Improving retention strategies for IT professionals working in the public sector

Despite much research interest, effective retention of IT professionals has proved difficult for many public sector organizations. By concentrating on intention to leave, researchers may not have provided a clear way to formulate effective retention strategies. Consequently, we used intention to stay as an alternative lens to identify factors that can reduce turnover of IT professionals. Our findings indicated that attitudes, perceived behavioral control, and identification with the organization all had a statistically significant relationship with intention to stay; attitude was the strongest. It was concluded that existing retention strategies needed to be refocused on the issues that make IT staff stay; a number of practical recommendations for IT managers are presente

Coherence and transparency: some advice for qualitative researchers

There is relatively little advice in the Engineering domain for undertaking qualitative studies. Researchers have to rely on generic guidance that may result in imprecise application of qualitative methods. A related discipline to Engineering is Information Systems (IS) and the experiences of the IS domain may provide some useful insights for undertaking qualitative studies. This paper synthesizes the guidance from the IS community for crafting high quality qualitative studies and manuscripts. It reports on five themes: i) Establishing philosophical underpinnings; ii) Clarifying theoretical aims; iii) Selecting qualitative methods; iv) Demonstrating rigour in qualitative data analysis; and v) Grappling with generalisation. The review stresses the importance of coherence and transparency for crafting qualitative research manuscripts and provides a list of reflective questions for qualitative research design

Information Technology Capability and Organizational Agility on a Health Company

This paper presents a case study relating IT Capability and Organizational Agility within a medical diagnostics company in Brazil. The objective was to identify how IT Capability affects Organizational Agility; therefore, a qualitative approach was adopted. The analysed company is one of the four biggest Brazilian companies in this sector, and it is the youngest of them. The data collection was based on interviews with twelve persons, including IT professionals, business professionals and IT supplier professionals. The relationship between these two concepts was analysed from the perspective of the company’s three main information systems. The sensing dimension of organizational agility has so much information from monitoring systems that the importance of reacting dimension is based more on the effectiveness of the projects than on the time of response. The study shows that IT capability supports the organizational agility on its both dimensions – sensing and reacting – and these are not separated nor unrelated dimensions. The organization responses are highly based on the analysis of the identified problem areas, and they bring insights and create a time advantage that allow the company to spend more time choosing the new projects that should be carried on. The reacting dimension of agility are not about time of response, but about the effectiveness of response

The Impact Of Robo-Advice On Financial Advisers: A Qualitative Case Study

One of the most significant recent technological developments concerns the application of robotics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to skill-intensive, knowledge-based jobs. The financial adviser is a role that has been identified as being under threat from automated robo-advice services. However, there are conflicting views on the future of human financial advisers. It has been argued that human financial advisers will soon become obsolete because robo-advisers are lower cost and make fewer mistakes. Conversely, it has been argued that financial investment is an emotional process that requires empathy and reassurance that cannot be provided by automated robo-advisers. In this exploratory study we use service encounter theory to explore the key elements of the financial adviser job role, identifying where human interaction with the client was considered to be valuable. Our findings suggest that robo-advisers are likely to augment rather than substitute human financial advisers

Factors Affecting The Level Of Success Of Warehouse Management Systems

In recent years the sophistication and application of Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) has increased significantly and they are now seen as vital systems for gaining efficiency improvements and cost savings within the logistics industry. However, the successful implementation of a WMS is rare. Therefore, this study’s aims were to explore the key factors that influence the success of a WMS development project. Twenty two interviews were conducted with Directors, Senior Managers and Consultants that had been associated with WMS implementations. The findings show that there are conflicting views between Directors and Senior Managers with both groups focusing on different priorities during a WMS project. In addition, appointment of a project champion, frequently an external consultant is important in ensuring that there is good communication between all the stakeholder groups. The study concludes that many Directors need to develop their understanding of WMS development projects, in order to avoid becoming completely reliant on a consultant project champion who is always likely to leave the organisation at some point

RE-CONCEPTUALIZATION OF TAILORING TYPES AND THEIR IMPACTS: A PERSPECTIVE FOR CONTEMPORARY ERP SYSTEMS

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems continue to gain importance in today’s tough global environment. Organizations are making large investments in ERP systems because of their promised benefits. Several observations have been made in the literature which suggest that organizations should avoid tailoring the ERP systems as much as possible while implementing and using them. It is assumed that this approach will result in realizing the likely benefits of ERP systems. However, because of ever evolving requirements and individual needs of the organizations, even a ‘Vanilla’ package has to undergo through customization. Literature on the ERP systems provides different typologies of the ERP customizations. However, there is a pressing need for a new and refined typology as the functionality of the ERP packages has matured and advanced over the years. This paper is intended to present the re-conceptualization of the ERP customization typology and, moreover, it aims to develop new assessment criterion that can be used to assess the impact of the different types of customizations

BENEFITS REALIZATION FROM ERP SYSTEMS: THE ROLE OF CUSTOMIZATION

Organizations are making large investments in package based Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. While some organizations have achieved business improvement from their ERP systems, many still fail to realize the benefits identified at the project outset. One recommended approach to improve the likelihood of ERP system success and thereby delivery of benefits, is to avoid package customization. However, it appears that implementing a truly \u27vanilla\u27 system, although desirable, is rarely achieved. The degree of customization may also be important in influencing the level of benefits realized from ERP systems. A more tailored system may provide a better fit with organizational processes and hence the increased chances of benefits realization. Research that explores the relationship between ERP system customization and benefits realization is lacking. This study helps to fill this gap using an existing benefits management framework and explicitly examining the role of customization in ERP projects. The research method will be exploratory research followed by two in-depth case studies. It is anticipated that investigating the role of customization will significantly advance our understanding of the benefits realization process from ERP system projects

USE OF ERP SYSTEMS: A SOCIAL SHAPING PERSPECTIVE

The term of social shaping is very attractive and has been widely used in the Information Systems (IS) literature. Social shaping of an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) package can materialise through the means of power, politics, discourse and user resistance. Whenever a package is socially shaped, either it is modified or there are no changes in the package but it is used in a different way than intended. This paper is concerned with the use of ERP system through the lens of social shaping. The paper suggests that empirical observation in the post-implementation stages of ERP system in this respect will give rich insights by informing which stakeholders are involved, which means are deployed that shapes the system and does it lead to an improved situation

Artificial intelligence and data analytics: Emerging opportunities and challenges in financial services

Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems are providing a new opportunity to financial services firms to develop distinctive capabilities to differentiate themselves from their peers. Key to this differentiation is the ability to execute business in the most effective and efficient manner and to take the smartest possible business decisions. AI systems can process large amounts of data with levels of accuracy and consistency that is not possible for humans to achieve, providing a route to more accurate predictions and data-driven analytical decision making. In this paper, we discuss the benefits of AI for improving data analytics and decision making, current and potential applications of AI within financial services, operational challenges and potential solutions for AI adoption, and conclude with requirements for successful adoption of AI systems

Towards Benefit Orientated Business Process Modelling: A Canonical Action Research Study

Organizations are increasingly employing business process modelling techniques in an attempt to visualise their processes and highlight the improvements that need to be made. However, despite the plethora of modelling techniques available, the main focus has typically been the graphical depiction of a process. As of yet little consideration has been given into how a process can be presented in such a way as to allow the key stakeholders to realise its true value. The aim of this paper is to establish if benefits realisation can help develop a value focused process modelling technique. Stakeholder and Sensemaking theory will be employed to develop practical guidelines around how the modelling should be conducted and presented. The research presents a new modelling prototype that addresses the gap in the literature concerning benefits orientated process modelling