Conclusion

Conclusion

With the benefit of hindsight it is possible to reconstruct a systematic retelling of events that have led to a failure. The narrated structure provides an explanation as to how and why failures occur. The purpose of the structure is to make sense of a rich tapestry of interactions and connections by following an identified story line that chronicles and links the relevant issues within the environment. This can lead to a rich explanation or justification grounded in the original perception of the problem environment. Indeed, recounted life may prise open perspectives that would have been inaccessible using ordinary methods and thinking arrangements. Moreover, failure tends to highlight missing and incorrect assumptions and faulty defensive mechanisms and can therefore serve as a pretext to updating the frame of reference or the context for understanding.

This chapter focused on the qualitative research methods available in the domain of IS failure. Failures are often dynamic and confusing, requiring a holistic approach to resolution. Investigating and making sense of IS failures is still a relatively immature discipline with little awareness of alternative approaches for identifying and capturing that knowledge.

Case studies have been used as the traditional means of transmitting knowledge about past failures. However, this is often done with little consideration for the terminology, implications, and multiple meanings associated with case studies and therefore calls for additional refinement and for the discovery of richer and more diversified alternative approaches. Case histories are a special instance of a case study looking at the factors involved in failures in context and at the dynamic interrelationships between them. They can be described as a problem-driven research tool focusing on the "holistic totality" in a naturalistic setting. Narrative methods (and antenarrative reading) provide an additional facet for addressing the fragmented nature of failure stories. Their great strength is in offering an alternative to sequential, single-voiced stories, thereby giving a voice to a multiplicity of perspectives. Narrative methods thus offer a new metatool for the armoury of the IS failure community.

Combining case histories with narrative descriptions is likely to lead to clearer failure stories that can account for contradictions and misunderstandings. It is hoped that by developing our understanding of methods that help in capturing and structuring histories and in telling stories we will also improve our ability to learn from such experiences. Indeed, the methods discussed in this chapter form the front end required for understanding and capturing knowledge in action (which could be supplemented by more formal methods to model their impact through a process of triangulation).

As for the future, good stories can also benefit from pictures. Once we have mastered the techniques of telling complex modern stories, we need to focus on composing that information. Even the most gripping story needs to be made attractive and believable. Textual information needs additional support not only in "emplotting" and in maintaining coherence and perspective but also in ascertaining the plausibility of constructed stories and in differentiating between noise and narrative. Developing improved techniques for organising or visualising knowledge (such as Net maps) can therefore help in untangling some of the fragmented strands as well as in making the stories more readable and understandable, as well as ultimately more appealing.