AN INTERVIEW STUDY OF CONTINUOUS IMPLEMENTATIONS OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Modern workplaces are continuously affected by frequent implementation s of information technology. Managing the technology's implementation can have an important moderating function between implementation chara cteristics and demands as well as effects for the companies and their employees. The development of an interview guide for evaluating techno logy implementations and their management and a first empirical applic ation of the instrument are presented here. Developed incrementally, t he interview guide consists of 139 questions on implementation charact eristics, implementation management, and effects. Results of interview s with 59 managers of implementation projects are presented. The imple mentation projects fulfilled the following criteria: no first-time int roduction of information technology, at least 10 employees affected an d at least one day of training per employee. Most of the implementatio ns investigated were characterized by increases in qualification deman ds, changes in work structures, and increases in working time with the new technology. Large implementations characterized by a management u sing few management tools showed high negative effects for the company (e.g., over-budget), whereas large implementations characterized by f ew participation indicators showed high negative effects for the emplo yees (e.g., complaints). The interview-guide proved usable for the des cription of important characteristics of continuous implementations of information technology.