Conflicting Institutional Logics and the Loose Coupling of Practice with NASA's Enterprise Information System

Bibliographic Details
Main Author:	Berente, Nicholas
Language:	English
Published:	Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies / OhioLINK 2009
Subjects:	Information Systems Management Organization Theory Social Structure institutional logic institutional pluralism loose coupling enterprise information system NASA
Online Access:	http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1228496125

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spelling	ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-case12284961252021-08-03T05:32:55Z Conflicting Institutional Logics and the Loose Coupling of Practice with NASA's Enterprise Information System Berente, Nicholas Information Systems Management Organization Theory Social Structure institutional logic institutional pluralism loose coupling enterprise information system NASA <p>This dissertation reports on an exploration of the interaction of standardized, linear, mechanistic enterprise information systems with the often pluralistic, nonlinear, organic contexts into which they are introduced. This exploration involves three independent studies: (1) a qualitative meta-analysis of published, interpretive case studies on the adoption of enterprise systems; (2) a study of conflicting institutional logics and loose coupling in the wake of NASA’s ERP implementation; and (3) a study of the dynamics of this loose coupling and related effects across the four years post implementation. </p><p>The goal of the research is to theorize about the causes and effects of loose coupling between local practices and an enterprise system. Findings indicate that in situations where the institutional logics associated with incumbent practices conflict with the institutional logics of the enterprise system, the result will likely involve some form of loose coupling between those practices and the system. Local responses to the system are not uniform within organizations nor within communities of practice, but instead appear to align with society’s broader institutions that guide micro-level behavior. Thus, the theoretical device of an institutional logic is put forth to aid researchers in explaining regularities in adaptive behavior associated with enterprise systems within institutionally pluralistic organizations. </p><p>This research also finds that incidents of loose coupling early in the implementation tend stabilize over time into states of loosely coupled equilibrium rather than into the tight alignment that is often assumed to be necessary for system success. Thus, “stability” is found to be a key objective relating to enterprise system implementation in addition to the presumptive goals of integration and control. The relationships between loosely coupled stability, integration, and control are multifaceted across three levels of analysis: (1) activities within processes; (2) overall processes; and (3) the organizational level. Loose coupling that undermines integration and control associated with activities in an organizational process can be vital to establishing the enterprise system stability. This stability, in turn, may enable certain forms of integration and control at an overall process level of analysis. Further, due in part to the legitimizing influence that a stable enterprise system affords, the tightly coupled enterprise system can counter-intuitively be viewed as an enabler of NASA’s loosely coupled organizational structures.</p> 2009 English text Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1228496125 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1228496125 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws.
collection	NDLTD
language	English
sources	NDLTD
topic	Information Systems Management Organization Theory Social Structure institutional logic institutional pluralism loose coupling enterprise information system NASA
spellingShingle	Information Systems Management Organization Theory Social Structure institutional logic institutional pluralism loose coupling enterprise information system NASA Berente, Nicholas Conflicting Institutional Logics and the Loose Coupling of Practice with NASA's Enterprise Information System
author	Berente, Nicholas
author_facet	Berente, Nicholas
author_sort	Berente, Nicholas
title	Conflicting Institutional Logics and the Loose Coupling of Practice with NASA's Enterprise Information System
title_short	Conflicting Institutional Logics and the Loose Coupling of Practice with NASA's Enterprise Information System
title_full	Conflicting Institutional Logics and the Loose Coupling of Practice with NASA's Enterprise Information System
title_fullStr	Conflicting Institutional Logics and the Loose Coupling of Practice with NASA's Enterprise Information System
title_full_unstemmed	Conflicting Institutional Logics and the Loose Coupling of Practice with NASA's Enterprise Information System
title_sort	conflicting institutional logics and the loose coupling of practice with nasa's enterprise information system
publisher	Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies / OhioLINK
publishDate	2009
url	http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1228496125
work_keys_str_mv	AT berentenicholas conflictinginstitutionallogicsandtheloosecouplingofpracticewithnasasenterpriseinformationsystem
_version_	1719421590686400512

Conflicting Institutional Logics and the Loose Coupling of Practice with NASA's Enterprise Information System

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