Corporate Intranet Implementation: Managing Emergent Technologies and Organizational Practices

1 We define an intranet in the following way: (1) An intranet is a network based on the Internet protocol suite TCP/IP. It is thus capable of running common internet applications such as World Wide Web and MS NetMeeting. (2) It is a private network, owned by the organization that it serves and only accessible by permission. In general, all members of the organization have access to the intranet, but access to some areas may be restricted, for instance to managers or certain employees. (3) The primary intended use is for communication and collaboration among organizational members. Managers and employees can publish, search and retrieve information about diverse topics, and collaborate with colleagues anywhere in the organization. Abstract This paper examines the adoption and development of intranets in large business organizations. The authors demonstrate that intranet technology introduces a host of new managerial and technical challenges and requires new approaches to IS development. Evidence from two European corporations indicates that the traditional division of labor and definition of work roles in IS development breaks down. The distinction between developers and users becomes increasingly blurred and new organizational roles and structures associated with intranets are emerging. However, ready-made organizational models for implementing and managing intranets do not exist and the two organizations in this study have followed two different approaches. One organization favors a " planned change " approach, emphasizing management control and careful planning. The other organization prefers an " improvisational " approach, emphasizing experimentation, innovation and local initiative.