The Roles of IT - Studies of Organising when Implementing and Using Enterprise Systems

Sammanfattning: This study concerns implementation and use of enterprise systems (ERP systems) in complex Organisations. The purpose of this thesis is to problematise and understand the social organising of information technology in organisations, by studying the implementadon and use of enterprise system. This is done by using a multi-theoretical perspective and studying cases of complex organisations with a qualitative and interpretive research method.The study manages to give a more profound understanding of the roles of the technologv. It is found that the enterprise systems act as Bureaucrat, Manipulator, Administrative assistant, ônsultant or is dismissed, ic the sense that intended users chose to avoid using them. These roles of informadon technology aie formed in a rather complex organising process. A Structuration Theory Analytical Model and Procedure (STAMP) is developed, that serves to iUuminate the dynamic relationships of individuals' or groups' interpretadons, power and norms id how that affects the implementation aad use of enteiprise systems. The roles were also to be different for individuals in similar work conditioas. This was due to how they learned their job, what understaading of the job they developed, and what competences they developed. The different kinds of competences found, requested different support from thechnology and it also made the individuals take a different approach towards how to use the technology. The study also explores why emotions appear and what they affect, and identifies patterns of emotions and emodonal transidons that appear during implementation and use of an enterprise system. The social aspect of using technology is in focus in this thesis. And thus, the technology is not st a tool to make excellent use of; it becomes something more an actor with different roles. The main contribudon is the development of a language and an approach to how to understand ic use aad implementation of enterprise systems.