A systematic review of knowledge sharing challenges and practices in global software development

Abstract not availableMansooreh Zahedia, Mojtaba Shahinb, Muhammad Ali Baba

Effective Strategies for Managing the Outsourcing of Information Technology

More than half of information technology (IT) outsourced projects fail, primarily due to a lack of effective management practices surrounding the outsourcing end-to-end process. Ineffective management of the IT outsourcing (ITO) process affects organizations in the form of higher than expected project costs, including greater vendor switching or reintegration costs, poor quality, and loss of profits. These effects indicate that some business leaders lack the strategies to effectively manage the ITO process. The purpose of this single-case study was to apply the transaction cost economics (TCE) theory to explore strategies 5 business professionals use to manage an ITO project in a financial services organization located in the Midwestern region of the United States. Participant selection was purposeful and was based on the integral role the participants play on the ITO project. Data collection occurred via face-to-face semistructured interviews with the participants and the review of company documents. Data were analyzed using inductive coding of phrases, word frequency searches, and theme interpretation. Three themes emerged: vendor governance and oversight, collaborative strategic partnership, and risk management strategies enabled effective management of ITO. Identifying and executing appropriate outsourcing strategies may contribute to social change by improving outsourcing infrastructure, which might support job creation; increasing standards of living, especially within emerging markets; and heightening awareness of different cultures, norms, and languages among people living in different regions around the world to establish commonalities and gain alignment with business practices

Examining Australia’s asylum seeker policy through a Critical Race Theory lens

Accountings for social phenomena produce partial representations that remain silent on many things, but the wilful intention to silence accounting itself is a curiosity requiring further attention. Accounting typically serves the motives of the powerful, silencing and marginalising the ‘Other’ (for racial, sexual, religious, power etc. reasons). Disempowerment and obscurity of Others is ubiquitous, possible through the lack of visibility ascribed when unaccounted for by accounting. Yet, when this accounting fails to legitimise the actions of the powerful, accounts become obfuscated. The purpose of this paper is to consider the mystification of accounting by an overarching commitment to inhumane and costly government policy, using the illustrative example of Australia’s offshore immigration detention for asylum seekers

A Taxonomy of Information System Projects’ Knowledge-sharing Mechanisms

Despite its criticality to the success of information system (IS) projects, knowledge sharing among IS projects is generally ineffective compared to knowledge sharing in IS projects. Although several mechanisms for knowledge sharing exist in the literature, it is difficult to determine which mechanism one should use in a specific context. We lack work that concisely and comprehensively classifies these mechanisms. Based on a literature review, we extracted information from 33 studies and identified twelve mechanisms for sharing knowledge among IS projects. Then, we derived a taxonomy for these mechanisms, which extends previous research by both adapting existing mechanisms and complementing the set of dimensions used for their classification. The results help to systematically structure the fields of knowledge management and IS projects. Both research and practice can use this taxonomy to better understand knowledge in this domain and effectively adopt mechanisms for a particular application

When Prototyping Meets Storytelling. Practices and Malpractices in Innovating Software Firms

Storytelling is an important but often underestimated practice in software engineering. Whereas existing research widely regards storytelling as creating a common understanding between developers and users, we argue that storytelling and prototyping are intertwined practices for innovators to persuade decision makers. Based on a two-year qualitative case study in two innovating software firms, we identify and dialectically examine practices of storytelling and prototyping. Our study implies that storytelling and prototyping should be integrated together into software engineering methods

Exploring Knowledge Transfer and Knowledge Building at Offshore Technical Support Centers

This is an exploratory investigation into knowledge transfer and knowledge building processes observed at offshore Technical Support Centers (TSCs) in China. Utilizing a multiple case study approach, the study examines how knowledge was transferred from the US-based support center to the China-based offshore support center, and how individuals and the organization built and expanded knowledge in a dynamic changing business context. The field cases were three Technical Support Centers in China. Three models were developed from the qualitative analysis of the field data to explain how knowledge is transferred and built in offshore TSCs. The knowledge transfer type adoption model identifies the relationships amongst the levels of knowledge (novice, advanced beginner, competency, and proficiency), the types of knowledge and the knowledge transfer approaches (structured transfer stages, unstructured copy, unstructured adaptation, and unstructured fusion). The basic individual tacit knowledge building model shows that tacit knowledge is acquired and built through two continuous knowledge building loops, an explicit learning loop and an implicit learning loop. The organizational knowledge building model demonstrates the interaction amongst knowledge flow, absorptive capacity, knowledge stock and knowledge intermediary in offshore knowledge transfer and building within the three levels (individual, group and organization levels) of the SECI spiral (socialization, externalization, combination and internalization). The three models provide new insights into the knowledge transfer process for different levels of knowledge acquisition, individual tacit knowledge building processes and organizational knowledge building processes in an offshore outsourcing business context. By applying these models to appropriate field situations, both practitioners and academics may be able to gain a deeper understanding of knowledge transfer approaches, be able to better guide new employees’ expertise and confidence building through controlled and monitored experiential learning process, and be able to improve understanding of how knowledge is built and evolves within organizations

Conflict resolution in business services outsourcing relationships

Many organizations source administrative business services like information technology, human resources, procurement, legal, financial and accounting services through external service providers, a practice known as Business Services Outsourcing (BSO). Many of these relationships are strategic, in the sense that they are large, underpin clients’ business strategies, and the client can become highly dependent on service provider capabilities and performance. The BSO market is over $1 trillion in size and has been growing for two decades. Despite the size and maturity, up to 50% of BSO relationships result in poor outcomes, partly because partners cannot resolve conflicts. Based on interviews with client and provider leads from 13 BSO relationships, we answered the research question: “What types of inter-organizational conflicts arise in BSO relationships and how do partners resolve them?” We extended the prior literature on inter-organizational conflict frameworks by conceptualizing three types of conflicts specific to BSO: commercial conflicts, service conflicts, and relationship conflicts. Conflicts as we study them here are not minor disagreements, but have a strategic dimension. Commercial conflicts were the most serious because outsourcing relationships are firstly commercial transactions—a provider must earn a profit and a client must meet its economic business case to be viable. Theoretically, we found Thomas and Kilmann’s typology of conflict resolution styles to be robust enough to characterize the BSO conflict cases, provided a switched style category was included. In our data, we found that only the collaborative and switched-to-collaborative styles resolved conflicts to the satisfaction of both partners, which is consistent with theory. Novel findings that extend or contest prior theory are identified as part of a future research agenda. For practitioners, we also identified five effective conflict resolution behaviors

Rise and Fall of an Information Technology Outsourcing Program: A Qualitative Analysis of a Troubled Corporate Initiative

Information technology outsourcing (ITO) is a common business practice and a widely studied topic in academic literature. However, far less attention is paid to the implications and social dynamics of executives’ pursuit of personal career achievement through the implementation of ITO programs. Focused mainly on gaining organizational power for career advancement and accomplishment, executives can create unintended consequences for their employees, their suppliers, their company, their shareholders, and their own careers. This research focused on a large information technology outsourcing program from its inception to early implementation at a single Fortune 1000 firm. The time span covered was just over five years, which included the two years prior and more than three years of the initiative’s lifespan. The data for this study included fifty-two interviews conducted with employees and executives over eighteen months as well as my personal observations and field notes. The uniqueness of this study compared to other published research stems from my dual role as both researcher and executive at the firm throughout this work. The data informed a grounded theory of how and why the ITO initiative unfolded as it did, while giving equal voice to the employees and executives involved. The central theoretical premises of this analysis relied on Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus, capital, and fields in conjunction with Bruce Lincoln’s taxonomies and anomalies within social structures. The study’s analysis was further informed by Brown and Duguid’s infocentrism, Erving Goffman’s dramaturgy, impression management, and moral career, along with Thomas Kuhn’s paradigms within the structure of scientific revolutions, Jackall’s bureaucratic ethic and Harvey’s Abilene Paradox. Analysis of the data identified the organization’s habitus as a collection of visible and shadow social practices, mental models, and organizational rules for accumulating power. The habitus shaped employees’ and executives’ behaviors toward each other and toward their ITO provider. As this study ended, the ITO initiative was in its fourth year, significantly delayed, and its chances of success doubtful