Guest editorial: Grand successes and failures in IT: Private and public sectors

Abstract

The recent abandonment of a multi-billion dollar project in the UK to computerize health records provides testimony that knowledge accumulated in the MIS field has failed to impact successfully on policy and practice. The larger the scale of such IS implementations, the higher, it appears, is the risk. Implementation of organisation wide systems (for example, ERP), automated supply chain management enabled by Interorganisational systems (IOS), emerging technologies (such as Cloud computing) add further complexity both at the project and system level, thereby augmenting the risk of failure. Other recent examples of major failure in both public and private sector include: Sainsbury’s failed automated logistics system, the much-publicised software problems of the Toyota Prius, and the UKGovernment’s abandonment of national ID cards. Technology enabled global practices (such as outsourcing) have also fundamentally changed the way that IS/IT is developed. Such practices have advantages but in themselves bring new risks, which can lead to failure, causing significant economic loss to the organisations. Such high profile failures show that, despite decades of research and the accumulation of a substantial knowledgebase within MIS (see for example, Avison and Wilson 2002; Barker and Frolick 2003; Beynon-Davies 1995;1996; Bussen andMyers 1997; Cerpa and Verner 2009; Dwivedi et al. 2013a; Fitzgerald and Russo 2005; Heeks 2002; Kappelman et al. 2006; Lyytinen and Hirschheim 1988; McMaster and Wastell 2004; Nelson 2007; Sauer 1993; Yeo 2002), further progress is required to improve the conduct of information systems initiatives. Faced with this, it is pertinent to ask why our scholarship has not been more effective. Is the fault one of theory and inadequate understanding? Or is the problem one of knowledge transfer, the failure to embed research knowledge in the working practices of managers and policy-makers. This special issue aims to move forward our understanding of the success and failure of information and communication technology-based innovation, and on the factors influencing the uptake of research knowledge in the practitioner community. The accepted papers are briefly summarised below. Janssen et al.’s article (Failure of Large Transformation Projects from the Viewpoint of Complex Adaptive Systems: Management Principles for Dealing with Project Dynamics) adopted a complex adaptive system (CAS) in order to understand better project dynamics and identify management principles for dealing with them. A case study of a large transformation project in the Netherlands was carried out, in which seven patterns were found through which project dynamics could be identified. A logical consequence of the immense complexity of the case study was that stakeholders lost sight of the overall goals, and instead focused on managing short-term 1 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stephen-soumerai/dont-repeat-the-ukselect_b_790470.html 2 http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/10/19/sainsburys_v_accenture/ 3 http://articles.latimes.com/2014/feb/12/autos/la-fi-hy-toyota-priusrecall-20140212 4 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10164331 Y. K. Dwivedi (*) School of Management, Haldane Building, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP, Wales, UK e-mail: y.k.dwivedi@swansea.ac.uk