From Intranets to Wrestling Information Infastructures

This study explores intranets as information infrastructure and this conceptualization is supported by evidence from three interpretive case studies. If an intranet is considered as an infrastructure then it does not occur ‘de-nouvo’, it must wrestle with an ‘installed-base’ and over time extends as a new infrastructure. If this is the case what are the social arrangements that are embedded and give visibility to the Information Infrastructure? What are these existing ‘installed bases’ that an Intranet wrestles with? A qualitative analysis strategy exploiting qualitative analysis software enhances this research. This study concludes that web-based information resources are in fact an information infrastructure, which do not occur ‘de-nouvo’. They ‘wrestle’ with and extend the existing non-technical organisational communication structures, taking on their strengths and weaknesses. They also ‘plug’ into other technical infrastructures in a seamless way. Business processes are also inscribed on to the information infrastructure, but in a partial manner rather than full-automation. A model of this nature can help the IS professional to more purposively extend an Intranet to a business critical information infrastructure

A communications framework for extended enterprise performance measurement

Copyright © 2007 Taylor & Francis. This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in International Journal of Computer Integrated Manufacturing on 19 February 2007, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/09511920500340858Inter-organizational performance measurement communication is a neglected facet of the performance measurement literature. Performance measurement (PM) is undergoing a transformation in today's business environment, consistent with the development of inter-organizational paradigms, such as the virtual enterprise, extended enterprise (EE), and supply chain management. In this paper the communications issue is discussed using an EE mindset, and the concepts behind a communications framework are presented. This utilizes the concept of an EE host – the member of the EE with responsibilities for formulating, detailing and distributing information concerning the EE performance measurement system to other EE nodes. The framework design is based upon standardized intranets located at each partner in the EE. This provides the necessary elements to enable different organizations in the EE to maintain PM databases locally, while ensuring the existence of a centrally located database maintained by the EE host. A case study is presented that focuses upon the implementation of the EE performance measurement system at the EE host

Impact Of Intranets On Employee Perception And Behavior: A Case Study In A UK Bank

This paper deals with the question of how intranets impact on employee perception and behavior. The study uses a five year longitudinal study following the evolution of an intranet in a UK bank to analyze how it changed the relationships between employees and between managers and employees. The discussion integrates two different research domains, the intranet literature and the organizational trust literature. Qualitative data is presented to show the impact of intranets on communication, sharing of information, collaboration, organizational bonding, feeling of empowerment, power distance and sense of closeness. The discussion uses three metaphors to convey the key findings: The Plumbing System, the Iconic Building and the Soap Opera. The main contribution of this paper is in using constructs from the organizational trust literature to better understand how intranets impact on employee perception and behavior

A Survey of Distributed Enterprise Network and Systems Management Paradigms

Since the mid 1990s, network and systems management has steadily evolved from centralized paradigms, where the management application runs on a single management station, to distributed paradigms, where it is distributed over many nodes. In this survey, our goal is to classify all these paradigms, especially the new ones, in order to help network and systems administrators design a management application, and choose between mobile code, distributed objects, intelligent agents, etc. Step by step, we build an enhanced taxonomy based on four criteria: the delegation granularity, the semantic richness of the information model, the degree of specification of a task, and the degree of automation of management

Implementing section 404 of the sarbanes oxley act: Recommendations for information systems organizations

Section 404 of the Sarbanes Oxley (SOX) Act addresses the effectiveness of internal controls, which in most organizations are either fully or partially automated due to the pervasiveness and ubiquity of information technologies. Significant or material control deficiencies have to be reported publicly. The adverse impact on organizations declaring deficiencies can be severe, for example, damage to reputation and/or market value. While there are many practitioner-led manuals and methods for dealing with 404, there has been little published in the academic research literature investigating the role of Information Systems organizations in implementing Section 404. The paper addresses this gap in knowledge. We used institutional theory as the lens through which to examine the experiences of Section 404 implementation in three global organizations. We used the case study method and an abductive strategy to gather and analyze data respectively. Our findings are summarized in six recommendations. We found that institutional pressures play a critical role in the implementation of Section 404. In particular, organizations face coercive pressure to achieve Section 404 compliance, without which punitive sanctions can be imposed by regulators. Organizations tend to imitate one another in the methods they use so that each is perceived to be in line with their competitive environment. Organizations face normative pressures to act in ways that are socially acceptable, which is to achieve compliance. Failure to do so would be a signal to the market that the organization does not take controls seriously. We expand these findings in terms of power and influence tactics that IS organizations can use when implementing Section 404. Our findings provide directions for practice and lines of enquiry for further research