The Prerequisites for Learning from Collaborative Technologies

There has been a lot of focus on collaborative technologies as a mean of nurturing knowledge creation and knowledge sharing within organizations. The advance of the web has revitalized interests in collaborative systems to build intra-organizational learning communities. However, a number of organizations that have adopted these technologies realize that several antecedents are required for organizational learning to occur. This research focuses on identifying the different enablers of organizational learning resulting from the adoption of collaborative technologies. The research involved the study of three organizations that have implemented Lotus Notes as a means of actualizing organizational learning. The findings maintain that organizations need to interject these collaborative systems as part of a formal organizational structure for members to learn from it. Three significant constructs are identified as important stipulations for learning from collaborative technologies. These constructs are methods, staffing, and incentives. The paper will examine the role of each to organizational learning and the inter-relationships that exist among them

Software Reuse: What Really Works

With the advent of E-Commerce and the increased need to deliver reliable systems in a short timeframe, software reuse is progressively receiving increased interest from both the academic and practitioner communities. Like other technologies, software reuse, has been surrounded by a lot of hype. A major problem often cited in the reuse literature is that management in many organizations is not willing to undertake a longterm reuse initiative. In an attempt to identify reasonable requirements that are acceptable by both reuse experts and management in software developing organizations, we studied the practices of five reuse programs in four organizations. Our research question focuses on qualitatively describing key attributes of a reuse program from the perspective of both reuse experts and top management. Our findings suggest that the key requirements for the success of a reuse program are creating a shared vision for the reuse program, and gaining customer support

Managing Technology and Administration Innovations: Four Case Studies on Software Reuse

A software process innovation, such as software reuse, involves both technology and administration innovation. Following literature on organizational change, absorptive capacity, innovation assimilation stages, and software reuse, we develop a process model of the assimilation trajectory of an organization¡¯s innovation. The model postulates that actors at different organizational levels implement strategy, process, and culture changes in order for an organization to advance through the stages of innovation assimilation. The actions at these levels instill routines that establish the absorptive capacity for implementing future innovations. Case-study data collected from four software development sites ¨C two reporting failure in the reuse program, and two reporting success ¨C revealed that programs that implemented change at the strategy, process and culture levels scored higher on all paths in the model than non-successful programs. The right incentives help in the latter stages of innovation assimilation during which culture change by operational staff is important

The Moderating Role of Competition and Paradoxical Leadership on Perceptions of Fairness towards IoT Monitoring

Recent advances in monitoring systems used in the workspace are stirring a great deal of controversy. Several devices connected to the internet, coined as the Internet of Things (IoT), are now used to capture and analyze huge amounts of information on employee behavior to improve overall performance. Given the implications of the technology on privacy and predictive behavior, there is a dearth of studies that investigate employee perceptions to the unique challenges of “always on” monitoring and the power of analytics. To address this gap, the objective of the paper is answering the research question of how IoT-enabled monitoring influences employee perceptions of fairness. Based on the literature review, the pervasive and continuous nature of IoT-enabled monitoring suggests that, if not effectively managed, the technology will intensify employee perceptions of unfairness and lead to lack of commitment to the organization. We conducted semi-structured interviews with employees at two organizations in Qatar. The research in progress challenges current propositions on electronic monitoring and highlight the emerging role of competition, and paradoxical leadership in moderating the relationship between IoT-enabled monitoring and perceptions of fairness

A Social Status Perspective of Network Utility Over Electronic Channels in Academic Communities

Research on the social implications of e-mail has promoted the role of electronic communication channels in reaching social equality and dissipating gaps between the social classes. Other streams of research maintain that social status attributions are mentally salient, and that people continue to rely on social cues in electronic communication as a way of dealing with uncertainties and reducing feelings of discomfort associated with unfamiliar contexts. In this paper, we use social cognitive theory (Bandura 1986) to derive a model that explains how attained social status and self-perception play a critical role in the use of e-mail to seek help and accrue social resources. The model is tested using data collected from 206 faculty members in a major U.S. University. The empirical results support the proposed research model implying that subjective measures of social status influence social assertiveness and the seeking of help through electronic channels

Extended Enterprise Applications and Sustained Competitive Advantage

In this study we extend the resource-based view of the firm to include inter-organizational complementary resources. We use web services as an example of a technology that extends firm resources beyond organizational boundaries. The modular design of web services enables the integration of monolithic applications within and across enterprises, creating the vision of an extended enterprise that is more adaptable and responsive to market changes. As the technology continues to mature, web services will create a dynamic capability that will sustain organizational competitive advantage