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Vol 19, No. 9;Sep 2012
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
Vol 19, No. 9;Sep 2012
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.
Vol 19, No. 9;Sep 2012
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.
Vol 19, No. 9;Sep 2012
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
Vol 19, No. 9;Sep 2012
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
Vol 19, No. 9;Sep 2012
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
Vol 19, No. 9;Sep 2012
[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
Vol 19, No. 9;Sep 2012
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
Vol 19, No. 9;Sep 2012
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.
Vol 19, No. 9;Sep 2012
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
Vol 19, No. 9;Sep 2012
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
Vol 19, No. 9;Sep 2012
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.
Vol 19, No. 9;Sep 2012
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
implementation of the system
IT staff roles and
responsibility
Staffs were responsible to develop and maintaining the system
Management style Participative management style was employed
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
Satisfaction Users were satisfied with the system that they used
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
Users shown positive reactions towards surrounding
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
implementation of the system
IT staff roles and
responsibility
Staffs were given responsibility to customise and maintain the system
Management style Participative management style was employed
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
Trust Users trusted the system, colleagues and management
Satisfaction Users were satisfied with the system that they used
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
Users shown positive reactions towards surrounding
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
implementation of the system
IT staff roles and
responsibility
Staffs were responsible to develop and maintain the system
Management style Participative management style was employed
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
Trust Users trusted the system, colleagues and management
Satisfaction Users were satisfied with the system that they used
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