Information systems and technology: a scientific area oriented to the knowledge needs of professionals involved in the continuous transformation of organizations through information technology

Tecnologias e sistemas de informação é a área científica de enquadramento para aqueles que se interessam, académica ou profissionalmente, pela adopção e exploração de tecnologias da informação no contexto das organizações ou da sociedade. É uma área que emergiu como consequência da importância que as TI tem vindo a assumir nas actividades humanas que envolvem alguma forma de processamento de informação. Dada a sua forte interligação com outras áreas, as suas fronteiras são de difícil delimitação. As actividades dos profissionais de TSI e as suas necessidades de conhecimento são usadas neste artigo como critério para definir o âmbito da área científica. Assim, após uma caracterização das actividades profissionais de TSI, são apresentados os grandes grupos que constituem o corpo de conhecimento da área e são apresentados os principais métodos de I&D usados na produção de novo conhecimento cientificamente válido.Information systems and technology (IST) is the scientific area of reference for those interested, academic or professionally, in the adoption and exploitation of information technology within organizations or society. IST emerged as a consequence of the importance that IT has assumed in human activities that involve some form of information processing. Given its strong association with other areas, its boundaries are difficult to define. The activities of IST professionals and their knowledge needs are used in this article as the criteria to define the scope of the IST scientific area. So, after a characterization of the professional activities of IST, we present the major components of the body of knowledge and the main R&D methods used in the production of new scientifically valid knowledge in the area

Validation criteria for the outcomes of design research

Design research can be described as a form of research that involves the design of some human creation or artefact. These artefacts are designed for some purpose, i.e., they aim at responding to some human necessity, either existing or foreseen. Although these artefacts are inescapable in design research, the actual outcome of design research is knowledge about the artefacts. The knowledge resulting from design research is named knowledge-for-a-purpose. It is contrasted with knowledge-for-understanding, the knowledge resulting from other forms of research. The article addresses the validity of knowledge-for-a-purpose. Four elements for such validity are presented, namely: success of the corresponding artefacts, generality, novelty and explanation capability. In order to attempt to clarify the view underlying the article, design research and its outcomes are contrasted with several other concepts that are common in the design research discourse: design activity, design science, and design science research.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

Research and practice in IS: insights from medicine that might contribute to overcoming the relevance deficit in the IS domain

During the ICIS 2018 conference, in San Francisco, two interesting panels addressed themes related to the recurrent debate within the IS domain about the relevance of IS research. One panel - Seeking Public Intellectuals in the Information Systems Discipline: Towards an Impact and Engagement Agenda - discussed the influence (or lack of) of the IS research community on public policies and on public opinion in what concerns problems that affect the society. The other panel - the Senior Scholar Panel - focused on the relationship between IS research and IS professional practice. The perception, by IS academics, that IS research is of little relevance for IS practitioners was addressed once more. These are two different dimensions of the relevance of IS research. Both are important to a pivotal domain in the modern society that creates scholarly knowledge crucial to understanding, influencing and leading the transformations that society is undergoing. Those dimensions are also critical if IS seeks to become a “vibrant, socially relevant and influential” domain as recently mentioned by Hassam and Mathiassen [1]. This article focuses on the relationship between IS research and IS professional practice. I share the view of those that consider that the IS domain encompasses both, an academic facet and a practical facet. The two facets are interdependent and demand forms of collaboration between academics and practitioners that are only perceptible within an overarching view of scientific knowledge and of its production and use. This article aims at proposing such a view. A main feature of the proposed view is that it involves distinguishing among different types of scientific knowledge and different modes of doing research. In particular, it involves emphasizing a form of research that is overlooked in IS - clinical research. Insights from the medicine domain are used to illustrate the place of clinical research and its role in connecting researchers and practitioners

Towards constructionist Organizational Data Mining (ODM) : changing the focus from technology to social construction of knowledge

This chapter addresses the definition of organizational data mining (ODM) practices that leverage knowledge creation in organizations. It argues that knowledge resides in human minds and it is created by the continuous action and interaction happening in specific social contexts. Knowledge has a rational and an emotional foundation. When represented, knowledge becomes information that shapes the action and interaction by which individuals and communities create their specific knowledge. The purpose of this chapter is to highlight the advantages of adopting a constructionist approach and to present some constructionist guidelines to assist the definition of ODM practices that leverage knowledge creation in organizations

Business and technology integrated model

There is a growing interest in business modeling and architecture in the areas of management and information systems. One of the issues in the area is the lack of integration between the modeling techniques that are employed to support business development and those used for technology modeling. This paper proposes a modeling approach that is capable of integrating the modeling of the business and of the technology. By depicting the business model, the organization structure and the technology architecture, it can contribute to improve existing development practices.(undefined

As tecnologias de informação e a construção de realidades de trabalho inovadoras

As aplicações das Tecnologias de Informação (TI) são normalmente usadas para apoiar aspectos estruturais da organização, tais como missão, estratégia, objectivos, tarefas, processos, responsabilidades, coordenação e controlo das actividades, partilha de recursos, níveis de gestão, tomada de decisão, etc. Acredita-se que estes são aspectos objectivamente identificáveis e, portanto, podem ser analisados e medidos. Por esta razão são objecto de estudo preferencial quando se trata de adoptar ferramentas para resolver problemas organizacionais. No entanto, a complexidade dos processos organizacionais, e a importância da experiência individual e das interacções humanas no condicionamento das percepções tem vindo a realçar a necessidade de considerar uma maior diversidade de aspectos organizacionais bem como estruturar o processo de adopção das aplicações das TI por forma a facilitar a dinâmica própria dos processos de transformação. Na continuação desta tendência, este artigo apresenta e analisa um caso de inovação do ambiente de trabalho suportada pela utilização de uma aplicação das TI. A utilização da aplicação estava a ser efectuada de forma implícita e sem o apoio formal da gestão de topo. O gradual desenvolvimento daquela aplicação era liderado por um agente organizacional com grande influência carismática. A transformação de conceitos e práticas de trabalho era orientada por interesses pessoais e de grupo. O sucesso das transformações pretendidas dependia do sucesso das movimentações políticas levadas a cabo pelo líder no processo. No final, a transformação revelou-se bem sucedida em termos políticos tendo, no entanto, o seu líder optado por introduzir poucas alterações nas práticas de trabalho geralmente consideradas como insatisfatórias. O artigo termina realçando a importância de considerar que as realidades de trabalho têm uma natureza multi-dimensional, pelo que é útil considerar os aspectos estruturais, sociais, políticos e simbólicos quando se pretende fazer a adopção de uma aplicação das TI que introduza alterações relevantes nas práticas e conceitos de trabalho. É ainda realçado que as realidades de trabalho estão constantemente sujeitas à acção combinada de processos sociais de transformação, muitas vezes a decorrer a um nível implícito e sem que os agentes organizacionais que os sustentam tenham plena consciência dos efeitos da sua própria acção. Assim, torna-se cada vez mais importante que as aplicações das TI possuam uma estrutura suficientemente flexível para se poder adaptar a essas transformações

The construction of work realities assisted by the adoption of computer-based systems

Computer-based systems (CBS) are usually adopted to support structural aspects of the organization, such as mission, strategy, objectives, tasks, processes, responsibilities, coordination and control of the activities, resources allocation, authority, decision making, etc. These are assumed as objectively identifiable aspects of work and, therefore, they can be analyzed and measured. For this reason, they are object of preferential study when the goal is to adopt tools to solve organizational problems. However, the complexity of the organizational processes, and the importance of individual experiences and human interaction in shaping perceptions has come to enhance the necessity to consider a wider diversity of organizational aspects as well as the process of adoption of a CBS, in order to facilitate the proper dynamics of the organizational transformation processes. In this paper, we present and analyze two cases of work reality transformation. Each transformation process was supported by the adoption of a specific CBS. In one of the cases, this adoption was implemented explicitly and was sanctioned by senior management. In the other, the transformation was implemented without the formal support of senior management. The paper ends by emphasizing the importance of considering the multi-dimensionality of the work realities when defining CBSs to assist work practices. It is also emphasized that work realities are continually being reshaped by the combined action of social processes that lead to transformation. Often these processes occur at an implicit level and without the actors that sustain them having full awareness of the effects of their own action

Understanding information systems in organizations: from Anthony’s framework to the organizational mind

Recent developments in information technology and in information systems led to a change in the discourse about information systems in organizations: with increasing frequency, knowledge is referred to as the object that is manipulated by information systems or as the result of using them. Sometimes this change brings up some inconsistency to explanations of information systems use. This inconsistency can be viewed as a symptom of a paradigm crisis that demands a new form of viewing the information systems’ phenomena. Adding a cognitive dimension to a systemic view of organizations contributes to avoiding the inconsistency and constitutes an insight to the use of information systems in organizations. The organizational mind conceptual framework explores concepts and conceptual schemas borrowed from human cognitive studies and neurosciences and opens new perspectives for looking to information systems and information technology in organizations and in society

Research in progress: Understanding the process of implantation IT Enterprise Applications in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)

This research deals with the implantation of IT enterprise applications in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). It comprises two main phases. The first phase aims at deepening the existing understanding of the process of adoption and implantation of IT Enterprise applications in SMEs. Besides a literature review this phase includes the realization of case studies and interviews of the different players in the adoption and implantation process. The second phase aims at producing models and methods to guide SME in implantation of IT enterprise applications. This phase follows is being carried out under the Design Science Research (DSR) paradigm. This document presents the advances and results obtained in understanding the problem and determines the work to be done soon. The main findings to date are: Government regulations are the main motivations for implanting IT enterprise applications in SMEs, the cost is not the main selection parameter for SMEs with previous experience in applications, it is necessary a person inside the company that knows the core of the business, to save costs it is not necessary to migrate all the data of previous solutionsThis work has been supported by COMPETE: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007043 and FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the Project Scope: UID/CEC/00319/2013, the Secretaría Nacional de Educación Superior, Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación del Ecuador (SENESCYT) and the Universidad Técnica del Norte – Ecuador