Organizational culture and information systems implementation: A Structuration Theory perspective

Abstract

The structure and culture of an organization does affect implementation of projects. In this paper we try to identify organizational factors that could affect the implementation efforts of an Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS). The information system in question has taken overtly a long time and it's not complete yet. We set out to And out whether organizational issues are at play in this particular project. The project under study is a large-scale integrated information system which aims at strengthening and further developing Financial Management Information in the wider public service in Kenya. We borrow concepts from Structuration Theory (ST) as applied in sociology to understand the organizational perspective in the project. We use the theory to help explain some of the meanings, norms and issues of power experienced during the implementation of the IFMIS. Without ruling out problems of technological nature, the findings suggest that many of the problems in the IFMIS implementation may be attributed to organizational factors, and that certain issues are related to the existing organization culture within government.