The Role of Emotion, Values, and Beliefs in the Construction of Innovative Work Realities

Traditional approaches to requirements elicitation stress systematic and rational analysis and representation of organizational context and system requirements. This paper argues that (1) for an organization, a software system implements a shared vision of a future work reality and that (2) understanding the emotions, feelings, values, beliefs, and interests that drive organizational human action is needed in order to invent the requirements of such a software system. This paper debunks some myths about how organizations transform themselves through the adoption of Information and Communication Technology; describes the concepts of emotion, feeling, value, and belief; and presents some constructionist guidelines for the process of eliciting requirements for a software system that helps an organization to fundamentally change its work patterns.

[1]  Keith G. Provan,et al.  Environmental Linkages and Power in Resource-Dependence Relations between Organizations. , 1980 .

[2]  Andreas Holzinger,et al.  Rapid prototyping for a virtual medical campus interface , 2004, IEEE Software.

[3]  J. Alexander,et al.  Images of Organization , 1988 .

[4]  Thomas G. Cummings,et al.  Essentials of Organization Development and Change , 2000 .

[5]  Daniel M. Berry,et al.  Guest Editors' Introduction: Requirements Engineering , 1998, IEEE Softw..

[6]  Bashar Nuseibeh,et al.  Requirements engineering: a roadmap , 2000, ICSE '00.

[7]  Neil A. M. Maiden,et al.  Implementing enterprise resource planning packages in different corporate and national cultures , 2000, J. Inf. Technol..

[8]  Ian Sommerville,et al.  Requirements Engineering: Processes and Techniques , 1998 .

[9]  J. Goguen.  Requirements Engineering as the Reconciliation of Technical and Social Issues , 1994 .

[10]  N. Denzin,et al.  Handbook of Qualitative Research , 1994 .

[11]  A. Finkelstein.  Report of the Inquiry into the London Ambulance Service , 1993 .

[12]  Robert P. Gephart,et al.  Postmodern Management and Organization Theory , 1996 .

[13]  Linda A. Macaulay.  Requirements engineering , 1996, Applied Computing.

[14]  Johann Rost,et al.  Political Reasons for Failed Software Projects , 2004, IEEE Softw..

[15]  Joseph A. Goguen,et al.  Requirements engineering: social and technical issues , 1994 .

[16]  Alan M. Davis,et al.  Software requirements - analysis and specification , 1990 .

[17]  L. Bolman,et al.  Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice, and Leadership. Jossey-Bass Management Series, Social and Behavioral Science Series, and Higher and Adult Education Series. , 1991 .

[18]  Joseph A. GoguenDepartment.  Towards a Social, Ethical Theory of Information 1 , 1997 .

[19]  Mitchel Resnick,et al.  Constructionism in Practice: Designing, Thinking, and Learning in A Digital World , 1996 .

[20]  Lars Mathiassen,et al.  Using Computers in Qualitative Research , 1991 .

[21]  Barry W. Boehm,et al.  Theory-W Software Project Management: Principles and Examples , 1989, IEEE Trans. Software Eng..

[22]  Axel van Lamsweerde,et al.  Requirements engineering in the year 00: a research perspective , 2000, Proceedings of the 2000 International Conference on Software Engineering. ICSE 2000 the New Millennium.

[23]  Anthony Finkelstein,et al.  The future of software engineering 2000 , 2000 .

[24]  Kalle Lyytinen,et al.  Information Systems Development and Data Modeling: Philosophical Foundations , 1995 .

[25]  R. Cialdini.  Influence: Science and Practice , 1984 .

[26]  M. Jones,et al.  Studying organizational symbolism , 1996 .

[27]  Paul E. Spector.  Job satisfaction: application, assessment, cause, and consequences , 1997 .

[28]  Roderick M. Kramer,et al.  Power and influence in organizations , 1998 .

[29]  Jawed I. A. Siddiqi,et al.  Requirements Engineering: The Emerging Wisdom , 1996, IEEE Softw..

[30]  Sharon K. Parker,et al.  Job and work design : organizing work to promote well-being and effectiveness , 1998 .

[31]  Ingeman Arbnor,et al.  Methodology for Creating Business Knowledge , 1997 .

[32]  W. Warner Burke,et al.  Organization Change , 1995 .

[33]  Suzanne Robertson,et al.  Mastering the Requirements Process , 1999 .

[34]  Alan M. Davis,et al.  Giving voice to requirements engineering , 1994, IEEE Software.

[35]  William N. Robinson,et al.  Supporting the negotiation life cycle , 1998, CACM.

[36]  Barry W. Boehm,et al.  Software requirements as negotiated win conditions , 1994, Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Requirements Engineering.

[37]  E. Guba,et al.  Competing paradigms in qualitative research. , 1994 .

[38]  Kalle Lyytinen,et al.  Attention Shaping and Software Risk - A Categorical Analysis of Four Classical Risk Management Approaches , 1998, Inf. Syst. Res..

[39]  Gerardine DeSanctis,et al.  Information Technology and the Future Enterprise : New Models for Managers , 2000 .

[40]  Todd D. Dick,et al.  Accelerating change for competitive advantage , 1995 .

[41]  M.M. Lehman,et al.  Programs, life cycles, and laws of software evolution , 1980, Proceedings of the IEEE.

[42]  Isabel Ramos.  Aplicações das tecnologias de informação que suportam as dimensões estrutural, social, política, simbólica do trabalho , 2000 .

[43]  Rudy Hirschheim,et al.  A Paradigmatic Analysis Contrasting Information Systems Development Approaches and Methodologies , 1998, Inf. Syst. Res..

[44]  Raul Espejo,et al.  Organizational Transformation and Learning: A Cybernetic Approach to Management , 1996 .

[45]  T. Levitt.  Thinking About Management , 1990 .

[46]  Russ Marion.  The Edge of Organization: Chaos and Complexity Theories of Formal Social Systems , 1999 .

[47]  Peter Aiken,et al.  Information systems development and data modeling: Conceptual and philosophical foundations , 1997 .

[48]  A. Damasio.  The Feeling of What Happens: Body and Emotion in the Making of Consciousness , 1999 .

[49]  R. Greenwood,et al.  Understanding strategic change: The contribution of archetypes , 1993 .

[50]  Michael Grüninger,et al.  Introduction , 2002, CACM.