Information systems strategy formation and implementation: The case of a central government agency

This paper describes an interpretive case study of the processes of strategy formation and implementation for three computer-based information systems developed by a central government agency in a Third World country and aimed at the monitoring and control of development projects in the country. Technical implementation of the first two systems was achieved, but there was little emphasis on organizational implementation and the systems were largely ineffective in use; the third system may suffer a similar fate. The systems reflected symbolic concern of the political centre for development activities at the local level, and can be considered to have reproduced the dominance of the centre, at the cost of system effectiveness. The theoretical framework for the case study was based on structuration theory, which was used both to guide field research and as a method of analysis of the field data. The theory provides a subtle way of linking social action and social structure in connection with computer-based IS, in terms of aspects of meaning, power relations, and values.