7.3 Local improvisations
According to Heeks (2002), local improvisation is done to reduce actuality-reality gaps. This can be through hybrids that recognize local capacities and improve success rates. However, Heeks notes that schemes to develop these hybrids in the DCs are virtually nonexistent thus hampering improvisation. Participative approaches to implementation e.g. group working and end-user involvement; have to be carefully considered since most have been developed for the industrialized countries. Examples of how these participative IS techniques were a failure, are the case of Mexico’s General Hospital and an end-user development initiative for health IS in South Africa (Heeks 2002). The implementations failed because of the large gap between design assumptions and requirements and actuality of organizations into which ICT was introduced. The conclusion drawn is that these implementations failed because there was too large a gap between the design assumptions and requirements of those techniques and the actuality of organizations into which they were introduced and not necessarily because of participative design is necessarily wrong.