507
Views
59
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Original Articles

Fitting Standard Software Packages to Non-standard Organizations: The ‘Biography’ of an Enterprise-wide System

, &
Pages 317-332 | Published online: 25 Aug 2010

Reference

  • Davenport , T. 2000 . Mission Critical: Realising the Promise of Enterprise Systems , Boston : Harvard Business School Press .
  • Beynon-Davies , P. 2002 . Information Systems , Basingstoke : Palgrave .
  • Parr , A. and Shanks , G. 2000 . A Model of ERP Project Implementation . Journal of Information Technology , 15 : 289 – 303 . In certain sectors major companies may possess and interact electronically with one particular kind of system, meaning that an organization supplying goods to these companies may have no option but to implement the same system
  • Davenport , T. 1998 . Putting the Enterprise into the Enterprise System . Harvard Business Review , 76 ( 4 ) : 121 – 132 .
  • Hanseth , O. , Ciborra , C. and Braa , K. 2001 . The Control Devolution: ERP and the Side-effects of Globalisation . The Data Base for Advances in Information Systems , 32 ( 4 ) : 34 – 46 .
  • Davenport, op. cit., Ref. 1, p. 152.
  • Light , B. 2001 . The Maintenance Implications of the Customisation of ERP Software . Journal of Software Maintenance and Evolution: Research and Practice , 13 : 415 – 429 .
  • Wagner , E. and Scott , S. 2001 . Unfolding New Times: The Implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning into an Academic Administration , Working Paper Series Vol. 98 , UK : Department of Information Systems, London School of Economics .
  • Pollock , N. 2000 . The Virtual University as Timely and Accurate Information . Information, Communication & Society , 3 ( 3 ) : 349 – 365 .
  • Orlikowski , W. 1992 . The Duality of Technology: Rethinking the Concept of Technology in Organizations . Organization Science , 3 ( 3 ) : 398 – 427 . The term ‘mutual adaptation’ stems from In terms of ERP, it is developed in the work of O. Hanseth & K. Braa, ‘Technology as Traitor: Emergent SAP Infrastructure in a Global Organisation’, in: C. Ciborra (Ed). From Control to Drift: The Dynamics of Corporate Information Infrastructures (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2000).
  • Hanseth , O. and Braa , K. 2001 . “ Hunting for the Treasure at the End of the Rainbow: Standardising Corporate IT Infrastructure ” . In Computer Supported Cooperative Work Vol. 10 , 261 – 292 . Hanseth & Braa, op. cit., Ref. 10, p. 143. However, see a later paper by the same authors where they attempt to reconcile this tension between the application of universal technologies and their adaptation at local sites
  • Friedman , A. 1989 . Computer Systems Development: History, Organisation and Implementation , Chichester : Wiley .
  • Sawyer , S. 2000 . Packaged Software: Implications of the Differences from Custom Approaches to Software Development . European Journal of Information Systems , 9 : 47 – 58 .
  • Carmel , E. and Agarwal , R. 2001 . Tactical Approaches for Alleviating Distance in Global Software Development . IEEE Software , March/April : 22 – 29 .
  • Scott , J. and Kaindl , L. 2000 . Enhancing Functionality in an Enterprise Software Package . Information & Management , 37 : 111 – 122 . An exception is the article by Scott and Kaindl who focus on how suppliers and users work together to develop new ERP modules
  • Bansler , J. and Havn , E. 1996 . Industrialised Information Systems Development , Technical University of Denmark . CTI Working Paper No. 22
  • Ibid.
  • Ibid., p. 6.
  • Webster , J. and Williams , R. 1993 . “ Mismatch and Tension: Standard Packages and Non-standard Users ” . In Social Dimensions of Systems Engineering , Edited by: Quintas , P. Ellis Horwood : Hemel Hempstead .
  • Appadurai , A. , ed. 1992 . The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective , Cambridge : Cambridge University Press . See The notion that software has a ‘biography’ builds on earlier work by Robin Williams, see T. Brady, M. Tierney & R. Williams, ‘The Commodification of Industry Applications Software’, Industrial and Corporate Change 1, 3, 1992, pp. 489–514; R. Williams, ‘Universal Solutions or Local Contingencies? Tensions and Contradictions in the Mutual Shaping of Technology and Work Organization’, in: I. McLoughlin & M. Harris (Eds), Innovation, Organizational Change and Technology (London, ITB Press, 1997), pp. 170–185. Kathryn Henderson also discusses a similar notion in her description of the ‘career’ of a prototype; K. Henderson, On line and On Paper: Visual Representations, Visual Culture, and Computer Graphics in Design Engineering (Cambridge, MA, MIT Press, 1999).
  • Star , S. and Griesemer , J. 1989 . Institutional Ecology, “Translations” and Boundary Objects: Amateurs & Professionals in Berkeley’s Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, 1907–39 . Social Studies of Science , 19 : 387 – 420 .
  • Latour , B. 1999 . Pandora’s Hope , Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press .
  • Ibid.
  • Williams , R. , Stewart , J. and Slack , R. 1999 . The Social Shaping of Multimedia, COST A4 , Luxembourg : European Commission DGXIII .
  • Sorensen , K. 1996 . Learning Technology, Constructing Culture: Socio-technical Change as Social Learning , Trondheim : Centre for Technology & Society . STS Working Paper No. 18/96
  • Fleck , J. 1993 . Configurations: Crystallizing Contingency . Human Factors in Manufacturing , 3 ( 1 ) : 15 – 36 .
  • Ibid.
  • Cornford , J. and Pollock , N. 2003 . Putting the University Online: Information, Technology and Organisational Change , Milton Keynes : Open University Press .
  • Latour , B. 1987 . Science in Action: How to Follow Scientists and Engineers Through Society , Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press .
  • Bull , G. , Dallinga-Hunter , C. , Epelboin , Y. , Frackman , E. and Jennings , D. 1994 . Information Technology: Issues for Higher Education Management , London : Jessica Kingsley .
  • Goddard , A. and Gayward , P. 1994 . MAC and the Oracle Family: Achievements and Lessons Learnt . Axix , 1 ( 1 ) : 45 – 50 .
  • McLaughlin , J. , Rosen , P. , Skinner , D. and Webster , A. 2000 . Valuing Technology: Organisations, Culture and Change , London : Routledge . Pollock, op. cit., Ref. 9
  • Berg , M. 1997 . Rationalizing Medical Work: Decision-Support Techniques and Medical Practices , Cambridge, MA : MIT Press .
  • This point is drawn from a discussion with James Cornford.
  • McNay , I. “ From the Collegial Academy to Corporate Enterprise: The Changing Cultures of Universities ” . In The Changing University? , Edited by: Schuller , T. 105 – 115 . Buckingham : Open University Press . McNay describes UK universities, for example, as characterized by a ‘lack of co-ordination’, the ‘absence of regulations’ and the ‘invisibility’ of much that happens, in, On this point see also Cornford & Pollock, op. cit., Ref. 28.
  • Bowker , G. and Star , S. 1999 . Sorting Things Out: Classification and its Consequences , Cambridge, MA : MIT Press .
  • There were many questionnaires, for example, sent to the University during the initial requirements gathering phase which began with the statement ‘Imagine the case where…’.
  • Such is the confusion that laughter breaks out and one participant shouts how all of this is beginning to ‘… sound like a philosophy class!’.
  • Berg, op. cit., Ref. 33.
  • Pollock , N. 2003 . The “Self-Service” Student: Building Enterprise-Wide Systems into Universities . Prometheus , 21 ( 1 ) : 101 – 119 . For more information on this see
  • Berg, op. cit., Ref. 33, p. 105.
  • Tierney , M. and Williams , R. 1991 . Issues in the Black-boxing of Technologies , Edinburgh : Edinburgh University . Edinburgh PICT Working Paper No. 22
  • Cornford & Pollock, op. cit., Ref. 28.
  • Bowker , G. 2000 . Biodiversity Datadiversity . Social Studies of Science , 30 ( 5 ) : 43 – 83 . The unique identity of the student and the universities’ refusal to conflate this with the notion of ‘employee’ is a good example of a conflicting category. See for instance
  • Schumm , W. and Kocyba , H. 1994 . Re-Contextualisation and Opportunities for Participation—The Social Shaping of Implementation . Proceedings of the COST A4 Workshop . April 1994 , Gilleleje , Denmark.

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.