from a power perspective : case studies of organisations in Thailand
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An information system is widely recognised as a technological-political
system and it can be better understood from a political perspective. This research
studies how an information system is socially and politically constructed through the
implementation process. It posits that the process of information system
implementation can be shaped and impacted by power relations and thus that failing
to understand such phenomena will contribute to system failure.
The aim of this research is to broaden the understanding of an information
system from a power perspective. Particular emphasis is placed on power relations
in organisations and how such relations impact the process of system
implementation. In order to achieve this aim, the research applies an integrated
theoretical framework based on power and discourse perspectives to two qualitative
case studies carried out in companies in Thailand. The case studies were undertaken
based on an interpretive mode of inquiry, which provides ways of understanding
how the process of implementation of information systems was shaped and impacted
by human actions and political processes. lnterpretivism helped to explore the
complexity of human action and meanings that system participants assigned to those
actions leading to the system implementation process.
The main findings suggest that information system implementation can be
impacted by power relations enacted through discursive actions of textual practices
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constituting discourse. Besides, a grand discourse can itself be a source of power
that affects the system implementation process. The findings indicate that: i)
knowledge integrated in discourse plays a prominent role in power relations, ii)
discursive legitimacy could enable and at the same time delimit the exercise of
power, and iii) an information system may be used as an apparatus for domination as
well as human emancipation. The main findings are taken as significant
contributions to both theory and practice in the information systems field.
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