Working under Grey Skies: Information Systems Development and Organizational Identity in a Post-merger Context

Abstract

This study pertains to the challenges encountered during the development of information systems aimed to support an organization created by the merger of previously independent entities. We draw from the concept of organizational identity and on the literature on knowledge sharing across boundaries to analyze three information systems development (ISD) projects in a large teaching healthcare centre resulting from the merger of five hospitals. We propose a multilevel model that suggests that the interaction of organizational identity and cross-boundary knowledge sharing may result in information systems with final functionality different from planned functionality. The model also suggests that organizational-level decisional events, such as the choice of integration approach between the merging entities, may influence how new information systems are developed at a group level, and how those organizational-level events, in turn, are shaped by group-level events.