Transformational Process of the Implementation of an Information System Dispositive in an Organization: The Role of Power and Interests from an Institutional Perspective

Abstract

This paper addresses the role of power and interests in implementing a new Information System (IS) in an organization. It examines how responses to external pressures and expectations can be led by powerful agents that can use resources, and their membership to relevant social and institutional groupings in order to generate a transformational process in their organization. To study these interactions, the paper adopts the Institutional Theory and more specifically the circuits of power introduced by Backhouse et al. [1]. Based on a case study of the implementation of an integrated IS in a private University in Lebanon, this paper portrays how the implementation of such dispositive results from the interactions of power among the different actors and stakeholders involved. The case study also shows how the different interests and objectives of actors and stakeholders were influenced by exogenous contingencies and institutional forces. It shows how IS can become a dispositive of power that can replace the chain of command and organizational structure authority. Finally, this paper discusses theoretical and practical implications for the future development of these results.