Systems Analysis and Emancipatory Practice: a Study in the UK National Health Service

The application of Critical Theory in Information Systems(IS) research is comparatively recent and is still at a very early stage, having hardly progressed much beyond a critique of existing approaches to systems development. It has been argued that from the perspective of Critical Theory the challenge of developing a more rational society involves the transformation of institutions so that computer based systems facilitate emancipation rather than providing more powerful systems of control. Utopian visions of autonomy, creativity and democracy may be much removed from the realities of everyday life for participants in an IS implementation but this does not mean that certain principles cannot be adopted to facilitate emancipation at a 'micro'. level. The book is a result of research which has explored how the systems analyst can develop emancipatory practice within the context of integrated information systems implementation. The context for this research was the UK National Health Service.