Chaos theory as a model for interpreting information systems in organizations

Abstract.  Chaos theory concerns the qualitative study of unstable aperiodic behaviour in deterministic non‐linear dynamical systems. Concepts from chaos theory have recently been applied as a model for interpreting organizational change and understanding organizational behaviour. This paper applies these concepts to the study of information systems in organizations. Key concepts from chaos theory are identified and used to develop an interpretive framework. The importance of understanding the initial conditions when an information systems strategy is developed or an information system is implemented is highlighted. The idea of strange attractors, patterns of behaviours of information systems, organizations and actors, which are repeated is developed, and the effect of internal and external events and choices is considered. These chaos theory concepts are applied to a case study of information systems strategy implementation in the UK probation service. It is concluded that concepts from chaos theory offer valuable support in developing a coherent and meaningful story concerning interactions between information systems and their host organizations.

[1]  Etienne Wenger,et al.  Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity , 1998 .

[2]  P. Cilliers,et al.  Complexity and post-modernism: understanding complex systems , 1999 .

[3]  R. Thietart,et al.  Chaos Theory and Organization , 1995 .

[4]  Frank Land,et al.  Complexity and information systems , 1999 .

[5]  David Lane,et al.  Foresight, Complexity, and Strategy , 1995 .

[6]  E. Wenger.  Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity , 1998 .

[7]  Geoff Walsham,et al.  Interpretive case studies in IS research: nature and method , 1995 .

[8]  Benyamin B. Lichtenstein,et al.  Emergence as a process of self‐organizing ‐ New assumptions and insights from the study of non‐linear dynamic systems , 2000 .

[9]  Geoff Walsham,et al.  Information systems strategy and implementation: a case study of a building society , 1994, TOIS.

[10]  Mary A. Ferdig.  Complexity Theories : Perspectives for the Social Construction of Organizational Transformation , 2000 .

[11]  Gérard P. Cachon,et al.  Perspective: Complexity Theory and Organization Science , 1999, Organization Science.

[12]  Ralph Stacey,et al.  Speaking of Complexity in Management Theory and Practice , 1998 .

[13]  Jie Wu,et al.  Small Worlds: The Dynamics of Networks between Order and Randomness , 2003 .

[14]  David L. Levy.  CHAOS THEORY AND STRATEGY: THEORY, APPLICATION, AND MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS , 2007 .

[15]  K. Frank,et al.  Organizational Culture As a Complex System: Balance and Information in Models of Influence and Selection , 1999 .

[16]  K. Weick,et al.  Introductory Essay : Improvisation As a Mindset for Organizational Analysis , 1998 .

[17]  J. Tennyson.  In the wake of chaos. Unpredictable order in dynamical systems , 1995 .

[18]  Frans M. van Eijnatten,et al.  Reflections: Chaos in organizational change , 2002 .

[19]  W. Orlikowski,et al.  An Improvisational Model of Change Management: The Case of Groupware Technologies , 1996 .

[20]  Richard Baskerville,et al.  Information technology and new organizational forms: choosing chaos over panaceas , 1995 .

[21]  Eric D. Beinhocker.  Strategy at the edge of chaos , 1997 .

[22]  BoisotMax,et al.  Organizations As Adaptive Systems in Complex Environments , 1999 .

[23]  David Lane,et al.  Strategy under Complexity: Fostering Generative Relationships , 1996 .

[24]  I. Prigogine,et al.  The end of certainty : time, chaos, and the new laws of nature , 1997 .

[25]  Daniel J. Svyantek,et al.  Organizational Attractors: A Chaos Theory Explanation of Why Cultural Change Efforts Often Fail , 1993 .

[26]  Robert Chia,et al.  From Complexity Science to Complex Thinking: Organization as Simple Location , 1998 .

[27]  G. Walsham.  Knowledge Management:: The Benefits and Limitations of Computer Systems , 2001 .

[28]  Michael Lissack,et al.  Of chaos and complexity: managerial insights from a new science , 1997 .

[29]  Laurie A. Fitzgerald.  Chaos: the lens that transcends , 2002 .

[30]  Christopher J. Davis,et al.  Emergence and accomplishment in organizational change , 2000 .

[31]  BILL DOOLIN,et al.  Information technology as disciplinary technology: being critical in interpretive research on information systems , 1998, J. Inf. Technol..

[32]  John Child,et al.  Organizations As Adaptive Systems in Complex Environments: the Case of China , 1999 .

[33]  L. Willcocks,et al.  Social theory and philosophy for information systems , 2004 .

[34]  Tom Butler,et al.  Towards a hermeneutic method for interpretive research in information systems , 1998, J. Inf. Technol..

[36]  Ralph Stacey,et al.  Strategy as order emerging from chaos , 1993 .

[37]  Haridimos Tsoukas,et al.  Introduction: Chaos, Complexity and Organization Theory , 1998 .

[38]  Lucas D. Introna.  Management, Information and Power , 1997 .

[39]  Petri Parvinen,et al.  The river metaphor for strategic management , 2003 .

[40]  Frans M. van Eijnatten,et al.  Chaos, dialogue and the dolphin’s strategy , 2002 .

[41]  R. Stacey.  Strategic Management and Organisational Dynamics: The Challenge of Complexity , 1999 .

[42]  R. Thietart,et al.  Action, Structure and Chaos , 1997 .

[43]  K. Weick.  Improvisation as a Mindset for Organizational Analysis , 1998 .

[44]  G. Walsham.  Making a World of Difference: IT in a Global Context , 2001 .

[45]  Margaret Ward,et al.  Strange Attractors: Chaos, Complexity, and the Art of Family Therapy , 1996 .