Information Technology Development Creativity: A Case Study of Attempted Radical Change1

Many calls for reengineering suggest that information technology (IT) can be employed to enable significant organizational change. However, organizational inertia typically inhibits such change, resulting in IT development that reflects the organizational status quo. Of interest, then, are strategies 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 phases, at which time reengineering can be devised. A creativity model is adapted from the organizational literature and used to interpret the requirements gathering and logical design experiences of a firm attempting to reengineer its operations through the use of imaging technology. A comparison of creativity and traditional IT development viewpoints reveals significant differences as well as similarities. Insight resulting from this exercise is offered to help managers and researchers identify important variables and relationships in the IT development creativity management process. The model, and future associated research, can help researchers and managers: (1) determine to what degree creative IT requirements and logical design is feasible in a given organizational context and (2) plan and execute a creative IT requirements and logical design process.