Tales from the Crypt – Organizing IT-Business in the Dotcom era

• In this paper we report on a narrative study aimed at capturing consultants’ experiences of mergers – from an organizational and cultural perspective – during the so-called dotcom era. In the paper we focus on the problems that resulted from mergers between firms with totally different views on what it means to organize IT-business. The mergers studied led to cultural clashes in how to organize IT-projects, like different ways of managing, organizing, working, collaborating and experiencing the organization, but also implicit practices like dress-code, attitudes, lifestyle, norms and values. The empirical data is collected with the help of storytelling session where consultants tell stories about own experiences or stories that they have heard from colleagues. Stories are presented and discussed related to different themes, such as values, practices, culture/identity, and business models. We propose that these experiences of failed acquisitions and mergers embed important knowledge of the practices and problems of the organizing of IT-businesses.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Data- och informationsvetenskap -- Systemvetenskap, informationssystem och informatik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Computer and Information Sciences -- Information Systems (hsv//eng)

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

kon (ämneskategori)