The Discourse of a Large Scale Organizational Transformation: The Reengineering of IBM, 1989–1994

  • Emmanuel Monod
  • Duane Truex
  • Richard Baskerville
Chapter
Part of the IFIP — The International Federation for Information Processing book series (IFIPAICT, volume 110)

Abstract

Stakeholder agency theory helps to identify six forms of discourse in a case of organizational transformation. These discourses arise in the relationship between actors and six other organizational dimensions: stakeholders, management systems, performance management, IS development methods, organizational transformation methods, and the target structure of transformation. An analysis of the executive discourse in this case exposes the process by which voices from other discourses are heard during organizational transformation.

Keywords

Organizational Actor Customer Relationship Management Middle Manager Total Quality Management Organizational Transformation 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
Download to read the full chapter text

References

  1. Allison, G. T. The Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis. Boston: Little Brown, 1971.Google Scholar
  2. Ansoff, H. I. Corporate Strategy. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1962.Google Scholar
  3. Argyris, C., Putnam, R., and Smith, D. Action Science. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1990.Google Scholar
  4. Argyris, C., and Schön, D. Organizational Learning: A Theory of Action Perspective. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1978.Google Scholar
  5. Avison, D. E., and Wood-Harper A. T. “Multiview: An Exploration in Information Systems Development,” Australian Computer Journal (18:4), November, 1986, pp. 174–179.Google Scholar
  6. Bennis, W. Beyond Bureaucracy: Essays on the Development and Evolution of Human Organization. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1993.Google Scholar
  7. Burns, T., and Stalker, G. M. The Management of innovation. London: Tavistock, 1961.Google Scholar
  8. Cassirer, E. An Essay on Man: An Introduction to a Philosophy of Human Culture. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1947.Google Scholar
  9. Chandler, A. D. Strategy and Structure: Chapters in the History of the Industrial Enterprise. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1962.Google Scholar
  10. Cohen, M. D., March, J. G., and Olson, J. P. “A Garbage Can Model of Organizational Choice,” Administrative Science Quarterly (17:1), March, 1972, pp. 1–25.Google Scholar
  11. Davis, G. B. “Strategies for Information Requirements Determination,” IBM Systems Journal (21:1), 1982, pp. 4–30.Google Scholar
  12. Derrida, J. (ed.). Différance: Margins of Philosophy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982.Google Scholar
  13. Derrida, J. “Structure, Sign and Play in the Discourse of Human Sciences,” in Writing and Difference (trans. A. Bass ). Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978, pp. 278–293.Google Scholar
  14. Foucault, M. The Archaelogy of Knowledge. New York: Pantheon Books, 1972.Google Scholar
  15. Galbraith, J. R. Organization Design. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1977.Google Scholar
  16. Galbraith, J. R. Competing with Lateral Flexible Organizations (2’ ed.). Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1994.Google Scholar
  17. Hills, C., and Jones, T. “Stakeholder-Agency Theory,” Journal of Management Studies (29:2), March 1992, pp. 131–153.Google Scholar
  18. Jensen, M., and Meckling, W. “The Theory of the Firm: Managerial Behavior, Agency Costs, and Ownership Structure,” Journal of Financial Economics (3), 1976, pp. 305–360.Google Scholar
  19. Langer, S. K. An Introduction to Symbolic Logic. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1953.Google Scholar
  20. Mason, R. O., McKenney, J. L., and Copeland, D. G. “An Historical Method for MIS Research: Steps and Assumptions,” MIS Quarterly (21:3), September 1997, pp. 307–320.Google Scholar
  21. Mintzberg, H. Mintzberg on Management: Inside Our Strange World of Organizations. New York: The Free Press, 1989.Google Scholar
  22. Mintzberg, H. The Structuring ofOrganizations: A Synthesis of the Research. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1979.Google Scholar
  23. Monod, E. “Effectiveness of IS Development: The IBM Case,” Systèmes d’Information et Management (12: 1 ), 1997, pp. 40–55.Google Scholar
  24. Monod, E., and Rowe, F. “Justification of IS Investment,” Proceedings of the IDA TE Conference: Investing in communication (Investir dans la communication), France Telecom, Montpellier, France, 1993.Google Scholar
  25. Mumford, E. Designing Human Systems for New Technology: The Ethics Method. Manchester, England: Manchester Business School Publishing, 1983.Google Scholar
  26. Nadler, D., and Tushman, M. Strategic Organization Design: Concepts, Tools, Process. New York: Scott Foresman and Co., 1988.Google Scholar
  27. Schleiermacher, F. Hermeneutics: The Handwritten Manuscripts (H. Kimmerle, Ed.; J. Duke and J. Foretman, Trans.). Missoula, MT: Scholar Press, 1977Google Scholar
  28. Sommerville, I., and Sawyer, P. Requirements Engineering: A Good Practice Guide. Chichester, England: John Wiley and Sons, 1997.Google Scholar
  29. Toffler, A. Future Shock. New York: Bantam Books, 1970.Google Scholar
  30. Touraine, A. “A Method for Studying Social Actors,” Journal for World Systems Research (1), Fall/Winter, 2000, pp. 900–918.Google Scholar
  31. Truex, D. P., Baskerville, R., and Klein, H. K. “Growing Systems in an Emergent Organization,” Communications of the ACM (42:8), August 1999, pp. 117–123.Google Scholar

Copyright information

© IFIP International Federation for Information Processing 2003

Authors and Affiliations

  • Emmanuel Monod
    • 1
  • Duane Truex
    • 2
  • Richard Baskerville
    • 3
  1. 1.University of NantesNantesFrance
  2. 2.Florida International UniversityMiamiUSA
  3. 3.Georgia State UniversityAtlantaUSA

Personalised recommendations