Growing systems in emergent organizations

Reviewer: John R. Ray

The authors stress the idea that current economic realities are pressuring organizations to change from stable to emergent new practices for IT support. Organizational change, driven by the rapid development of commercial technology, global markets, and re-engineered, quality-oriented groups, is occurring at a frenzied pace. The authors argue that an emergent organization is one in which culture, meaning, social relationships, and decision processes are continually changing, following no predefined pattern and never fully formed. Blame for the systems development crisis has been laid at the feet of the creators of development methods, tool builders, analysts, designers, and implementers. The problem may, instead, lie in an incorrect goal set that has been accepted from the beginning—the idea that systems should support organizational stability and structure, should be low maintenance, and should strive for a high degree of user acceptance. An alternative view is that systems should be under constant development, can never be fully specified, and should be subject to constant adjustment and adaptation. If organizational change is important to organizational survival, IT systems must incorporate continuous changes. This incorporation goes beyond adaptable systems and includes creating support for organizations that cannot help but emerge. Continuous change implies replacement of traditional values such as long IT system lifespans, dependence on user acceptance, concise specifications, and complete systems analyses. The authors conclude that emergent IT organizations value continuous analyses, negotiated requirements, and continuous maintenance activities.