Boundary-Spanning Information System Design
The first thread of my research investigates IS design processes that span functional, structural, or other knowledge-domain boundaries in organizations. In striving to understand how we may arrive at IS designs that involve stakeholders meaningfully in an effective design process, I have taken a definition of “design” that encompasses the entire process of situated change for an informational artifact. IS design involves problem-inquiry and negotiation, the analysis of requirements for business process and IT change, emergent goal-setting, solution definition, implementation, and introduction. My studies focus on the processes by which groups of boundary-spanning design participants perform this co-design of business and IT systems. I have been influenced by theories of design as the negotiation of partially-realized, heterogeneous perspectives (Bergman et al., 2002; Boland and Tenkasi, 1995; Markus et al., 2002; Orlikowski and Gash, 1994) , design as the resolution of “wicked problems” (Rittel, 1972) , and design as distributed cognition (Hutchins, 1995; Star, 1989) . My work focuses on the need for an alternate model of design processes to the existing, goal-driven approaches that are based on the designing of technical artifacts taken out of context. Stakeholders from multiple disciplines and organizational groups often lack a common representational “language” to provide shared understandings of a design. Design participants each possess only a partial understanding of organizational processes and aims. Differences in framing perspective are often perceived as political differences rather than as processual problems of heterogeneity. Resolving framing differences requires an alternative approach to design: one that legitimizes inquiry and goal-emergence and deemphasizes rapid problem closure. Design stakeholders need to be involved in an iterative, ongoing and proactive way as an IS design evolves.
Selected Papers
Gasson, S. (2006) ‘A Genealogical Study of Boundary-Spanning IS Design ’, European Journal of Information Systems, Special issue on Action in Language, Organizations and Information Systems. 15 (1), pp. 1-16.
Gasson, S. (2005) 'The Dynamics Of Sensemaking, Knowledge and Expertise in Collaborative, Boundary-Spanning Design', Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication (JCMC), 10 (4). http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol10/issue4/gasson.html
Gasson, S. (1998) 'Framing Design: A Social Process View of Information System Development', in Proceedings of ICIS '98, Helsinki, Finland, December 1998, pp. 224-236. [Full research paper].
Findings & current projects
Current work is funded by an NSF Career Award ( NSF Digital Society & Technologies, 2004-2009 ), titled Distributed Cooperation In Boundary-Spanning IS Design . My studies have highlighted the various forms of knowledge involved in cycles of design inquiry, moving away from the current model of design as cycles of problem closure. They have highlighted the need to manage external stakeholder knowledge and expectations, to legitimize an expanding scope of inquiry as the design emerges.
I have presented an alternate model of boundary-spanning design that progresses through the adoption of mobilizing visions and the productive use of shared breakdowns in understanding. I have conducted a two-year study of collaborative design management in a global e-Commerce group, which is in its second stage of analysis.
Current field studies employ an action research approach to investigate how this model may be operationalized in organizational innovation and to discover if these mechanisms can lead to increased involvement of underrepresented group members in small group projects .
References
Bergman, M., King, J., and Lyytinen, K. "Large Scale Requirements Analysis As Heterogeneous Engineering," Scandinavian Journal of Information Systems (14) 2002, pp 37-55.
Boland, R.J. and Tenkasi, R.V. "Perspective Making and Perspective Taking in Communities of Knowing," Organization Science (6:4) 1995, pp 350-372.
Hutchins, E. Cognition in the Wild, MIT Press, Bradford, 1995.
Markus, M.L., Majchrzak, A., and Gasser, L. "A Design Theory For Systems That Support Emergent Knowledge Processes," MIS Quarterly (26:3) 2002, pp 179-212.
Orlikowski, W.J. and Gash, D.C. "Technological Frames: Making Sense of Information Technology in Organizations," ACM Transactions on Information Systems (12:2), April 1994. 1994, pp 174-207.
Rittel, H.W.J. "Second Generation Design Methods," Reprinted in N. Cross (ed.), Developments in Design Methodology, J. Wiley & Sons, Chichester, 1984, pp. 317-327., Interview in: Design Methods Group 5th Anniversary Report, DMG Occasional Paper 1, pp. 5-10.
Star, S.L. "The Structure of Ill-Structured Solutions: Boundary Objects and Heterogeneous Distributed Problem Solving," in: Distributed Artificial Intelligence, Vol. II., L. Gasser and M.N. Huhns (eds.), Morgan Kaufmann, San Mateo CA, 1989, pp. 37-54.
