The Application of the Viable Systems Model to Information Technology Governance

Information technology governance has become a key issue for organizations as IT decision-making authority and responsibility is devolved away from a central IT function to local IT units and increasingly out of the remit of IT specialists altogether. Research to date has either been conceptual treatises on the issue, or recounts the structures and mechanisms that are currently in place in the organizations studied, even though these may have emerged rather than having been explicitly planned. This paper reports on research that is exploring how to describe, diagnose, and design appropriate IT governance structures. Using a participatory research design, where researchers and practitioners are both co-subjects and coresearchers in the research process, it proposes Beer’s viable systems model (VSM) as a guiding framework in considering IT governance. It illustrates how the VSM-influenced IT governance model can be used to describe, diagnose, and design an effective governance structure

Mind the gap : diagnosing the relationship between the IT organisation and the rest of the business

School of Managemen

Managing for IS Success: A Resource-Based Theory Perspective on IS Management

As information systems (IS) become inextricably linked with an organization’s strategy and operations, the requirement for an IS capability becomes paramount. This capability represents the organization’s ability to continuously deliver value from IS investments and is portrayed as the capacity to fuse IT knowledge and business knowledge, to construct a flexible IT infrastructure, and to exploit in full IS investments. Drawing on resource based theory, this paper extends the discourse in the literature, which is usually conducted at the organizational level, to an explicit incorporation of component resources. A model is developed linking IS capability with competencies, roles, knowledge, skills and personal attributes

Egyptian electronic government: The university enrolment case study

E-government projects have potential for greaterefficiency and effectiveness of government operations. For thisreason, many developing countries governments have investedheavily in this agenda and an increasing number of e- governmentprojects are being implemented. However, there is a lack of clearcase material, which describes the potentialities and consequenceexperienced by organizations trying to manage with this change. TheMinistry of State for Administrative Development (MSAD) is theorganization responsible for the e- Government program in Egyptsince early 2004. This paper presents a case study of the process ofadmission to public universities and institutions in Egypt which is ledby MSAD. Underlining the key benefits resulting from the initiative,explaining the strategies and the development steps used toimplement it, and highlighting the main obstacles encountered andhow they were overcome will help repeat the experience in otheruseful e-government projects.Keywords—Case studies, Egypt, Electro

Theorizing Data, Information and Knowledge constructs and their inter-relationship for effective Data Analytics

Good explanatory constructs for Data, Information and Knowledge, and related theory of their interaction, are central to efforts to generate valuable insights from the significant, evolving growth in Data. The central role of Knowledge within such a theory has been highlighted recently, as well as the importance of Learning and Research frames for Data Analytics. Building on these ideas, this paper briefly reviews several related literatures, for relevant ideas to enrich IS theory building. A consensus is found as to the complex, socially constructed nature of Knowledge or Knowing, and the importance of human sensemaking for theorizing how new insight or Knowledge is generated. The paper argues for an intuitive conceptual and practical distinction between Data (which exists as an independent, reified resource), and Information and Knowledge (both of which are embodied or embrained). It also highlights specific areas for further inter-disciplinary engagement and research within the context of Analytics

It backsourcing: from ‘make or buy ’ to ‘bringing it back in-house ’

Since the early 1990’s, IT outsourcing has become a popular strategy with contracts valued at billions of Euro, and durations ranging from five to ten years. Stories in the computing and business press together with reports of analyses by consultants highlight that during the life-time of some contracts, organisations have reconsidered their original decision to outsource. With this rethink, the options available are to continue with the existing vendor and the existing contract, to re-negotiate some or all of that contract with the existing vendor; to re-tender the contract or part of the contract and seek new vendors; or to backsource, bringing some or all of the previously outsourced activities back in-house. This last option has major implications for the organisation yet there is little empirical research on this final part of the outsourcing process. This paper introduces backsourcing as a legitimate strategy in the outsourcing process. An exploratory study identifies some recent examples where companies have made the decision to backsource, surfacing the rationale behind those decisions. From an analysis of the data, an end-to-end model for the outsourcing process is presented. The paper concludes with an agenda for future research

Beyond Alignment: A Coevolutionary View of the Information Systems Strategy Process

How do organizations achieve and sustain the process of continuous adaptation and change that is necessary to realize strategic information systems alignment? While research has focused on developing deterministic alignment models and on identifying the factors that contribute to alignment, there is little understanding of the process as it evolves over time. In this paper, we propose that coevolution theory offers the opportunity to explore coevolving interactions, interrelationships, and effects as both IS and business strategies evolve. An initial model of this coevolution is presented that applies the key attributes and concepts of coevolution theory to strategic IS alignment. Future directions for advancing our work are highlighted

The score is not the music: integrating experience-based and practice-based perspectives on value co-creation in collective consumption contexts

In response to recent calls for deeper understanding of value co-creation between multiple actors, this article explores co-creation in collective consumption contexts. These are defined as settings within which multiple consumers, and optionally multiple other actors such as service personnel, are co-present (physically and/or virtually) and coordinate with one another during product/service consumption. To understand co-creation in such contexts, the article argues for an integration of practice-based and experience-based perspectives, because while collective coordination occurs via social practices, the value that results is by definition an individual experience. By studying an orchestral music context in which multiple consumers and service providers participate, the authors develop a framework dialectically relating co-creation practices to value. Four variables emerge influencing the relationship between co-creation practices and value: role rigidity, consumer heterogeneity conflict, participation access, and signposting. Value can be constrained by role rigidity and by consumer heterogeneity conflict between consumers of differing competence; mitigating this requires that service providers pay attention to participation access and signposting (guiding consumers to select and combine practices in line with their skills and competences). Overall, the findings show how practices shape not just coordination among consumers, but also social learning. Implications for service organizations include how to facilitate social learning between novices and experts so as to optimize value for all

Factors affecting the successful realisation of benefits from systems development projects: findings from three case studies

The return that organisations derive from investments in information systems and technology continues to disappoint. While there is a very significant body of literature on the factors that should facilitate a successful outcome from systems development, there is growing concern that these prescriptions are not having their desired effect. In this paper, we argue that the success of a systems development project should be measured in terms of its ability to deliver meaningful benefits, rather than the timely delivery of a technical artefact, and therefore organisations should adopt an explicit and proactive benefits realisation approach when investing in IT. Consequently, we sought to explore those actionable factors that might facilitate the effective realisation of benefits from systems development initiatives. Three organisations were identified that claimed to adopt a proactive approach to benefits realisation, and detailed studies of their systems development practices were conducted. Our analysis found that whilst one organisation had been successful in its adoption of a benefits realisation perspective, the other two had not, and this allowed us to identify those factors that helped to explain this difference in outcomes. In short, this paper makes an important contribution by identifying how a sub-set of traditional systems success factors might be enhanced, to give them a more explicit benefits realisation orientation. Moreover, it presents a coherent set of principles that can be used for deriving other factors and practices