Organizational alignment: a precondition for information systems success?

Abstract

This research examines the importance of organizational alignment for information systems success. Alignment means that internal practices such as pay, promotion, staff selection, retention and organizational structure should positively support organizational efforts to change and innovate. Good alignment should be vital for information systems, as it will provide an environment where this type of change is actively supported. To examine the importance of alignment a questionnaire was administered to 50 employees of a company with 300 staff. This sample of 16% of the population was randomly selected while ensuring all 9 departments were represented. Overall the company did not appear to be aligned, with only 26% feeling rewarded for innovations and 40% not feeling integral to the company. These results do appear to help understand the difficulties the organization experienced in information systems implementation. The conclusion is that before starting an information systems project, organizational alignment should be checked. If there is poor alignment it is likely the new information system will encounter difficulties and delays. Wider organizational changes may be needed first to align pay, promotion, staff selection and retention to facilitate the adoption of new systems. This is a very significant finding as current information systems thinking rarely consider these wider organizational issues, which the data here indicates are necessary for success.

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