The Role of Organizational Culture in Organizational Change - Identifying a Realistic Position for Prospective IS Research

Organizational culture – a popular but also a very complex concept – has been identified as an influential factor affecting the successes and failures of organizational change efforts. Many empirical organizational culture studies have been carried out in information systems (IS) research. However, culture is a very versatile concept, and there are many controversies in both defining and applying it. Therefore, this paper reviews different conceptions of organizational culture in the existing literature – in anthropology, organizational studies and in IS research. Also recent criticism on the existing conceptions is presented. Furthermore, organizational change is also a complex concept, due to which this paper discusses also differing conceptions of organizational change and conceptions of change employed in the empirical IS literature. Finally, a framework for the analysis of organizational culture and change is developed. The framework identifies three positions on organizational culture and change: optimist, pessimist and relativist, and discusses their implications. The optimist position is criticized of relying on very naïve notions of culture and change. The pessimist position can be criticized of lacking relevance to practice. Finally, the relativist position is recommended as the most realistic position for the prospective IS research on organizational culture and change

Inductive Empiricism, Theory Specialization and Scientific Idealization in IS Theory Building

This paper distinguishes and discusses three strategies for theory building in Information Systems (IS) - inductive empiricism, theory specialization and scientific idealization - and contrasts them in terms of three desiderata of theories - realism, generality and precision - and tradeoffs between them. Inductive empiricism, emphasizing realism and generality, represents the received view with the classic Grounded Theory Methodology as a prime example. The paper argues for openness to theory specialization in practical disciplines such as IS. Theory specialization implies sacrificing generality of theories for their realism and precision. The distinctive attention of the paper lies in scientific idealization, sacrificing realism of theories for their precision and generality. It has been almost completely omitted in in the literature on IS theory building. The special focus of the paper lies in IT applications as a category of IT artifacts and in design-oriented theories which provide knowledge of how to design “better” IT applications. The paper illustrates its points using TAM/UTAUT research as an example

Violin improvisation in Afro-Cuban religious ceremonies

In this dissertation, I study the violin improvisations performed during Violín a Ochún events, one of the collective celebrations of Santería, a religion practiced in Cuba. The study focuses on different structural organizational models at the basis of improvisation and their attendant cultural meanings and associations. The research aims to expand the study of cognitive and music analytic model-based improvisation into a culture-sensitive direction. Furthermore, I comprehensively present the social, historical and cultural context in which improvisations emerge: one of the main chapters of the research focuses on the phenomenon of the Violín a Ochún, its formation process, content and structure . The study has been carried out using ethnographic methods. A special method of participant observation, the idea of bi-musicality, has been emphasized. The research is a field study, consisting of several phases of fieldwork and analysis. The research material includes forty video-recorded improvisations (and transcriptions of them) from 2007 to 2010, the work of twelve violinists who lived in Havana when the fieldwork phases were carried out. Additionally, the research material contains forty-two interviews, the most recent of which is from 2022. The study indicates that there are both similarities and generation-based differences in the manner in which the violinists exploit the models. The similarities appear especially in relation to the guiding role of the clave pattern. However, its significance is emphasized particularly on son-based improvisations that stress the anticipated harmony. Furthermore, the collectively shared rhythmic-melodic vocabulary is similar in many ways, and it is learned partly when performing on these occasions. On the other hand, there are differences based on the violinist’s generation. The violinists of the older generation more clearly follow the traditional típico style, while the improvisations of the younger violinists reflect more modern currents. This has been influenced by the emergence of systematic music education in post-revolutionary society and new role models among the violinists. However, violinists, regardless of what generation they represent, emphasize the importance of local tradition and the role of improvisation as part of the collective occasion in which interaction with the audience – which participates in several ways in the progress of improvisation – is essential. In addition to guiding musicians, musical models interplay with cultural models and include different cultural meanings and associations that both guide the behaviour of the participants of the Violín a Ochún event and underline commonly shared cultural knowledge.--- Tutkin väitöskirjassani Kuubassa harjoitettavan santería-uskonnon Violín a Ochún -tilaisuuksissa esitettyjä viuluimprovisaatioita. Tutkimus keskittyy viulistia improvisaation aikana ohjaaviin musiikillisiin rakenteisiin, niin sanottuihin malleihin, sekä niihin liittyviin laajempiin kulttuurisiin merkityksiin ja assosiaatioihin. Tutkimus pyrkii laajentamaan kognitiivista ja musiikkianalyyttista mallipohjaista improvisaatiotutkimusta kulttuurisensitiiviseen suuntaan. Lisäksi yksi tutkimuksen luvuista käsittelee laajemmin esityskontekstia, Violín a Ochún -juhlaa. Tutkimus on useasta Havannaan suuntautuneesta kenttätyömatkasta koostuva etnografinen tutkimus, jossa painottuu bi-musikaalisuuden ajatus osallistuvan havainnoinnin muotona. Tutkimusaineisto kattaa 40 videoitua improvisaatiota (ja niistä tehdyt transkriptiot) yhteensä 12:lta tilaisuuksissa soittaneelta viulistilta. Lisäksi aineistoon sisältyy 42 haastattelua. Tutkimus osoittaa, että viulistien tavoissa hyödyntää musiikillisia malleja on sekä yhtäläisyyksiä että sukupolvien välisiä eroja. Yhtäläisyydet liittyvät clave-rytmisolun huomioimiseen erityisesti son-pohjaisessa musiikissa. Lisäksi viulistien improvisaatioissaan hyödyntämä rytmismelodinen sanavarasto, joka opitaan osittain tilaisuuksissa soittamisen seurauksena, on monilta osin samankaltainen. Toisaalta vanhempaa sukupolvea edustavat viulistit seuraavat selvemmin perinteistä típico-tyyliä, kun puolestaan nuorempien viulistien improvisaatioista heijastuvat vallankumousta seuranneen systemaattisen musiikkikoulutuksen sekä nuorempien viulisti-roolimallien vaikutus. Kaikki viulistit painottavat paikallisen perinteen tärkeyttä ja improvisaation roolia osana kollektiivista tilaisuutta, jonka aikana vuorovaikutus yleisön kanssa on keskeistä. Sen lisäksi, että musiikilliset mallit ohjaavat muusikoita, niiden voidaan nähdä olevan vuorovaikutuksessa kulttuuristen mallien kanssa. Ne sisältävät erilaisia kulttuurisia merkityksiä ja assosiaatioita, jotka ohjaavat tilaisuuteen osallistuvien ihmisten käyttäytymistä ja korostavat yhteisesti jaettua kulttuurista tieto

The IS Core - VII: Towards Information Systems as a Science of Meta-Artifacts

The paper argues that we should emphasize more the nature of Information Systems as an applied, engineering-like discipline that develops various meta-artifacts to support the development of IS artifacts. Building such meta-artifacts is a complementary approach to the theory-with-practical-implications type of research. The primacy assigned to theory and research method has effectively excluded constructive research of building meta-artifacts from the major IS journals. The paper also claims that information systems as a category of IT artifacts, and especially the focus on IS development, can help to distinguish the IS discipline from its sister and reference disciplines

Iivari’s Response to the Rejoinders on How to Improve Peer Reviewing

In this paper, I respond to the six rejoinders to my original paper. I categorize the rejoinders into three groups depending on whether they largely disagree with my suggestions, whether they mostly agree with them, or whether they suggest largely complementary ideas to my own. In line with my own paper (Iivari, 2016), I specifically focus on the concrete proposals how to improve the situation

Conducting Information Systems Research the Old-Fashioned Way

This research career retrospective summarizes the intellectual contributions of the author’s academic career, covering 35 years from the early 1980’s onwards. It also attends to various incidents and conditions that shaped his research career, as well as his research strategy choices that allowed him to overcome some of the challenges imposed by these conditions. These strategic choices comprised to do small research rather than big research and to privilege international collaboration over local collaboration

A Paradigmatic Analysis of Information Systems As a Design Science

The present essay discusses the ontology, epistemology, methodology and ethics of design science. It suggests that Information Systems as a design science should be based on a sound ontology, including an ontology of IT artifacts. In the case of epistemology, the essay emphasizes the irreducibility of the prescriptive knowledge of IT artifacts to theoretical descriptive knowledge. It also expresses a need for constructive research methods, which allow disciplined, rigorous and transparent building of IT artifacts as outcomes of design science research. The relationship between action research and design science research is also briefly discussed. In the case of ethics, the essay points out that Information Systems as design science cannot be valuefree

Making Sense of the History of Information Systems Research 1975-1999: A View of Highly Cited Papers

In this paper, I analyze the history of IS research through the lens of 409 highly cited papers (i.e., papers with at least 100 Reuters Thompson Web of Science citations) pub­lished between 1975 and 1999. I focus on 1) what these highly cited papers are, 2) what they study, 3) who their authors are, and 4) where they were published

A Planning Theory Perspective on Information System Implementation

The paper is based on the assumed affinity between planning and Information System (IS) design, which makes it warranted to transfer results arrived at in planning theory to our field of IS design and implementation, at least as first tentative hypotheses. The basic notion is that alternative procedural features of planning or IS design have a definite impact upon the implementability of plans or information/data systems. The paper puts forward and discusses ten conjectures aboout the influence often procedural features of lS design upon IS implementability

Monipaikkainen asuminen: vertailu matkapuhelin- ja sähkönkulutusaineistojen välillä

Monipaikkainen asuminen on monitahoinen yhteiskunnallinen ilmiö, joka liittyy vahvasti ihmisten liikkuvuuteen. Ilmiötä on aiemmin tutkittu pääosin virallisilla tilastotiedoilla, jotka eivät ota huomioon ihmisten asumisen ja liikkuvuuden monimuotoisuutta. Tässä maisterintutkielmassa monipaikkaisuutta tutkitaan Suomessa ja erikseen Etelä-Savon maakunnassa kesämökkien näkökulmasta uudenlaisilla aineistolähteillä: matkapuhelin- ja sähkönkulutusaineistoilla. Sen lisäksi, että nämä massa-aineistot ovat spatiaalisesti ja ajallisesti tarkkoja, niillä voidaan varmistaa tutkimusalueen kattavuus ja väestön riittävä otanta. Tutkin monipaikkaisuutta analysoimalla ihmisten läsnäolon spatiotemporaalisia vaihteluita matkapuhelinaineistoilla. Vaihtelut kytketään monipaikkaiseen asumiseen ja erityisesti kesämökkien määrään eri alueilla erikseen työpäivien ja viikonloppujen osalta. Matkapuhelinaineistoja pidetään tässä tutkielmassa ”ground truth” aineistona, jonka avulla arvioidaan sähkönkulutusdataan liittyviä käyttöasteen havaitsemisen menetelmiä. Lisäksi vertailemalla näitä aineistoja arvioidaan, miten tarkasti sähkökulutusaineistoilla saadaan selville kausiväestön ja mökkeilijöiden vaihtelu Etelä-Savon alueella. Tulokset osoittavat, että ihmiset liikkuvat enemmän kesäkuukausina kuin talvella. Tämä vaihtelu korreloi vahvasti kesämökkien määrän kanssa, mikä osoittaa, että monipaikkainen asuminen Suomessa on vuodenajoista riippuva ilmiö. Lisäksi alueelliset erot sekä eri maakuntien välillä että Etelä-Savossa korostuvat tuloksissa. Korrelaatioanalyysillä matkapuhelin- ja sähkönkulutusaineistojen saadaan selville tehokkain menetelmä vapaa-ajan asuntojen käyttöasteen havaitsemiseen. Tulokset osoittavat myös, että nämä kaksi aineistoa korreloivat vahvemmin kesällä kuin muina kuukausina, ja että kausiväestön kuukausittainen vaihtelu korreloi useimmilla postinumeroalueilla Etelä-Savossa vahvasti. Tämä korostaa monipaikkaisen asumiseen liittyvän kausittaisen vaihtelun merkitystä. Tämän maisterintutkielman tulokset osoittavat, että kausiväestön vaihtelu eri alueilla on yhteydessä monipaikkaiseen asumiseen Suomessa. Lisäksi tulokset osoittavat, että uudenlaiset aineistolähteet soveltuvat monipaikkaisen asumisen tutkimiseen hyvin eri aluetasoilla ja mahdollistavat ilmiön tarkan temporaalisen tarkastelun.Multi-local living is a complex social phenomenon that is tightly connected to human mobility. In previous research, the phenomenon has been mainly researched with official statistics that fail to capture the dynamic nature of people’s mobilities and dwelling. This thesis approaches multi-locality in Finland and in the county South Savo from the perspective of second homes with novel data sources like mobile phone data and electricity consumption data. These spatially and temporally accurate big data sources can be used to ensure sufficient coverage of population and geographic area. I approach multi-local living by analyzing the spatiotemporal changes in people’s presence with mobile phone data, and by examining how the changes relate to second homes in different areas separately for workdays and weekends. This is examined both for the whole country and by comparing different counties. In the thesis, mobile phone data is utilized as the ground truth to assess the performance of household occupancy detection methods for electricity consumption, and to examine how electricity consumption data captures the spatiotemporal dynamics of second home users in South Savo. The results indicate that people are generally more mobile during the summer, and the seasonal growth in people’s presence correlates strongly with second homes. This shows a prominent seasonal effect for multi-local living in Finland. Additionally, it is shown that the results vary spatially as there is variation in the results both between counties and within South Savo. The best performing second home occupancy detection method is revealed by correlation analyses between mobile phone data and electricity consumption data. Moreover, it is shown that electricity data correlates better with mobile phone data during the summer, and that the data captures the monthly dynamics of second home users well. This further highlights the seasonal effect of multi-local living. The thesis provides valuable insight into how the seasonal variation of population in different areas is connected to multi-local living in Finland. Furthermore, it is shown that novel data sources can capture the changes in people’s presence at multiple spatial levels with high temporal accuracy, and that they can be utilized to study multi-local living