Knowing A Few Rules Doesn’t Mean You Can Play the Game : The Limits of “Best Practice” in Enterprise Systems.

We examine the common claim that "best practices" are encompassed and represented in Enterprise Systems (ES). We suggest that an ES can at best only represent the ostensive and not the performative elements of work tasks. Thus, representation of best practice in an ES does not take practical action into account. This has two important implications. First, ostensive abstractions of best practice in an ES are a sparse and superficial representation of a "good" business process, at a specific moment in time. Second, the practical understanding required for performance is often ignored in the ostensive representation of best practice in the implementation of an ES. This constrains user and business adaptability. Inflexible coding of ostensive business tasks furthermore leads to rigidity where flexibility should be sought, to keep on top of the competition. Implications and directions for further research are discussed

Conceptualizing emotion in information systems development

The purpose of this theory paper is to develop a contextual theory of appraisal that may be drawn on to understand emotional processes in IS development (ISD). In short, emotion matters to ISD because managers/professionals lack capacity in dealing with emotionality whether positively or negatively, and there are very few ISD studies that directly focus on emotion. We develop a theoretical lens by inductively examining the substance and intellectual heritage of four emotion theory streams: feeling-centered (e.g. stimulus-response), traditional cognitivist, contemporary cognitivist and socio-cultural. Our model particularly draws on process appraisal theory and extends it with derivative concepts of structuration theory. The resulting contextualized appraisal theory (CAT) constitutes our main contribution to the ISD field

Projects as Social Movements: A Case Study

This paper uses MTS, a supplementary Project Management (PM) methodology informed by Actor Network Theory. MTS Maps the emerging social movements that are possible from the project outset, Tracks their evolution as the project evolves, and aims towards a useful Stabilization of actors’ relations to reach project closure. We believe that MTS enhances existing hard PM methodologies by providing practitioners with a new lens to manage projects as social movements by enabling them with three soft methods, Mapping, Tracking and Stabilizing. These address many of the shortcomings pointed out by contemporary PM scholars and practitioners. This paper used a quasi-experimental design for comparing the performance of two independent project teams tasked with the implementation of the same IT artifact across four different sites; the treatment team used MTS supplementing the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), the control team only PMBOK. Preliminary conclusions about the MTS methodology effectiveness are presented

Walking off the garden path:a design journey

This paper illustrates various digital-nature artefacts, which emerged from a reflective design journey to enhance and support novel connections to nature in a garden. The research imperative is to explore possibilities for the design of digital technologies for changing people’s interpretation of a National Trust garden, encouraging encounters through the artefacts that take visitors off the garden path and reawaken them to the “presence” of the garden. The process began with an exploration of the criticisms and possibilities of technologies suggested within the writings of Heidegger, Borgmann and Feenberg, which were complemented by insights from natural history writers such as Deakin. These writings guided the design sensibilities for the creation of a collection of interpretation artefacts including Audio Apples, Rhubaphones and a Nature Meditation Egg. Much of the work was situated in a Walled Kitchen Garden managed by National Trust. Research through design complements the research philosophy because it demands space for reflection and conversation, and enables inclusion of different voices within the design journey. The methodology has helped address the question of whether a design lens that begins with criticism of technology can change the way we design, and the artefacts produced

Critical Realism, Multidisciplinarity and Methodological Pluralism: A Systemic Approach to Guide Information Systems Research and Practice

Information Systems (IS) diffusion in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) depends on various levels of networked, localised, and evolving determinants, such as the ones related to the adopter organisations, decision-takers, technologies, buyers, professional groups, higher education institutions, complementary innovations, and government policies. This complex view of IS implies the use of different disciplines and methodologies to study the diffusion process. The objective of this empirical research is to demonstrate how the philosophical stance of critical realism (CR) and the systems of innovation approach (SIA) for organising research are compatible, and address the multidisciplinarity and methodological pluralism required to move on the research of complex IS and recommend meaningful actions to practice. To exemplify our arguments we focus the study on one relevant determinant that affect the diffusion of IS in SMEs, namely public programmes

The inclusions afforded by a value-led design process for technology-nature hybrids in a walled kitchen garden

This paper describes the importance of a values-led approach within a design collaboration in a National Trust garden in Nottinghamshire, UK. The project demonstrates the power of values to shape not only the designed artefacts but the whole design process. The work responds to reports from the National Trust and other organizations of people’s increased disconnection from the natural world, and seeks to challenge the perception that technology is instrumental in fueling such detachment. The primary contribution of our value-based and critically engaged design process is the creation of prototypes that embody values and act as a focal point for reflection and re-encounter by the stakeholder organization. A process that itself acts as a continuous prompt for renewed consideration of interpretation approaches and organizational messages. The research involves the design of technology-nature hybrids for interpretation of a Walled Kitchen Garden, to support connection to nature. Designs are grounded in organizational values drawn from National Trust and researcher- designer values drawn from critical theory of technology. The project explores an area of intersecting and overlapping values and discusses the tensions experienced working in this space. The project illustrates how the inclusion of values and critical philosophy opens up new possibilities for the use of materials and technologies to increase our connection to nature

On Being Relevant to the Future of IS Practice

In this essay, we argue that being relevant to practice must imply a concern with influencing future IS practices. Discussions of IS research relevance, however, are rarely explicit about how research is meant to shape the future. Drawing on Feenberg’s (2002) critical theory of technology and his concepts of primary-secondary instrumentalization and potentialities, we consider how IS research about the past can inform the future of IS practice. We then explore implicit assumptions about shaping the future in positivism, interpretivism and critical research, and consider how design science and action research may be addressing technological potentialities. We draw attention to Zald’s (1993) enlightenment model as an alternative to suggest how IS researcher might be more open to research approaches drawn from the humanities for social and technical critique. We conclude by considering the feasibility of our suggestions

Compositional Styles in Action Research: A Critical Analysis of Leading Information Systems Journals

Drawing on genre theory and examining action research studies in leading Information Systems (IS) journals, we develop the notion of compositional style as a tool to analyze and guide action research publication. Compositional styles represent how action researchers communicate contributions by selecting, emphasizing, and presenting certain elements of their research practices in articles. We identify and characterize five distinct compositional styles across the considered sample-from-the-trenches, area-of-concern investigation, framework investigation, problem-solving methodology investigation, and research methodology investigation. In addition, we show that action researchers within IS have favored certain compositional styles while leaving other options underexplored, we reveal important strengths and weaknesses in how studies are published, and we present exemplar articles that provide guidance on publishing action research in leading journals. Based on these results, we discuss how compositional styles can be used to develop and communicate contributions from action research studies and we offer directions for further developing action research writing and practices as an important approach to engaged scholarship within the IS field

Understanding Task-Performance Chain Feed-Forward and Feedback Relationships in E-health

The associations between the use of effective technology and user performance, and the effect of user performance on technology use and task-technology fit (TTF), requires further research (Furneauz, 2012). To address this call for future research, we examined the feed-forward from use and TTF to performance and the feedback from performance to use and TTF by using longitudinal data (n = 156) collected from participants using two custom-built e-health systems that we designed to provide education to develop self-management practices for study participants with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes. We captured participants’ use of the two systems, their perceptions of TTF, and their health performance through biomedical outcomes every three months over a 12month period. Our findings show significant and different feed-forward and feedback relationships. In general, our results also show that system use and a negative TTF-use interaction significantly affected performance through feed-forward, while participant performance significantly affected use and negatively affects TTF through feedback. We discuss the implications for task-performance chain (TPC) research and developing and using e-health systems in chronic care