Phenomenology as a Base of Systems Analysis

It has been ten years since Truex et al. (1999) advocated the continuous development of information systems by business professionals or workers themselves. A few methods for systems analysis (SA) by business professionals have appeared during this time. However, systems analysis by business professionals has not gained widespread interest among researchers. One of the reasons is considered that there is no foundational theory or philosophical base of the systems analysis, thereby the development of the methods being still a low-key theme in IS related researches. We will take phenomenology as a candidate of a foundational theory of the systems analysis, and examine the roles and functionality expected to the systems analysis against phenomenology in terms of the problem of knowledge, the mode of knowledge, and the method. It is made clear from the examination that the systems analysis can be considered an instance or application of phenomenology because the roles and functionality of the systems analysis falls within the idea and scope of phenomenology. Phenomenology is, then, expected to show what the systems analysis is and how it should be. In our examination, in fact, phenomenology helped make us conscious of an unnoticed role of the systems analysis that is important but not articulated.

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