Milti-party Information Systems development : the challenge of cross-boundary collaboration

IS development has always involved multiple stakeholders, but IS literature has traditionally focused on communication issues between two groups: technical developers and users. With changes in technology and the increased strategic role of IS applications, the number and diversity of stakeholders on IS projects has increased significantly. Problems of integrating the knowledge of multiple stakeholders are particularly acute in the E-commerce arena because of the novelty of this area of activity and the constant technological and business changes within it. People from diverse walks of life—business strategists, technologists, graphic designers, marketers—now need to work together to invent new E-commerce applications. In my dissertation research I conduct an ethnographic field study of a multi-party development project in an Internet consulting organization to understand how people collaborate across social boundaries to achieve results. In answering this question, I first draw on the literature of communities of practice, organizational culture, and social identity to understand the nature of social boundaries in organizations. I then use the lens of communicative genres, traditionally applied within a single community of practice, to understand the issues and conflicts that arise when different social groups have to communicate across boundaries. I then explore the role of boundary objects—shared artifacts that relate to the practices of multiple social groups—in cross-boundary communication practices. This research makes a first step towards developing an integrated perspective on how people share knowledge across boundaries by emphasizing the role of communicative norms, knowledge representations, and individual actors in cross-boundary collaboration practices.

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