Analyzing information systems development: A comparison and analysis of eight IS development approaches

This paper analyses two fundamental assumptions associated with the analysis and design of information systems:: (1) the assumed organizational role of information systems, and (2) the view of information requirements. In the case of the first assumption, it distinguishes three alternatives: a technical view, a sociotechnical view, and a social view. In the case of the second assumption, again three alternatives are explored: an objective view, a subjective view, and an intersubjective view. The paper points out the importance of these assumptions from the viewpoint of IS development through the analysis of eight IS development approaches: Information Modelling, Decision Support Systems, the Socio-Technical Approach, the Infological Approach, the Interactionist approach, the Speech Act-based approach, Soft Systems Methodology and the Scandinavian Trade Unionist approach. The first four are established traditions and the last four, newer and more emerging as IS development approaches. The analysis shows that the first two established traditions have a technical-mechanistic view of the organizational role of information systems, the view of the socio-technical tradition being socio-technical and the infological approach reflecting all three views. Most of the emerging approaches emphasize the social nature of information systems. In the case of information requirements, the differences between the established and emerging approaches are not as striking. While the objective and subjective views dominate the established traditions, only the Speech Act-based approach and Soft Systems Methodology among the emerging approaches seem to emphasize the intersubjective nature of information requirements. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd