Mastering the Downward-Facing Dog: IT Flexibility and Business-IT Alignment

With a rising quest to leverage information technologies (IT) for attaining strategic objectives, enterprises require sufficient flexibility to cope with dynamic business environments. The flexibility of IT infrastructure is investigated in this study as a mechanism to induce more aligned business and IT activities in large organizations. To complement earlier findings of IT flexibility’s influence on alignment, this study operationalizes three models. Using standardized survey responses from 130 organizations from around the globe, structural equation modeling is applied. Investigating the impact of IT flexibility on alignment, we find a positive and meaningful effect of IT flexibility on alignment. Moreover, positive effects on several alignment practices are found. Although no moderating effect of cloud adoption rates is found, this study concluded with several meaningful implications to understand the strategic relevance of a flexible IT

Information management in work organization domain in network organizations

Tese de mestrado. Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores. Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 200

Templates for joined work systems – How business process modularity and IT flexibility enable mutual understanding among business and IT

To increase the performance of IT-intensive organizations, mutual understanding between business and IT professionals has proven to be crucially important. In turn, architecture management – leading to modularization and flexibilization of an organization’s IT infrastructure – drives the level of mutual understanding. While previous studies agree on this finding, conceptualizations on mutual understanding are quite dispersed. In our study, we focus on the differing effects of business process modularity and IT flexibility on operational and strategic aspects of mutual understanding. We combine two theoretical lenses to describe this linkage: the template theory to explain the sense-making process and the work system theory to consider different perspectives on a business system. Based on 119 survey results, we find that modularity does not enable business/IT mutual understanding per se. It rather depends on a perfect match of functional and technical aspects. Thus, we determined limited effects of architecture management on mutual understanding

CHANGE-READY MPC SYSTEMS AND PROGRESSIVE MODELING: VISION, PRINCIPLES, AND APPLICATIONS

The last couple of decades have witnessed a level of fast-paced development of new ideas, products, manufacturing technologies, manufacturing practices, customer expectations, knowledge transition, and civilization movements, as it has never before. In today\u27s manufacturing world, change became an intrinsic characteristic that is addressed everywhere. How to deal with change, how to manage it, how to bind to it, how to steer it, and how to create a value out of it, were the key drivers that brought this research to existence. Change-Ready Manufacturing Planning and Control (CMPC) systems are presented as the first answer. CMPC characteristics, change drivers, and some principles of Component-Based Software Engineering (CBSE) are interwoven to present a blueprint of a new framework and mind-set in the manufacturing planning and control field, CMPC systems. In order to step further and make the internals of CMPC systems/components change-ready, an enabling modeling approach was needed. Progressive Modeling (PM), a forward-looking multi-disciplinary modeling approach, is developed in order to modernize the modeling process of today\u27s complex industrial problems and create pragmatic solutions for them. It is designed to be pragmatic, highly sophisticated, and revolves around many seminal principles that either innovated or imported from many disciplines: Systems Analysis and Design, Software Engineering, Advanced Optimization Algorisms, Business Concepts, Manufacturing Strategies, Operations Management, and others. Problems are systemized, analyzed, componentized; their logic and their solution approaches are redefined to make them progressive (ready to change, adapt, and develop further). Many innovations have been developed in order to enrich the modeling process and make it a well-assorted toolkit able to address today\u27s tougher, larger, and more complex industrial problems. PM brings so many novel gadgets in its toolbox: function templates, advanced notation, cascaded mathematical models, mathematical statements, society of decision structures, couplers--just to name a few. In this research, PM has been applied to three different applications: a couple of variants of Aggregate Production Planning (APP) Problem and the novel Reconfiguration and Operations Planning (ROP) problem. The latest is pioneering in both the Reconfigurable Manufacturing and the Operations Management fields. All the developed models, algorithms, and results reveal that the new analytical and computational power gained by PM development and demonstrate its ability to create a new generation of unmatched large scale and scope system problems and their integrated solutions. PM has the potential to be instrumental toolkit in the development of Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems. In terms of other potential applications domain, PM is about to spark a new paradigm in addressing large-scale system problems of many engineering and scientific fields in a highly pragmatic way without losing the scientific rigor

Early aspects: aspect-oriented requirements engineering and architecture design

This paper reports on the third Early Aspects: Aspect-Oriented Requirements Engineering and Architecture Design Workshop, which has been held in Lancaster, UK, on March 21, 2004. The workshop included a presentation session and working sessions in which the particular topics on early aspects were discussed. The primary goal of the workshop was to focus on challenges to defining methodical software development processes for aspects from early on in the software life cycle and explore the potential of proposed methods and techniques to scale up to industrial applications

Modulaariset arkkitehtuurit toimitusprojekteissa

We set out to deepen our understanding on modular architectures in the context of delivery projects, and how these architectures should be designed. Setting up the study, we asked what kind of architectures can be found in both technological and organizational domains and how they interplay: with each other. As the first step, we reviewed the existing literature on the concepts of modular architectures and what applications of modularity exist in the technological and organizational domains. We also continued the discussion into the context of delivery projects. For the empirical analysis, we chose an embedded multiple-case study approach, for which we had 47 interviews from two case companies (33 of them were from eight case projects). We found that technological modules can be used to achieve increased economies of repetition by utilizing existing designs and copying pieces of equipment from other systems. Integrative modules, like automation and core networks, have a significant role in architectures, as they change the way technologies interact and tie the delivered package as a single entity. Also, we found that a person or a team can be used to standardize the interaction between two organizational modules. Moreover, projects benefit from knowing more than they make, as it enables them to create suitable architectures, but incorporating this knowledge through subcontractors is also effective. One of our key findings is that with novel technologies projects need more integral organizational architectures, which enable faster information flow and interaction. Also, the degree of technological modularity is not mirrored to organizational architectures, because highly modular technologies were also managed through integrated organizations. We found the first phases of a project to be most critical in setting up the appropriate architectures, as they were not easily changed. Moreover, due to the uncertainties in the first steps of projects, the initial architectures might need to be redesigned. Overall, the findings of this study have helped us to understand technological and organizational architectures and their interplay in delivery projects.Lähtökohtanamme oli kasvattaa ymmärrystä toimitusprojektien modulaarisista arkkitehtuureista ja kuinka nämä tulisi suunnitella. Tätä varten esitimme seuraavat kysymykset: minkälaisia arkkitehtuureja on löydettävissä teknologiselta ja organisatoriselta alueelta ja kuinka nämä arkkitehtuurit vaikuttavat toisiinsa? Aluksi kävimme läpi miten modulaarisia arkkitehtuureja on käsitelty tämänhetkisessä kirjallisuudessa ja miten nämä ilmenevät teknologisella että organisatorisella alueella. Tämän jälkeen jatkoimme keskustelua toimitusprojektien systeemien yhdistämisestä. Tutkimustavaksi valittiin tapaustutkimus, jota varten analysoitiin 47 haastattelua kahdesta eri yrityksestä; näistä 33 oli kahdeksasta eri toimitusprojektista. Teknologisia moduuleita hyödynnettiin toistamisessa käyttämällä olemassa olevia suunnitelmia ja kopioimalla laitteiston osia muualta. Yhdistävät moduulit, kuten automaatio ja runkoverkko, vaikuttivat merkittävästi teknologioiden väliseen vuorovaikutukseen ja ne sitovat toimituspakettia enemmän yhdeksi kokonaisuudeksi. Lisäksi henkilöä tai tiimiä voidaan käyttää kahden organisatorisen moduulin vuorovaikutuksen standardisoimiseen. Kun projektilla on tietoa enemmästä kuin mitä se tekee, se pystyy suunnittelemaan sopivia arkkitehtuureja, mutta alitoimittajan tiedoilla voidaan silti tuloksekkaasti paikata puuttuvia tietoalueita. Yksi merkittävimmistä havainnoistamme oli kuinka uudet teknologiat tarvitsevat yhtenäisiä organisatorisia arkkitehtuureja, nopeuttaen tiedonkulkua ja vuorovaikutusta. Teknologisen modulaarisuuden ei nähty heijastuvan suoraan organisatorisiin arkkitehtuureihin, sillä erittäin modulaarisia teknologioita hallittiin myös yhtenäisillä organisaatioilla. Projektin alkuvaiheiden nähtiin olevan kriittisiä sopivien arkkitehtuurien luomiseksi, sillä luotuja arkkitehtuureja ei muutettu helposti projektin aikana. Kaiken lisäksi projektien arkkitehtuurit voidaan joutua suunnittelemaan uudestaan alun ekavarmuuksien takia. Kaiken kaikkiaan tämä tutkimus auttoi meitä ymmärtämään teknologisia ja organisatorisia arkkitehtuureja ja kuinka ne vaikuttavat toisiinsa

Value chain governance in the age of platforms

Global value chain (GVC) theory focuses globalisation in the late 20th century. While the theory claims to apply generally to interfirm relationships, much of GVC analysis has focused on the incorporation of developing country manufacturers into the supply chains of global lead firms. This literature has frequently expressed doubts about whether integration into such chains offers opportunities for innovation and upgrading. More recently, globalised production has seen the emergence of market and technology platforms and platform leaders. The distinctive feature of platforms is that they require innovation by other companies to turn platforms into products. Analysis of platform governance can contribute to the further development of GVC governance theory. Using secondary material on platform leaders such as Intel and Apple and primary research on Chinese-owned mobile phone companies, the paper shows how examination of governance in the context of platforms allows a recuperation of understudied and undertheorised elements of GVC governance theory

Knowledge Worker Behavioral Responses and Job Outcomes in Mandatory Enterprise System Use Contexts

The three essays that comprise my dissertation are drawn from a longitudinal field study of the work process innovation of sourcing professionals at a large multinational paper products and related chemicals manufacturing firm. The focus of this study is an examination of how characteristics of the work process innovation context impact enterprise system (ES) acceptance, rich ES use behavior and the resulting individual-level job outcomes realized by knowledge workers in a strategic business process. The ES, an enterprise sourcing application, was introduced to innovate the work processes of employees who perform the sourcing business process. Over a period of 12 months, we collected survey data at four points in time (pre-implementation, immediately following training on the new system; following six months of use; and, following 12 months of use) to trace the innovation process as it unfolded. The three essays that comprise my dissertation focus on three key gaps in understanding and make three corresponding key contributions. The first research essay focuses on the transition from an emphasis on behavioral intention to mental acceptance in mandatory use environments. This essay contributes to the technology acceptance literature by finding that work process characteristics and implementation characteristics are exogenous to beliefs about the technology and that these beliefs are important to understanding mental acceptance as well in mandatory use contexts. The second and third research essays emphasize the transition from lean use concepts to conceptualizing, defining and measuring rich use behaviors and show that use must be captured and elaborated on in context. This is pursued through the development of two rich use constructs reflective of the sourcing work context and the complementary finding of countervailing factors in the work process that may impede the positive impact of rich use behaviors on job benefits