Learning Cycles, Organizational Back Talk, and the Persistence of Theories in Use: Lessons of Information Systems Development in a University Administration Context

Learning experiences of twenty-eight administrative information system development projects in a large Finnish university are analysed over a time frame of eighteen years. A series of reporting development projects is chosen for more detailed inspection. Organisational learning is conceptualised to consist of cycles during which the organisational reactions towards development actions reveal the successfulness of each project. In a retrospective analysis the authors find three learning cycles out of the twelve-year long reporting development process. The authors define their approach as reflective information systems practice and relate it to action learning and action science.