A reflection on information systems strategizing: the role of power and everyday practices

We review the IS strategizing literature and highlight its main strengths and weaknesses. Strengths include an account given to the relevance of tensions between planned and executed strategy, and associated tradeoffs such as rigidity and flexibility, formal and informal strategizing and the exploitation of static resources vis à vis the exploration of novel capabilities. Weaknesses relate to a predominant focus on an organizational level of analysis and a lack of power considerations. In this paper we aim to build on these strengths and to ameliorate these weaknesses by proposing a comprehensive IS strategizing framework that uses extant IS strategizing research as a foundation, rejuvenated by insights from the emerging strategy‐as‐practice literature. The paper extends our understanding of IS strategizing in light of the practice perspective by providing a multilevel account and incorporating power considerations.

[1]  Daniel A. Levinthal,et al.  Exploration and Exploitation in Organizational Learning , 2007 .

[2]  William R. Davidson,et al.  Changes and challenges in retailing , 1981 .

[3]  Blaize Horner Reich,et al.  IT alignment: what have we learned? , 2007, J. Inf. Technol..

[4]  Robert M. Davison,et al.  The balanced scorecard: a foundation for the strategic management of information systems , 1999, Decis. Support Syst..

[5]  R. Dorf,et al.  The Balanced Scorecard: Translating Strategy Into Action , 1997, Proceedings of the IEEE.

[6]  Varun Grover,et al.  Strategic Information Systems Planning: Planning System Dimensions, Internal Coalignment, and Implications for Planning Effectiveness , 1998 .

[7]  Sue Newell,et al.  Strategic opportunities (and challenges) of algorithmic decision-making: A call for action on the long-term societal effects of 'datification' , 2015, J. Strateg. Inf. Syst..

[8]  Jerry N. Luftman,et al.  Key Issues for IT Executives 2012: Doing More with Less , 2012, MIS Q. Executive.

[9]  Wendy L. Currie,et al.  The Oxford Handbook of Management Information Systems , 2011 .

[10]  Robert D. Galliers,et al.  Exploring the impacts of knowledge (re)use and organizational memory on the effectiveness of strategic decisions: a longitudinal case study , 2003, 36th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, 2003. Proceedings of the.

[11]  Jerry N. Luftman,et al.  Key Issues for IT Executives 2011: Cautious Optimism in Uncertain Economic Times , 2011, MIS Q. Executive.

[12]  Paula Jarzabkowski,et al.  Material artifacts:practices for doing strategy with 'stuff' , 2013 .

[13]  B. Galliers,et al.  The Journal of Strategic Information Systems , 1996 .

[14]  Robert D. Galliers,et al.  Information systems management and strategy formulation: the ‘stages of growth’ model revisited , 1991, Inf. Syst. J..

[15]  Jay R. Galbraith Organization Design: An Information Processing View , 1974 .

[16]  R. Emerson Power-Dependence Relations , 1962, Power in Modern Societies.

[17]  Geoff Walsham,et al.  Interpreting Information Systems in Organizations , 1993 .

[18]  James Backhouse,et al.  The Circuits-of-Power Framework for Studying Power in Institutionalization of Information Systems , 2003, J. Assoc. Inf. Syst..

[19]  Richard T. Watson,et al.  Key issues in information systems management: An international perspective , 1991, Inf. Manag..

[20]  R. Hackney,et al.  Opportunistic strategy formulation for IS/IT planning , 1999 .

[21]  Wanda J. Orlikowski,et al.  Theorizing Practice and Practicing Theory , 2011, Organ. Sci..

[22]  Jörgen Sandberg GRASPING THE LOGIC OF PRACTICE : THEORIZING THROUGH PRACTICAL RATIONALITY , 2011 .

[23]  Frantz Rowe,et al.  Strategizing information systems-enabled organizational transformation: A transdisciplinary review and new directions , 2012, J. Strateg. Inf. Syst..

[24]  C. Gibson,et al.  THE ANTECEDENTS , CONSEQUENCES , AND MEDIATING ROLE OF ORGANIZATIONAL AMBIDEXTERITY , 2004 .

[25]  Angela Lin,et al.  Mission Critical: Realizing the Promise of Enterprise Systems , 2001 .

[26]  David S. Preston,et al.  Information Systems Strategy: Reconceptualization, Measurement, and Implications , 2010, MIS Q..

[27]  Rolf Alexander Teubner,et al.  Information Systems Strategy , 2013, Business & Information Systems Engineering.

[28]  I. Nonaka A Dynamic Theory of Organizational Knowledge Creation , 1994 .

[29]  Robert D. Galliers,et al.  Assessing information systems strategy development frameworks in SMEs , 1999, Inf. Manag..

[30]  Michael J. Earl,et al.  Experiences in Strategic Information Systems Planning , 1993, MIS Q..

[31]  Sue Newell,et al.  Managing knowledge and managing knowledge work: what we know and what the future holds , 2015, J. Inf. Technol..

[32]  Jacky Swan,et al.  Information systems and strategic change: a critical review of business process re-engineering , 1999 .

[33]  Sue Newell,et al.  Knowledge Management , 2014, Computing Handbook, 3rd ed..

[34]  Paul J. Hart,et al.  Power and Trust: Critical Factors in the Adoption and Use of Electronic Data Interchange , 1997 .

[35]  Alexander Ardichvili,et al.  Motivation and barriers to participation in virtual knowledge-sharing communities of practice , 2003, J. Knowl. Manag..

[36]  Richard L. Daft,et al.  The Nature and Use of Formal Control Systems for Management Control and Strategy Implementation , 1984 .

[37]  David P. Norton,et al.  The Balanced Scorecard , 1998 .

[38]  P. Jarzabkowski,et al.  Strategic planning as communicative process , 2011 .

[39]  Robert D. Galliers,et al.  Towards a flexible information architecture: integrating business strategies, information systems strategies and business process redesign * , 1993, Inf. Syst. J..

[40]  W. Dugger,et al.  The New Institutionalism: New But Not Institutionalist , 1990 .

[41]  Maxine Robertson,et al.  Diffusion in the Face of Failure: The Evolution of a Management Innovation , 2015 .

[42]  Stewart Clegg,et al.  Radical Revisions: Power, Discipline and Organizations , 1989 .

[43]  Alain Pinsonneault,et al.  The dynamics of client–consultant relationships: exploring the interplay of power and knowledge , 2012, J. Inf. Technol..

[44]  B. D. Wit,et al.  Strategy: Process, Content, Context: An International Perspective , 1994 .

[45]  Cidambi Srinivasan,et al.  Strategic information systems planning: too little or too much? , 2003, J. Strateg. Inf. Syst..

[46]  Robert Chia,et al.  Strategy-as-practice: reflections on the research agenda , 2004, European Management Review.

[47]  Richard Whittington,et al.  Information Systems Strategy and Strategy-as-Practice: A joint agenda , 2014, J. Strateg. Inf. Syst..

[48]  N. Marshall,et al.  Maybe Bacon Had a Point: The Politics of Interpretation in Collective Sensemaking , 2004 .

[49]  Robert D. Galliers,et al.  Towards an understanding of the role of business intelligence systems in organisational knowing , 2016, Inf. Syst. J..

[50]  Sue Newell,et al.  Site-shifting as the source of ambidexterity: Empirical insights from the field of ticketing , 2014, J. Strateg. Inf. Syst..

[51]  Sue Newell,et al.  The Role of Power and Materiality in Healthcare Improvement Initiatives: A Strategy-as-practice Perspective , 2015, ICIS.

[52]  Amany R. Elbanna,et al.  From Control to Drift: The Dynamics of Corporate Information Infrastructures , 2001 .

[53]  M. Porter Towards a dynamic theory of strategy , 1991 .

[54]  R. Hirschheim,et al.  Detours in the Path toward Strategic Information Systems Alignment , 2001 .

[55]  R. Katila,et al.  SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW: A LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF SEARCH BEHAVIOR AND NEW PRODUCT INTRODUCTION , 2002 .

[56]  Morten T. Hansen,et al.  What's your strategy for managing knowledge? , 1999, Harvard business review.

[57]  Fred Niederman,et al.  Information Systems Management Issues for the 1990s , 1991, MIS Q..

[58]  Frank F. Land,et al.  Evaluation of Systems Goals in Determining a Design Strategy for a Computer Based Information System , 1976, Comput. J..

[59]  Maurizio Zollo,et al.  Deliberate Learning and the Evolution of Dynamic Capabilities , 2002 .

[60]  Meyer,et al.  Strategy: Process, Content, Context By Bob De Wit, Ron Meyer , 2017 .

[61]  K. Weick FROM SENSEMAKING IN ORGANIZATIONS , 2021, The New Economic Sociology.

[62]  D. Teece,et al.  The Dynamic Capabilities of Firms: an Introduction , 1994 .

[63]  S. Lukes Power: A Radical View , 1974 .

[64]  Sirkka L. Jarvenpaa,et al.  Communication and Trust in Global Virtual Teams , 1999, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[65]  Mary J. Benner,et al.  Reflections on the 2013 Decade Award—“Exploitation, Exploration, and Process Management: The Productivity Dilemma Revisited” Ten Years Later , 2015 .

[66]  P. Jarzabkowski Strategy as Practice: An Activity Based Approach , 2005 .

[67]  Robbert Dijkgraaf,et al.  Knowledge Is Infrastructure. , 2017, Scientific American.

[68]  Warren B. Powell Exploration vs. Exploitation , 2007 .

[69]  Michael K. Mauws,et al.  The Politics of Organizational Learning: Integrating Power into the 4I Framework , 2005 .

[70]  K. K. Cetina,et al.  The Practice Turn in Contemporary Theory , 2001 .

[71]  Natalia Levina,et al.  Collaborating on Multi-Party Information Systems Development Projects: A Collective Reflection-in-Action View , 2005, Inf. Syst. Res..

[72]  Richard L. Nolan,et al.  Ubiquitous IT: The case of the Boeing 787 and implications for strategic IT research , 2012, J. Strateg. Inf. Syst..

[73]  Zi-Lin He,et al.  Exploration vs. Exploitation: An Empirical Test of the Ambidexterity Hypothesis , 2004, Organ. Sci..

[74]  John M. Ward,et al.  Beyond strategic information systems: towards an IS capability , 2004, J. Strateg. Inf. Syst..

[75]  C. Prahalad,et al.  Strategy as stretch and leverage. , 1993, Harvard business review.

[76]  Yolande E. Chan,et al.  Business Strategic Orientation, Information Systems Strategic Orientation, and Strategic Alignment , 1997, Inf. Syst. Res..

[77]  C. Hardy Understanding Power: Bringing about Strategic Change , 1996 .

[78]  W. Ouchi,et al.  Theory Z: How American Business Can Meet the Japanese Challenge. , 1981 .

[79]  M. Polanyi,et al.  Tacit Knowing: Its Bearing on Some Problems of Philosophy , 1962 .

[80]  C. Bauer The Circuits-of-Power Framework for Studying Power in Institutionalization of Information Systems , 2003 .

[81]  Richard Whittington,et al.  What Is Strategy and Does It Matter , 1998 .

[82]  E. Vaara Taking the linguistic turn seriously : strategy as a multifaceted and interdiscursive phenomenon , 2010 .

[83]  Enid Mumford,et al.  The story of socio‐technical design: reflections on its successes, failures and potential , 2006, Inf. Syst. J..

[84]  J. Child Organizational Structure, Environment and Performance: The Role of Strategic Choice , 1972 .

[85]  Alex Pentland,et al.  Big Data and Management , 2014 .

[86]  J. Pfeffer,et al.  Organizational Decision Making as a Political Process: The Case of a UniversityBudget. , 1974 .

[87]  Saku Mantere,et al.  On the Problem of Participation in Strategy: A Critical Discursive Perspective , 2008, Organ. Sci..

[88]  Thanos Papadopoulos,et al.  Information systems strategy: Past, present, future? , 2012, J. Strateg. Inf. Syst..

[89]  Robert Chia,et al.  From Knowledge-Creation to the Perfecting of Action: Tao, Basho and Pure Experience as the Ultimate Ground of Knowing , 2003 .

[90]  Robert D. Galliers,et al.  Further Developments in Information Systems Strategizing: Unpacking the Concept , 2011 .

[91]  Varun Grover,et al.  Profiles of Strategic Information Systems Planning , 1999, Inf. Syst. Res..

[92]  R. Dahl The concept of power , 2007 .

[93]  Mikael Lind,et al.  Information systems strategizing, organizational sub-communities, and the emergence of a sustainability strategy , 2014, J. Strateg. Inf. Syst..

[94]  Paul R. Carlile,et al.  A Pragmatic View of Knowledge and Boundaries: Boundary Objects in New Product Development , 2002, Organ. Sci..

[95]  M. Foucault,et al.  Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings 1972-1977 , 1980 .

[96]  Davide Nicolini Practice Theory, Work, and Organization: An Introduction , 2013 .

[97]  John F. Green Management Information Systems and Corporate Planning , 1970 .

[98]  R. Hess Power in organizations. , 2003, Journal of nursing scholarship : an official publication of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing.

[99]  Jean-Paul A. Barthès,et al.  Knowledge Management , 1994, Encyclopedia of Database Systems.

[100]  Geoff Walsham,et al.  Doing interpretive research , 2006, Eur. J. Inf. Syst..

[101]  Henry Mintzberg An Emerging Strategy of "Direct" Research , 1979 .

[102]  Anandhi S. Bharadwaj,et al.  A Resource-Based Perspective on Information Technology Capability and Firm Performance: An Empirical Investigation , 2000, MIS Q..

[103]  James C. Wetherbe,et al.  Key issues in information systems management , 1987 .

[104]  William R. King,et al.  The evaluation of strategic information system planning , 1994, Inf. Manag..

[105]  S. Gherardi Practice-Based Theorizing on Learning and Knowing in Organizations , 2000 .

[106]  Bendik Bygstad,et al.  The Generative Mechanisms of Digital Infrastructure Evolution , 2013, MIS Q..

[107]  Philip Powell,et al.  Inter-organisational systems planning: learning from current practices , 1999 .

[108]  J. Barney Firm Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage , 1991 .

[109]  Henry Mintzberg,et al.  Studying Deciding: An Exchange of Views Between Mintzberg and Waters, Pettigrew, and Butler , 1990 .

[110]  Paul R. Carlile,et al.  Transferring, Translating, and Transforming: An Integrative Framework for Managing Knowledge Across Boundaries , 2004, Organ. Sci..

[111]  Joe Peppard,et al.  Information systems strategy as practice: Micro strategy and strategizing for IS , 2014, J. Strateg. Inf. Syst..

[112]  Alex Wilson,et al.  Performing strategy: Aligning processes in strategic IT , 2013, ICIS.

[113]  James Backhouse,et al.  Circuits of Power in Creating de jure Standards: Shaping an International Information Systems Security Standard , 2006, MIS Q..

[114]  Robert D. Galliers,et al.  Performing strategy: conceptualising the strategizing of information systems in organisations , 2013 .

[115]  Sue Newell,et al.  Special Issue Part II: understanding the contextual influences on enterprise system design, implementation, use and evaluation , 2005, J. Strateg. Inf. Syst..

[116]  Geoff Walsham,et al.  Information Systems strategy formulation , 1990, Inf. Manag..

[117]  Geoff Walsham,et al.  Information systems strategy formation and implementation: The case of a central government agency , 1993 .

[118]  Marco Marabelli,et al.  Knowing, Power and Materiality: A Critical Review and Reconceptualization of Absorptive Capacity , 2014 .

[119]  Richard Whittington,et al.  Strategy as Practice , 1996 .

[120]  Sue Newell,et al.  Implementing enterprise resource planning and knowledge management systems in tandem: fostering efficiency and innovation complementarity , 2003, Inf. Organ..

[121]  M. Porter,et al.  How Information Gives You Competitive Advantage , 1985 .

[122]  Robert D. Galliers,et al.  Reconceptualizing rhetorical practices in organizations: The impact of social media on internal communications , 2013, Inf. Manag..

[123]  W. Powell,et al.  The New Institutionalism in Organizational Analysis , 1993 .

[124]  Richard Whittington,et al.  Learning More from Failure: Practice and Process , 2006 .

[125]  P. Jarzabkowski,et al.  Strategy-as-Practice: A Review and Future Directions for the Field , 2009 .

[126]  Sue Newell,et al.  Developing a dynamic project learning and cross‐project learning capability: synthesizing two perspectives , 2008, Inf. Syst. J..

[127]  Etienne Wenger,et al.  Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation , 1991 .

[128]  Leiser Silva,et al.  From disruptions to struggles: Theorizing power in ERP implementation projects , 2012, Inf. Organ..

[129]  James M. Utterback,et al.  Mastering the Dynamics of Innovation: How Companies Can Seize Opportunities in the Face of Technological Change , 1994 .

[130]  Hugh Willmott,et al.  Re-Embedding Situatedness: The Importance of Power Relations in Learning Theory , 2003, Organ. Sci..

[131]  Jacky Swan,et al.  The object of knowledge: The role of objects in biomedical innovation , 2007 .

[132]  James D. Thompson Organizations in Action: Social Science Bases of Administrative Theory , 1967 .

[133]  Robert D. Galliers,et al.  Aligning in practice: from current cases to a new agenda , 2015, J. Inf. Technol..

[134]  L. Melin,et al.  Micro Strategy and Strategizing: Towards an Activity‐Based View , 2003 .

[135]  R Hemanth Information Systems Management , 2013 .

[136]  Albert L. Lederer,et al.  The process of strategic information planning , 1992, J. Strateg. Inf. Syst..

[137]  David Gefen,et al.  Some antecedents and effects of trust in virtual communities , 2002, J. Strateg. Inf. Syst..

[138]  Gurpreet Dhillon,et al.  Dimensions of power and IS implementation , 2004, Inf. Manag..

[139]  Varun Grover,et al.  Types of Information Technology Capabilities and Their Role in Competitive Advantage: An Empirical Study , 2005, J. Manag. Inf. Syst..

[140]  Sue Newell,et al.  Understanding the contextual influences on enterprise system design, implementation, use and evaluation , 2004, J. Strateg. Inf. Syst..

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

[142]  Robert Chia,et al.  Post-processual challenges for the emerging strategy-as-practice perspective: Discovering strategy in the logic of practice , 2007 .

[143]  Dennis F. Galletta,et al.  Research Note - Knowledge Exploration and Exploitation: The Impacts of Psychological Climate and Knowledge Management System Access , 2011, Inf. Syst. Res..

[144]  M. Tushman,et al.  Ambidexterity as a Dynamic Capability: Resolving the Innovator's Dilemma , 2007 .

[145]  Mohanbir Sawhney,et al.  Innovation and Virtual Environments: Towards Virtual Knowledge Brokers , 2006 .

[146]  Andreas Paul Spee,et al.  Strategy tools as boundary objects , 2009 .

[147]  Daniel A. Levinthal,et al.  The myopia of learning , 1993 .

[148]  Marie-Claude Boudreau,et al.  Enacting Integrated Information Technology: A Human Agency Perspective , 2005, Organ. Sci..

[149]  P. Adler,et al.  Flexibility Versus Efficiency? a Case Study of Model Changeovers in the Toyota Production System , 1999 .

[150]  Amany R. Elbanna,et al.  The validity of the improvisation argument in the implementation of rigid technology: the case of ERP systems , 2006, J. Inf. Technol..

[151]  Sue Newell,et al.  The Myth of the Boundaryless Organization , 2001, CACM.

[152]  C. Prahalad,et al.  Strategy as a field of study: Why search for a new paradigm? , 2007 .

[153]  R. Kaplan,et al.  Transforming the Balanced Scorecard from Performance Measurement to Strategic Management: Part II , 2001 .

[154]  Frank F. Land,et al.  Adapting to changing user requirements , 1982, Inf. Manag..

[155]  Jerry N. Luftman,et al.  Key information technology and management issues 2012–2013: an international study , 2011, J. Inf. Technol..

[156]  Martin R. Gibbs,et al.  Knowledge strategy in organizations: refining the model of Hansen, Nohria and Tierney , 2004, J. Strateg. Inf. Syst..

[157]  Georg von Krogh,et al.  The quality of group tacit knowledge , 2008, J. Strateg. Inf. Syst..