TY - JOUR
T1 - Information system conflicts
T2 - causes and types
AU - Boonstra, Albert
AU - de Vries, Jan
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - Conflicts are an inherent part of organizational life and managers deal with confrontations and conflicts on an almost daily basis. IS implementations are a type of change that often leads to open or hidden conflicts. Managers and others involved can only deal with such conflicts effectively if they understand the nature and causes of information system conflicts (IS conflicts). To contribute to such an understanding, this study focuses on the analysis of IS conflicts. In so doing, it aims to identify various types of IS conflicts and to develop a framework that can be helpful in assessing these conflicts. To this end, we have conducted a meta-ethnographic study – that is, we synthesized earlier case studies in which IS conflicts are described. We purposefully selected 11 descriptions of IS conflicts and we analyzed the topics, contexts, and processes of these conflicts. Based on this analysis, we propose a two-dimensional framework of IS conflicts that leads to a categorization involving four IS conflict types: task, implementation process, structure, and value conflicts. Based on the conflicts that were studied, this paper also reveals that, in reality, many IS conflicts have a hybrid form and develop from one type to another over time.
AB - Conflicts are an inherent part of organizational life and managers deal with confrontations and conflicts on an almost daily basis. IS implementations are a type of change that often leads to open or hidden conflicts. Managers and others involved can only deal with such conflicts effectively if they understand the nature and causes of information system conflicts (IS conflicts). To contribute to such an understanding, this study focuses on the analysis of IS conflicts. In so doing, it aims to identify various types of IS conflicts and to develop a framework that can be helpful in assessing these conflicts. To this end, we have conducted a meta-ethnographic study – that is, we synthesized earlier case studies in which IS conflicts are described. We purposefully selected 11 descriptions of IS conflicts and we analyzed the topics, contexts, and processes of these conflicts. Based on this analysis, we propose a two-dimensional framework of IS conflicts that leads to a categorization involving four IS conflict types: task, implementation process, structure, and value conflicts. Based on the conflicts that were studied, this paper also reveals that, in reality, many IS conflicts have a hybrid form and develop from one type to another over time.
KW - meta-ethnography
KW - IS implementation
KW - conflict
KW - conflict types
KW - resistance
U2 - 10.12821/ijispm030401
DO - 10.12821/ijispm030401
M3 - Article
VL - 3
SP - 5
EP - 20
JO - International Journal of Information Systems and Project Management
JF - International Journal of Information Systems and Project Management
SN - 2182-7796
IS - 4
ER -