Lnbip 105 Design of Enterprise Information Systems: Roots, Nature and New Approaches

Involving Stakeholders – Clarifying Who Wants to See the Design Succeed 
As mentioned earlier, stakeholders define the objectives of a systems design [3]. 
However, stakeholders often hold conflicting views and expectations. Therefore, the 
formulated objectives of a systems design may be viewed as an alignment of the 
wishes of a coalition of stakeholders. In view of the dynamics of systems design with 
internal and external changes, it is useful once in a while during the systems design 
project to ask who really wants to see the design project to be a success. 
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Case example: In an enterprise information systems design project, the 
project manager spent much time in the beginning to involve stakeholders 
and to listen to their views and expectations. A set of objectives was 
formulated and gained general support. However when testing the conceptual 
design, the project manager realized that the formulated objectives could not 
be fully met. Through informal channels, stakeholders learned about the new 
situation and reacted negatively. The project manager felt very much alone 
with the project and decided to call stakeholders to a meeting to re-start the 
systems design project and ask them who actually wanted to stay on to see 
the project completed and under the new circumstances to discuss how this 
would be possible. In hindsight he would have wished that he had informed 
the stakeholders continuously to align their expectations to the real situation. 
Accepting Diversity – Working with Several Perspectives in Parallel 
Despite the fact that our environment increasingly becomes complex and difficult to 
comprehend, there is a tendency to ask for quick and simple answers. We are of the 
opinion that individuals and groups, in fact, are capable of dealing with complex and 
uncertain issues by drawing on their professional insight, intuition and common sense. 
But the organization in which they work rarely encourages this. 
We shall propose a four-perspective model that encourages designers to adopt a 
multi-facetted view and thereby better be able to cope with complexity [62]. This is 
supported by Reimann & Schilke [63] who state that “design thinking can be thought 

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18 J.O. Riis 
of as a methodology for innovation that systematically integrates human, business, 
and technical factors in problem-forming, problem-solving, and design.” 
Each perspective represents a specific angle or point of view and depicts essential 
features of an enterprise information system.