Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Managing as designing: ‘opportunity knocks’ for the IS field?

  • Opinion Piece
  • Published:
European Journal of Information Systems

Abstract

In response to anxieties about our discipline's decline, this opinion piece ‘looks to the future’, arguing a strong prospectus for the IS field, based on its direct relevance to general management practice. The thesis set out is inspired by the recent upsurge in interest in ‘managing as designing’. Reformulating management as design, I argue that we have a formidable knowledge-base of tools, theories and critique relevant to any manager, not just the MIS-inclined specialist. A case study of yet another failed information system (in U.K. children's services) is presented to show just how uniquely relevant our discipline is, in the workplace of today. Other pertinent issues are explored, such as synergies with the growing vogue for evidence-based management. The paper concludes by considering implications for research, including the need for a less exclusive approach to publishing and dissemination emphasising the need to make our work more accessible to lay practitioners.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Alter S (2003) 18 reasons why IT reliant work systems should replace ‘the IT artifact’ as the core subject matter of the IS field. Communications of the Association for Information Systems 12 (23), 365–394.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alter S (2008) Defining information systems as work systems: implications for the IS field. European Journal of Information Systems 17 (4), 448–469.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Azard B and King N (2008) Enacting computer workaround practices within a medical dispensing system. European Journal of Information Systems 17 (3), 264–278.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baskerville R (2009) Preparing for evidence-based management. European Journal of Information Systems 18 (6), 523–525.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beer S (1994) The Heart of Enterprise. Wiley, Chichester.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bell M (2008) Put on ICS: research finds disquiet with ICS. Community Care [WWW document] http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2008/06/05/108421/analysis-of-the-integrated-childrens-system-pilots.html (accessed 20 May 2009).

  • Benbasat I and Zmud RW (2003) The identity crisis within the IS discipline: defining and communicating the disciplines core properties. MIS Quarterly 27 (2), 183–194.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bevan G and Hood C (2006) What get's measured is what matters: targets and gaming in the English public health care system. Public Administration 84 (3), 517–538.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boland RJ and Collopy F (2004) Managing as Designing. Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Broadhurst K, Wastell D, White S, Hall C, Peckover S, Thompson K, Pithouse A and Davey D (2009) Performing ‘initial assessment’: identifying the latent conditions for error at the front-door of local authority children's services. British Journal of Social Work Advance Access, published 18 January 2009.

  • Brown JS and Hagel J (2003) Does IT matter? An HBR debate. Harvard Business Review 81 (6), 2–4.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buchanan R (2008) Introduction: design and organizational change. Design Issues 24 (1), 2–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Checkland P (1981) Systems Thinking, Systems Practice. Wiley, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cleaver H, Walker S, Scott S, Cleaver D, Rose W, Ward H and Pithouse A (2008) The Integrated Children's System: Enhancing Social Work and Inter-agency Practice. Jessica Kingsley Publishers, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • DCSF (2008) Integrated children's system evaluation: summary of key findings. Brief No: DCSF-RBX-02-08, January 2008.

  • DCSF (2009) The protection of children in England: action plan. The Government's response to Lord Laming. [WWW document] http://publications.dcsf.gov.uk/eOrderingDownload/DCSF-Laming.pdf (accessed 15 May 2009).

  • DfES (2004) Every child matters: change for children. DfES publications, DfES/1081/2004.

  • Douglas M (2002) Purity and Danger. Routledge, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dunne D and Martin R (2006) Design thinking and how it will change management education: an interview and discussion. Academy of management learning and education 5 (4), 512–523.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fleming P and Sewell G (2002) Looking for good soldier Švejk: alternative modalities of resistance in the contemporary workplace. Sociology 36 (4), 857–873.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Foucault M (2002) The Archaeology of Knowledge. Routledge Classics, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Galliers RD (2008) A discipline for a stage? A Shakespearian reflection on the research plot and performance of the information systems field. European Journal of Information Systems 17 (4), 330–335.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gibb M (2009) Building a safe, confident future: the final report of the Social Work Task Force (DCSF-01114-2009). DCSF: London.

  • Hevner AR, March ST, Park J and Ram S (2004) Design science in information systems research. MIS Quarterly 28 (1), 75–105.

    Google Scholar 

  • Iivari J (2003) The IS core – towards Information Systems as a science of meta-artifacts. Communications of the Association for Information Systems 12, 568–581.

    Google Scholar 

  • Irani Z, Elliman T and Jackson P (2007) Electronic transformation of government in the UK: a research agenda. European Journal of Information Systems 16 (4), 327–335.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jelinek M, Romme GL and Boland RJ (2008) Introduction to the Special Issue – organization studies as a science for design: creating collaborative artifacts and research. Organization Studies 29 (3), 317–329.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaplan B, Truex D, Wastell DG, Wood-Harper T and Degross J (2004) Relevant Theory and Informed Practice: Looking Forward From a Twenty Year Perspective on IS Research. Kluwer Academic Publishing, Boston, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keil M (1995) Pulling the plug: management and the problem of project escalation. MIS Quarterly 19 (4), 421–427.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laming H (2003) The Victoria Climbie Inquiry: Report of an Inquiry by Lord Laming. The Stationery Office, Norwich.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lyytinen K, Baskerville R, Iivari J and Te’eni D (2007) Why the old world cannot publish? Overcoming challenges in publishing high-impact IS research. European Journal of Information Systems 16 (4), 317–326.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lipsky M (1980) Street-level Bureaucracy; Dilemmas of the Individual in Public Services. Russell Sage Foundation, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Markus LM and Benjamin R (1997) The magic bullet theory in IT-enabled transformation. Sloan Management Review Winter 38, 55–68.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mehan H (1999) Oracular reasoning in a psychiatric team: the resolution of conflict in language. In The Discourse Reader (JAWORSKI A and COUPLAND N, Eds), Routledge, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mintzberg H (1973) The Nature of Managerial Work. Harper and Row, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mumford E (2003) Redesigning Human Systems. Information Science Publishing, London.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Mumford E, Hirschheim R, Fitzgerald G and Wood-Harper AT (1985) Research Methods in Information Systems. North Holland, Amsterdam.

    Google Scholar 

  • Owen R (1967) The Life of Robert Owen, Written by Himself. Frank Cass and Co, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Paul R (2008) The only duty we owe to history is to rewrite it: reflections on Bob Galliers’ article ‘a discipline for a stage’. European Journal of Information Systems 1 (4), 444–447.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peters T (2005) Design: Innovate, Differentiate, Communicate. DK Ltd., London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pfeffer J and Sutton JI (2006) Evidence-based management. Harvard Business Review 84 (1), 1–12.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rousseau DM and Mccarthy S (2007) Educating managers from an evidence-based perspective. Academy of Management Learning & Education 6 (1), 84–101.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reason J (2000) Human error: models and management. British Medical Journal 320, 768–770.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Romme AGL (2003) Making a difference: organization as design. Organization Science 14 (5), 558–573.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Senge P (1990) The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organisation. Century Business, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Simon H (1969) The Sciences of the Artificial. MIT Press, Boston.

    Google Scholar 

  • Starkey K and Madan P (2001) Bridging the relevance gap: aligning stakeholders in the future of management research. British Journal of Management 12 (Special Issue), S3–S26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor FW (1903) Shop Management. Reprinted by Kessinger Publishing, Whitefish, MT.

    Google Scholar 

  • Terzidis K (2007) The etymology of design: pre-socratic perspective. Design Issues 23v (4), 69–78.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • UNISON (2008) Lord Laming progress report on safeguarding: summary of UNISON Memorandum – December 2008. [WWW document] http://www.unison.org.uk/acrobat/B4364b.pdf (accessed 20 May 2009).

  • Van Aken JE (2004) Management research based on the paradigm of the design sciences. Journal of Management Studies 41, 219–246.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Aken JE (2007) Design science and organization development interventions. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science 43 (1), 67–88.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Von Stamm B (2003) Managing Innovation, Design, Creativity. Wiley, New york.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wastell D (2006) Information systems and evidence-based policy in multi-agency networks: the micro-politics of situated innovation. Journal of Strategic Information Systems 15 (3), 197–217.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wastell D and McMaster T (2008) Organisational dynamics of technology-based innovation: diversifying the research agenda. Journal of Information Technology 23, 63–70.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wastell DG, McMaster T and Kawalek P (2007) The rise of the Phoenix: methodological innovation as a discourse of renewal. Journal of Information Technology 22, 59–68.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wastell D, White S, Broadhurst K, Peckover S and Pithouse A (2010) Children's services in the iron cage of performance management: street level bureaucracy and the spectre of Švejkism. International Journal of Social Welfare, 10.1111/j.1468-2397.2009.00716.x.

  • Weick K (1987) Organizational culture as a source of high reliability. California Management Review 29 (2), 112–127.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • White S, Wastell D, Broadhurst K, Hall C and Peckover S (forthcoming) When policy o’erleaps itself: the tragic tale of the Integrated Children's System. Critical Social Policy in press.

Download references

Acknowledgements

The ICS research reported here was funded by the ESRC Public Services Programme: Quality, Performance and Delivery, grant number Res-166-25-0048. My fellow researchers were: Sue White and Karen Broadhurst (Lancaster University), Sue Peckover (Huddersfield University), Chris Hall (now Durham University) and Andy Pithouse (Cardiff University).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nottingham University Business School, Nottingham, U.K.

    David Wastell

Authors
  1. David Wastell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to David Wastell.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Wastell, D. Managing as designing: ‘opportunity knocks’ for the IS field?. Eur J Inf Syst 19, 422–431 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1057/ejis.2010.31

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/ejis.2010.31

Keywords

Search

Navigation