The IS Core IX: The 3 Faces of IS Identity: Connection, Immersion, and Fusion

From the time of the first ICIS conference in 1980, the debate over the identity of IS research continues to flare. Accompanying this debate is an endless quest for the core of the IS field and its boundaries, as well as the identification and articulation of its reference disciplines and research methods. This debate most recently crystallized in the dialectic between the Benbasat-Zmud-Weber position around narrowing the field to center around the core of the IS artifact --- and the Alter position around broadening the field to be a work-centered systemic interconnected view. This paper argues that there is nothing inherently wrong with either of these two perspectives, but that they are just alternative models of reality which bring particular central features of phenomena to the foreground and hide other features. The paper further argues that there is at least a third critical perspective that can be equally argued for. It characterizes these three perspectives of IS identity as connection, immersion, and fusion, and articulates their commonalities and distinctions. Like the Three Faces of Eve in the classic 1957 Hitchcock movie thriller, each of these faces of IS identity reveals particular aspects of the IS persona. This paper contends that it may be time for a natural shift of emphasis from the Connection view to the Immersion View to the Fusion view as IT continues to morph and augment its capabilities. The paper explains the differences and similarities among the three views, and articulates each of them. The Fusion view is one that is not yet apparent in the IS field. This paper alerts the IS scholarly community to pay attention to it, and suggests ways of doing that

Personal Information Systems for Strategic Scanning in Turbulent Environments: Can The CEO Go On-Line?

Empirical evidence suggests that scanning for information becomes an increasingly salient activity for top executives as enviromental turbulence increases. A critical part of scanning for top executives in such environments is scanning to identify strategic threats and opportunities. This is the focus of this papen We seek to understand the strategic scanning behaviors of top executives in order to provide some guidelines for designing computerbased systems to support and enhance strategic scanning processes. The paper first tries to understand the characteristics of the strategic scanning process through an empirical study of 37 chief executive officers (CEOs) of small to medium-sized high technology companies in northern California\u27s Silicon Valleg Thmugh a semi-structured interview with the flavorof an eventprotocol the CEOs were asked about various aspects of their strategic attention behavior in relation to three strategic threats and opportunities which they were experiencing. Several general questions pertaining to their use of information sources for strategic information were also asked. Informationsources were classifiedbased onthe locationof the information source (external or internal to the organization), and based on the directional specificity of information transmission (personal or impersonal). The results showed that the CEOs relied to a greater extent on external sources for the strategic information, than they did on internal sources. The results indicate thatthey did not frequently delegate scanning for strategic information totheirsubordinatesorassistants,norweretheywillingtodoso. Theresultsalsoshowedthat the CEOs used more personal than impersonal information sources for strategic information, and that the number of sources was limited. These results in combination suggest that the CEO\u27s personal scanning filter (rather than the organizational filter) is of prime importance in identifying strategic issue& \u27Ito types of strategic scanning information were identified by the CEO\u27s. The first type was general surveillance information which was not necessarily coupled with any specific threat or opportunity, but which changed the frame of reference through which they interpreted furtherinformation,implyingthatsecond-orderlearningisa featureofthe strategicscanning process. The second type was information coupled to identifying specific threats or opportunities Four modes of strategic scanning were identified: routine monitoring, problemistic search, unsolicited reception, and coincidental surveillance. The results showed that the strategic information scanning method was more often proactive than reactive, and that CEO\u27s most frequently used the routine monitoring mode for strategic scanning, indicating that they are very systematic scanners, andthatthere are certain habitual sources thatthe CEO monitors and consults The paper then draws some conclusions and implications for the design of computer based information systems for supporting strategic scanning. The empirical results suggest that in terms of strategic attention, the CEO\u27s information system is very personal and somewhat decoupled from the organizationalinformation system. Thus a computer-based information system to support and enhance the CEO\u27s strategic scanning would probably have to be a customized personal system, with inputs being made by the CEO himself. This points in the directionof some kindof tickler file system whichhas some verysimple inputmethods, but sophisticated classification and manipulation capabilities with qualitative verbal data- The emergence of idea outlining software is a step in that direction. A further step would be to incorporate some learning features into the software to adapt to changing frames of reference. Given the absence of the tight coupling requirement between a strategic scanning system and the organizational system, and given the small database, portable lap computers are identified as an appropriate medium for such an application

The Rolodex model: understanding relationship complexity as a precursor to the design of organizational forms for chaotic environments

The emerging business environment is increasingly complex, characterized by hypercompetition, compound interdependence, and electronic webs This heightened complexity is triggering a slew of new organizational forms and shifts in the underlying logics of organizational forms These new organizational forms are not only more complex, but they have new kinds of complexity - increasingly hybrid and heterarchical, more flexible, and dynamically reconfigurable. The report argues that in such new conditions we need to rethink how we conceive the structural dimensions of organizational form and base them on a process model of inter-organizational relationships. This report examines relationship complexity as a structural topology that underlies organizational form It identifies three structural dimensions of relationship complexity reach, range, and reciprocity and combines them in a model that allows dynamic reconfigurability. The model is based on the primacy of perspective of practicing managers and we have termed it the Rolodex Model as it has overtones of an organizational version of a manager's card file of contacts. Using the concepts of energy and phase space from physics to enrich the Rolodex Model, the report shows how it can be used to explain existing archetypes of organizational forms, to identity new organizational forms, and to provide insights for organizational design The report then argues that further elaboration of energy concepts and relationship complexity may be necessary before we can fully respond to, and anticipate, the complex, dynamic, hypercompetitive organizational environment of today , much less that likely to exist tomorrow.Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited

The Four Tigers of Global E-Business Infrastructure: Strategies and Implications for Emerging Economies

Statistics show that the United States is the leader on all fronts of e-business readiness. However, in different geographic regions several other countries are emerging as leaders in e-business infrastructure development. These Tigers of global e-business infrastructure include Singapore, India, Ireland, and Finland. This paper describes the specific e-business infrastructure models that are taking shape in these emerging leaders. The models are differentiated in terms of their underlying IT infrastructures, human capital requirements, alliance aspects, cultural aspects, and institutional environments. The paper analyzes each model as a configuration of activities for creating competitive advantage in e-business infrastructure. Recommendations are drawn for emerging countries striving to increase their participation in global e-business

The Role of Business Intelligence and Communication Technologies in Organizational Agility: A Configurational Approach

This study examines the role that business intelligence (BI) and communication technologies play in how firms may achieve organizational sensing agility, decision making agility, and acting agility in different organizational and environmental contexts. Based on the information-processing view of organizations and dynamic capability theory, we suggest a configurational analytic framework that departs from the standard linear paradigm to examine how IT’s effect on agility is embedded in a configuration of organizational and environmental elements. In line with this approach, we use fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to analyze field survey data from diverse industries. Our findings suggest equifinal pathways to organizational agility and the specific boundary conditions of our middle-range theory that determine what role BI and communication technologies play in organizations’ achieving organizational agility. We discuss implications for theory and practice and discuss future research avenues

Yesterday\u27s Tomorrows at the Dawn of ICIS: 30 Year Re-Visions from the 1st ICIS Doctoral Consortium

ICIS 2009 marks the 30th anniversary of the 1st ICIS Doctoral Consortium held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. There were 19 student participants at that doctoral consortium, and 9 faculty – all full of anticipation, excitement, and some apprehension: where would the IS field lead them? Or where could they lead it? What did the future hold? What were the visions of the future for the IS field? This panel re-examines yesterday’s tomorrow’s and re-visions what they had seen 30 years ago to see what we can learn today for the next 30 years for the future of the IS field and IS research. This panel seeks to give a sense of history and of past visions, while devoting a large part of the panel time and discussion to generating insights for the future of the IS field. The panel is co-chaired by three of the student participants of the 1st ICIS 1980 Doctoral Consortium (Ariav, Dos Santos, and El Sawy). The two key panelists/speakers, Peter G.W. Keen and Michael Ginzberg were at the 1st ICIS as plenary speakers and doctoral consortium faculty

Reflections on Designing Field Research for Emerging IS Topics: The Case of Knowledge Management

To understand how to improve the research process for future projects, it is useful to take a retrospective view of a research project. This is especially true for emerging topics in IS where many opportunities are available to shape directions and priorities. This article presents a reflective analysis of a field research project in the area of knowledge management. The article examines the process history and assesses the decisions taken and activities carried out in the early formative stages of a field research project. With a detailed anthropological flavor, the paper describes the ins and outs of the various phases of the research process in a narrative experiential way, and analyzes what was learned. The results should be useful for future researchers. The major lessons learned were: 1. Retrospectively examining the research of others can be useful in learning how to improve one\u27s ability to do research in a particular area, such as field research in information systems. 2. Researchers wishing to develop a long term relationship with a host organization may have to be flexible in their research approaches and methods, even to the extent of sacrificing rigor for providing outcomes of use to the host organization. 3. Pilot studies should be carefully designed and executed to maximize learning for later, more extensive studies

Assessing Information System Design Theory in Perspective: How Useful Was our 1992 Initial Rendition?

More than a decade has passed since the publication of the first article on building information systems design theories (ISDT) that appeared in Information Systems Research (Walls, Widmeyer, and El Sawy, 1992). Using the context of designing vigilant executive information systems, it articulated how to construct and test an ISDT that could prescriptively guide the design of a particular class of information system. The paper argued that successful construction of ISDTs would create an endogenous base for theory in the IS discipline, and could be used by scholars to prescribe design products and processes for different classes of information systems as they emerged. This paper reviews ISDT and assesses how it has been used by IS scholars since that 1992 publication. It attempts to determine how useful the Walls et. al. ISDT has been in guiding design and helping theoretical development. The paper assesses the extent and practicality of its use as a theory building framework, and draws on samples of the various IS scholars have taken advantage of it in 26 papers to-date. The paper diagnoses the reasons for the limited use of ISDT and makes recommendations for enhancing its usability and adoption in the IS research community

Beyond Rigor and Relevance Towards Responsibility and Reverberation: Information Systems Research That Really Matters

This paper is an outcome of a panel discussion that was held during the 2005 International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS). The panel, titled, IS Research that Really Matters: Beyond the IS Rigor - Relevance Debate, was organized to foster a discussion on conducting IS research that is significant, in terms of impact, and responsible to the needs of stakeholders. To this end, panel members were asked to push the debate on IS research beyond the traditional arguments of rigor and relevance in research towards IS research that reverberates and is responsible. In doing so, the panel members shared their views on the definition of significant research, who are the stakeholders of IS research and what are their needs, and how do we move the field ahead