CHANGE AGENTRY - THE NEXT IS FRONTIER

We wrote this essay to stimulate IS specialists' efforts to become mor e effective - and more credible - agents of organizational change. The essay describes what we believe to be a view of the IS specialists' c hange-agent role that is very commonly held by IS specialists. We beli eve that this role, while well-intentioned and supported by structural conditions in IS work, often has negative consequences for organizati ons and for the credibility of IS specialists. Further, it does not fi t the emerging structural condition, of IS. We describe two alternativ e models of what it means to be a change agent, their potential conseq uences, and the structural conditions that support or inhibit behavior in that role. We conclude that increased behavioral flexibility of IS specialists - the ability to switch roles in different circumstances - would improve organizational effectiveness and IS specialist credibi lity. Finally, we discuss the implications of our analysis for researc h, teaching, and practice.