Changing Attitudes and Behavior of Stakeholders During an Information Systems-Led Organizational Change

Abstract

In this article the authors use G. Morgan's (1986, 1997) metaphors to look at the changes to stakeholder attitudes and behavior during an information systems—led organizational change. They discuss the introduction of an organization-wide intranet system in a U.K. National Health Service organization and elicit metaphorical attitudes and infer behavior by using multiple research methods within a longitudinal case study. The findings show that various contextual factors shift the organization's overall stance from psychic prison (repression) to organism (flexible) metaphor. Furthermore, many stakeholders aspire to more than one metaphor at a given time, although a predominant metaphor can still be identified for most stakeholders. The authors present the metaphorical journey map as a tool for capturing attitude and behavioral changes of individuals during the change period. The authors advocate that use of metaphors in such a way can help management better understand the overall social orientation of their organizations and devise appropriate interventions to expedite the change process and increase its legitimacy.

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