Special Theme of Research in Information Systems Analysis and Design - I. Unraveling Knowledge Requirements Through Business Process Analysis

Organizations analyze their business processes in order to improve them. Business processes are also considered retainers, users and creators of organizational knowledge. Thus, they can be analyzed to identify the knowledge used, created and embedded in them. A process analysis approach that focuses on redesign does not necessarily capture the knowledge used and created in a process. Choosing a knowledge-focused approach should lead to understanding knowledge needs but might not lead to improved business processes. This paper describes an approach for Knowledge Requirements Analysis (KRA) that combines process analysis with identifying knowledge used and created during the process. KRA is the process of identifying and analyzing existing organizational knowledge and prescribing improvements to it. The KRA methodology presented in this paper combines two methods: a knowledge engineering method (CommonKADS) and a process modeling method (EDPDT). The EDPDT constructs are used to operationalize the organization and task models of CommonKADS and thus create the KRA methodology. The methodology was applied successfully to the process of ethical reviews of grant applications in a university. The main advantage of the proposed methodology is that it enables organizations to keep track of their knowledge resources embedded in various business processes. Knowledge that is not shared or used can be detected and new knowledge can be identified to support and improve existing processes better. This approach can lead to improved knowledge management in organization

Unraveling equivocality in evaluations of information systems projects

This thesis is motivated by the practical conundrums encountered when making information systems and technology (IS/IT) project continuation decisions and by the dearth of research pertaining to the causes of equivocality in IS/IT project evaluations. Despite the paucity of studies dealing with this theme, there is great concern among both practitioners and academics that continuation decisions and the evaluations need to be improved. To enrich our conceptual understanding of equivocality in IS/IT projects, this thesis identifies typical characteristics and causes of equivocal situations. It delineates the development and assessment of an instrument to measure an equivocal situation and its causes, providing insights into the emergence of this situation. This thesis endeavors to unravel the phenomenon of equivocality and to set a preliminary foundation of equivocality in IS/IT projects. It enlightens both practitioners and academics by suggesting how problems in project evaluations can be forestalled and by advancing the knowledge on equivocality, evaluations, and decisions

Emergent Cultural Contradictions from Overlapping Cultural Levels in Information Systems Development

Research exploring cultural influence on information system development (ISD) projects tends to focus on a single level of influence (e.g., organizational culture) or cultural incompatibility between one or two cultural levels that are assumed to be discretely separate and static (e.g., national and organizational culture). In contrast, our research conceptualizes culture as dynamic and emergent, with varying levels of overlapping cultures that occur simultaneously in ISD projects (e.g., organizational and occupational culture overlaps). The case study method is used to examine two strategic projects in a single organization in South Africa. The findings describe how the overlap of different cultural levels gives rise to cultural contradictions in ISD projects. Understanding the relevance of the multiple cultures that exist in ISD projects offers further opportunity for refining explanations of cultural contradictions. Cultural contradictions that emerge from cultural overlaps during ISD are conceptualized as five distinct types: Vision Contradictions, Priority Contradictions, Process Contradictions, Role Contradictions, and Technology Contradictions. Despite variation in the context of each project, there is similarity in the nature and effect of emergent cultural contradictions. The paper concludes with suggestions for addressing cultural contradictions in, and influences on, ISD projects

Role of Middle Managers in Mitigating Employee Cyberloafing in the Workplace

Companies in the United States are concerned about the indeterminate effectiveness of corporate cyberloafing mitigation efforts leading to the persistence of employee cyberloafing behavior. Although middle managers are the driving force behind the transformational influences that guide employee productivity and could proffer practical solutions, a lack of clarity surrounds the middle manager\u27s role in the overall cyberloafing mitigation efforts within organizations. The central research question for this transcendental phenomenological research study explored the lived experiences of middle managers regarding their roles in mitigating employee cyberloafing at higher education institutions in Florida. This study used a social constructivist-interpretive framework that draws from the multiple realities constructed through social interactions and lived experiences. Participants included 7 middle managers with experience mitigating cyberloafing at higher education institutions in Florida. Four major themes emerged from an inductive analysis of the data, including managing employee performance, proximity matters, cyberloafing interventions, and understanding employee online technology use. The results and recommendations of this study provide implications for social change. Business organizations may modify cyberloafing mitigation strategies and policies from a better understanding of manager/employee interactions, transformational managerial influences used to mitigate employee cyberloafing, and managerial knowledge of employee appropriation of online technology

Using coaching as a social justice tool

The purpose of this research is to explore the way professional coaches are taught to use advocacy in their work with and for their clients. The research posits that the use of critical questions in the coaching conversation is both ethical and necessary work for coaches to support their clients’ development. The poststructural paradigm and accompanying methods are used to open up spaces within the core competencies and ethics of two credentialing organizations, sample training materials, and supplemental reading. Queer and critical whiteness theories question and push the traditional boundaries of the client/coach relationship, creating possibilities that make advocacy a necessary and meaningful aspect of coaching. Chapter six of this research holds a layered approach to viewing the development of the coach as a social justice advocate. This chapter also contains a social justice training module for coach continuing education. Finally, I have developed a social justice coaching conversation model that embraces critical questions from hermeneutics and critical discourse analysis. This conversation model encourages coaches to think more critically and use critical questions to create awareness around bias within their clients and themselves

The Slow Violence of Business As Usual Planning: Racial Injustice in Public Health Crises

This thesis is a critical analysis of the normative planning practice in relation to the aspirational principles of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) (especially Section A, Part 1: Overall Responsibility to the Public). By exploring several dimensions of typical, or Business As Usual, planning practices in a local planning department in Springfield, Massachusetts and contextualized within larger planning concerns in the United States, I illustrate that socio-spatial, racialized oppression is deeply embedded in these common practices. Through a multimethod approach that includes historical survey, archival research, interviews, and direct observation, I argue that most professional planning operates from within antiquated frameworks that prioritize professionalism and expertise over genuine community engagement, relationality, and collective agency. This structure contributes to weakened trust in government and inequitable allocation of attention and resources, thereby reproducing inequity, particularly in disaster contexts. While these are my findings from site-specific research, I contend that such outcomes are evident in planning departments more generally. Thus, I conclude that the exacerbation of inequity during crises is not isolated, but instead a result of deeply embedded neoliberal planning practices. Specifically, I identify key barriers to equitable planning as 1) absence of care, 2) over-reliance on economic development, 3) disconnects between research and implementation, 4) degraded linking social capital and top-down public participation, and 5) illusions of objectivity in planning. These patterns contribute to what I, following Rob Nixon (2011), call slow violence against vulnerable populations through professional silence about and complicity in violent structures. Associating these trends with the violence of COVID-19 and racism, I find that planning may be participating in structural slow violence against communities of color, especially in Legacy Cities such as Springfield, Massachusetts. Finally, I call for a shift in planning practice, wherein we acknowledge and take responsibility for the unavoidable political role of the planner. I propose five steps to redirect our practices: 1) acknowledge our past, 2) reject illusions of objectivity, 3) identify injustices and define resilience collectively, 4) center care frameworks, and 5) invest in the implementation of research finding

The Role of Process Knowledge in a Business Process Improvement Methodology

The newly established holistic approach to BPM (Business Process Management) has led to increased recognition of the knowledge and experience people develop, use and share while modelling, executing and improving their business processes. However, this knowledge perspective is often neglected by the current BP improvement methodologies. Our empirical research confirms that business process improvement is, in fact, a complex, knowledge-intensive, collaborative process that consists of a set of coordinated, contextualised knowledge management processes. This paper describes the results of our on-going research project that, among other things, aims to investigate the role of individual and collective process knowledge developed and used in a business process improvement methodology deployed in a real-life, complex organization