A Multi-Dimensional View Of Socio-Technical Information Systems Research And Technochange

Technical change is almost always the catalyst for organization change. Technochange is the use of information technology to drive improvements in organizational performance. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to continue the movement from socio-technical thinking to technochange thinking by analyzing the socio-technical research on information technology projects from different viewpoints. This is accomplished by using a multi-dimensional framework that delivers a fresh research perspective into the information technology, human and organization aspects of technochange. The results are a socio-technochange conceptual frame for the types of statistical analysis employed, the level of analysis conducted, the logical relationships between the causes and the outcomes, and the impact on the organization. This provides a coherent synopsis of the tools and interpretations needed to give us sufficient background to better understand technochange and its relationship to improved organizational performance

Linking The Creative Process To Innovation Through Software-Enabled Activities

This research addresses what creativity is by presenting numerous different perspectives. It also offers a managerial vision on how to encourage creativity by using software features that currently exist in commonly used business applications that could enable more people to be creative more often. It is argued that currently there are many software features that can enable the execution of the primary tasks necessary to support and stimulate creativity and innovation. This paper presents a model that links the process for creativity to innovation, summarizes the software-enabled primary tasks, and illustrates how its structure produces innovation as the outcome. The result is a more efficient and effective link between creativity and innovation by using software as the catalyst

The Optimal Employment of Supply Chain management Decision Support Agents: an Exploratory Study

The issue of interest here is the employment of decision support agents in supply chain management. The study discusses the sorts of supply-related managerial tasks that decision support agents have been assigned, and how well or poorly they have performed these tasks. This research suggests the reasons why organizations might elect to invest supply chain management responsibilities in decision support agents rather than human functionaries. Finally, this research concludes by presenting a best fit construct for optimal decision making opportunities

An Exploratory Study On Using Stage Theory To Develop A Data Management Measurement Framework

The issue of interest in this study is two-fold. First the evolution of Nolan’s Stage Model is presented. Next, the study discusses adapting Nolan’s stage theory into a framework that is an adaptable data management measurement tool. An exploratory measurement tool is developed, tested and refined. This research confirms that a valid measure is possible and that different data management maturity stages have certain characteristics that are important to the emerging knowledge necessary to manage enterprise-wide data as a valuable business resource

A Social Network Perspective of Information Systems Project Management

This study looks at the social network that exists during information systems development (ISD). By introducing a social network perspective of information systems project management, social network analysis and its concepts of embeddedness, structural holes, and centrality can be used to reveal organizational phenomena that might otherwise be overlooked. In this study we analyze the social network from a successful systems development project in a health care setting, looking particularly at the emergence and role of change agents. The results of this research suggest that the ISD transactions are embedded in the social relations, implying that social relations and ISD must be managed jointly to achieve a successful (system solution) project. Social network analysis allows simultaneously measuring the ISD project transactions and the social relationships that tie them together, providing a new perspective that can be used to build an effective project management infrastructure

Business Intelligence and Analytics: An Exploration of Academic Interest Compared to Google Search Volume

Chen, Chiang and Storey [2013] provide a framework that identifies the evolution, applications, and emerging research areas of Business Intelligence and Analytics (BI&A) in terms of their key characteristics and capabilities. This bibliometric study of critical BI&A publications, researchers, and research topics based on more than a decade of related academic and industry publications. It uses the Chen, Chiang and Storey [2013] framework for academic publishing in business intelligence and analytics to see if it follows the same trend as Google search volume data. In addition, it explores what can google search terms and volume tell us. Google Trends is used as an online search data tool that allows the user to see how often specific keywords, subjects and phrases have been queried over a specific period of time. The results are displayed in a graph that Google calls a Search Volume Index graph. Data in the graph can be exported into a .csv file, which can be opened in Excel and imported into other statistical applications. This research-in-progress finds that Google searches may be indicative of particular attitudes or behaviors that would otherwise not be easy to measure, therefore keywords can give general insight into particular attitudes or behaviors

Electroencephalography (EEG)-Derived Markers to Measure Components of Attention Processing

Although extensively studied for decades, attention system remains an interesting challenge in neuroscience field. The Attention Network Task (ANT) has been developed to provide a measure of the efficiency for the three attention components identified in the Posner’s theoretical model: alerting, orienting and executive control. Here we propose a study on 15 healthy subjects who performed the ANT. We combined advanced methods for connectivity estimation on electroencephalographic (EEG) signals and graph theory with the aim to identify neuro-physiological indices describing the most important features of the three networks correlated with behavioral performances. Our results provided a set of band-specific connectivity indices able to follow the behavioral task performances among subjects for each attention component as defined in the ANT paradigm. Extracted EEG-based indices could be employed in future clinical applications to support the behavioral assessment or to evaluate the influence of specific attention deficits on Brain Computer Interface (BCI) performance and/or the effects of BCI training in cognitive rehabilitation applications

What Constitutes an Effective Instructional Video When Incorporated in Simulation Software Packages

Many studies have shown that instructional videos can be a highly effective educational tool (e.g., Kay, 2012; Lloyd and Robertson, 2012; Rackaway, 2012; Hsin and Cigas, 2013). In particular, Hsin and Cigas, (2013) describes the outcome derived from using video mini-lectures in an introductory course in computer science/mathematics. Student withdrawal, the failure rate, time-intensive interactive chats and written communication by the instructor was reduced after adding the videos to the class. Students were more satisfied with the course and average grades in the course increased slightly. This study expands the use of video mini-lectures to using a simulation software package that includes observing a video, practice the steps in the video and apply skills in simulated environments. It will define and measure the elements and use of video demonstrations included in a commercial simulation software package

Achieving Solution Success: An Investigation of User Participation Approaches

User participation and its relationship to system success have been discussed in the information systems (IS) literature from many theoretical and practical perspectives. In reality, most of this discussion is grounded in empirical research that has yielded mixed results on the importance of user participation and its relationship to system success. The goal of this dissertation is to extend the line of inquiry into user participation during information system development by providing information systems researchers and IS practitioners with both a valid theoretical and practical investigation of a successful IS solution. This investigation organizes the study within a descriptive model that emerges from the different traditions of prior research and uncovers the approach to user participation in a successful IS solution. This user participation approach (UPA) model becomes the structure for the systematic arrangement of user participation approaches into a four-fold typology according to criteria or extrinsic information attributed to them in the research literature. A case study analysis and social network analysis of a successful IS solution will be used to describe, map and measure the relationships, activities, processes, and flows between participants, thus providing a descriptive and visual analysis of the relational structure that emerges. Indeed, these methodological approaches conceptualize the attributes and the relations of user participation during information system development and give insightful perspectives on how a successful IS solution is developed and implemented. The resulting outcome is a description of a successful approach to user participation and some practical recommendations on how to increase the chance of success in a system solution