Occupational Cultures of Information Systems Personnel and Managerial Personnel: Potential Conflicts

Management scholars have articulated the importance of occupational cultures in understanding employee behaviors in organizations. In keeping with this theme, Information Systems (IS) scholars have begun examining the occupational culture of IS personnel. It is generally argued that culture is important because cultural differences lead to conflicts and thus to dysfunctional interactions. A comparison of the occupational cultures of two groups can help identify potential conflicts that could ensue when the members from the two groups interact. In the current study, we interviewed IS personnel and management personnel to identify their respective cultural beliefs along group and grid dimensions proposed in Trice’s theoretical framework for characterizing occupational cultures. Based on these interviews, we have analyzed the belief systems of the two groups and highlighted the potential for conflict

Information Security Subcultures in Information Security Management: A Conceptual Framework

The rationale behind an organization’s information system is to provide access to its information resources and services anywhere anytime over networks. This need creates issues of security in the management of the information systems. The information system approach is socio-technical by nature, involving people and processes as well as technologies; hence, the culture and characteristics of the organization are factors in effective information security management. This implies that the concept of information management is multi-dimensional and includes the human, organizational and technological dimensions. Stemming from this information security culture is considered as an important factor in the management of information security in an organization by overcoming the problem with employees’ lack of compliance with information security management initiatives. However the security culture of an organization is based on the different security subcultures of different sections or subsections that have its basis on the training backgrounds of the individuals and or different tasks performed by each of the groups or a combination of both. This paper addresses information security from the management point of view paying close attention to the information security subculture as seen in the organizations and looks into different methods that the security subcultures can be studied in relation to information security management. Keywords: Information security management system, organizational culture, information security culture, information security subculture

New Perspectives on Implementing Health Information Technology

The importance of studying challenges in implementing information technology solutions in health care organizations is highlighted by the huge investments in health care information technology (HIT) which has been spurred by recent government mandates. Information technology can help improve health care delivery cost by facilitating the standardization of work processes or routines and reducing variations among them. Set in a premier 950+ bed hospital in the south eastern part of US, this dissertation consists of two studies examining the challenges involved in implementing HIT solutions. In the first study, we seek to gain deep insights into how the process of creating a patient’s chart evolves over time in a health care institution. The second study focuses on the users of Electronic Health Records (EHR) system, investigating the compliance behavior of various providers with respect to patient records in the system. In the first study, through the lens of Activity theory our results show that the charting routine is implicated by the following environmental factors: (1) Tools, (2) Rules, (3) Community, and (4) Roles, and by individual factors: (5) Computer Self-Efficacy and (6) Risk Propensity. In the second study, our results indicate that there is a substantial effect of subculture of the different occupational groups on IT security compliance intent and behavior in a health care institution

The Role of Organizational Culture in Organizational Change - Identifying a Realistic Position for Prospective IS Research

Organizational culture – a popular but also a very complex concept – has been identified as an influential factor affecting the successes and failures of organizational change efforts. Many empirical organizational culture studies have been carried out in information systems (IS) research. However, culture is a very versatile concept, and there are many controversies in both defining and applying it. Therefore, this paper reviews different conceptions of organizational culture in the existing literature – in anthropology, organizational studies and in IS research. Also recent criticism on the existing conceptions is presented. Furthermore, organizational change is also a complex concept, due to which this paper discusses also differing conceptions of organizational change and conceptions of change employed in the empirical IS literature. Finally, a framework for the analysis of organizational culture and change is developed. The framework identifies three positions on organizational culture and change: optimist, pessimist and relativist, and discusses their implications. The optimist position is criticized of relying on very naïve notions of culture and change. The pessimist position can be criticized of lacking relevance to practice. Finally, the relativist position is recommended as the most realistic position for the prospective IS research on organizational culture and change

Transforming the academic library: creating an organizational culture that fosters staff success [article]

Culture plays a critical role in creating a work environment where employees are committed and contribute to the success of the organization. A research study assessed organizational culture in an academic library to identify current and preferred organizational cultures. Specific actions to implement culture change, achieve organizational transformation, and facilitate a positive, creative and rewarding working environment are proposed

Conflicts, integration, hybridization of subcultures: An ecological approach to the case of queercore

This paper investigates the case study of queercore, providing a socio-historical analysis of its subcultural production, in the terms of what Michel Foucault has called archaeology of knowledge (1969). In particular, we will focus on: the self-definition of the movement; the conflicts between the two merged worlds of punk and queer culture; the \u201cinternal-subcultural\u201d conflicts between both queercore and punk, and between queercore and gay\lesbian music culture; the political aspects of differentiation. In the conclusion, we will offer an innovative theoretical proposal about the interpretation of subcultures in ecological and semiotic terms, combining the contribution of the American sociologist Andrew Abbot and of the Russian semiologist Jurij Michajlovi\u10d Lotma

Service Design in the Delivery of Non-academic Services in Higher Education

The discipline of service design is increasingly used in public sector organizations but to date has rarely been used in the delivery of non-academic services in institutes of higher education. Though organizational culture has been identified as a barrier to operationalization in past studies, the intersection between organizational culture and service design methods has not received dedicated attention in past research. This study used an interpretative phenomenological analysis approach to better describe the perceptions and experiences of staff members in a higher education setting regarding a service design project of which they were a part. Though the research was conducted in a university setting, the results will be of value to service design practitioners in other organizations that are either internally focused, as defined by Cameron and Quinn’s (2006) competitive values framework, or loosely coupled (Weick, 1976). After synthesizing the research data from this study, the relevant literature, and three conceptual frameworks, the researcher found that staff in such institutions place more value in collaborative and culture building activities than service improvement. The implication of this and related findings is that service design methods are best applied and presented as tools to bring staff together. The nature of change, methods of decision making, and organizational culture all come together to create novel applications for service design activity while also explaining why previous design efforts failed to operationalize. The researcher recommended that service design activities in the future could be used to: reframe students as community members; focus on incremental and local change; support policy and budget development; support organizational change processes; strengthen informal networks; and support long term change by changing the locus of service design activity from the point of enactment of a service to instead the selection and retention segments of the sensemaking process within the organization. The dominant organizational culture of the site studied did indeed influence the perceptions of staff members when reflecting on a service design project. By exploring those perceptions and underlying beliefs and values of participants, this study can assist service design practitioners and educational leadership in future design and change management processes

What Do Organizations Learn From Conflict? A Grounded Meta-Analysis Approach to Developing an Integrated Conflict System Roadmap

Organizational systems from a variety of fields and industries have begun to investigate and evaluate the skills, strategies, and lessons learned from conflict. Yet, many of the findings are isolated to their specific organizations or industries, decreasing the impact of the newly emerging knowledge. Due to the lack of interconnectedness in the fields and industries, this study poses the following research question: How do organizations develop skills and strategies to respond to internal and external conflict within systems? The purpose of this grounded meta-analysis was to discover what skills and strategies organizations learn through the process of managing conflict and to utilize the findings to develop a comprehensive integrated conflict development model to aid organizations in the development of their systems. The study utilized Hossler and Scalese-Love’s (1989) grounded meta-analysis methodology. Theories such as systems theory, social constructivism, and frame analysis were used to inform the development of the new theoretical framework: the roadmap for organizational conflict management systems (ROC framework). From an initial sample of 33 reports from 1990 to the present indicating conflict, I reviewed 12 executive reports and publications relating to conflict in organizations (before, during, or after conflict). Data analysis produced a framework including a holistic, transparent, and innovative context for learning, using strategies of communication, knowledge sharing, support, and collaboration. The resulting ROC framework is presented in the form of a chart to assist organizations in developing an integrated conflict management system resulting in organizational effectiveness, cooperative conflict management, and a culture of openness and trust