1. Introduction
In a previous article Ward and Peppard, 1996 we explored the relationship between the IT organisation and the rest of the business. Building on the concept of culture, we
illustrated how the ‘gap’ could be explained by the cultural differences which exist between these two groupings. Indeed, we argued that many IT organisations are
“culturally outsourced” long before a decision is actually made to cut the connection and get rid of the problem with IT by outsourcing some or all IT activity to a third
party. However emerging research results are highlighting the folly of long term total outsourcing decisions which are based on an historical and little understood problem Earl,
1996a; Lacity et al., 1996; Venkatraman, 1997. While clearly there is a culture gap, in this article we argue that if organisations are to attempt to bridge this gap it is imperative to
progress beyond describing it as such and seek a better understanding of why it exists, its dimensions, components and ultimately how it might be reduced or eliminated.
One of the problems with attaching the culture label is that it then becomes a fait accompli, almost an acceptance of the situation. The ‘culture gap’ becomes a convenient
label with which to attach to a situation which is clearly causing a problem but which organisations are either unable or unwilling to address. In using the culture argument there
is an implicit assumption that cultural differences manifest themselves in behavioural differences. This assumption is not necessarily true. We strongly suggest that the culture
argument is often an excuse for, rather than a cause of, ineffective working relationships. In essence, culture is a symptom rather than the cause of an ineffective relationship
between the IT organisation and the rest of the business and the consequential failure of organisations to exploit and leverage IT for business benefits and value creation. In this
article we delve beyond the label of culture as an explanatory variable and explore in greater depth the problems which exist in relation to IT in organisations.
The article begins by examining some of the recent IS research literature which is grounded in the Resource-Based View RBV of the firm to explore the role of IT, and
in particular the IT organisation, in the pursuit of sustainable competitive advantage. Research which examines the resourcing and structuring of the IT organisation is then
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