Abstract
This book is about responding to a different path; about thinking and listening differently, but why? I will argue that the techno-functionalist paradigm (Burrell & Morgan, 1979), the current archetype for the information systems discipline, is exhausted. In applying this paradigm to everyday world problems, anomalies are being generated and are rapidly accumulating, to the point where a serious question of legitimacy now confronts the discipline. Senior executives are questioning the return on massive investments in information technology (Strassman, 1990). Critical sociologists are questioning the ethics and efficacy of the new fordism embodied in functionally inspired interventions such as business process re-engineering (Mumford, 1996). The failure of information technology projects seems to be as pervasive as ever (Duffy, 1993; Page et al., 1993). A general uneasiness seems to prevail in many areas of the discipline.
Everything here is the path of a responding that examines as it listens. Any path always risks going astray, leading astray. To follow such paths takes practice in going. Practice needs craft. Stay on the path, in genuine need, and learn the craft of thinking, unswerving, yet erring.
Heidegger
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© 1997 Lucas D. Introna
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Introna, L.D. (1997). Introduction: why and how to think?. In: Management, Information and Power. Information Systems Series. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-14549-2_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-14549-2_1
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