Information systems as social systems: Implications for developing countries

Walsham, Geoff; Symons, Veronica; Waema, Timothy Mwololo

doi:10.1080/02681102.1988.9627126

Cited by 57 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…The challenges are linked to the lack of awareness of computers (among users and managers), lack of well trained IT professionals (who can bridge the gap between management and technology), inappropriate or weak infrastructure, lack of IT policies and strategic plans, and a weak culture of using computer based information (Bhatnagar, 1992;Sahay, 2001;Walsham, Symons, & Waema, 1988) in the context of LDEs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analyzing the problem of unsustainable health information systems in less-developed economies: Case studies from Tanzania and Mozambique

Kimaro

Nhampossa

2005

Information Technology for Development

108

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Most of donor-supported information technology (IT)-based projects developed or implemented in less-developed economies (LDEs) end up as complete or partial failures or unsustainable. Notably, a number of intra-organizational and external factors are associated with this problem, including inadequate infrastructure and human resource capacity, fragmented donor policy, and lack of policies to manage the sustainability problem. Accordingly, IT initiatives are often donor-driven, top-down, and hijacked by top managers who (normally) do not have adequate skills, but have enormous power to enforce such initiatives across organizational hierarchies.In analyzing the concepts from sustainability and institutionalization, key insights towards a better understanding of the problem of unsustainability are developed. It is argued that health information systems (HISs) become sustainable if they are institutionalized in the sense of being integrated into the everyday routine of the user organization. However, a sustainable HIS should also be flexible enough to allow changes as the user needs change. Moreover, introduction of a new HIS is not only a technical change, but requires the cultivation and institutionalization of a new kind of culture.Through a comparative case analysis of the HIS development and implementation processes in Tanzania and Mozambique, we have identified two sets of relationships, between the Ministry of Health (MoH) and donor agencies and between the MoH and software development agencies as critical and contributing factors to the unsustainability of a HIS. Given this setting, we highlight three key strategies for dealing with the problem of unsustainability in LDEs: (a) integration of a HIS, (b) local shaping of new cultures, and (c) cultivation approach to systems development. C 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analyzing the problem of unsustainable health information systems in less-developed economies: Case studies from Tanzania and Mozambique

Kimaro

Nhampossa

2005

Information Technology for Development

108

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“…Cultural issues are a strong influence on any organisational change related initiative (Avgerou, 1993;Walsham, 1988) and e-government efforts in Zambia was no exception.…”

Section: Cultural Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

E-government implementation in Zambia: contributing factors

Weerakkody

Dwivedi

Brooks

et al. 2007

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Most developing countries in Africa are at the emerging stage of e-government development and lag far behind developed nations despite having had national e-government strategies in place for a considerable period of time. This research argues that although Zambia has recognised the importance of e-government through their national ICT policy as a means to increase opportunities for wealth and create active participation in poverty reduction, the benefits of e-government are yet to be realised. The research explores the reality of egovernment implementation in Zambia from the government's perspective by identifying the challenges of e-government using survey research that combines both qualitative and quantitative data. The authors found that whilst challenges such as environmental issues, leadership, change management, human capital, funding and infrastructure are critical to the successful implementation of e-government in Zambia, there is little evidence to suggest that effort is being applied to counteract these challenges. The lack of context specific egovernment programs since the approval of the national ICT policy in 2005 and the absence of marketing to promote e-government amongst policy-makers and government workers have rendered minimal awareness on the importance and value of e-government to Zambia.

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“…Most of these studies have focused on conditions rather than actions and behaviors, and on weaknesses rather than on ways of overcoming them (Montealegre, 1999). Furthermore, these studies pay little attention to how the interaction between IT and the organizations evolve over time (King, et al, 1992;Montealegre, 1997Montealegre, , 1998Walsham, et al, 1988). Most of the studies identified the problems or weaknesses of the contextual factors of IT, such as state of knowledge, availability of suitable equipment and infrastructure, lack of funding, and shortages of skilled personnel.…”

Section: The Need For More Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Information Technology in Nepal: What Role for the Government?

Pradhan

2002

E J Info Sys Dev Countries

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The author believes that developing countries (DC), in particular Nepal, need to urgently develop a culturally appropriate national strategy if they wish information technology (IT) to have a positive impact on their overall socio-economic development. While countries like Singapore claim to have very successful national strategies, the long-term impact on the country's social development may have been over looked. Left unchecked the technological marketplace will impose a hard-to-reverse negative role on small countries like Nepal. This will make it increasingly difficult for Nepal to decide its is own long-term preferences for social and economic development. Put bluntly, these countries need to decide what they want from the global technology marketplace and then work out how they are going to achieve it. It is believed that hard technological determinism can only be countered by very real and well thought out national strategies. The paper argues that the national IT strategy will need to address the issues of resistance to change due to cultural, personal and infrastructure factors, be very culturally sensitive and, given the rate change of the technology, will need to be constructed as an evolving, and learning system. The first stage in the development of such a system is to design an appropriate forum for discussion, and a well-constituted and ongoing decision-making protocol. It seems appropriate that in countries with a less than thriving technology marketplace, it is incumbent on their Government to provide a lead in this complex undertaking. INTRODUCTIONThis paper argues that Nepal needs to base its national information technology (IT) strategy on a much greater consideration of local cultural and social issues. The government has a major role to play if the country wants to stand in the information arena. Although information technology covers a wide range of technologies in general, I will use the abbreviation 'information technology' to refer to all computing and communication technologies.Information technology (IT) -as a tool of socio-economic development-is a significant issue for developing countries (DCs) (Odedra, 1996). Through declining hardware costs and increasing benefits, IT has been spreading into developing countries. There is a rapid expansion in the use of IT in many sectors of the economy, particularly in public organizations. However this usually occurs with external 'assistance'. As latecomers to the IT scene, developing countries face enormous difficulties -perhaps the most important being that they are becoming users of IT without building up the necessary infrastructure, planning and manpower to support it (Kirlidog, 1996). Castells (1996) and others have also recognized IT as the most important factor separating t he developing and developed countries. Countries are being encouraged to attract economic growth by entering the 'information age', and being able to supply or compete at the multinational level. Therefore, there is no wonder that many developing countries a...

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Information systems as social systems: Implications for developing countries

Cited by 57 publications

References 7 publications

Analyzing the problem of unsustainable health information systems in less-developed economies: Case studies from Tanzania and Mozambique

Analyzing the problem of unsustainable health information systems in less-developed economies: Case studies from Tanzania and Mozambique

E-government implementation in Zambia: contributing factors

Information Technology in Nepal: What Role for the Government?

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