Exploring the development of social alignment within an innovation context

There has been increasing attention in IS literature around the technology-business relationship and the concept of social alignment. However, little attention has been given to how or why social alignment should be developed. Further examining the concept this paper explores the development of social alignment within an innovation context. Using canonical action research the study is based within an innovation network. Primarily focusing on four organisations, a lack of social alignment was diagnosed. In particular, it was found the business executives did not fully understand the potential of the new technologies available. An intervention was then planned to facilitate the organisations in utilising a business model framework for developing social alignment by creating a common understanding between the business-technology executives. The study which took 24 months to complete involved over 110 hours of primary data. The results highlight the positive impact of the business model framework in developing social alignment. However, it was found that the business model framework alone is not enough to develop social alignment within an innovation setting. Careful thought should be put into who facilitates the development of social alignment and a shared understanding, as CTO’s are often too caught up in day-to-day operations to fulfill the role

Towards a theoretical lens to examine the structural impact of adopting Web 2.0

With the widespread integration of Web 2.0 technologies across society and business there is an increasing need to understand their underlying impact. Yet, very little research has been done on such technologies, so much so, that a definition still eludes the academic community. Nonetheless, their impacts cannot be ignored. For instance, from a societal perspective, the proliferation of social networks and attitude towards openness highlights the transformation from hierarchical type social structures to more non-hierarchical (horizontal) systems. However, rigorous analysis of the structural impacts of the technologies in an organisational context is more difficult due to the lack of theoretical frameworks. Moreover, there has been a call for researchers to build their own theoretical frameworks for further understanding in the domain. As a result, this paper aims to add to the body of knowledge by (i) further defining Web 2.0, (ii) reviewing past literature on organisational structure and technology, and (iii) developing a theoretical lens by rediscovering past socio-technical theories

Big Data: A framework for research

Big Data is not the first and most definitely not the last new term that the IT industry is going to coin in order to drive interest and investment in new technology. Moreover, with these new terms, an opportunity is afforded for the research community to objectively understand the impact (or lack thereof) on organizations and decision makers. This paper provides a high-level framework to guide researchers in the area of Big Data through a conceptualization of the Information Supply Chain. The Information Supply Chain can be used as a scoping device for researchers in positioning their work but also as a tool to enable stronger objectivity and prevent an automatic resistance or acceptance of the new term/trend

Exploring the development of social alignment within an innovation context

There has been increasing attention in IS literature around the technology-business relationship and the concept of social alignment. However, little attention has been given to how or why social alignment should be developed. Further examining the concept this paper explores the development of social alignment within an innovation context. Using canonical action research the study is based within an innovation network. Primarily focusing on four organisations, a lack of social alignment was diagnosed. In particular, it was found the business executives did not fully understand the potential of the new technologies available. An intervention was then planned to facilitate the organisations in utilising a business model framework for developing social alignment by creating a common understanding between the business-technology executives. The study which took 24 months to complete involved over 110 hours of primary data. The results highlight the positive impact of the business model framework in developing social alignment. However, it was found that the business model framework alone is not enough to develop social alignment within an innovation setting. Careful thought should be put into who facilitates the development of social alignment and a shared understanding, as CTO’s are often too caught up in day-to-day operations to fulfill the role

The examination of a business model framework within the e-learning Industry

The debate on the usefulness of business models to the IT/IS and strategy domains is fraught with confusion and contradictory views. However, recent research has indicated a convergence of ideas and a solid role for the business model concept within industry and the research community. Based within the maturing e-Learning industry, this paper empirically investigates the applicability of the business model concept as defined by Osterwalder et al. (2005). Firstly, the paucity of research within the area of business models and e-Learning is examined along with the convergence of business model research. Using a field study of four e-Learning organisations the value of the business model concept is empirically investigated as well as exploring the business models of the organisations themselves. Using the framework set out by Osterwalder et al. (2005) this study indicates that the business model is a solid tool for communicating the business execution plan of an organisation. However, when examining a specific industry, amendments to the framework are needed to fully describe the nuances of the organisations within that industry

A HERMENEUTICS INSPIRED ‘LEARNING-BY-DOING’ PEDAGOGICAL APPROACH FOR ACTION DESIGN RESEARCH

This paper presents a hermeneutical analysis of the confessional accounts of four doctoral candidates, following their completion of a research methodology module on Action Design Research (ADR). This hermeneutical analysis uses the seven concepts of hermeneutics (c.f. Myers, 2009) to unpack the lived experiences of the doctoral candidates throughout the 8-session ‘learning-by-doing’ approach to the module. Following our open, axial and selective coding, our analysis reveals that (i) neophyte researchers build confidence in a research methodology (ADR) through ‘hearing each other’ throughout an iterative learning-by-doing process, and (ii) having a tangible design artefact (e.g. checklist) makes it easier for neophyte researchers to share their, and evaluate others’, interpretations of ‘how-to’ operationalise a research methodology (ADR). We conclude our analysis with a conceptualization of a hermeneutics inspired ‘learning-by-doing’ pedagogical approach, for ADR, presented as a learning flow

The Examination of a Business Model Framework within the E-Learning Industry

The debate on the usefulness of business models to the IT/IS and strategy domains is fraught with confusion and contradictory views. However, recent research has indicated a convergence of ideas and a solid role for the business model concept within industry and the research community. Based within the maturing e-Learning industry, this paper empirically investigates the applicability of the business model concept as defined by Osterwalder et al. (2005). Firstly, the paucity of research within the area of business models and e-Learning is examined along with the convergence of business model research. Using a field study of four e-Learning organisations the value of the business model concept is empirically investigated as well as exploring the business models of the organisations themselves. Using the framework set out by Osterwalder et al. (2005) this study indicates that the business model is a solid tool for communicating the business execution plan of an organisation. However, when examining a specific industry, amendments to the framework are needed to fully describe the nuances of the organisations within that industry

A novel approach to challenging consensus in evaluations: The Agitation Workshop

As researchers evaluate organisations, projects, and teams, there is a desire for a consensus from those within the organisations who are participating in the research. A common consensual perspective from a team appears to reflect an optimal state where those being evaluated have a common understanding of the current state of events within the context of their environment. The question arises, though, whether an evaluation finding consensus reflects the reality: there are a variety of reasons why a common understanding may be false consensus. Hidden behind this false consensus may be a variety of unaddressed issues which are actually the core of the problem. This paper proposes an evaluation method incorporating the principles of sensemaking and devil’s advocate, where a consensus of perspectives is challenged before they are considered valid. This is achieved in a workshop where participants reflect on their own perception of reality and represent this reality in a matrix of influencing and relevant factors. The individual matrices are then combined and used to highlight disparities in the participants’ perspectives through a single matrix visualisation. Discussion in the workshop then focusses on the areas, highlighted by the matrix, where differences of perspectives are identified. In effect, the consensus presented by those being evaluated will be challenged, and a new common understanding will have to be created. Problems such as groupthink can create a false consensus, and it is proposed herein that the workshop provides a mechanism for challenging this. The objective of the research herein was to determine the feasibility and potential benefits of the proposed workshop. The workshop itself is evaluated in this paper, to determine if it has value. The benefits of such a workshop are described, showing how an organisation went from a false consensus concerning problems within the organisation, to the start of a process to address the real underlying issues.Proceedings of the 6th European Conference on Information Management and Evaluation - ECIME 2012 held at the University College Cork. Cork, Ireland on 13-14 September 201

The effects of business-to-business relationships on electronic procurement systems: An exploratory study

For many organisations e-Procurement has become a necessity. Nevertheless, while e-procurement has generated considerable hype the phenomenon is generally under-researched. This paper explores the effects that business-to-business relationships have on e-Procurement systems using a field study of 6 companies. The study classifies business-to-business (B2B) relationships as being adversarial and collaborative, and examines the effects that each have on the electronically supported transaction phases of the procurement lifecycle. The research findings indicate that B2B relationships have most effect on the sourcing, fulfilment, and consumption phases of the procurement cycle

The ISD process as a 'live routine': The mindless behaviours of a narrative network

The objective of this exploratory study is to view an ISD process as a 'live routine' in an effort to identify the inefficiencies in the process caused by mindless behaviours. To meet this objective we present the findings from a sixteen month case study of an ISD organisation, examining the ISD process, the starting point of which is the requirements elicitation (RE) phase. A variety of data gathering techniques are used across two phases of data collection. The case data is organised as a narrative network (NN) of the live routine (ISD process) allowing us to understand the ISD process as a collection of functional events/patterns of action, generated by the enactment of the routine. The NN is showing itself to be a very powerful device to appreciate the knock-on impacts of vague and incomplete requirements (poor requirements elicitation) on downstream ISD process actions. The components of mindfulness are also utilised within the data analysis process to associate ISD process inefficiencies to mindless behaviours. In the findings of this research we generate an ‘ostensive’ rule that defines a valid sequence of action in the ISD process to overcome mindless behaviour. As a case study, the methods and results provide a means of comparison to additional cases of ISD organisations