THE IMPACT OF RISK CHECKLISTS ON PROJECT MANAGER\u27S RISK PERCEPTION AND DECISION-MAKING PROCESS

Risk checklists are often used to assist project managers to identify the potential risks in software projects. Previous study found that the checklists can help managers identify more risks, but the number of risks identified doesn’t significantly correlate with managers’ decision. This might because some risk items could play more important role than other risk items in manager’s decision-making process. This paper uses a survey-based research method to investigate the weight of different risk items on project manager’s risk perception and decision-making. This research will be carried out in two phases: 1) Pilot study. A questionnaire will be developed and administrated to college students. The result will be analyzed and research instrument will be modified based on the feedback. 2). Formal study. A group of IT project managers will be recruited and the revised instrument will be sent to them for participation. A detailed research design is presented

GOVERNANCE FORM AND VALUE CREATION IN IT OUTSOURCING

This research-in-progress considers the make/buy dichotomy common in research on IT outsourcing (ITO) transaction arrangements. Recent strategic management research finds that several kinds of transaction arrangements exist and categorizes them on three independent dimensions of control. Using a sample of 100+ ITO transactions from a small consulting firm, I plan to empirically test the relationship between use of these arrangements in ITO transactions and value created and captured by the transaction partners. Expected findings of the completed research will contribute to the outsourcing literature by validating a more nuanced means of analyzing outsourcing transactions. In addition, this research aids scholars’ understanding of how transaction arrangements contribute to the creation of value for transaction partners. Finally, this research contributes an additional IS perspective on a prominent theory of the firm, transaction cost economics (TCE), and contributes to ongoing debate in the IS literature regarding the applicability of TCE to ITO transactions

Risk Profiles in Individual Software Development and Packaged Software Implementation Projects: A Delphi Study at a German-Based Financial Services Company

The aim of this paper is to compare risk profiles of individual software development (ISD) and packaged software implementation (PSI) projects. While researchers have investigated risks in either PSI projects or ISD projects, an integrated perspective on how the risk profiles of these two types of information system (IS) projects differ is missing. To explore these differences, this work conducted a Delphi study at a German-based financial services company. The results suggest that: First, ISD projects seem to be more heterogeneous and face a larger variety of risks than the more straightforward PSI projects. Second, ISD projects seem to be particularly prone to risks related to sponsorship, requirements, and project organization. Third, PSI projects tend to be predominantly subject to risks related to technology, project planning, and project completion. Finally, in contrast to available lists of risks in IS projects and irrespective of the project type, the paper found a surprisingly high prominence of technology and testing-related risks

Understanding the Nature of Project Escalation: An Exploratory Study from an IS Risk Perspective

Information Systems project failure has retained its preeminent position as one of the most important research streams in the past decades. Many studies attempt to understand what causes project failure as it is known as the first and most important step to effectively manage projects and avoid project failure. One of the most important reasons causing failure cited in IS literature and trade reports is project escalation. The phenomenon of project escalation has generally been examined from traditional perspectives and little is known about the phenomenon from an IS risk viewpoint. A qualitative case study of an IS project in Thailand is then used to illustrate the nature of project escalation and explain the relationships between project escalation and IS risks. The results of this study extend the existing body of knowledge of project escalation and describe the dynamic nature of project escalation from a nontraditional point of view

Research-In-Progress: An Empirical Investigation of the Decision of Whether or Not to Perform Risk Mitigation in Software Projects

Although software project risk management has been found to positively affect project success, research suggests that software project risk management is not widely practiced. Addressing this issue, this research-in-progress paper focuses on the risk-response step of risk management and proposes a model that explains and predicts software project managers’ undertaking of risk-response actions. The theoretical model integrates behavioral decision making under uncertainty literature and the reasoned action approach. Especially, the availability heuristic (i.e., people’s reliance on the accessible information to make judgments) is used to explain the variation in the project managers’ beliefs about the outcomes of continuing-risk-inaction and undertaking risk-response actions. The paper presents the survey methodology that will be adopted to test the model

Risk Mitigation in Corporate Participation with Open Source Communities: Protection and Compliance in an Open Source Supply Chain

Open source communities exist in large part through increasing participation from for-profit corporations. The balance between the seemingly conflicting ideals of open source communities and corporations creates a number of complex challenges for both. In this paper, we focus on corporate risk mitigation and the mandates on corporate participation in open source communities in light of open source license requirements. In response to these challenges, we aim to understand risk mitigation options within the dialectic of corporate participation with open source communities. Rather than emphasizing risk mitigation as ad hoc and emergent process focused on bottom lines and shareholder interests, our interest is in formalized instruments and project management processes that can help corporations mitigate risks associated with participation in open source communities through shared IT projects. Accordingly, we identify two key risk domains that corporations must be attendant to: property protection and compliance. In addition, we discuss risk mitigation sourcing, arguing that tools and processes for mitigating open source project risk do not stem solely from a corporation or solely from an open source community. Instead they originate from the interface between the two and can be paired in a complementary fashion in an overall project management process of risk mitigation. This work has been funded through the National Science Foundation VOSS-IOS Grant: 112264

Decisions in software development proyects management: an exploratory study.

Given the importance of software in today's world, the development of software systems is a key activity that requires complex management scenarios. This article explores the implications of hard decisions in the context of software development projects (SDPs). More in deep, it focuses on the emotional consequences of making hard decisions in IT organisations. Complex SDPs involve a great variety of actors. This fact entails morale, feelings and emotions, which play an important role for communication, interaction and, ultimately, decision making. The aim of the article is twofold. First (Study 1), to identify which are the most important hard decisions in SDPS. Second (Study 2), to study the influence of emotions on decision-making processes (Study 2). Findings show the complex emotional consequences and difficulties that managers must face in hard decision-making processes.Publicad

THE ROLE OF CONTEXT IN MANAGING INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE SERVICES

Contemporary organizations are increasingly dependent on information infrastructures to deliver their services. However, information infrastructures are highly complex and dynamic, which lead to considerable management challenges. This research aims to contribute to our understanding of these challenges through an in-depth investigation of a team responsible for information infrastructure services at a large business and technology service company. The complexity and dynamics faced by the team emphasizes the important role of context in managing its information infrastructure services and underlying technology platform. To investigate the team’s practice we therefore adopt contextualist inquiry in combination with a pluralist approach based on four complementary theoretical lenses; technological frames of references, risk management, control versus drift, and dynamic capabilities. As contributions, this research has the dual goal to improve the teams’ practices while at the same time providing new theoretical insights about the role of context in management of information infrastructure services