Corporate User Representatives and the Dialectics of Enterprise Systems: A Quest for Social Actors with Political Skill

Enterprise system implementations may be viewed as dialectics of adaptation. To reach a synthesis, a corporate user representative role is important. This paper addresses the question of who would be suitable for the role as a corporate user representative, i.e. what is required to fill the role. Drawing on an in-depth interpretive study from the oil industry, this paper contributes by augmenting our view of the corporate user representative as a multidimensional social actor. The case is from an innovative integration of ECM with collaboration technology. With a state-of-the-art combination of technologies, the task of representing 26.000 users proved to be a challenge. Based on longitudinal data, important corporate user representative characteristics are described as social actor dimensions. In terms of IS participation theory, the role is involved in a rich participation experience as a change agent. To fill this role, a corporate user representative should be a management function with political skill.