Aim To understand why organizational barriers exist during the development of information management systems or enterprise applications. . This study investigates if organizational barriers actually occur and if so, how we can understand these phenomena. Method Deductive research and exploratory research. Secondary research is evaluated how it is applicable in practice. Qualitative research was applied across multiple subsidiaries. Standardized interviews were conducted among 30 interviewees. As it is exploratory research, this is sufficient to present certain patterns and indications. To support this method, Criterion-based sampling has been applied to ensure appropriate units for this study. Results & conclusion In a competitive environment, subcultural groups tend to be formed to protect similar interests. Rewards were based on power and achievements. By forcing accomplishment of the implementation of the information management system, groups would be rewarded. Others would be negatively affected. Therefore individuals and groups would act on behave of their own even if they would harm co-workers with their actions. Especially, groups without decision power were highly affected by these negative effects. Organizational politics controls the organization’s power. Counter-implementation strategies were identified; when groups tried to act on behave of the shareholder and customers to influence the decision-makers. After many delays, they were unable to prevent the integration of a new Information management system.

One approach to dealing with complexity in a public policy context is horizontality, the act of working across the various ministries and divisions of a government in order to harness the organization’s capacity and resources and direct them towards the addressing of complex problems. And one prominent mechanism for promoting horizontality is greater organization-wide collaboration, knowledge sharing and active knowledge seeking amongst a network of government knowledge workers commonly referred to as policy analysts. The emergent use of Web 2.0 tools and approaches within organizations has raised the possibility that we have entered a new knowledge era - Enterprise 2.0 - that can address the horizontality problem, facilitate the sharing of knowledge between policy analysts and across organizations, and promote transformative governance. This research investigated how policy formulation processes in the government of the Canadian province of British Columbia are being affected by the adoption of Web 2.0 tools internally within the organization as a way to facilitate knowledge sharing and collaboration amongst government policy analysts. Semi-structured interviews with members of corporate policy units in the Government of British Columbia were conducted (n = 14), and an on-line questionnaire was completed by Government of British Columbia policy analysts (n = 129). These mixed methods form the basis for a triangulation approach to assessing the research questions. Respondents conceptualized policy analysis as rooted in an apolitical synthesis of evidence and best practices from a variety of sources, leading to a recommendation designed to support decision-making. The diversity and reach of the policy analyst’s organizational social network is related to their length of service in the organization and is an important supplement to the analyst’s knowledge base. There was little evidence that technology networks generally, and Web 2.0 tools specifically, play a prominent role in facilitating the knowledge organization; in fact, policy analysts may refrain from sharing knowledge with colleagues using technology networks in order to avoid contributing to their colleagues' information overload. Following the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1991), attitudes, followed by subjective norms, were the strongest and most consistent predictors of the policy analyst’s intention to collaborate and share knowledge with their colleagues. Perceived behavioural control was not a factor, leading to the possibility that while policy analysts may believe and be told that knowledge sharing and collaboration are advantageous, they may not feel they have the authority, latitude or ability to do so. A significant gender result was consistently revealed, that women were found to be less supportive of knowledge sharing and collaboration than men, a result possibly due to a culture dominated by masculine characteristics. The findings have implications for public sector organizations seeking to provide support for knowledge workers to make effective use of the organizational social network, new collaboration technologies and organizational capacity to address complex public policy problems. Interested readers should consult http://jlphdcand.wordpress.com for updated versions of this research, and related work. / Graduate