Boiling the Frog or Seducing the Fox: Organizational Aspects of Implementing CASE Technology

A lot of research on Computer Aided Systems Engineering, CASE, is oriented toward technical solutions. In contrast, this paper discusses not technical, but organizational aspects of CASE-technology: how this technology is embedded in organizations. Based on interviews with key players in 18 companies in the Netherlands, the change management process of introducing CASE-technology is discussed from the perspectives of culture, structure and control process. It is concluded that in order to implement CASE-technology successfully, CASE should be regarded as a process of organization development (OD), ie. a cultural change process. Aspects of structure, culture, and control all seem to influence the success of implementation of CASE-technology.

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