Key roles in intranet implementation: the conquest and the aftermath

Intranet technology has been rapidly adopted by many organizations. From being a largely unknown technology prior to the mid-1990s, numerous organizations today have implemented or are currently implementing intranets. The intranet implementation processes of three large organizations in two countries were studied over a period of 5 years. In particular, the paper investigates the role players who spearheaded the intranet implementations in these organizations. Five interrelated roles during the intranet implementation process are identified: the technology champion, organizational sponsor, intranet coordinator, intranet developer and content provider. In the light of the nature of intranet technology, each respective role is analysed in terms of its significance, key challenges and interrelationships during the implementation process. The paper further examines the dynamics of these roles in the aftermath of implementation as the technology becomes embedded in routine organizational activity.

[1]  Jan Damsgaard,et al.  Make or Buy - A Taxonomy of Intranet Implementation Strategies , 2001, ECIS.

[2]  H. Russell Bernard,et al.  Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches , 2000 .

[3]  Jan Weglarz,et al.  Interpreting Information Systems in Organizations , 1993 .

[4]  E. Rogers,et al.  Diffusion of innovations , 1964, Encyclopedia of Sport Management.

[5]  Daniel Robey,et al.  Sequential patterns in information systems development: an application of a social process model , 1996, TOIS.

[6]  E. B. Swanson,et al.  Information systems in organization theory: a review , 1987 .

[7]  Dubravka Cecez-Kecmanovic,et al.  Organisational change mediated by e-mail and Intranet: An ethnographic study , 1999, Inf. Technol. People.

[8]  Jorgen P. Bansler,et al.  Corporate Intranet Implementation: Managing Emergent Technologies and Organizational Practices , 2000, J. Assoc. Inf. Syst..

[9]  Carol A. Beatty,et al.  Preaching the Gospel: The Evangelists of New Technology , 1991 .

[10]  Rolf Oppliger,et al.  Internet security: firewalls and beyond , 1997, CACM.

[11]  Henry C. Lucas,et al.  Information Systems Implementation: Testing a Structural Model , 1990 .

[12]  Vincent S. Lai.  Intraorganizational communication with intranets , 2001, CACM.

[13]  K. Eisenhardt.  Building theories from case study research , 1989, STUDI ORGANIZZATIVI.

[14]  Celia T. Romm,et al.  The Dynamics of Establishing Organisational Web Sites: some puzzling findings , 1998, Australas. J. Inf. Syst..

[15]  Andrew B. Whinston,et al.  Intranets: looking beyond internal corporate Web servers , 1997 .

[16]  Mellanie Hills.  Intranet Business Strategies , 1996 .

[17]  Rod B. McNaughton,et al.  Intranet Adoption and Inter-Functional Co-ordination , 1999 .

[18]  Randolph B. Cooper,et al.  The inertial impact of culture on IT implementation , 1994, Inf. Manag..

[19]  Ralph H. Sprague,et al.  Electronic Document Management: Challenges and Opportunities for Information Systems Managers , 1995, MIS Q..

[20]  M. Lynne Markus,et al.  Power, politics, and MIS implementation , 1987, CACM.

[21]  Kalle Lyytinen,et al.  The Brave New World of development in the internetwork computing architecture (InterNCA): or how distributed computing platforms will change systems development , 1998, Inf. Syst. J..

[22]  Zahir Tari,et al.  A Role-Based Access Control for Intranet Security , 1997, IEEE Internet Comput..

[23]  Izak Benbasat,et al.  The Case Research Strategy in Studies of Information Systems , 1987, MIS Q..

[24]  Linda L. Price,et al.  An Agency Perspective on New Technology Champions , 1992 .

[25]  Andrew Clement,et al.  Computing at work: empowering action by “low-level users” , 1994, CACM.

[26]  T. H. Kwon,et al.  Unifying the fragmented models of information systems implementation , 1987 .

[27]  Jane M. Howell,et al.  Champions of Technological Innovation. , 1990 .

[28]  E. Lee,et al.  Managing the crises , 2001 .

[29]  Michael Deaver.  The Corporate Intranet , 1998 .

[30]  V. Balasubramanian,et al.  Document management and Web technologies: Alice marries the Mad Hatter , 1998, CACM.

[31]  James A. Senn,et al.  Case implementation: the importance of multiple perspectives , 1992, SIGCPR '92.

[32]  A. Boonstra.  Information systems and organizational change , 2002 .

[33]  Juhani Iivari,et al.  From a Macro Innovation Theory of IS Diffusion to a Micro Innovation Theory of IS Adoption: An Application to CASE Adoption , 1993, Human, Organizational, and Social Dimensions of Information Systems Development.

[34]  P. Atkinson,et al.  Making Sense of Qualitative Data: Complementary Research Strategies , 1996 .

[35]  Michael J. Ginzberg,et al.  Key Recurrent Issues in the MIS Implementation Process , 1981, MIS Q..

[36]  Victor Smetacek,et al.  Making sense , 2004, Nature.

[37]  F. Caeldries.  Reengineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution , 1994 .

[38]  P. Atkinson,et al.  Making sense of qualitative data , 1996 .

[39]  Tor J. Larsen,et al.  Middle Managers' Contribution to Implemented Information Technology Innovation , 1993, J. Manag. Inf. Syst..

[40]  Linda S. Lotto.  Qualitative Data Analysis: A Sourcebook of New Methods , 1986 .

[41]  Judy E. Scott.  Organizational knowledge and the Intranet , 1998, Decis. Support Syst..

[42]  JoAnne Yates,et al.  Shaping Electronic Communication: The Metastructuring of Technology in the Context of Use , 1995 .

[43]  Hossein Bidgoli.  An Integrated Model for Introducing Intranets , 1999, Inf. Syst. Manag..

[44]  Roberta Lamb,et al.  The New Computing Archipelago: Intranet Islands of Practice , 2000, Organizational and Social Perspectives on IT.

[45]  E. B. Swanson,et al.  Information systems innovation among organizations , 1994 .

[46]  Michael D. Myers,et al.  A Set of Principles for Conducting and Evaluating Interpretive Field Studies in Information Systems , 1999, MIS Q..

[47]  M. Lynne Markus,et al.  Change Agentry - The Next IS Frontier , 1996, MIS Q..

[48]  Anol Bhattacherjee,et al.  Management of emerging technologies: Experiences and lessons learned at US West , 1998, Inf. Manag..

[49]  Rens Scheepers,et al.  Power, influence and intranet implementation: A safari of South African organizations , 1999, Inf. Technol. People.

[50]  Daniel L. McCue,et al.  A case for document management functions on the Web , 1997, CACM.

[51]  Rob Kling,et al.  The control of information systems developments after implementation , 1984, CACM.

[52]  Rens Scheepers,et al.  Managing the crises in intranet implementation: a stage model , 2000, Inf. Syst. J..

[53]  Patrick Finnegan,et al.  Managing Intranet technology in an organizational context: toward a "stages of growth" model for balancing empowerment and control , 2000, ICIS.

[54]  Magid Igbaria,et al.  Determinants of intranet diffusion and infusion , 2001 .

[55]  L. G. Tornatzky,et al.  Innovation characteristics and innovation adoption-implementation: A meta-analysis of findings , 1982, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management.

[56]  Kalle Lyytinen,et al.  What's Wrong with the Diffusion of Innovation Theory , 2001, Diffusing Software Products and Process Innovations.

[57]  JoAnne Yates,et al.  Helping CSCW applications succeed: the role of mediators in the context of use , 1994, CSCW '94.

[58]  Blake Ives,et al.  Introducing Transformational Information Technologies: The Case of the World Wide Web Technology , 1996, Int. J. Electron. Commer..

[59]  Paul Ati ' Ewell.  TECHNOLOGY DIFFUSION AND ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING: THE CASE OF BUSINESS COMPUTING* , 1992 .

[60]  Suprateek Sarker,et al.  A Hermeneutic Interpretation of the Effect of Computerized BPR Tools on Redesign Effectiveness in Two Organizations , 1999, New Information Technologies in Organizational Processes.

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

[62]  C. Ciborra,et al.  Formative contexts and information technology: Understanding the dynamics of innovation in organizations , 1994 .

[63]  Rajiv Sabherwal,et al.  An Empirical Taxonomy of Implementation Processes Based on Sequences of Events in Information System Development , 1993 .

[64]  Dorothy E. Leidner,et al.  Review: Knowledge Management and Knowledge Management Systems: Conceptual Foundations and Research Issues , 2001, MIS Q..

[65]  Cynthia Mathis Beath,et al.  Supporting the information technology champion , 1991 .

[66]  Rens Scheepers,et al.  Harnessing Intranet Technology for Organisational Knowledge Creation , 2001, Australas. J. Inf. Syst..

[67]  J. Rockart.  The line takes the leadership: IS management in a wired society , 1990 .

[68]  R. Zmud,et al.  Information technology implementation research: a technological diffusion approach , 1990 .