Stakeholders, soft systems and technology: separation and mediation in the analysis of information system requirements

This paper describes the application of stakeholder analysis and soft systems thinking for an investigation of information system requirements. It is argued that it is appropriate to approach IS development as an exercise in managing complexity (soft systems) and pluralism (stakeholder analysis). A framework for investigating IS requirements is proposed that contrasts the current situation with the future situation and the real world with conceptual thinking about the real world. These aspects are viewed as outcomes of the process of IS requirements analysis, for which the metaphor of mediation is adopted in preference to presenting requirements analysis as a binary distinction between social construction and objectivity. The IS requirements analysis framework is applied in action research and the findings and learning that arose are presented.