Digital Pulse - Ch 2 - Sec 2 - Failure, Success and Improvisation of Information Systems Projects in Developing Countries

Summary

This article examines the high rate of failure of current ICT projects in developing countries and attempts to come to some conclusions about the source of these failures and propose some possible solutions. The central cause of these failures is explained using a model based on design-reality gaps between the information systems (of which ICTs are a component) and the users they are intended to serve. These gaps have three prototypical forms: country context gaps, ‘hard-soft' gaps, and private-public gaps. The article examines each of these in detail and proposes some general solutions that are all rooted in local improvisation and adaptation of the imported ICTs.

Key Points

Heeks begins with a discussion about what constitutes failure in information systems (IS) projects in developing countries. There is the potential for projects that result in total failure, efforts that are either never implemented or which are abandoned shortly after start-up. There are also projects that are partial failures wherein major goals are not achieved, where significant negative consequences result, or which fall victim to sustainability failures that result in the project's collapse after a year or two. Failures may also result when the stakeholders involved fail to agree what the primary goals of the project are, and hence, on what constitutes success.

While little hard evidence exists on what proportion of developing country IS projects fail, it is noted that nearly a fifth to a quarter of all industrialized IS projects are likely to fall into the total failure category. It is not unrealistic to think that developing country project failures might exceed this rate of failure. There is a shortage of literature on the rates and reasons behind developing country IS project failures and the agencies involved in these fields are often reluctant to promote their failures (which have learning value) because of the potential negative impact it could have on their funding sources.

Of the evaluation literature that does exists, Heeks notes that there are two types: a large camp focusing on ‘factoral analysis' and a smaller group involved in theory building on the reasons behind success or failure. Heeks' model is presented as a ‘third way' and is based on a contingency model that sees no single framework for success or failure in organisational change but rather a combination of situation-specific factors tied by the theoretical idea of design-reality gaps. Central to this contingency model is the idea of adaptation and the importance of the states of match and mismatch amongst the factors involved. The most successful IS projects are those that are the closest match to the key technical, social, and organisational features of the working environment. The catch is, however, that IS projects are in part intended to alter that environment and bring about improvements in organizational performance. A trade-off exists between greater degrees of change and greater chances of failure. Heeks derives a model from these observations that looks at the difference between the current realities of a particular developing country context, and the conceptions, requirements and assumptions of an IS design as being the source of success or failure.

These differences or “gaps” can exist is seven dimensions, embodied in the mnemonic ITPOSMO (Information, Technology, Processes, Objectives and values, Staffing and skills, Management systems, and Other resources). Gaps may exist in one or many of these dimensions, with large gaps in multiple dimensions increasing the likelihood of failure. There are several different sources for these differences, the first being country context gaps wherein the IS system designers and dominant stakeholders are either physically or psychologically remote from the context of usage. Such gaps often stem from the North to South transfer of information, differences in business economics, the politics of aid, and wide cultural variances. Technology transfers are value laden and carry economic and social baggage. Gaps also result from the differences in attitudes towards modernization and rationalism. These hard-soft gaps are the result of IS designs that assume a working context based on standardization, quantitative measurement, formalized decision making structures, and staff adherence to organizational objectives. The final type of gap is a recent emergence and has to do with the trends towards new public management and increased reliance on private enterprise for innovation throughout the West. In developing countries, the public sector continues to play a much grater role and this difference in practice and philosophy results in private-public gaps. IS that are designed for the private sector are introduced into public sector organizations in the developing world and face resistance and incompatible working conditions. Public sector organisations are less competitive, tend to have older or more limited technological infrastructures, have much broader objectives and less labour flexibility than corporate firms and require radically different IS.

Heeks' solution to the propensity for failure in developing country IS is to close these various design-reality gaps through the application of local improvisation. There are four areas of focus that will facilitate the closing of these gaps:

• Expose Organizational Realities – This requires open communication channels between various stakeholders, the legitimizing of reality and articulation of the difference between what participants are doing and what they should be doing, and the provision of tools that will assist in mapping theses organizational realities.
• Improve Local IS Capacities – Localized improvisation requires local skills in both the technical side of ICT usage and the soft sides of project and resource management. Especially important is the development of hybrid (technical/managerial) personnel pools to improve work processes.
• Educate the Carriers – Each and every donor, consultant, and participant must be made aware of the limitations of current DC IS practices and trained on strategies for reducing these design-reality gaps. They must also be trained so as to contribute to improved evaluation, integration and production processes.
• Analyze the ‘How as well as the ‘What' – The contingent perspective must be extended to include the processes of implementation and well as the content. Analytical project design and goal setting must be accompanied by an equally well though out implementation plan.

Source: Richard Heeks "Failure, Success and Improvisation of Information Systems Projects in Developing Countries" Working Paper No. 11 (IDPM, Manchester University) 2002.