Bridging the user-IS gap: a study of major information systems projects

A ‘culture gap’ between IS professionals and their business counterparts has been blamed for many of the problems and failures that have plagued systems development in the last four decades. A rich model of integration is developed based on normative, organizational and work group features. The model is utilized to analyse survey results and case studies of 12 major IS projects being implemented in the UK retail and electronics sectors. The research provides detailed profiles of goal, transitional and unhelpful practices and states, and highlights key success variables in achieving user-IS staff integration on major IS development projects.

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