To Coerce or to Enable? Exercising Formal Control in a Large Information Systems Project

In virtually every information systems (IS) project, control is exercised on multiple hierarchical project levels. For example, senior managers exercise control over project team leaders, who in turn exercise control over distinct groups of project team members. Most prior studies have exclusively f...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of information technology Vol. 30; no. 4; pp. 337 - 351
Main Authors: Heumann, Jakob, Wiener, Martin, Remus, Ulrich, Mähring, Magnus
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01.12.2015
Palgrave Macmillan UK
Sage Publications Ltd
Subjects:
Analysis
Behavior
Business and Management
Business Information Systems
Case studies
Coercion
Coercivity
Control systems
Control theory
Design
Distortion
Hierarchies
Information systems
Information Systems and Communication Service
Information technology
Innovation/Technology Management
Literary influences
Literature
Management
Organization theory
Project management
Research Article
Senior managers
Studies
Team leaders
Teams
Sweden
Germany
coercive
enabling
IS project control
hierarchical control transmission
formal control
control style
ISSN:0268-3962, 1466-4437, 1466-4437
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:In virtually every information systems (IS) project, control is exercised on multiple hierarchical project levels. For example, senior managers exercise control over project team leaders, who in turn exercise control over distinct groups of project team members. Most prior studies have exclusively focused on one specific controller-controllee dyad. As a result, there is little understanding of how IS project control is exercised across different hierarchical levels. To close this research gap, we conducted a case study of a large IS project at a major engineering firm. Our study helps enrich the traditional mode-based typology of control with the dimension of control style, that is, the distinction between enabling and coercive control. Our research contributes novel insights to the IS control literature in three ways: (1) we find that the senior management level and the project management level differ in the use of control style but not in the use of control modes, (2) we identify several factors that influence the choice of a particular control style, and (3) we find that senior managers can influence project activities on lower levels by implementing controls that can be readily emulated by project leaders as well as transmitted through hierarchical levels with little distortion.
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ISSN:0268-3962
1466-4437
1466-4437
DOI:10.1057/jit.2014.11