Conceptualization, operationalization, and validation of the digital data stream Readiness Index

This article describes how in their search for value creation, companies are investing considerable resources in so-called "Big Data" initiatives. A peculiar aspect of these initiatives is the increasing availability of real-time streams of data. Successfully leveraging these streams to extract value is emerging as a critical competence for the modern firm. Despite the significant attention received, scholarly research on Digital Data Stream (DDS) remains insufficient. More importantly, there are no specialized definitions and measurement instruments that can move the field forward by initiating a cumulative research tradition. This article can provide clarification on key definitions, differentiating DDS from Big Data. Drawing on the organizational readiness concept, the DDS readiness index develops as a measure of organizational readiness to exploit real-time digital data. This article will conceptualize, define, operationalize and validate the index. By identifying the four dimensions of mindset, skillset, dataset and toolset as the elements of the DDS readiness index and discussing its managerial and research implications

Offshoring ERP Implementations: Critical Success Factors in Swiss Perspective

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) applications are changing the way businesses are run. IT Offshoring is changing the way IT Organizations are run. However, both ERP implementations and IT offshoring are fraught with risks. When both ERP implementation and IT offshoring happen together, the risks get even more pronounced. The paper presents the critical susses factors of offshoring ERP implementation which are common in ERP as well as in offshoring case. The study is carried out with the sample interviews conducted in Switzerland. The findings revels that eight factor are critical while considering offshoring ERP implementation, namely customer interaction skills, business process skills, ERP package skills, scalability, language, project management, choice of work to be offshored, personnel split between onsite/offshore are. We used semi-structured open ended interviews with interpretive analysis for identifying the factors

The Female Employees’ Readiness On Flexible Working Arrangements In Malaysia

Flexible working arrangements (FWA) has become an important aspect in Human Resource Management policy for organization to attract and retain talented employees in the organization. The low female participation in labour workforce has motivated this study to be conducted. It aimed to provide insight to the employers on female employees special needs and their readiness to embrace flexible working arrangements if the resources were made available to them. “Readiness” to embrace flexible working arrangement was not previously studied in the flexible working arrangements field, hence a considerable amount of attention has been paid to construct the theoretical framework. An instrument is developed based on a critical review of Person-Environment (PE) fit theory that is able to explain the readiness of female employees depending on the situation surroundings them. Thus, this study postulates into three microsystems that are family (family responsibility, perceived benefits), work (career advancement, company policy), and community (supportive workplace) in PE fit theory that creates demands and resources (readiness on flexible working arrangements). The integrated approach has explained how the independent variables family responsibility, perceived benefits, career advancement, company policy impact on the readiness on flexible working arrangements and the mediating role of supportive workplace. The results shown that hypothesised relationships were partially supported, i.e family responsibility and perceived benefits was positively related to readiness to embrace flexible working arrangements. Besides, supportive workplace mediated the relationship between perceived benefits and company policy in relation to readiness to embrace flexible working arrangements. These findings have also demonstrated that women with different experience have different demands in flexible working arrangements. Findings have shown that 60 percent of the respondents were ready to embrace flexible working arrangements except for part time work options. Besides, this study has found that respondents with no children favored in compressed work schedule as the statistical result recorded at p<0.05. The output of this study would be able to benefit policy makers, organizations and practitioners to establish flexible working arrangements in Malaysia. Consequently, corporate companies would be able to attract more female employees in the business, resulting in higher productivity

An investigation into how small companies in London and the South East UK engage in IT offshore outsourcing and the impact of culture on this phenomenon

Small businesses are increasingly engaged in IT offshore outsourcing but are as yet few academic studies into this phenomenon. One of the major stumbling blocks of IT offshore outsourcing is cultural difference. A framework of propositions was empirically tested by means of case study of three small businesses based in London and the southeast of England in order to understand the specific challenges and changes for small companies and micro firms engaging in IT offshore outsourcing. Cultural differences are found to play a large part in the outcome of these projects

Kesediaan untuk berubah sebagai pengantara antara hubungan jangkaan prestasi, jangkaan usaha dan pengaruh sosial dengan niat tingkah laku perkongsian maklumat menggunakan media sosial

Cadangan oleh kerajaan bahawa media sosial menjadi medium perkongsian maklumat dalam era digital mempengaruhi pekerja termasuk pengurusan sumber manusia. Merujuk kepada Teori Penyatuan Penerimaan dan Penggunaan Teknologi (UTAUT), kajian ini mengambil faktor jangkaan prestasi, jangkaan usaha dan pengaruh sosial sebagai pembolehubah bebas. Niat tingkah laku perkongsian maklumat menggunakan media sosial dipilih sebagai pemboleh ubah bersandar manakala kesediaan untuk berubah sebagai faktor pengantara. Kaedah persampelan rawak berstrata bernisbah dan persampelan rawak mudah diguna pakai. Sebanyak 400 borang soal selidik telah diedarkan dan 365 borang telah dikembalikan. Hanya 343 lengkap sebagai data sebenar. Analisis korelasi dan regresi digunakan untuk mengkaji hipotesis dan diuji menggunakan IBM SPSS Version 25.0. Ujian faktor pengantara dihasilkan dengan kaedah bootstrapping, Model 4, dengan persampelan semula sebanyak 5000 kali dan 95% selang keyakinan bias diperbetulkan, menggunakan SPSS PROSES MACRO Version 3.0. Ujian ini digunakan untuk menilai kesan langsung dan kesan tidak langsung jangkaan prestasi, jangkaan usaha dan pengaruh sosial terhadap niat tingkah laku perkongsian maklumat menggunakan media sosial. Hasil kajian menunjukkan bahawa jangkaan prestasi (r = .77; p .000, <0.05), jangkaan usaha (r = .75; p .001, <0.05) dan pengaruh sosial (r = .61; p .001, <0.05) adalah peramal positif dalam mempengaruhi niat tingkah laku. Korelasi antara kesediaan untuk berubah dan niat tingkah laku (r = .61; p .001, <0.05), jangkaan prestasi (r = .68;p .001, <0.05), jangkaan usaha (r = .71; .001, <0.05) dan pengaruh sosial (r = .76; p .001, <0.05) menunjukkan hubungan positif dengan kesediaan perubahan. Pengaruh sosial (r = 0.76, R2 = 0.58, p = 0.001) adalah faktor yang menyumbang secara tertinggi kepada hubungan langsung kesediaan untuk berubah sementara jangkaan prestasi adalah penyumbang tertinggi kepada niat tingkah laku (r = 0.77, R2 = 0.60, p = 0.001). Hasil analisis Regresi Pelbagai Linear dengan kaedah 'Stepwise', tanpa pengaruh pengantara mendapati niat tingkah laku = 0.72 + (0.85 x jangkaan prestasi). Manakala hasil analisis dengan kesan mediator mendapati niat tingkah laku = 0.12 + (0.85 x jangkaan prestasi) + (0.45 x jangkaan usaha). Penemuan kajian bagi kesan pengantaraan menerusi kaedah bootstrapping menunjukkan terdapat kesan signifikan JP-NTL (t=22.410, p = .000); JU-NTL (t=21.220, p = .000); PS-NTL (t=14.318, p = .000) dalam Model Kesan Langsung, JPKUB (t=16.961, p = .000), JU-KUB (t=18.346, p = .000), PS-KUB (t=21.509, p = .000), KUB-NTL (t=3.422, p = .000) bagi JP, KUB-NTL (t=3.046, p = .000) bagi JU dan KUB-NTL (t=5.318, p = .000 bagi PS dan JP-NTL (t=14.452, p = .000); JUNTL (t=13.088, p = .000) dan PS-NTL (t=5.657, p = .000) dalam Model Pengantaraan Penuh. Ini mengesahkan kewujudan kesediaan untuk berubah sebagai kesan pengantara separa. Justeru, dapatan ini menyokong hipotesis pengantara dan membuktikan bahawa kesediaan untuk berubah wujud sebagai faktor pengantara dalam kajian ini. Kajian ini mengandaikan, pekerja industri perbankan di bawah Lembaga Tabung Angkata Tentera mempunyai kesedaran tentang manfaat yang boleh diperolehi daripada perkongsian maklumat menggunakan media sosial. Pekerja terlibat didapati mempunyai kesediaan untuk menggunakan media sosial dan sudah ada niat untuk melakukan perkongsian maklumat menggunakan media sosial apabila pelaksanaannya berkuatkuasa

Assessment of Change Management in Outsourcing

Tutkielma osittain rajattu julkisuudelta 22.5.2016 asti   The companies of today are competing in ever-changing business environments that require effectiveness and readiness to change. Many companies try to focus on their core competencies, and this often means outsourcing some parts of the company. In the outsourcing literature much emphasis has been put on the strategic aspects of outsourcing such as decision-making and the outcomes and effects, but not so much on how the outsourcing itself can be managed. This study contributes to the outsourcing literature by focusing on the process of outsourcing, more precisely the transition phase, which has been said to greatly influence the success of outsourcing. The aim of this study is to examine the transition as a change and provide tools to assess it. The literature on change management is used to approach this subject from the managerial point of view. This study consists of a literature review and a qualitative single-case study. The literature review develops a framework based on both the change management literature and the outsourcing literature. The case in this study is an IT organization of a Finnish multinational company which has recently outsourced its services to an outside provider. The data consists of secondary data collected by the company during the transition phase, and primary data collected by the researcher after the transition phase. The primary data was collected with semi-structured interviews from five people from three different organizational levels in the IT organization. The findings suggest that change management can and should be used to help in the transition phase of outsourcing. Seven factors are identified from the findings which require attention in the change management of outsourcing. Based on these, an assessment tool is developed for managerial use. Asiasanat:Outsourcing, transition, change management, change, assessmen

Fulfilling the curious omission of host company responses to reshoring : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, School of Management, Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand

While offshoring has become one of the most significant strategies adopted by home companies, its subsequent reshoring has created new challenges to research. For reasons that remain unexplained, the extant literature focuses on 'Why' and 'How' to reshore near exclusively from the home company's perspective. However, an interactive dyadic relationship exists between the two resource bundles during reshoring. The findings of a content-analysis based literature review reveal that published case studies focus on Western firms' offshoring and subsequent reshoring strategies, ignoring the host company response. Single and multiple case studies were completed using data collected from four host companies in China. The single case study explores the host company's response to reshoring and its influence on the home companies' decisions. Thematic analysis generated four response strategies: cost-related; market-related; knowledge-related; and, relationship-related. The multiple-case study was used to identify how the host company orchestrates resources obtained from the offshoring network in response to reshoring. Four dimensions of resources acquired from the offshoring network: financial; physical-asset related; knowledge; and, human resources were identified. The network for resource exchange was also observed to contain actors beyond the dyad, notably clients who contributed to the resource bundle. The home company's repatriation leaves resources in the host country, defined as the available residual resource (ARR). This resource bundle then leads to risks and potential sources of competition for the home company. This study adds a new dimension, the host company, to reshoring studies restoring what has become unilateral research into a bilateral dialogue

Action readiness and mindset for IT offshoring

Purpose: The paper aims to examine the degree of changes in action readiness and mindset for the IT offshore outsourcing (offshoring) practice of a number of leading finance and insurance organisations. In particular, the article investigates the action readiness (the state, condition or quality of being ready) and mindset (habits, opinions or perceptions which affect a person's attitudes) of organisations for IT offshoring. Design/methodology/approach: The research method applied has explorative research characteristics and consisted of two phases. The first phase included conducting interviews with project managers of 12 organisations in home and offshore countries and the second phase was concerned with an in-depth analysis of projects in three organisations. By adopting a process research approach, the research takes into account the dynamics of IT offshoring projects in terms of five essential aspects, i.e. the way of working culture, method use, IT activities, IT governance, and knowledge sharing. Findings: The findings indicate that to a greater extent organisations have realised readiness for method use and the mindset for IT activities, and that the overall improvements regarding these aspects have been modest in the last two years. On the other hand, the mindset for dealing with cultural difference has increased while readiness for flexible working, tracking of requirements change, efficient division of work, and systematic communication is still inadequate. Research limitations/implications: As the findings are concerned with a small sample and particular industries, they are limited in nature. More research is needed to update the findings in other industries with a larger sample. This would help in achieving stronger external validity. Practical implications: The model used in this research can help organisations in identifying how well they are prepared for or have improved IT offshoring practice in terms of five essential aspects. Based on the degree of readiness and mindset at hand, they can make use of the findings related to particular aspects. In this respect, the findings may provide valuable insights for practitioners. Originality/value: Most IT offshoring studies employ a variance research strategy, by which cause-effect relationships among dependent, independent, and mediating factors essential to the subject matter are studied. As an alternative to this strategy, this research adopts a process research approach, which is concerned with the dynamics of IT offshoring practice, which takes into account the emergent and on-the-fly nature of IT projects. Such dynamics are examined in terms of two conceptual levels, i.e. action readiness (ability, condition of being readiness) and mindset (opinions, perceptions). These levels, which are often employed as a separate focus in existing studies, are found to be useful in closing the gap between action readiness and mindset for IT offshoring.Publisher's Versio

Developing a holistic framework of key categories of influences that shape knowledge sharing from an individual perspective

The aim of this thesis is to develop a holistic framework that depicts key categories of influences that shape individual perceptions of knowledge sharing within an organisational setting. This aim stems from a systematic literature review that indicates that despite the large volume of literature in regards to knowledge sharing, the field has not yet arrived at a consensus as to the key categories of influences, defined at a high level, that shape individuals’ knowledge sharing perceptions. In order to uncover the key categories of influences, an exploratory and qualitative case study strategy was executed. Empirical data were gathered from a total of 24 interviewees that were based in four different country branches (i.e. China, the Netherlands, the UK and the US) of a single IT services organisation. Using constant comparison, findings point towards a holistic framework that depicts four key categories of influences that shape knowledge sharing from an individual perspective. The first key influence revolves around institutions which act as a united entity on individual perceptions of knowledge sharing. The second key influence fundamentally different in nature concentrates on relations between individuals sharing knowledge. The third key influence focuses on the individuals themselves (called sharers) and how their attitudes and characteristics can shape their knowledge sharing perceptions. The fourth and final key influence centres on knowledge itself and how this can shape individual perceptions of knowledge sharing. In addition, findings suggest that the four key influences not only shape knowledge sharing independently but that all four key influences are intertwined and together form a holistic framework. Combined, these two sets of findings indicate that knowledge sharing from an individual-level perspective is a more complex phenomenon than currently portrayed in the literature, which has focused on some of the key influences or depicted some of the interrelationships. Yet to better understand the knowledge sharing phenomenon from an individual perspective all four key influences, each being fundamentally different in nature, and their relationships should be taken into account