Systemic capabilities: the source of IT business value

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop, and explicate the significance of the need for a systemic conceptual framework for understanding IT business value. Design/methodology/approach – Embracing a systems perspective, this paper examines the interrelationship between IT and other organisational factors at the organisational level and its impact on the business value of IT. As a result, a systemic conceptual framework for understanding IT business value is developed. An example of enhancing IT business value through developing systemic capabilities is then used to test and demonstrate the value of this framework. Findings – The findings suggest that IT business value would be significantly enhanced when systemic capabilities are generated from the synergistic interrelations among IT and other organisational factors at the systems level, while the system’s human agents play a critical role in developing systemic capabilities by purposely configuring and reconfiguring organisational factors. Practical implications – The conceptual framework advanced provides the means to recognise the significance of the need for understanding IT business value systemically and dynamically. It encourages an organisation to focus on developing systemic capabilities by ensuring that IT and other organisational factors work together as a synergistic whole, better managing the role its human agents play in shaping the systems interrelations, and developing and redeveloping systemic capabilities by configuring its subsystems purposely with the changing business environment. Originality/value – This paper reveals the nature of systemic capabilities underpinned by a systems perspective. The resultant systemic conceptual framework for understanding IT business value can help us move away from pairwise resource complementarity to focusing on the whole system and its interrelations while responding to the changing business environment. It is hoped that the framework can help organisations delineate important IT investment considerations and the priorities that they must adopt to create superior IT business value

We will teach you the steps but you will never learn to dance

The paper examines learning theory in practice. Investigates case study organization’s social architecture analysed through metaphor of dance. Empirical work shows impact of management-employee relationship in unlocking or inhibiting individual learning and lack of management feedback loops result in containment of learning, trapping individuals in a cycle of ‘not learning.

International academic staff in UK higher education: campus internationalisation and innovation in academic practice

Amidst opportunities for universities to consider international academic staff in supporting internationalisation and innovation in academic practice, there is very little research to provide insights into their attitudes towards institutional approaches and frameworks in place to enable this. This paper focuses on this research gap, suggesting that this academic community might enhance the development of internationally-informed and innovative pedagogic practice. The research reported within the paper constitutes a preliminary study, set within a UK Higher Education (HE) case study setting. Methods included focus groups and themed in-depth interviews with a sample of 34 international academic staff from over 15 countries. The findings and discussion provide insights into the perspectives and experiences of international academic staff in relation to the Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning and other institutional practice. Innovative pedagogic practice as enabled by international academic staff is discussed, as are approaches to the internationalisation of the curricula. The findings are relevant to the UK H.E. context but also for the global context: academic institutions need to consider whether curriculum and processes are limited and limiting in favour of a narrow cultural lens

The language of legitimation: the narrative of reputation management within corporate disclosures

A ‘management practice’ piece experimenting with creative expression of views on Legitimacy theory

Towards a body aware strategic organisation.

This essay attempts to give a voice to the non-verbal in strategic organizationthrough an enhanced conceptualization of the body, a discussion of which hastoo long been overlooked within the field. As a result, management in general,and strategic management in particular, have been theorized as disembodied(Swan, 2005). In part, this is likely the outcome of a focus on strategy ratherthan the practice of strategy, which characterized the field until the late 1990s,and the ready availability of written and verbal aspects of strategy for study.Nevertheless, even the currently active practice agenda in strategy has thus farfocused largely on talk and given little attention to the body (Whittington,1996, 2001, 2002, 2003).In our view, a conceptualization of strategizing that fails to consider strategists’physicality and embodiment is incomplete. Stated more strongly, divorcingthe body from our praxis is inhibiting the growth of practice itself. The bodymay act positively, negatively or neutrally in the strategic processes, impacting theeffectiveness of processes themselves as well as the strategies chosen and their outcomes.Borrowing ideas and approaches from the broader organization studiesfield and beyond, and building on research questions posed by Whittington(2003) for a practice perspective, we make a case for ‘body-aware’ research on thepractice of strategy.In calling for acknowledgement of the body we urge the study of non-verbalgestures, sounds, silences, gestures, voices and the overall physicality of strategizingprocesses. However, study is not limited to the physical body but also itsembodiment – the meaning-made body (Bourdieu, 1977: 75), the lived body(Grosz, 1994, 1995), the becoming body (Styhre, 2004: 104)

Dimensions of KM: They know not its called knowledge but they can manage it!

This paper takes a social perspective on the discipline of Knowledge Management (KM) within the processual, conceptual, and contextual dimensions of teaching this subject in a management education setting. We explore how for our students the concept of knowledge is a fascinating one as most of them wonder what is encompassed within 'knowledge management' for it to be a subject, yet we know that they can manage it in their everyday practice of being a PG student or a practitioner. In this paper we aim to re-present KM, through a discussion of its development processes, dimensions based content and the multicultural context of delivering our course and its implications for future reflective practice in the discipline

International Business

The book provides a clear and concise introduction to the environment and functions of international business. It explains in straightforward language the economic and financial underpinnings of international trade, the more subtle organisational and cultural issues, and the managerial challenges which face organisations of all types and sizes. In particular, it provides up-to-the-minute coverage of recent global events – the economic downturn and uncertainty in financial markets. It is written for students on undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes, or undertaking professional qualifications. It is especially suitable for non-specialist students of business