Perceptions of Conflict and Success in Information Systems Development Projects

Previous research on the development of information systems has focused on the conflicts among participants and the consequences of satisfactory esolution of those conflicts. In this paper, we test a model of conflict during system development [40, 41]. As specified, the model proposed relationships among participation, i fluence, conflict, and conflict resolution. We extend the model to include project success as an outcome variable. A sample of 84 participants in 17 system development projects in 3 organizations was surveyed. Results support the portions of the model reported earlier [4 1], show astrong positive relationship between conflict resolution and project success, and show a modest positive relationship between participation a d project success. Acknowledgments: The authors acknowledge the assistance of the companies involved with this study, the suggestions of Professors Dana Farrow and Rajiv Sabherwal, and comments from the anonymous reviewers. Journal of Management Information Systems /'Summer 1993, Vol. 10, No. 1, pp. 123-139 Copyright® RRSharpe, Inc., 1993 This content downloaded on Wed, 12 Dec 2012 22:30:21 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 124 ROBEY, SMITH, AND VIJAYASARATHY