Business Commons^™

An Activity Theory Analysis Of A Case Of It-Driven Organisational Change, Wannapa Suratmethakul, Helen Hasan

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The paper describes unexpected problems encountered in the automation of a scheduling process using an IT application already in use in other similar organisations. A grounded theory approach was used to collect and categorise data on the case. Activity Theory was then used to analyse the attempt by management to implement organisational change through the introduction of the system. The findings suggest that it is inadvisable to impose organisational change through the introduction of a complex IT system, particularly when this disrupts entrenched decision-making processes of the organisation.