In-house development as an alternative for ERP adoption by SMEs: A critical case study

This paper addresses Information Systems (IS) standards from a managerial perspective. Standards can be seen as behavior regulations where there is a lack of hierarchical and market steering mechanisms. The use of government standards to harmonize IS is complicated, since in comparison to hardware and software products, IS are specific to the context in which they are implemented. Only hardware and software can be pre-fabricated. Based on a comparative case study of implementations of regulation from the European Commission seeking to harmonize European e-Customs, this paper develops a taxonomy of deviation sources for IS standards implementation divergence – reasons why implementations of IS standards differ. In addition to the previously known deviation sources: a) work process, b) data meaning, and c) data model, we found two new potential deviation sources in mode of transfer, and timing of implementation. Furthermore, all these sources seems to be of the nature that even the slightest deviation in any of the areas leads to the standard failing to meet its objective of increased efficiency with detrimental effects to the competitiveness of European exporters

Organizational Learning with Crowdsourcing: The Revelatory Case of LEGO

Extant organizational learning theory conceptualizes organizational learning as an internal, member-based process, sometimes supported by, yet often independent of, IT. Recently, however, several organizations have begun to involve non-members systematically in their learning by using crowdsourcing, a form of open innovation enabled by state-of-the-art IT. We examine the phenomenon of IT-enabled organizational learning with crowdsourcing in a longitudinal revelatory case study of one such organization, LEGO (2010-14). We studied the LEGO Cuusoo crowdsourcing platform’s secret test in Japan, its widely recognized global launch, and its success in generating top-selling LEGO models. Based on an analysis of how crowdsourcing contributes to the organizational learning at LEGO, we propose the “ambient organizational learning” framework. The framework accommodates both traditional, member-based organizational learning and IT-enabled, non-member-based organizational learning with crowdsourcing

CREATING THE 21ST CENTURY ORGANIZATION: THE METAMORPHOSIS OF OTICON

Much has been written about transforming organizations. At the heart of this activity is the notion of Business Process Redesign (BPR), the restructuring of a firm's basic business methods. We describe some of the forces that are behind this need for major organizational change. Next, we provide an overview of BPR and raise several questions concerning its suitability as a theoretical underpinning for radical organizational transformation. We then describe the transformation of Oticon, an international manufacturing firm with headquarters in Denmark. We have called this transformation a Metamorphosis because of the complete reconceptualization of the firm that took place. Using the example of Oticon, we speculate about the prerequisites for change of this extent, paying particular attention to the role of technology, which has been enabling rather than driving.Information Systems Working Papers Serie

POWER OVER USERS: ITS EXERCISE BY SYSTEM PROFESSIONALS

This paper develops the propositions that information system professionals exert considerable power over system users and that technological advances in system development will not significantly change this situation. The paper explores the ways system professionals can exercise power over users and examines the consequences of various technological trends allegedly able to alter the balance of power between users and system professionals. The notion that the developers of information technology have power that they can use in their dealings with users is intuitively appealing. Information technology is a resource many people value. It seems likely that gatekeepers of information technology would be able, if they chose, to extract rewards from those individuals or groups who depend upon it. This reasoning reflects a theory of power known as resource dependence. Another theory explains the power of organizational subunits (i.e. departments, like the information system department) in terms of strategic contingencies. In this theory, departmental power results from the combination of three attributes: the ability to cope with environmental or task uncertainty faced by other departments or the organization as a whole, nonsubstitutability (being indispensible) in this coping, and criticality in the subunit\u27s or organization\u27s workflow. Given the high involvement of information system units in other departments\u27 workflows and the dependence of many departments on computing operations, the theory of strategic contingencies suggests the likelihood of powerful system departments. Research appears to find otherwise. Clients of system departments do not generally perceive these units as powerful. We believe it would be unfortunate if the negative findings of these studies discouraged further research on the power of system professionals. The potential consequences of this power for users are simply too significant to remain unexplored. In addition, we believe it a mistake to conclude from these negative findings that system professionals do not exert power over users. First, these studies measure sources of power, not uses of power; there is reason to believe that sources and uses of power are imperfectly related. Second, these studies measure users\u27 perceptions of power; yet the exercise of power may occur without users being aware of it. In fact, lack of awareness may indicate an especially effective exercise of power. Consequently, building on the work of European sociologists, we propose conceptualizing the power of system professionals in a way that does not depend on either sources of power or awareness of power use. It differs from much prior research on power in its emphasis on the exercise of power and its definition of power exercise in terms of behavioral consequences. rather than on the legitimacy or acceptance of the behavior. In our perspective, to say that one actor has exercised power over another means that the second behaved differently from the way he/she would have done if not for the first actor. This is a broad and somewhat controversial definition of power. In our framework, information system professionals include all those individuals and groups, either inside or outside the users\u27 firm, who consult with users, that is, assess their needs, propose solutions and/or advocate a course of action. Our admittedly broad definition includes: system analysts, designers, managers, vendor marketing and product development personnel, etc. Our framework of types of power exercise recognizes two contexts in which system professionals can exercise power over users: a specific development project, such as a marketing decision support system, and the environment of specific projects, which can include system management policy in an organizational setting and/or vendor product development and marketing efforts. In addition, the framework identifies two targets of power exercise: issues offact, such as system features or I/S budget, and issues of values, such as system objectives or computing benefits. These two dimensions of context and target demarcate four types of power exercise. In the technical exercise of power, system professionals exercise power over users when they adopt system design features to which users explicitly object. In the structural exercise of power, system professionals develop organizational structures and routine operating procedures which give them formal authority over users or create user dependence on them for important resources. In the conceptual exercise of power, system professionals select or shape the objectives a system will serve. In the symbolic exercise of power, system professionals mold users\u27 desires and values, for example, through vendor advertising. This framework does not presume that either the system professionals or the users are aware of the power exercise. We identify and discuss four awareness conditions which we label·. mutual negotiation, user resistance, professional manipulation, and unintended influence. Observers of information technological trends have identified a number of developments with the alleged potential to alter profoundly the relationships among system professionals and users. These include: standard software packages, advanced system development tools, end-user programming and desktop computing. We examine these trends and argue that, while they may change the degree or type of power exercise, they will probably not change the fact of it. Furthermore, they may make it more difficult for users to become aware that power is being exercised, thus diminishing users\u27 ability to prevent it or to mitigate its consequences. We hope that our frameworks of power exercise and awareness of power exercise will provide a solid foundation for further research on IS power. More importantly, we hope they will provide a foundation for the development of intervention strategies designed to increase awareness of power exercise and hence to improve the chances for outcomes acceptable to both users and system professionals

The Sustainable Value of Open Government Data

Building on the promise of open data, government agencies support a continuously growing number of open data initiatives that are driven mainly by expectations of unprecedented value generation from an underutilized resource. Although data, in general, have undoubtedly become an essential resource for the economy, it has remained largely unclear how, or even whether, open data repositories generate any significant value. We addressed this void with a study that examines how sustainable value is generated from open data. Subsequently, we developed a model that explains how open data generate sustainable value through two underlying mechanisms. The first, the information sharing mechanism, explicates how open data are beneficial to forging informational content that creates value for society through increased transparency and improved decision-making. The second, the market mechanism, explicates how open data are beneficial as a resource in products and services offered on the market, as well as how open data are used to make processes more efficient or to satisfy previously unmet needs. We tested and validated the model using PLS with secondary quantitative data from 76 countries. The study provides empirical support to the conjecture that openness of data as well as the digital governance and digital infrastructure in a country have a positive effect on the country’s level of sustainable value. Overall, the study provides empirical evidence in favor of nurturing open data culture and insights about the conditions that support turning it into sustainable value for the benefit of citizens, business organizations, and society at large

The coming revolution in competence development: using serious games to improve cross-cultural skills

Approaches to competence development have tended to focus on training to reach a required level of performance in simple and reproducible contexts, rather than in the more complex and hard-to-replicate contexts that characterize real-world projects, especially projects that involve people from other cultures. This paper explores how the Serious Games approach can be exploited to create skills in dealing with cross-cultural issues in project management. The degree of difference this can make to real-world performance is so dramatic that managers who have experienced it are seeing it not as a way to add Incremental Improvements to TEL (Technology Enhanced Learning) but as more of a Radical Innovation – a revolutionary change. Some of the main skills required in project management are reviewed, and different models of cross-cultural analysis applied to understand how the challenges of managing projects are increased by cultural issues. Our testbed for this is an EU project TARGET that is developing the next generation TEL approach. We describe its approach and look at how the TARGET serious game can be designed to achieve enhanced cross-cultural skills in users

Counteracting Forces in Implementation of IS-Enabled Global Business Processes

Many companies consider and undertake outsourcing of their software-development activities. Often information systems development is outsourced to vendors in different cultures or with a different level of software-process maturity. Recommendations for managing such outsourcing arrangements typically involve that client and vendor should increase interaction, learn more about the culture of the other part, communicate more, form partnerships, and the like. We have studied a client that did the opposite with a successful outcome. Based on a case study we lay out the story of how interaction between client and vendor on purpose was minimized. What mechanisms were used? What worked and what did not? We conclude that minimizing interaction can be a viable strategy to follow when clients face large cultural and maturity inequality in offshoring their software-development activities

MOOCs and Beyond

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) might be the proverbial “tipping point” in discussions about the role of information and communication technologies in higher education. To some they offer dramatic cost savings without loss in quality; to others they are best described as MESS (Massive Extension of Sage on the Stage). If the history of IS is any guide, MOOCs portend dramatic changes over time, but perhaps less dramatic changes in the short run. This panel discusses the MOOC phenomenon and its implications for both the IS field and for higher education