RETHINKING QUESTIONS ABOUT CHANGE, AFFECTION AND RESISTANCE IN IS IMPLEMENTATION

Abstract

The importance of the people in the success of Information Systems (IS) is widely recognized. Companies do not change if the people who integrate them do not change, and any initiative of introducing a new system brings in its core the idea of change. However, the great majority of the studies in this area privileges cognitive and rational aspects, and suggestions for studies that also contemplate the affectivity are increasing. This article is concerned with these suggestions and presents an exploratory study carried out in a private company, by means of interviews with users of an ERP system - Enterprise Resource Planning, in the period of its post-implementation, in the year of 2008. The main objective of the study was the understanding of these changes, in the scope of the individuals, associated to the introduction of the system. For this purpose it was supported with theoretical concepts on the implementation of Information Technology (IT), change, affectivity and resistance. The results showed the context of implementation, the types of change, the meanings, the affection  and the resistance involved in the process. The conclusions highlight the interaction between cognitive and affective components; the way through which people construct the experience of change associated with IT/IS (also in regards to resistance) through factors such as their
personal circumstances, their relation with the company and the way in which it conducts the process; and also the paradox that is created when the satisfaction with computing generates crescent needs. In the end, we present contributions, limitations of this study and suggestions for further research.