The Dynamics of IT Workaround Practices - A Theoretical Concept and an Empirical Assessment

Abstract

An interesting phenomenon that has received limited attention in the extant literature is that of IT workaround practices. Based on Ashby's Law of Requisite Variety, workarounds were found to be used to accomplish the basic task of matching unmatched variety in the system. The Interaction Effectiveness (IE) ratio of 1.4 was used as a baseline to uncover potential sources of workarounds. The Echo method was used to collect data from 42 users in a high-technology company (HTC). Enablers of and barriers to workaround practices were divided into four main categories: flexibility, reliability, ease of use, and coordination whereas workarounds were divided into three categories: using other tools, seeking help, and accepting. The results of the case study indicate that "reliability" is the dominant category for both helpful and non-helpful incidents, whereas "coordination" was the least significant. Of the workaround mechanisms, "using other tools" was the most significant category for all users. The findings suggest cycles of continuous improvement to the IE ratio to alleviate the need for workarounds, but a more fundamental issue concerning the source of workaround behaviors is a function of misfits between input variety by users and variety handling capabilities of the system.