Achieving Logistics Performance in Military Environmental Dynamism: The Role of Organizational Capabilities

This study aims to understand the factors that influence the Malaysian Army logistics performance and the role of process capability. In addition, this study also attempts to examine the role of learning capability between the military environmental dynamism and process capability. It also attempt to include strategic logistics alliances on the relationship between the process capability and the Malaysian Army logistics performance. Since this study is also focusing on how organizational learning capability and process capability play a role in achieving logistics performance, a more comprehensive conceptual framework is required. This research therefore is expected to fill the research gap by developing a new theoretical conceptual model by tying up three theories including dynamic capability, organizational learning, and social exchange theories

Ambidexterity in Information Systems Research: Overview of Conceptualizations, Antecedents, and Outcomes

Organizations that are not efficient and innovative today quickly become irrelevant tomorrow. Ambidexterity (i.e., simultaneously conducting two seemingly contradicting activities, such as exploitation and exploration) helps organizations to overcome this challenge and, hence, has become increasingly popular with manifold applications in information systems (IS) research. However, we lack a systematic understanding of ambidexterity research, its research streams, and their future trajectory. Hence, we conduct a systematic literature review on ambidexterity in IS research and identify six distinct research streams that use an ambidexterity lens: IT-enabled organizational ambidexterity, ambidextrous IT capability, ambidexterity in IS development, ambidextrous IS strategy, ambidextrous inter-organizational relationships, and organizational ambidexterity in IS. We present the current state of research in each stream. More so, we comprehensively overview application areas, conceptualizations, antecedents for, and outcomes of ambidexterity. Hence, this study contributes to the emergent theme of ambidexterity in IS research

Is Business Process Management (BPM) ready for ambidexterity? Conceptualization, implementation guidelines and research agenda

Business Process Management ambidexterity is a nascent concept providing a philosophy and framework for organizations to radically innovate their business processes, while maintaining their capabilities in process efficiency and operational excellence. Considering the novelty of this topic, there is not yet an agreed conceptualization of the term, nor a consolidated view on related implementation guidelines. We aim to address this research gap through a Systematic Literature Review, where we provide a dual conceptualization that focuses on (1) the equilibrium balance between explorative and exploitative processes, as well as (2) the organizational capability to support exploration and exploitation. Based on this conceptualization, we provide consolidated guidelines for practitioners, including decision steps, followed by a research agenda in order to let this promising domain further advance

Ambidexterity in Information Systems Research: Overview of Conceptualizations, Antecedents, and Outcomes

Organizations that are not efficient and innovative today quickly become irrelevant tomorrow. Ambidexterity (i.e., simultaneously conducting two seemingly contradicting activities, such as exploitation and exploration) helps organizations to overcome this challenge and, hence, has become increasingly popular with manifold applications in information systems (IS) research. However, we lack a systematic understanding of ambidexterity research, its research streams, and their future trajectory. Hence, we conduct a systematic literature review on ambidexterity in IS research and identify six distinct research streams that use an ambidexterity lens: IT-enabled organizational ambidexterity, ambidextrous IT capability, ambidexterity in IS development, ambidextrous IS strategy, ambidextrous inter-organizational relationships, and organizational ambidexterity in IS. We present the current state of research in each stream. More so, we comprehensively overview application areas, conceptualizations, antecedents for, and outcomes of ambidexterity. Hence, this study contributes to the emergent theme of ambidexterity in IS research

Evaluating Sociotechnical Factors Associated With Telecom Service Provisioning: A Case Study

Provisioning Internet services remains an area of concern for Internet service providers. Despite investments to improve resources and technology, the understanding of sociotechnical factors that influence the service-provisioning life cycle remains limited. The purpose of this case study was to evaluate the influence of sociotechnical factors associated with telecom service provisioning and to explore the critical success and failure factors, specifically in the telecommunication industry of Kuwait. Guided by sociotechnical systems theory, this qualitative exploratory case study approach examined a purposeful sample of 19 participants comprising of managers, engineers, and technicians who had the knowledge and experience of the service-provisioning life cycle. Semistructured interviews, project logs, and a self-created follow-up questionnaire were the primary sources of data. Thematic analysis techniques assisted in coding the data and developing themes, which resulted in a set of critical success and failure factors that influence the service-provisioning life cycle. Cross-functional communication, risk management practices, infrastructure availability, and employee skill development were among the emergent factors that influenced the service implementation. Internet service providers may use the results from this study to improve the service-provisioning life cycle. Successful implementations will promote an environment of positive social change that will increase employee motivation, productivity, and employee morale

Shared Artefacts and Virtual Worlds in Computer-Mediated Creative Collaboration

Virtual teams are becoming an increasingly common phenomenon within the globalizing surroundings of corporations. The communication between virtual team members is predominantly based on information and communication technology. The question, how different ICT collaboration environments can support different virtual team activities, has gained attention in research and practice. However, collaboration environments' role to foster creative virtual team collaboration is not entirely understood. This dissertation addresses the topic by focusing on the potential of artefacts and three-dimensional virtual worlds. Artefacts – shared visual representations – have been considered necessary for co-located creative collaboration. Though, the entire ecology of artefacts in distributed, computer-mediated creative collaboration has thus far remained unclear. While previous studies have suggested virtual worlds as beneficial for creative team collaboration, a systematic effort to characterize and describe this potential has not been undertaken. The four essays of this dissertation utilize real-life observational data of interaction between technical experts, decision-makers, and engineering designers. Either a web conferencing tool or a virtual world was employed as a collaboration environment during the observed interaction sessions. The first essay outlines virtual worlds' eight affordances towards creative team collaboration. The second essay investigates the question, how the two-dimensional web conferencing tool and virtual world differ in terms of supporting the use of shared visual artefacts. The third essay broadens the observation of the artefacts by studying their roles as boundary objects, which mediate communication within an intersection of different social worlds. Grounding on these results, the fourth essay addresses the artefacts' role in distributed teams' different collaborative activities within creative virtual world collaboration. Findings of the study demonstrate virtual worlds' potential to foster team creativity. Meanwhile the findings indicate a variety of artefacts that are utilized within creative virtual team collaboration, ranging from epistemic to technical objects. Grounding on the observed contrast between the virtual world and web conferencing tool, the results end up in suggesting an expansion of separated auditory and visual channel information to the concept of boundary objects. While the study conveys practical relevance for virtual teams that engage in creative collaboration, it also outlines potential directions to future ICT collaboration environments development path.Virtuaalitiimit yleistyvät liiketoiminnan globalisoituessa. Virtuaalitiimien jäsenet viestivät pääosin tieto- ja viestintäteknologian välityksellä. Tutkimuksessa ja käytännön työssä on havaittu, että eri tieto- ja viestintäteknologiset vuorovaikutusympäristöt voivat tukea virtuaalitiimien eri toimintoja. Vuorovaikutusympäristöjen roolia virtuaalitiimin luovan työn tukemisessa ei kuitenkaan ole täysin ymmärretty. Väitöskirja käsittelee aihetta suunnaten huomion artefaktoihin ja kolmiulotteisiin virtuaalimaailmoihin. Artefaktat – yhteiset visuaaliset dokumentit – on aiemmin mielletty välttämättömiksi samanpaikkaisessa luovassa yhteistyössä. Artefaktojen rooli monipaikkaisessa, tietokonevälitteisessä luovassa yhteistyössä on kuitenkin vielä selvittämättä. Aiemmat tutkimukset ovat arvioineet virtuaalimaailmojen olevan suotuisia luovalle tiimin vuorovaikutukselle; näkökantaa ei kuitenkaan ole luonnehdittu tai kuvattu järjestelmällisesti. Väitöskirjan neljä esseetä hyödyntävät dataa teknisten asiantuntijoiden, päätöksentekijöiden ja teollisten suunnittelijoiden tosielämän vuorovaikutustilanteista. Vuorovaikutusympäristöinä käytettiin web-konferenssityökalua tai kolmiulotteista virtuaalimaailmaa. Ensimmäinen esseistä linjaa kahdeksan kolmiulotteisen virtuaalimaailman ominaispiirrettä, jotka tukevat luovan tiimin vuorovaikutusta. Toinen esseistä selvittää, miten visuaalisesti kaksiulotteinen web-konferenssityökalu ja kolmiulotteinen virtuaalimaailma eroavat toisistaan artefaktojen käytön osalta. Kolmas essee tarkastelee artefaktoja rajaesineinä, jotka välittävät viestintää erillisten sosiaalisten maailmojen leikkauskohdassa. Tuloksiin perustuen neljäs essee tarkastelee visuaalisten artefaktojen roolia monipaikkaisten, hajautettujen tiimien erilaisissa yhteistyöaktiviteeteissa luovan virtuaalimaailma-vuorovaikutuksen yhteydessä. Tutkimustulokset havainnollistavat virtuaalimaailman potentiaalin edistää luovaa tiimitason vuorovaikutusta. Tulokset esittelevät luovien virtuaalitiimien hyödyntämien artefaktojen kirjon, ulottuen episteemisistä teknisiin objekteihin. Havaittuihin virtuaalimaailman ja web-konferenssityökalun eroavaisuuksiin perustuen esitetään visuaalisen ja auditiivisen viestintäkanavan eroon pohjautuvaa laajennusta rajaesineiden käsitteeseen. Siinä missä tutkimus on merkittävä luovaan vuorovaikutukseen osallistuvien virtuaalitiimien kannalta, se myös linjaa mahdollisia suuntia tulevaisuuden tieto- ja viestintäteknologian kehityspolulle

A process for building inter-organizational contextual ambidexterity

Peer reviewe

Los principios "soft" de la gestión de la calidad como generadores de ambidestreza organizativa. Estudio de casos de cooperativas del sector de la educación en la Comunidad Valenciana

La Gestión de la Calidad ha sido una de las principales novedades en la gestión de las organizaciones y permite a las empresas poder trabajar en un entorno muy competitivo, con menos fronteras económicas y con una creciente globalización, elaborando productos y servicios que cubran las necesidades de los clientes y mejoren sus resultados globales. Además, en los últimos años, se está utilizando el vocablo ambidiestro o ambidextro en el contexto empresarial para referirse a las organizaciones o individuos que son capaces de trabajar los procesos de exploración y explotación de forma simultánea, es decir, empresas que pueden competir en mercados maduros donde el coste, la eficiencia y la mejora continua son fundamentales y, al mismo tiempo, pueden desarrollar nuevos productos y servicios para los mercados donde la experimentación, velocidad y flexibilidad son esenciales. Estos enfoques, gestión de la calidad y ambidestreza, son diferentes, pero su objetivo es esencialmente el mismo: mejorar el rendimiento final de la organización. La ambidestreza es una buena práctica de gestión que plantea pensar no solamente en la gestión diaria, sino también reflexionar sobre el futuro. La gestión de calidad, por su parte, se basa en unos principios tales que cuando se implantan en una organización, ésta se orienta hacia la mejora general y la satisfacción del cliente, tanto actual como potencial. Por tanto, planteamos en la presente tesis doctoral que la implantación de la gestión de calidad puede llevar a la empresa, de forma casi necesaria, a pensar también en las necesidades de los clientes futuros y, en consecuencia, a tener que adaptarse a los cambios. Esto nos lleva a plantear a que la gestión de la calidad puede facilitar la aplicación de la ambidestreza en la organización. Además, planteamos que del conjunto de principios que forman parte de la gestión de la calidad, son los principios “soft”, esto es, aquellos que tienen que ver con los aspectos sociales, los que realmente facilitan el desarrollo de la ambidestreza. Partiendo de las consideraciones anteriores nos planteamos como pregunta de investigación la siguiente: ¿cómo contribuyen los principios “soft” de la gestión de la calidad a generar ambidestreza organizativa? Dicha pregunta se ha expresado en forma de objetivo de investigación, de manera que para la presente tesis doctoral nuestro objetivo es analizar cómo (a través de qué mecanismos organizativos) la aplicación de los principios “soft” de gestión de la calidad puede facilitar la generación de ambidestreza en una organización. Para alcanzar dicho objetivo hemos realizado una investigación cualitativa de carácter exploratorio utilizando tres casos de empresas cooperativas valencianas de referencia en el sector de la educación. Los resultados obtenidos en esta tesis doctoral nos han permitido alcanzar el objetivo de investigación que teníamos propuesto, revelando una serie de mecanismos intermedios que actúan sobre la ambidestreza en los tres casos objeto de estudio y que son generados por la aplicación de los principios “soft” de la gestión de la calidad. Algunos de estos mecanismos actúan como facilitadores, haciendo que su existencia genere un efecto positivo sobre la ambidestreza organizativa. Otros, por el contrario, actúan como obstáculos a la ambidestreza. En cualquier caso, el papel facilitador u obstaculizador de muchos de estos mecanismos no se había puesto de manifiesto por la literatura especializada y es ésta la principal contribución de esta investigación, ya que el conocimiento de la existencia de estos mecanismos y su efecto sobre la ambidestreza organizativa pueden ser la base para el establecimiento de una serie de acciones y políticas organizativas tendentes a espolearlos, en el primer caso, y a frenarlos en el segundo