Improving Control Effectiveness in IS Development Projects Through Participatory Implementation

Abstract

Efficient Information Systems (IS) adequately serving business needs can be seen as an important prerequisite for the survival of most organizations. Newly developing or adopting those systems is a challenging task. To increase probability of success in often complex development projects, managers usually implement controls. However, most controls require support and active commitment of the controllees in order to be effective. To better understand the concept of control legitimacy and resulting control responses, researchers have recently shifted their focus on the controllee perspective. However, the process of choosing and enacting control is still considered top-down. In this poster paper, we propose to move away from this assumption. Instead, project managers should make the process more participatory by involving the controllees already at the beginning of IS development projects. This would help to choose and implement a set of controls which is perceived as legitimate and thus supported by the controllees.