Evaluation of IS project success in InfSysMakers: an exploratory case study

Evaluating the success of information systems projects is a key process in project management. Even though many studies found in literature focus on various aspects of project success like, for example, the success factors, there are few studies that address the evaluation process and that present practical cases. In order to help fill this gap, this paper presents an exploratory case study of a company called InfSysMakers (anonymized company name), aiming to get answers to the following questions "How is the process for evaluating the success of projects defined?"; "What criteria are used to evaluate the project success?"; "When does the evaluation actions take place to measure success?"; "Who are the stakeholders that participate in the evaluation?" Based on the obtained results, we propose a preliminary model for assessing the success of projects. The results are useful for researchers and practitioners interested in improving the project success evaluation processCOMPETE: POCI - 01 - 0145 - FEDER - 007043 and FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the Project Scope: UID/CEC/00319/201

Career orientations and turnover intentions of information systems professionals in South Africa

Bibliography: leaves 93-103.Managing Information Systems (IS) personnel has frequently been cited as a major challenge for organisations, particularly with respect to reducing and controlling the high rate of turnover that IS personnel have historically displayed. In the past, with demand for qualified IS personnel outstripping supply, alternative job openings were plentiful and organisations found it difficult to attract and retain sufficient staff. However, the last few years have seen significant cutbacks in IS spending, resulting in declining growth rates and a reduced demand for IS personnel. Although the South African IS job market does not appear to be as severely affected as in other parts of the world, and there are still pockets of high demand worldwide, it seems unlikely that the IS industry will return to its former glory in the foreseeable future. Despite these stringent market conditions, organisations continue to be plagued with high, and even more surprisingly, increasing turnover rates. This trend is particularly perturbing for organisations that are highly dependent on IS because of its negative implications. Employee turnover is costly and disrupting, often leading to delays in project completion, there is a loss of valuable expertise and productivity of the IS department is reduced. Although, this research project only considered IS personnel turnover at the individual level, there are many other factors related to the work and external environments that are believed to affect IS personnel turnover in South Africa. However, these factors which include organisational structure, perceived job market and government policy, are very difficult to measure and are often beyond the control of organisations endeavouring to reduce and control turnover; and as such were not explicitly studied

Effective means of improving email communication

Email communication has become an integral part of the communication structure within organisations, but the problems it can cause are rarely assessed. The defects associated with email, which are related to both the quantity and the quality of email need to be understood by employees for them to become more effective users of email. Email training within organisations tends to focus on how to use email as a software package, without looking at when it is appropriate to use email and how to get your message across effectively. This thesis first explores email defects and how they impact on organisations. [Continues.

Turnover and retention in the information technology workforce

Die Fluktuation von Mitarbeitern in der Computerbranche ist im Vergleich zu anderen Tätigkeitsbereichen besonders hoch; sie kann bis zu 20% pro Jahr betragen. Die Fluktuationsraten von Frauen sind dabei in der Regel höher als die von Männern. Der Anteil von Frauen in den USA, die in der Computerbranche arbeiten, ist dabei von 41% im Jahr 1996 auf 29% im Jahr 2004 zurückgegangen. Hohe Fluktuationsraten von gut ausgebildeten Mitarbeiter/innen können für Unternehmen sehr teuer und im Betriebsablauf sehr störend sein. Der Verlust von gut ausgebildeten Mitarbeiter/innen bedeutet, dass Unternehmen hohe Kosten für die Aufnahme bzw. Ausbildung von Personal aufbringen müssen. Dazu kommen versteckte Kosten, die z.B. entstehen, wenn Projekte nicht abgeschlossen werden können und sich Zusammensetzungen von Arbeitsteams verändern. Die Analyse von Ursachen von Fluktuation im Bereich von IT-Arbeitskräften und ihre Kontrolle durch entsprechende HR-Maßnahmen ist daher ausgesprochen wichtig für die Unternehmen. Das Ziel dieser Arbeit ist die Analyse von Ursachen von Fluktuation in der IT-Branche. In der vorliegenden Dissertation wird beschrieben, wie ein Fragebogen zur Erfassung der Ursachen von Fluktuation, arbeitsbezogenen Einstellungen und Fluktuationsintentionen entwickelt wurde (Beitrag 1). Es wird die Durchführung der Implementierung des Fragebogens als Online-Tool vorgestellt; dabei wird auf Überlegungen zum Fragebogendesign eingegangen, um den Rücklauf zu erhöhen (Beitrag 2). In weiterer Folge wird ein Modell zur Vorhersage von Fluktuation literaturbasiert entwickelt und pfadanalytisch überprüft. Zusätzlich wird dabei auf Geschlechtsunterschiede eingegangen (Beitrag 3). Im vierten Beitrag wird beschrieben, wie dieses Modell in einer transnationalen Vergleichstudie (mit Daten aus Österreich) überprüft wurde. Abschließend werden im fünften Beitrag Empfehlungen zur Verhinderung von hoher Fluktuation dargestellt. Im ersten Beitrages kann gezeigt werden, wie ein reliabler und valider Fragebogen entwickelt wurde. Vergleiche zwischen postalischer Versendung einer Papier/Bleistift-Version und einer Online-Version zeigen ähnliche und akzeptable Rücklaufraten; die Ergebnisse dieser Studie (Beitrag 1) können auf die gesamte IT-Branche übertragen werden (Beitrag 2). Die statistischen Analysen erbrachten einen guten Fit zwischen den Modellüberlegungen und dem Datensatz. Es konnte gezeigt werden, dass eine Reihe von Prädiktoren auf organisatorischer Ebene sowie im Bereich von Personal-entwicklungsmaßnahmen mit Fluktuationsintentionen einhergehen. Dazu gehören z.B. fehlende Herausforderung in der Tätigkeit, (zu) hohe Anforderungen, Arbeit/Familien-Konflikte, fehlende Karrieremöglichkeiten und die Wahrnehmung eines ungerechten Belohnungssystems. Die Analysen zeigen, dass die Beziehungen zwischen diesen Prädiktoren und der Zielgröße durch arbeitsbezogene Einstellungen (Arbeitszufriedenheit und Burnout) mediiert werden. Es kann weiters gezeigt werden, dass das Geschlecht als Moderatorvariable auf die Beziehungen zwischen den Prädiktoren, den arbeitsbezogenen Einstellungen und der Fluktuationsneigung einwirkt. Die Ergebnisse können herangezogen werden, um die Bereitschaft zum Verbleib zu erhöhen (Beitrag 3). Die Robustheit des postulierten Modells wurde in einer transnationalen Vergleichstudie mit österreichischen Daten überprüft und bestätigt (Beitrag 4). Die Ergebnisse der Vergleichsstudien zeigen, dass ein optimiertes Modell einen zufriedenstellenden Fit in beiden Datensätzen (USA und Österreich) erbringt. Die Stabilität des Modells kann so bestätigt werden. Zusätzlich konnte gezeigt werden, dass die postulierten Modellbeziehungen auch für Frauen und Männer, für Altersgruppen sowie unterschiedliche Gruppen in den Unternehmen (Betriebszugehörigkeit und Qualifikation) bestätigt werden können. Als Abschluss der Studienreihe konnte auf der Basis der amerikanischen Daten gezeigt werden, dass eine familien-freundliche Politik im Unternehmen sowohl bei weißen Mitarbeiter/innen als auch bei den unterrepräsentierten Minoritäten geeignet ist, um Bleiberaten im Unternehmen zu erhöhen (Beitrag 5). Die Ergebnisse zeigen aber auch, dass es keinen einheitlichen Ansatz für alle Unternehmen gibt. Um Fluktuationsraten möglichst gering zu halten, müssen die organisatorischen Praktiken an die jeweiligen Bedürfnisse der Unternehmen und Mitarbeiter/innen angepasst werden.Employee turnover in the Information Technology (IT) workforce is high: it can reach more than 20% on an annual basis. Turnover rates of women are higher than turnover of men, and the percentage of women working in IT fell from 41% in 1996 to 29% in 2004. Turnover of highly skilled employees can be very expensive and disruptive for firms. Losing highly skilled staff members means that companies incur substantial costs associated with recruiting and re-skilling, and hidden costs associated with difficulties completing projects and disruptions in team-based work environments. Determining the causes of turnover within the IT workforce and controlling it through human resource practices and work system design is imperative for organizations. The goal of this study is examine antecedents of turnover in IT. In this dissertation we describe how we developed a questionnaire to examine antecedents, work-related attitudes and turnover intention in IT (Paper 1); the process of questionnaire implementation through a web-based survey system and the survey design factors that play a role in achieving high response rates (Paper 2). Further, we describe the development of a turnover model for IT based on the literature, how we tested the model with path analysis, and how we tested the model for gender differences, using data collected in the USA (Paper 3). In the fourth paper we describe how the turnover model is tested with data collected in a transnational (Austrian) study. Finally, recommendations are made for retention of IT personnel (Paper 5). Results of the study show that we developed a reliable and valid questionnaire (Paper 1). Further, results of our comparison between postal mail and Internet surveys show that the web-based survey we used to collect the data in the American study generated response rates that are comparable to postal mail studies; and that the results --in principal-- can be generalized to the whole IT population (Paper 2). Results of our statistical analysis show that there is a good fit between the turnover model that we developed for IT, and the data. Results show that there are a number of job and organizational factors and human resources practices that are related to turnover intention, such as lack of challenge in the job, high job demands, work-family conflict, lack of career opportunities and the lack of fairness of the reward system. Results show that most of the relationship between the antecedents of turnover intention is mediated by work-related attitudes such as job satisfaction and burnout. Results also show that gender moderates the relationship between antecedents of turnover, work-related attitudes and turnover intention. These results have an impact on retention of IT personnel (paper 3). We tested the robustness of the turnover model in a transnational study, using data collected in Austria (Paper 4). Results of the transnational studies show that the optimized turnover model fits both databases (American and Austrian) and thus confirm the stability of the model. Moreover, the model relations were found to be similar not only in the two national samples, but also for gender, age groups, groups with different tenure at their organizations, and groups with different educational backgrounds. Finally, using the American sample, we examined what family-friendly practices are effective in retaining white men and women, and underrepresented minorities in IT (Paper 5). Results show that there is not a “one size fits all” approach for retaining IT personnel. Retention practices have to be tailor-made to in order to be effective

IT Staff Turnover Intentions, Job Modification, and the Effects of Work Recognition at Large Public Higher Education Institutions

Information Technology (IT) leaders in public higher education are under increased pressures to leverage innovations in technology to address their institution’s strategic imperatives. CIOs modify jobs by increasing responsibilities or changing the tasks that IT workers perform. IT staff who experience job modification are susceptible to lower job satisfaction and increased turnover intentions. IT leaders in other industries have successfully used work recognition to improve job satisfaction but there is limited research pertaining to these conditions among higher education institutions. This study sought to determine the perceptions and effects of work recognition and job modification on the turnover intentions of IT workers employed at 71 large, publicly controlled, higher education institutions. The researcher conducted a quantitative study using structured equation modeling to measure the potential moderating effects of recognition on job satisfaction, affective commitment, and perceived organizational support as predictors of turnover intention. The researcher found that work recognition was effective at moderating the effects of responsibility increase and task replacement on job satisfaction for IT workers with respect to their preferences of work recognition types. IT workers perceptions of the relative strength and duration of various work recognitions was also determined. The findings contribute to the study of turnover antecedents by providing new information on the relationship between extrinsic and intrinsic motivations and turnover intentions of IT workers at the institutions studied. The conclusions have implications for practice among CIOs in large public institutions regarding the importance and characteristics of work recognition as a tool for retaining IT staff

User participation and user satisfaction in information systems development

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University, 26/06/2001.Information Systems (IS) are being developed and used in organizations to achieve their business goals and to enhance organizational effectiveness. The rate of systems success is questionable. One of the causes of IS failures might be user dissatisfaction with the systems. The success of an Information System is difficult to measure directly, so user satisfaction and system usage are frequently used as surrogate measures of system success. User participation in IS development has been advocated to achieve user satisfaction with the system and consequently system success. Past research findings about the effect of user participation on user satisfaction leading to system success are mixed and inconclusive. Past research has not been successful in showing whether user participation in IS development is necessary or not. So further research in this respect is justifiable. This thesis investigated the effect of user participation/involvement on user satisfaction. The effect of user expectations, and user-developer effective communications on user satisfaction has also been explored. A research model was proposed to proceed with this research. Meta-Analysis was carried out to investigate the relationship between user participation, user expectations and user-developer effective communication each with user satisfaction respectively. This thesis found some relationship of these factors with user satisfaction. The strength of the relationship (i. e. correlation 'r') was found to be 'medium' but not large'. The results also show that user involvement has a larger correlation with user satisfaction as opposed to user participation. The findings not only lead to the conclusions that user participation/involvement, user expectations, and user-developer effective communication have positive relationship with user satisfaction, but also contribute to the existing alternative views among IS researchers. The relationship between system usage and user satisfaction was found to be positive and of 'medium' strength and contrasts with the prevailing view that no correlation exists between them. So research findings are not only useful to resolve controversies that exists in past research but also lead to conclusions that user participation may contribute towards successful IS development and consequently user satisfaction with IS. Further, the causes of the emergence of unrealistic user expectations are explored and suggestions for future research are made.Government of Pakista

A Comparative Analysis of Style of User Interface Look and Feel in a Synchronous Computer Supported Cooperative Work Environment

The purpose of this study is to determine whether the style of a user interface (i.e., its look and feel) has an effect on the usability of a synchronous computer supported cooperative work (CSCW) environment for delivering Internet-based collaborative content. The problem motivating this study is that people who are located in different places need to be able to communicate with one another. One way to do this is by using complex computer tools that allow users to share information, documents, programs, etc. As an increasing number of business organizations require workers to use these types of complex communication tools, it is important to determine how users regard these types of tools and whether they are perceived to be useful. If a tool, or interface, is not perceived to be useful then it is often not used, or used ineffectively. As organizations strive to improve communication with and among users by providing more Internet-based collaborative environments, the users' experience in this form of delivery may be tied to a style of user interface look and feel that could negatively affect their overall acceptance and satisfaction of the collaborative environment. The significance of this study is that it applies the technology acceptance model (TAM) as a tool for evaluating style of user interface look and feel in a collaborative environment, and attempts to predict which factors of that model, perceived ease of use and/or perceived usefulness, could lead to better acceptance of collaborative tools within an organization

Modelling the usage behaviour of G2C-ICT services among internally displaced people

The developments of government to citizen ICT (G2C-ICT) services have facilitated citizens’ governmental transactions and improved their life quality. However, the usage level of these services among citizens of war-torn developing countries such as Iraq is still low and does not fulfil governments aspirations. Moreover, based on the current literature, there is an absence of a model to clarify the ambiguous influencing factors affecting the usage among war-affected citizens like internally displaced people (IDP). Thus, this study aims to create a model of the influencing factors that affect the intention and usage behaviour of G2C-ICT services among IDP. This study extended the established factors of the Theory of Interpersonal Behaviour (TIB) with four important contextual factors; the perceived intensity of civil conflict (PICC), information security, trust, and service awareness. The quantitative method with simple random sampling technique was used for collecting data from 890 IDP. Structural Equation Modelling-Partial Least Squares (SEM-PLS) was used to analyse data and investigate the relationships between the contributing factors. The findings demonstrate that the intention to use G2C-ICT services is significantly influenced by social factors, service awareness, trust, affect and perceived consequence but surprisingly not influenced by information security. The usage behaviour is influenced significantly by facilitating conditions, habit, and PICC. Contrary to the results of previous studies that applied TIB in other contexts, the findings imply that facilitating conditions, habit, and PICC determinants do not have a moderating effect on the correlation between intention and usage behaviour. The study contributes to the body of knowledge by determining the factors that influence the intention and usage behaviour of G2C-ICT services among citizens and examining TIB effectiveness in man-made disasters context. The findings could assist the governments of 92 less peaceful countries in their endeavour toward high usage of ICT applications among their citizens in alleviating the negative consequences of man-made disast

Applying data mining techniques to ERP system anomaly and error detection

Tiedonlouhinta kehitettiin oleellisen tiedon löytämiseen suurista tietomassoista ja pohjautuu koneoppimiseen, hahmontunnistukseen ja tilastotieteeseen. Suosittuja käyttökohteita ovat esimerkiksi huijausten havainnointi, markkinointianalyysit, myynnin ja varaston ennustaminen sekä tietojen korjaus. Toiminnanohjausjärjestelmät (ERP) keräävät suuria määriä tietoja kaikista yrityksen toiminnoista, mikä tekee niistä hyvän kohteen tiedonlouhinnalle. Tämä diplomityö tutkii tiedonlouhinnan sopimista Lean System toiminnanohjausjärjestelmän syötteiden tarkistukseen tosiaikaisesti Oraclen tiedonlouhinta-alustalla tiedon laadun parantamiseksi. Tulokset osoittavat, että tiedonlouhinta voi olla menestyksekäs työkalu syötteen tarkistukseen, mutta onnistunut louhintaprosessi vaatii usein louhittavan tiedon pikkutarkkaa esikäsittelyä ja algoritmien hyvää tuntemusta.Data mining is a concept developed for analyzing large quantities of data. It is based on machine learning, pattern recognition and statistics and is currently used, for example, for fraud detection, marketing advice, predicting sales and inventory and correcting data. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems commonly gather data from all parts of company operations thus providing a good source of data for data mining. This thesis studies data mining suitability for real-time validation of Lean System ERP input on the Oracle Data Mining (ODM) platform to improve data quality. The results proved that data mining can be a successful tool for input validation, but a successful mining process requires often meticulous pre-processing of mined data and good knowledge of the algorithms

Protean and boundaryless career orientations - an empirical study of IT professionals in Europe

One of the key themes in current career research is the debate regarding the prevalence of so-called 'new' careers and the assumed decline of 'old', organizationally driven careers. Yet, new career concepts characterized by increasing mobility, boundary crossing and self-directedness often suffer from a rather vague conceptualization, as well as from a lack of empirical evidence, especially outside the US cultural context from where most of these models originate. This study critically examines, conceptually refines, and empirically applies two frequently quoted new career models, namely the protean career and the boundaryless career. In addition, the two concepts are linked with career success, career anchors and career management three other relevant areas in career research. These themes are explored in a large empirical study in the context of the Information Technology (IT) industry in Europe. Careers of IT professionals have often been considered as prototypical for new careers. Hence, this study makes it possible to examine empirically the two American career concepts in a European context. It further addresses relevant topics for IT organizations in Europe, where many employers struggle to attract new talent whilst retaining and developing their existing workforce. The study applies a mixed-method approach, combining quantitative and qualitative, cross-sectional and longitudinal elements. Whilst it predominantly focuses on individuals and their careers, the study also takes into account more general perspectives, namely the organizational, industrial/professional and economic/societal levels, in order to provide a more encompassing view of individual careers. The findings suggest that the protean and the boundaryless career concepts are helpful tools to examine and understand individual careers. Based on the two concepts, three clusters of individuals with different career orientations are identified. These clusters differ significantly with regard to a wide range of characteristics. Yet, the results also show that both concepts require further conceptual clarification and that they cannot provide an all-encompassing perspective on career orientations. By taking career success, career anchors and career management tools into account, several additional aspects of individual careers are revealed. Also, the results demonstrate that only by looking at the complex interplay of various levels of analysis can individuals and their careers be understood more holistically. Finally, the study contributes to a better understanding of IT professionals and their careers and it provides a variety of practical implications which can support IT organizations in Europe in creating a more attractive, motivating work environment for their workforces.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo