19,990 research outputs found
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Factors influencing the identification of it indirect costs: A case study
Organizations expenditure on Information technology (IT) related investments continue to rise in the
face of the fierce competition in the various marketplaces. Nevertheless, the problem of evaluating
such investments remains a challenge to managers due to the inability of the evaluation techniques to
accommodate the indirect costs associated with IT investments. This negatively affects the accuracy of
the justification process and the investment decision. According to literature, indirect cost factors are
not easily identified or quantified because they human and organizational dimensions. Indirect costs,
proven to be problematic to accommodate within traditional appraisal techniques, make IT managers
choose to ignore them and neglect to include them in IT investment budgets. The research suggests an
alternative solution to the problem of quantifying such indirect costs by calling for a more accurate
identification of those costs which would enable a more robust management and finally control of
such costs. Using a case study the paper highlights the investment decision making process in an
international resource company and confirms the call for a more robust identification process. In
addition the paper maps each indirect costs factor to the lifecycle stage(s) in which it occurs and
presents the factors that influence the quality of the identification process
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A framework for the adoption and diffusion of Personal Learning Environments in commercial organisations: an exploratory study in the learning and development sector in the UK
This study presents an exploratory approach to identify the main factors of Personal Learning Environment (PLE) adoption and diffusion within commercial organisations. Utilising an inductive investigative approach via the use of Grounded Theory methodology, relevant adoption factors were identified and their resulting influence during various stages of the innovation diffusion process were proposed. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews followed by systematic analysis using a three-staged coding process. The results revealed 10 factors affecting the adoption of PLEs influencing the innovation diffusion process at various stages. Informed by the Technology Acceptance Model and Innovation Diffusion Theory, the proposed model could have important implications for key decision makers within commercial organisations, while adopting, rejecting and assimilating new technological innovations (e.g. PLE) for learning delivery
OSS integration issues and community support: an integrator perspective
The reuse and integration of Open Source Software (OSS) components provided by OSS communities is becoming an economical and strategic need for today’s organizations. The integration of OSS components provides many benefits, but also risks and challenges. One of the most important risks is the lack of effective and timely OSS community support for dealing with possible integration problems. For gaining an understanding of the common problems that organizations face when integrating OSS components, and the role played by OSS communities, we performed an exploratory study on 25 OSS integration projects from different European organizations. The results show that the main way of reducing integration problems was the use of OSS components from well-established communities; therefore very few integration problems were identified. In most of the cases these problems were successfully solved with the support from the OSS community and/or colleagues. In addition, contrary to the common belief that understanding code from someone else is a hard and undesirable task, some integrators consider OSS code even more understandable than their own code.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft
The Role of Management Practices in Closing the Productivity Gap
There is no doubt that management practices are linked to the productivity
and performance of a company. However, research findings are mixed. This paper
provides a multi-disciplinary review of the current evidence of such a
relationship and offers suggestions for further exploration. We provide an
extensive review of the literature in terms of research findings from studies
that have been trying to measure and understand the impact that individual
management practices and clusters of management practices have on productivity
at different levels of analysis. We focus our review on Operations Management
(om) and Human Resource Management (hrm) practices as well as joint
applications of these practices. In conclusion, we can say that taken as a
whole, the research findings are equivocal. Some studies have found a positive
relationship between the adoption of management practices and productivity,
some negative and some no association whatsoever. We believe that the lack of
universal consensus on the effect of the adoption of complementary management
practices might be driven either by measurement issues or by the level of
analysis. Consequently, there is a need for further research. In particular,
for a multi-level approach from the lowest possible level of aggregation up to
the firm-level of analysis in order to assess the impact of management
practices upon the productivity of firms
Information systems evaluation in context–impact of the corporate level
The paper presents the results of a doctoral research related to Information Systems
evaluation in context. The authors propose changes in the context, the new level of contextual
analysis was added: the system context located between the internal and external context. The
system context reflects the fact that the case companies are business units and parts of the
corporations and IS evaluation is influenced by the corporation, Three levels of context
analysis can be used in case of IS evaluation in complex structures, such as corporations or
supply chain
Organizational knowledge transfer through creation, mobilization and diffusion: A case analysis of InTouch within Schlumberger
There is a paucity of theory for the effective management of knowledge transfer within large organisations. Practitioners continue to rely upon ‘experimental’ approaches to address the problem. This research attempts to reduce the gap between theory and application, thereby improving conceptual clarity for the transfer of knowledge.
The paper, through an in-depth case analysis conducted within Schlumberger, studies the adoption of an intranet-based knowledge management (KM) system (called InTouch) to support, strategically align and transfer knowledge resources.
The investigation was undertaken through the adoption of a robust methodological approach (abductive strategy) incorporating the role of technology as an enabler of knowledge management application. Consequently, the study addressed the important question of translating theoretical benefits of KM into practical reality.
The research formulates a set of theoretical propositions which are seen as key to the development of an effective knowledge based infrastructure. The findings identify 30 generic attributes that are essential to the creation, mobilisation and diffusion of organisational knowledge.
The research makes a significant contribution to identifying a theoretical and empirically based agenda for successful intranet-based KM which will be of benefit to both the academic and practitioner communities. The paper also highlights and proposes important areas for further research
Contribución del comercio electrónico al desempeño de las PyMEs industriales: un modelo estructural
El rol que juegan las Tecnologías de la Información y comunicación (TIC) para lograr un mejor desempeño organizacional aún requiere de un análisis más profundo entre las pequeñas y medianas empresas (PyMEs) de los países en desarrollo. Este estudio pretende ampliar la literatura empírica sobre la relación entre TIC, comercio electrónico y desempeño de las PyMEs en países en desarrollo. Para alcanzar este objetivo, utilizamos una muestra de 87 empresas manufactureras de la ciudad de Bahia Blanca, Argentina correspondiente al año 2015. Mediante la estimación de un Modelo de ecuación estructura, se obtiene que la adopción del comercio electrónico posee una influencia positiva y significativa en las ventas de las PyMEs la cual es potenciada por el nivel de uso de las TIC. Otros factores organizacionales tales como el tamaño de la empresa y los programas públicos explican el desempeño, pero no son predictores significativos de la adopción del comercio electrónico.The role Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) play in achieving a better organizational performance still needs further analysis among small and medium sized enterprises (SME) from developing countries. This study aims to extend the empirical literature on the relationship between ICT, electronic commerce and SME performance in developing countries. To achieve this goal, we employ a sample of 87 manufacturing firms from the city of Bahía Blanca, Argentina in the year 2015. By estimating a structural equation model, we obtain that electronic commerce adoption has a positive and significant influence on SME sales which is reinforced by the level of ICT use. Other organizational factors such as firm size and public programs explain performance, but are not significant predictors of the electronic commerce adoption.Fil: Alderete, Maria Veronica. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Economía; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Instituto de Investigaciones Económicas y Sociales del Sur. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Economía. Instituto de Investigaciones Económicas y Sociales del Sur; Argentin
Cultural diversity and information and communication technology impacts on global virtual teams: An exploratory study.
Modern organizations face many significant challenges because of turbulent
environments and a competitive global economy. Among these challenges are the use
of information and communication technology (ICT), a multicultural workforce, and
organizational designs that involve global virtual teams. Ad hoc teams create both
opportunities and challenges for organizations and many organizations are trying to
understand how the virtual environment affects team effectiveness. Our exploratory
study focused on the effects of cultural diversity and ICT on team effectiveness.
Interviews with 41 team members from nine countries employed by a Fortune 500
corporation were analyzed. Results suggested that cultural diversity had a positive
influence on decision‐making and a negative influence on communication. ICT
mitigated the negative impact on intercultural communication and supported the
positive impact on decision making. Effective technologies for intercultural
communication included e‐mail, teleconferencing combined with e‐Meetings, and
team rooms. Cultural diversity influenced selection of the communication media
Teleworking practice in small and medium-sized firms: Management style and worker autonomy
In an empirical study of teleworking practices amongst small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in West London, organisational factors such as management attitudes, worker autonomy and employment flexibility were found to be more critical than technological provision in facilitating successful implementation. Consequently, we argue that telework in most SMEs appears as a marginal activity performed mainly by managers and specialist mobile workers
Evaluating the use and impact of Web 2.0 technologies in local government
Second generation web-based technologies (Web 2.0) such as social media and networking sites are increasingly being used by governments for activities ranging from open policy making to communication campaigns and customer service. However, this in turn has brought about additional challenges. By its very nature, Web 2.0 tech- nologies are more interactive than the traditional models of information provision or creation of digital services. Such technologies open up a new set of benefits, costs and risks to those government authorities who make use of these social and digital media to enhance their work. This study draws on the extant literature together with an in-depth qualitative case enquiry to propose an emergent framework for evaluating the intra-organisational use of Web 2.0 technologies and its impact on local government. The study findings identified additional four factors (i.e. benefits: intra-marketing, informal engagement, costs: workload constraints and risk: integration with other systems) as part of the evaluation criteria which have not previously been discussed in the existing literature surrounding the context of Web 2.0 use in local government. The study concludes that a combined analysis of the evaluation and impact assessment factors, rather than one particular approach would better assist decision makers when implementing Web 2.0 technologies for use by public administration employees
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