THE DUALITY OF CREATIVITY AND TECHNOLOGY IN IS AND ISD ORGANIZATIONS: A PERSPECTIVE OF STRUCTURATION, SENSEMAKING, AND ERGODIC CONNECTIONS

Information Systems (IS) has become an increasing necessity in most organizations to achieve competitive advantages. In this article, we address the use of IS in creative sensemaking processes by presenting the notion of ergodic connections in the sensemaking process and a framework of the iterative cycle of ideation and innovation in IS and ISD organizations. To create the framework, we have used Weick et al. (2005) view on sensemaking and Orlikowski's (1992) duality of technology theory. The theoretical framework, with the notion of ergodic connections suggests that sensemaking will cause new and novel technology ideas to be either rejected, multiplied, or reach an equilibrium state, where the duality of technology plays a major role in ideas reaching the equilibrium state. Furthermore, we investigated the implications of Creativity Support Systems (CSS) in the context of IS and ISD organizations and the sensemaking process. To conduct the research of CSS, we deployed Orlikowski's (1992) duality of technology to demonstrate how CSS can support the creative sensemaking process. In addition, we conducted a survey of 31 IS mangers and business developers in 27 IS and ISD organizations and an interpretive field study involving a public organization that utilized IS in their daily business and a private organization that developed IS. Through the interpretive research study, we explored sensemaking activities in creative problem solving, which further developed the constructed framework and provided strong implications for both research and practice.
The implications from this article can enable researchers to view implementation and the use of business cases in a new light. Practitioners can also use the normative advice we have constructed to create CSS that are better suited for innovative environments, which are constantly changing.