Information technology development creativity: A case study of attempted radical change

Many calls for reengineering suggest that information technology (IT) can b e employed to enable significant organizational change. However, organizati onal inertia typically inhibits such change, resulting in IT development th at reflects the organizational status quo. Of interest, then, are strategie s and techniques that can be employed to support IT-enabled reengineering. Key to such reengineering is creativity. Therefore, this paper attempts to better understand creativity during IT requirements and logical design phas es, at which time reengineering can be devised. A creativity model is adapted from the organizational literature and used t o interpret the requirements gathering and logical design experiences of a firm attempting to reengineer its operations through the use of imaging tec hnology. A comparison of creativity and traditional IT development viewpoin ts reveals significant differences as well as similarities. Insight resulting from this exercise is offered to help managers and resear chers identify important variables and relationships in the IT development creativity management process. The model, and future associated research, c an help researchers and managers. (?) determine to what degree creative IT requirements and logical design is feasible in a given organizational conte xt and (2) plan and execute a creative IT requirements and logical design p rocess.