Performing strategy: \u3ci\u3eAligning\u3c/i\u3e processes in strategic IT

Alignment is perceived to be a desirable aim in IT projects – by improving the fit between the technology and the aims of the organization. Our study departs from previous literature by looking at this issue as a more dynamic and contextually localized phenomenon – emphasizing this dynamic quality by the use of the term aligning. We take a performative view by conceptualizing the “doing of strategy” in the context of implementing a new IT based self-service check-in kiosk system in a UK airport organization. Adopting a single qualitative interpretive case study research approach, we observed and conceptualize three distinct processes of aligning information systems: decoupling, reframing and repackaging. The study draws on recent work repositioning information systems alignment as a dynamic process of knowledge creation and exploration