The Critical Success Factors (CSFs) in Information ... · Sadly, evidence show growing number of...

Vol 19, No. 9;Sep 2012

215 [email protected]

The Critical Success Factors (CSFs) in Information

Technology/ Information System (IT/IS) in

Construction: A Case Study of People Issues in

Malaysia

Nur Mardhiyah Aziz (corresponding author) and Hafez Salleh

Department of Quantity Surveying, Faculty of Built Environment,

Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia,

Tel: +60379677600 E-mail: [email protected]

The research is funded by: University Malaya

Abstract:

Implementing Information Technology/ Information system (IT/IS) become the major concern of

every industry around the world. The benefit of its application is undeniable, encouraging every

organisation to invest in the technology. However, researches conducted revealed high failure rates

occured which became a serious concern to all. Much have been written about the critical success

factors (CSFs) for IT/IS implementation. But none have highlighted the major reasons for the

failure, which is people issue. People are the foundation of every organisation and can determine

the success and failure of IT/IS implementation. More attention should be given to this issue in an

effort to reduce the failure rates. In regards to this matter, this research paper identified the CSFs

focusing on this people issue. Literature findings listed 21 factors that contribute to the success of

IT/IS implementation across industries. These factors were then grouped into 4 categories; skills,

behaviour, management and mind-set. Four construction organisations were selected to test the

existence of the factors identified. Semi-structured interviews were employed as they offer

sufficient flexibility to ensure that all relevant factors are covered. Several key issues contributing

to successful implementations of IT/IS are identified. Findings reported in this research paper will

benefits the construction organisations by giving them a clearer understanding on CSFs in

implementing IT/IS, maximising the probability to success and also serve as a guideline for future

planning.

Keywords: construction industry, human/people factor, critical success factors, IT/IS, developing

countries

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1. Introduction

Around the globe, all types of organisation are utilising IT/IS to gain competitive advantages.

Organisations starting to allocate significant amount of money to implement and integrate IT/IS in

order to gain the benefits of technology. Many benefits can be obtained by implementing IT/IS

including but not limited to increase productivity, automation of operational decision and improve

competitive advantage (Moh’d Al-adaileh, 2009). These benefits had been discussed by many

scholars which motivate organisation to invest in it (Adriaanse, Voordijk, & Dewulf, 2010).

Sadly, evidence show growing number of IT/IS failure over the last four decade (Agourram,

2009). Researchers started to look for the cause of the failure and found out that the problems are

relating to technological or engineering matters (Lyytinen & Hirschheim, 1987). Recent findings

on the other hand, identify people as the salient reasons (Hartmanna & Fischer, 2009; H. W. Kim

& Kankanhalli, 2009). People issue has become the critical factor thereby needing full attention

from everyone. They are the most important assets in every organisation. Being the ultimate user

of the technology, they have strong influence to the success or failure of implementing IT/IS.

Research on the people issue can provide an insight to understand people and their ability to cope

with the technology that is going to be used or being used in the organisation (Un & Price, 2007).

According to Ruikar, Anumba, & Carrillo (2006), the implementation of IT/IS is also less likely to

succeed when people are not ready. Most organisations however, overlooked about this aspect;

thus failed to obtain full potential of IT/IS. They forget that technology is supposed to be made for

people to assist them to perform their work effectively. More attention should be given for this

issue to help the organisation to successfully implement IT/IS.

Until today, little research has been conducted on CSFs in implementing IT/IS within the context

of the Malaysian construction industry. It is important for this industry to improve their business

process strategically by using IT/IS because they are one of the major contributors to the country’s

economy. Therefore, more researches should be carried out regarding this matter for the

continuous survival of the industry. Thus, this research paper will identify factors that influence

the successful implementation of IT/IS in Malaysian construction industry, with the focus on the

people issue. The identified factors is believed to give better understanding and clearer picture of

the factors that are vital for the successful implementation of IT/IS.

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2. Research Methodology

Literature from year 2001 to 2010 were analysed to identify CSFs in IT/IS implementation across

industries. Fifty four (54) literatures were reviewed, which are not only limited to articles

published in peer reviews and journals, conference proceedings, thesis and books. Then, four (4)

organisations involved in the construction industry were selected to discern the factors. All the

organisations are located in Klang valley; where all the major construction took place in Malaysia.

Semi-structured interviews were employed to reflect the reality of the current situation. By

applying this method, it has allowed rich collection of data in terms of experience and perception

through probing the conversation in details, where the collected data cannot be measured in

quantitative approach (Kamar, Alshawi, & Hamid, 2009). The interviews were conducted between

December 2010 and February 2011. The interviews took place in the interviewees’ office, and

lasted for 40 minutes to 1 hour each.

3. Critical Success Factors (CSFs) for IT/IS Implementation

3.1 History of CSFs

Effort to identify CSFs that contribute to IT/IS success had begun since a decade ago (Floropoulos,

Spathis, Halvatzis, & Tsipouridou, 2010). This technique was first introduced by John F. Rockart

of MIT in 1979 (Boynton & Zmud, 1984), and was later popularised by Rockart (Rockart, 1979).

According to Yen-Ching, Jen-Yin, & Te-Chun (2010), CSF is a simple concept, where the

organisation need to identify certain factors that is really critical for the organisation to succeed. If

the objectives associated with these factors are not achieved, the organisation will fail. Rockart

(1979) defines CSF as “the limited number of areas in which results, if they are satisfactory, will

ensure successful competitive performance for the organization. They are the few key areas where

‘things must go right’ for the business to flourish”. Méndez, Pérez, Mendoza, & Ortega (2008)

defines CSFs as the right performance of certain activity or task which contributes to successful

IT/IS implementation. Basically, CSF is about getting things done correctly in order to succeed.

Identifying the important factors will become the guideline for the organisations that will help

them to succeed. Migdadi (2009) also stated that an appropriate set of CSFs will help the

organisation to be aware on factors that need more attention in order to successfully implement

IT/IS.

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3.2 CSFs in IT/IS

CSFs had become one of the earliest and active research topics (Lee & Ahn, 2008) in an attempt to

address important factors in implementing IT/IS (Rosacker & Olson, 2008). According to Daojin

(2010), the complexity of IT/IS urge researchers to analyse the CSFs from different angles . This

approach had demonstrate its great potential in identifying few critical factors that need special

attention in order to succeed (Wang, Yuan, Kang, & Lu, 2010). Based on literatures, twenty one

factors found to contribute to the successful implementation of IT/IS. These factors were then

differentiate between the following four categories of IT/IS implementation success (refer Figure

1). The characteristic of each category were described in Table 1 below.

[Figure 1: The Four Categories of IT/IS Implementation Success]

[Table 1: Categories of People CSFs]

All of these CSFs were then tested with the four organisations involved in construction industry to

confirm its existence.

4. Case Study Descriptions and Findings

Four organisations involved in the construction industry were selected. All of them have

successfully implemented IT/IS. This section briefly describes the organisations and its findings.

Organisation A

Organisation A was incorporated in 1974 as the construction organisation. However, in 1996, the

organisation started to refocus their core business into property development with supporting

business in construction, infrastructure and wood based manufacturing.

With so many projects to handle around the country, the organisation started to experienced

difficulties to track information such as sales transaction, loan information and others. They started

to look for solution and found system ‘W’ that suit their needs. System ‘W’ an Enterprise

Resource Planning (ERP) system had been used for more than ten (10) years in this organisation.

The system can be regarded as comprehensive property management solutions in relations to the

marketing, tenancy administration, customer service management, tracking billings and collections

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and financial accounting. The usage of the system has increases productivity and effectiveness.

Customisation was done on the system in order to meet users’ requirement and to tailor made the

system and their working processes. With the system, staffs enable to track potential buyer

information easily, sales transaction, loan information, accounts payable, cash book and others.

[Table 2: Findings from Organisation A]

Organisation B

Organisation B was incorporated in 1976. The core businesses are in engineering and construction.

The organisation had been involved in many projects such as major transportation & infrastructure

and buildings & facilities projects in highways, urban transit, rail, airport, stadium, hospitals,

commercial buildings and residential development.

With so many projects around the country, the organisation had difficulties to respond quickly to

the changing business needs. The organisation began to look for solutions, but unable to find any

off-the-shelves system that suit their requirement. Then, they starting to develop the web based

Document Management System (DMS), system ‘X’ in order to assist them. This system was

made to enable managing and provisioning of intranet portals, extranets, websites, document

management, file management, collaboration spaces, process information integration and others.

The system was introduced in year 2007. Due to certain organisation’s requirement, the system

was customised in the third quarter of 2007 to meet the organisation business objectives. The

usage of this system can be regarded as successful as it meets the business objectives. The

organisation also planned to upgrade from the current version to 2010 version anytime in the

current year.

[Table 3: Findings from Organisation B]

Organisation C

Organisation C is one of the earliest Quantity Surveying practices to be set up in Malaysia. This

organisation involved in many projects and had been practising Value and Risk Management,

Cost, Time and Quality Management and Asset Management of capital projects. The organisation

involved in all kind of projects from infrastructure works to industrials, residential and others.

With so many projects to handle, the organisation started to experienced problems in controlling

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their projects information. Security of the information also became major issues when staff

starting to leave the organisation. This scenario had led the organisation to find solutions with the

help of technology. The main aim was to find system that was able to control, keep track and

provide security of projects information.

Initially, they found a system they may fulfil their requirement. The off-the-shelves Enterprise

Collaboration System (ECS) known as system ‘Y’ was proposed to the management in year 2000.

System ‘Y’ is collaboration between project management, knowledge management, office

management, workflow management and document management technologies into a single

system. The using of this system will enhance collaboration, productivity and communication.

However, after a year of using the system ‘Y’, organisation F started to experience problems as the

system was not flexible enough to fulfil their needs. They started to customize the system in year

2002 to suit their requirements. The system was then upgraded in year 2007 to suit current

technology and demands. The current status of the system implemented in that organisation can be

considered a success as it meets all the intended objectives of the organisation.

[Table 4: Findings from Organisation C]

Organisation D

Organisation D was first incorporated in year 1963. Initially, the organisation started their business

focusing on the hospitality industry with only two subsidiaries. Then, the organisation started to

involve in property development and health care services. Now, the organisation had grown into a

key player in Integrated Facilities Management and Property Development sectors and became the

leading player in Integrated Facilities Management Services.

The organisation had been using system ‘Z’ since year 1998 to facilitate their work processes.

However, lots of customisations were done on the system in order to fulfil client requirement.

Therefore, a new Computerise Maintenance Management System (CMMS), system ‘Z’ was

introduced in year 2004. Throughout the year, customisations were made according to the client

requirement. However, it did not involve any major customisation. Most of the customisations

focused on the reporting format and adding and hiding fields. The usage of this system was

regarded as successful as it met all intended business objectives of the organisation

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[Table 5: Findings from Organisation D]

5. Discussion and Findings

In this section, four construction organisation involved in this study were compared in relation to

their background and observed CSFs.

[Table 6: Overview of the Selected Organisations]

All the CSFs found in literature are proven to exist in all the four (4) organisations. On top of that,

two (2) additional CSFs are found during the interviews. They are personal characteristic and

competencies. From the experience of the IT managers in all organisations; individual

characteristics such as their confident levels, thoughts and ideas will encourage them to use the

system which leads to the successful implementation of the system itself. All managers also agree

that competencies do contribute to a successful system’s implementation. This includes the

competencies of IT managers, IT staff and also users. Findings for all the twenty one (CSFs) are

discussed in this section.

Training/skills: According to Buruncuk & Gülser(2001), adequate training is important regardless

whether the team members have experience or not. This might be due to the difficulties of the

system itself, which requires users to possess certain level of skills. Training will also help users to

understand how to effectively use the system. Findings show that the duration of training and the

gap between training and implementation varies among the four organisations. Even so, this factor

is very important as all organisations emphasize on this matter. Without training and skills, users

are unable to utilise the benefit of technology which leads to the failure of IT/IS implementation.

Communication: Communication is very important as it serves the basic functions in managing

organisation. It can be described as the interaction process of conveying information, ideas,

opinion, instructions, decisions, rules and plans throughout the entire organisation. All

organisations involved in this study have effective interactions amongst them. Methods of

communications that they used include e-mail, meeting, telephone, memos, intranet and others.

Therefore, this is also an important factor as it has direct effect on the successful implementation

of IT/IS in organisations. According to Habib (2009), the lack of effective communication will

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lead to the failure of IT/IS implementation as users don’t have clear information about their

contribution, roles and the achievements.

Knowledge/experience: According to Hussein et al (2007), having adequate knowledge in IT/IS is

essential as it will give a positive influence to the extent of usage of the technology in

organisation. The level of knowledge will influence management’s perception of IT/IS, its

responsibilities, usefulness and strategic value to the organisation (Kelegai & Middleton, 2004). IT

leader and IT staff from all organisations have required knowledge and experience as they have

managed to maintain their own system. On top of that, organisation B and D able to develope their

own system. This clearly shows that this factor is fundamental in all organisations.

Motivation: Motivation can be defined as a driving force that leads to achieve objectives.

According to Davis & Songer (2008), strong motivation is important as it can overcome many

difficulties in using the new technology. Findings from interviews show that users in all

organisations were motivated to use the system as it enables them to perform their job effectively

and easy to use.. On top of that, organisation B also introduces the reward system to encourage

users to use the system. From the interviews, all organisations successfully motivate users to use

the system in many ways. This indicates that this factor is very important due to its strong

correlation to IT/IS successful implementation.

Employee behaviour towards collaborative environments: People is the critical factor that

influence the success and failure of IT/IS implementation in collaborative environment of the

organisations (Lou & Alshawi, 2009). Their behaviour towards the environment has indirect effect

on the way the system is being used. Thus, this factor indirectly determines the success or failure

of IT/IS implementation in organisation. Users in all organisations show positive reactions. This is

an important factor as it may contribute to the successful implementation of the system.

Interpersonal relationship: Interpersonal relationship is believed to have positive impact on the

communications patterns which influence the successful implementation IT/IS in organisation.

Strong interpersonal relation among users is an advantage as they are willing to put more time and

effort to help each other to utilise IT/IS in the organisation (Mullen, 2005). Findings show that

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there is a good relationship with everyone in all the four organisations. This factor is considered as

a less important factor since it does not have direct effect on the system implementation success.

Commitment: Commitment from organisation and users are crucial to successfully implement

IT/IS. Users’ commitment is important as they have to devote themselves to use the technology,

while organisational commitment referring to the top managers to support end-users to use IT/IS.

Havelka (2002), in his research has proved that high level of commitment gives positive influence

on IT/IS success. Peansupap & Walker (2005) identified that the basic requirement to successfully

implement IT/IS is to have full commitment from users and organisation. Numerous examples of

failures due to the lack of commitment had been discussed by many researchers over the years

(Aggarwal, 2010; Habib, 2009; V. Peansupap & D. H. T. Walker, 2005). Everyone in all four

organisations gives full commitment in using the system and this factor have strong influence on

the system implementation success.

Attitude: Attitude plays an important part in life and in an organisation for the successful IT/IS

implementation. Having staff with positive attitude would help the organisation to strive as they do

maintain positive thinking towards everything. The implementation of new system would be easier

as they are looking forward for the benefit of the new technology. Mixed reactions obtain from

the four organisations. However, majority of the users have positive attitude towards the system.

This factor is very important due to the strong correlation to IT/IS implementation. Empirical

studies have recognised positive attitude towards IT/IS a necessary condition for their successful

implementation (Davis & Songer, 2008; Nahar, Lyytinen, Huda, & Muravyov, 2006).

Top management support: Approvals, willingness of the top management to be involved in the

system implementation and to allocate certain amount of resources are the key to the successful

IT/IS implementation. Findings from the four organisations shown that the top management highly

supported the implementation of IT/IS in their organisations. They were found to be actively

participative in giving advice, regularly ask for updates, provide enough resources and others.

Most of the studies also agree the crucial role played by the top management to successfully

implement IT/IS in organisation (Aggarwal, 2010; Doom, Milis, Poelmans, & Bloemen, 2010).

This shows that this factor is widely accepted as a compulsory element for IT/IS implementation.

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Leadership/ IT leader: Leadership is one of the factors that contributes to the success of IT/IS

implementation as it deals with issue of how to achieve collaboration and unity in an organisation.

Having a good leader will directly or indirectly promote higher levels of staffs/users self-efficacy

and empowerment (Vachara Peansupap & Derek H.T. Walker, 2005; Walumbwa, Lawler, Avolio,

Wang, & Shi, 2005). This will encourage effective use of the system and eventually lead to its

success. Leaders in the four organisations perform their duties very well as they manage to

encourage users to use the system. This is an important factor as it may influence to the successful

implementation of the system.

User Involvement: Havelka (2002) defines user involvement as participation of actual users of the

application in the development process. Their involvement is important as it requires users to use

their skills, experience and knowledge to successfully implement IT/IS. It also gives them the

authority to make decision, ability to control their work, and taking responsibility (Evans &

Lindsay, 2002), thus develop the sense of ownership. The strong feeling of ownership may

increase user’s commitment and lead to positive impact to successfully implement IT/IS (Havelka,

2002). Users from organisations A, B and D were fully involved from beginning to the end of the

development of the system. Users in organisation C on the other hand were only involved at the

early stage of system development, which is to identify user requirements. All organisations

emphasize on this factor because it is very important to involve users as it will increase their

satisfaction and acceptance towards the implementation and utilization of the technology.

Teamwork/ Collaboration: Teamwork/collaboration has a powerful influence in gaining the users

acceptance towards the introduction of the new system in the organisation (Utley, 2001). Research

carried out by Hwang & Xu(2007), Bhatti (2005) and Kronbichler et al.(2009), identifies that

teamwork as one of the factors that influence the system success. Findings from research show that

there is a high level of cooperation among from everyone from all the four organisations. This

factor however, does not have a direct impact on the successful IT/IS implementation but affecting

the way it is used and benefits obtained from its usage (Hwang & Xu, 2007).

Focus & vision: A clear focus and vision of the organisation and leader is very important as they

are responsible to guide the employee towards certain achievement. Everyone in the organisation

need to have the same focus and ambition as this features required directing their major attention

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towards achieving successful IT/IS implementation in their organisation (von Urff Kaufeld, Chari,

& Freeme, 2009). This factor is well in place in all the four organisations, confirming it as an

important factor for IT/IS implementation.

IT Staff Roles and Responsibilities: IT staffs are responsible either to plan, develop or maintain the

IT/IS in the organisation. Their roles and responsibilities are critical as it contributes towards the

successful implementation of IT/IS. Salleh (2007) and Jiang (2003) in their studies found that IT

staff roles and responsibilities are positively related to the successful implementation of IT/IS.

Different roles and responsibilities encountered from this study. In organisation A and C, IT staffs

are only responsible to maintaining and customising the system. In organisation B and D on the

other hand, they were responsible to develope and maintain the system. The job functions of IT

staff are strongly contributed towards the successful implementation of the system success.

Management style: Management can be described as the process of getting activities completed

effectively and efficiently through people to achieve desired goals. Participative management style

is employed in all the four organisations. This management style involved the participation of staff

in decision making, which will make staff feels like they are a part of the organisations. This

factor however does not have direct effect on the system’s implementation success.

Willingness to change: According to Peansupap & Walker (2005), one of the factors that

contributes to the failure of IT/IS system is unwillingness to change, as it involves changes of

users behaviour to handle new system. Users usually refuse to change as they are already

comfortable with the current work practice. Davis & Songer (2008), identified that, individual with

a higher level in the organisation however are willing to change as they have the authority to

adjust the changes to suit their requirements. Different feedbacks obtain from the four

organisations. In organisation A, some users have issues to use the system as it involved changes

in their work process. While in organisation B and D, minority of users were reluctant to use the

system at the early stage. In organisation C on the other hand, they have issue with older

generations in adopting the system in the early stage. Issues arise in all the four organisations are

only temporary.

Organisational culture: Understanding the organisational culture is very important as it will give

positive or negative effects on staff and workplace. The characteristic of organisational culture

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such as information sharing, team working, trust, fairness, enthusiasm have a high positive

influence with the successful IT/IS implementation (Habib, 2009). Findings shows that all the four

organisations practised good culture as they manage to implement the system successfully and

overcome all problems arise during the system implementation. This factor is also important as

failure to understand organisational culture will result disappointment to reap many of the

perceived benefits of IT/IS.

Awareness: Awareness is one of the most important qualities which are necessary in

implementing anything including technology. Stewart et al.(2004), in their research identified that

low level of awareness or exposure to IT/IS is one of the factors that inhibit the successful

implementation of IT/IS in organisation. Users in organisation A, B and D are aware about the

system because they were involved from the early stage to the end of the system development.

Users in organisation C on the other hand only involved at the early stage of the system

development.

Trust: Trust between co-workers, trust on the system and trust to the management are essential

attributes which is believed to have a strong effect to successfully implement IT/IS. The existence

of trust is required among the users in order to respond openly and share their thoughts and

perceptions which lead to the successful implementation of IT/IS (Al-Alawi, Al-Marzooqi, &

Mohammed, 2007). Findings show that users in the four organisations trust the system, colleagues

and management. This is an important factor as it may influence the successful implementation of

the system.

Satisfaction: Employees are the valuable assets of the organisation as their satisfaction leads to

the success or failure of the organisations (Attar & Sweis, 2010). According to Colman (2007), the

level of user satisfaction has mainly been accepted as the sign for a successful system. Their

satisfaction will encourage them to work efficiently thus lead to quality performance which leads

to increased profit. Users in all the four organisations were satisfied with the system that they used.

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6. Conclusions

Current trend of implementing IT/IS in organisation has encouraged construction industry to

incorporate the technology in their work activity. The implementation however, becomes a

challenge due to the high failure rates reported over the years (C. Kim et al., 2009). According to

Batenburg & Constantiou (2009), most organisation fail to get value form IT/IS implementation.

People have been identified as the salient reason for this failure (C. Kim et al., 2009; Lou &

Alshawi, 2009). As a result, it is important for the construction industry to identify people CSFs

that can contribute to the successful implementation of IT/IS. Twenty one (21) People CSFs found

from reviewing 54 literatures. These CSFs were then tested in four organisations to confirm its

existence in construction industry. Unexpectedly, two additional CSFs found during the

interviews; personal characteristic and competencies. It can be concluded that, there are 23 CSFs

that need to be considered to successfully implement IT/IS. This research is important for the

practitioner perspective as it underpins the need for IT/IS manager in construction organisations to

take a proactive interest in identifying their people e-readiness level, which has become the salient

reasons for failure in implementing IT/IS. The study also has important implications for

researcher, as it broadens the area of e-readiness research in construction industry by identifying

factors that require attention that might have been overlooked over the years. This research only

points out the presence of People CSFs in construction industry. The importance of each CSFs are

still unknown and in need of further research.

7. Future Research

Further research will be carried out to identify the most significant CSFs that can contribute to the

successful implementations of IT/IS in the Malaysian construction industry. A questionnaire will

be developed based on the identified CSFs found in this research and will be empirically tested in

the Malaysian construction industry. The findings can be used to obtain the priority and ranking of

each CSFs. The findings are anticipated to give a better and clearer understanding of these CSFs to

benefit the construction industry in the quest of successfully implementing IT/IS.

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Table 1: Categories of People CSFs

Category Characteristic Elements No of

citations

Skill People’s ability to do something

that came from knowledge,

practice or gift

Training/ skills 9

Communication 15

Knowledge & experience 12

Behaviour People’s reaction towards its

surroundings

Motivation 4

Employee behaviour towards

collaborative environments

2

Interpersonal relationship 2

Commitment 7

Attitude 6

Management The art or practice of managing,

usually business

Top management support 17

Leadership/ IT Leader 6

User involvement 6

Team work/ Collaboration 6

Focus & vision 1

IT staff roles and

responsibility

3

Management style 3

Mind-set People’s habit based on previous

experience which has influence

on their daily activity

Willingness to change 4

Organizational culture 8

Awareness 1

Trust 3

Satisfaction 4

Interest in IT 1

Vol 19, No. 9;Sep 2012


Table 2: Findings from Organisation A C

ate

go

ry

Elements Findings

Sk

ill

Training/ skills Users were trained by the system vendor for about 2 days. The

training usually carried out a month before the system implantation

Communication The organisation has effective interactions amongst them. Their

method of communications include e-mail, meeting, telephone,

memos, intranet and others

Knowledge &

experience

IT leader and IT staff have required knowledge and experience as

they managed to maintain their own system

Beh

av

iou

r

Motivation Users were motivated to use the system as it enables them to

perform their job effectively, ease of use and enable them to perform

their work effectively.

Employee behaviour

towards

collaborative

environments

Users show positive reactions towards surrounding

Interpersonal

relationship

There is a good relationship with everyone in the organisations

which help them to solve any problems arise during the system’s

implementation

Commitment Everyone give full commitment in using the system

Attitude Mixed reactions obtain from users, however majority shows a

positive attitude

Ma

na

gem

ent

Top management

support

They highly support by actively participate, giving advice, regularly

ask for updates, provide enough resources and others

Leadership/ IT

Leader

Leaders managed to perform their duties very well as they were able

to carry out their work without any problems

User involvement Users were fully involved from beginning to the end of the

development of the system

Team work/

Collaboration

There was a high level of cooperation among from everyone

Focus & vision There was a clear focus and vision which lead to the successful

implementation of the system

IT staff roles and

responsibility

Staffs were only responsible to maintaining and customising the

system

Management style Participative management style was employed

Min

d-s

et

Willingness to

change

Some users had issues to use the system as it involved changes in

their work processes.

Organizational

culture

The organisation practised good culture as they managed to

implement the system successfully and overcame all problems arise

during the system implementation

Awareness Users were aware about the system because they were involved

from the early stage to the end of the system development

Trust Users trust the system, colleagues and management

Satisfaction Users were satisfied with the system that they used

Interest in IT Users were interested in IT as the technology helped them to

perform their work effectively

Vol 19, No. 9;Sep 2012


Table 3: Findings from Organisation B C

ate

go

ry

Elements Findings

Sk

ill

Training/ skills Users were trained for about 4 to 5 days by the system vendor. The

training however was carried out after the system had been

implemented.

Communication The organisation has effective interactions amongst them. Their

method of communications include e-mail, meeting, telephone,

memos, intranet and others

Knowledge &

experience

IT leader and IT staff have required knowledge and experience as

they managed to develop and maintain their own system

Beh

av

iou

r

Motivation Users were motivated to use the system as it enabled them to

perform job effectively, easy to use and enable them to perform their

work effectively. Users were also being rewarded when they use the

system

Employee behaviour

towards

collaborative

environments

Users shown positive reactions towards surrounding

Interpersonal

relationship

There was a good relationship with everyone in the organisations

which helped them to solve any problems arise during the system’s

implementation

Commitment Everyone give full commitment in using the system

Attitude Mixed reactions obtain from users, however majority shown a

positive attitude

Ma

na

gem

ent

Top management

support

They actively encouraged users to use the system by giving advice,

regularly asked for updates, provided enough resources and others

Leadership/ IT

Leader

IT Leader have adequate leadership skills as he was able to perform

his duties very well and able to carry out his work without any

problems

User involvement Users were involved from beginning to the end of the development

of the system

Team work/

Collaboration

Everyone in the organisation helped each other when they had

problems with the system

Focus & vision There was a clear focus and vision which lead to the successful


IT staff roles and

responsibility

Staffs were responsible to develop and maintaining the system


Min

d-s

et

Willingness to

change

Minority of users resisted to use the system at the early stage

Organizational

culture

The organisation practised good culture as they managed to

implement the system successfully and overcame all problems arise

during the system implementation

Awareness Users were aware about the system because they were involved

from the early stage to the end of the system development

Trust Users trusted the system, colleagues and management


Interest in IT Majority of users were interested in IT as the technology helped

them to perform their work effectively

Vol 19, No. 9;Sep 2012


Table 4: Findings from Organisation C C

ate

go

ry

Elements Findings

Sk

ill

Training/ skills Half day training was provided by the IT department. The training

was held one or two months before the system implementation

Communication Methods of communications in the organisation were usually via e-

mail, meeting, telephone, memos, intranet and others

Knowledge &

experience

IT leader and IT staff had required knowledge and experience as they

were able to maintain and customise the system

Beh

av

iou

r

Motivation Users were motivated to use the system as it was user friendly and

enabled them to perform their work effectively.

Employee

behaviour towards

collaborative

environments


Interpersonal

relationship

Everyone interacted and socialised with one another which enabled

them to solve any problem faced while using the system

Commitment Everyone from every level gave full commitment in using the system

Attitude Mixed reactions obtained from users, however majority shown a

positive attitude

Ma

na

gem

ent

Top management

support

High support from the top management as they actively participated

with the system implementation by providing enough resources,

giving advice, regularly asked for updates, and others

Leadership/ IT

Leader

IT Leader had adequate leadership skills as he was able to perform his

duties very well and able to carry out his work without any problems

User involvement Users were only involved at the early stage of system implementation

by identifying user’s requirement

Team work/

Collaboration

High level of cooperation from everyone in this organisation as they

helped each other when they had problems with the system

Focus & vision There was a clear focus and vision which led to the successful


IT staff roles and

responsibility

Staffs were given responsibility to customise and maintain the system


Min

d-s

et

Willingness to

change

Older generations had problems to use the system at the early stage

Organizational

culture

Organisational culture was believed to be in good order as the

organisation managed to overcome problems arising due to the

system’s implementation

Awareness Users were aware about the system because they were involved at the

early stage of the system development



Interest in IT Majority of users were interested in IT as the technology helped them

to perform their work effectively

Vol 19, No. 9;Sep 2012


Table 5: Findings from Organisation D C

ate

go

ry

Elements Findings

Sk

ill

Training/ skills One or two days training was conducted by the IT department about

three to four months before the system implementation

Communication Good communication line established in this organisation. They

usually communicated via e-mail, meeting, telephone, memos,

intranet and others

Knowledge &

experience

IT leader and IT staff had required knowledge and experience as they

were able to maintain and customise the system

Beh

av

iou

r

Motivation Users were motivated to use the system as it enabled them to perform

their work effectively, user friendly, enabled them to perform analysis

effectively and able to generate report automatically.

Employee

behaviour towards

collaborative

environments


Interpersonal

relationship

There was a good relationship with everyone in the organisation

Commitment Everyone from every level gave full commitment in using the system

Attitude Mixed reactions obtained from users, however majority shown a

positive attitude

Ma

na

gem

ent

Top management

support

Top management highly supported the using of the system. They

regularly asked for updates, give advice and provide enough resources

Leadership/ IT

Leader

IT Leader had adequate leadership skills as he was able to perform his

duties very well and able to carry out his work without any problems

User involvement Users were involved from the early stage until the end of the

development of the system

Team work/

Collaboration

Everyone cooperated as they helped each other when they had

problems with the system

Focus & vision There was a clear focus and vision which led to the successful


IT staff roles and

responsibility

Staffs were responsible to develop and maintain the system


Min

d-s

et

Willingness to

change

Minority of users resisted to use the system at the early stage

Organizational

culture

The organisation practised good culture as they managed to overcome

problems encountered during the system’s implementation

Awareness Users were aware about the system because they were involved in the

system development



Interest in IT Majority of users were interested in IT as the technology helped them

to perform their work effectively

Vol 19, No. 9;Sep 2012


Table 6: Overview of the Selected Organisations

Organisation A Organisation B Organisation C Organisation D

Year

Incorporated

1974 1976 1976 1963

Business Sector Private Private Private Private

Business Type Property

development,

construction,

infrastructure and

wood based

manufacturing

Engineering and

construction

Quantity surveying,

Value & Risk

Management, Cost,

Time & Quality

Management &

Asset Management

Property

development and

health care services

No. Of

Employees

Approximately 1000 Approximately 2300 Approximately 200 Approximately 400

Reasons for

systems

adoption

Difficult to track

information such as

sales transaction,

loan information

and others

Difficulties to

respond quickly to

the changing

business needs

Problems in

controlling their

projects information

and its security

Too many

customisations to

fulfil client

requirement

No. of years

using the system

10 years 4 years 11 years 7 years

Customised/deve

loped system

Customised Developed Customised Developed

Entity

responsible for

system’s

development

Vendor In-house Vendor In-house

Entity

responsible for

the

customisation

In-house In-house In-house In-house

Type of system

used

Enterprise Resource

Planning

Document

Management

System

Enterprise

Collaboration

System

Computerise

Maintenance

Management

System

Figure 1: The Four Categories of IT/IS Implementation Success

Skill Mind-set

Management Behaviour

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