23 rd Australasian Conference on Information Systems Power Relations in IS Projects 3-5 Dec 2012, Geelong Ye, Marshall and McKay 1 Power Relations in IS Projects – A Critical Review and a New Research Agenda Michelle Ye School of Computing and Information Systems University of Tasmania Sandy Bay, Hobart, Tasmania Australia Email: Yaqian.Ye@utas.edu.au Peter Marshall School of Computing and Information Systems University of Tasmania Sandy Bay, Hobart, Tasmania Australia Email: Peter.Marshall@utas.edu.au Judy McKay Faculty of Information and Communication Technologies Swinburne University of Technology John Street, Hawthorn, Victoria Australia Email: jmckay@swin.edu.au Abstract This paper seeks to review and examine the major theoretical underpinnings of research into power relations in IS projects. In order to keep the review manageable and to furnish a reasonable explanation of the ideas and papers referenced, the review is restricted to the ideas of Foucault, Giddens and Clegg. Partly, this restriction was due to the wish of the authors to deal seriously with the ideas presented, and not to produce an exhaustive but terse and taxonomic style review. Partly, the selection of the above theorists is due to the fact that the major IS papers on power relations have drawn on their work. This paper concludes with the presentation of a new theory of power and social influence from social psychology suitable for use in IS research. The ideas of this theory have not yet been examined empirically. Thus, IS researchers are challenged to employ these ideas in their empirical research. Keywords Power, influence, Information Systems projects, resistance, psychological group formation INTRODUCTION Despite significant research, and many books and research papers offering prolific advice on the issues involved (for example, Avison and Torkzadeh 2008; Iacovou et al. 2009; Keil and Mahring 2010; Seddon et al. 2010), Information Systems (IS) project management is a task with many challenges. Indeed, a large number of IS projects fail to meet their objectives, and some fail disastrously (Standish Group 2004). The research into IS project management has identified many critical success factors along with corresponding reasons for failure (Flowers 1997; Kappelman et al. 2006; Oz and Sosik 2000). The factors identified as being implicated in IS project failure include a lack of top management commitment to the project, lack of corporate leadership (including a weak project champion), inadequate information requirements determination, communication issues, organisational politics, lack of user involvement and participation, and change management problems generally (Grainger et al. 2009; Kappelman et al. 2006; Liebowitz 1999; Oz and Sosik 2000). The fact that organisational politics, participation and corporate leadership issues are among the reasons for failure indicates that power relations could be an important element in IS project management. Indeed, power has been explicitly mentioned as a factor of interest and influence regarding project success/failure (Iacovou et al. 2009; Smith and Keil 2003). Given these indications of the potential importance of power relations to IS project management, this paper will review the literature on power relations in IS projects.