Technology, Capabilities and Critical Perspectives:What can critical theory contribute to Sen’s capability approach?

This paper explores what insights can be drawn from critical theory to enrich and strengthen Sen’s capability approach in relation to technology and human development. The two theories share some important commonalities: both are concerned with the pursuit of ‘‘a good life’’; both are normative theories rooted in ethics and meant to make a difference, and both are interested in democracy. The paper provides a brief overview of both schools of thought and their applications to technology and human development. Three areas are identified where critical theory can make a contribution to the capability approach: conceptually, by providing a critical account of individual agency and enriching the concept of technology beyond the simplistic notion of commodities; methodologically, by sensitising towards reification and hegemony of scientific tools, and, finally, by emphasising reflexivity of researchers

Understanding agility in software development through a complex adaptive systems perspective

This paper examines dimensions of social capital in the distributed collaborative development of the UK particle physics Grid. It is shown that the GridPP project effectively draws upon social capital rooted in the tradition and culture of particle physics experiments, characterized with trust, equality, shared vision, collaboration, and pragmatism. These factors contribute to overcoming the challenges in the creation and sharing of knowledge in the development of the Grid, a cutting-edge technology that has to be delivered as a working system with limited time and resources. This case sheds lights on, and provides a good example of, the importance of social capital in distributed systems development

Paradoxes of Visibility in Activism: The Inter-play of Online Power Dynamics Between Activists and the State in the Egyptian Revolution

Social Media has allowed activists to make their causes visible and network locally and transnationally with supporters, but posed equal threats to activists, as authoritarian states employ repressive sur-veillance measures. This paper explores the struggle between the state and activists for visibility on social media platforms, and conceptualises the paradoxes of visibility in daily practices in both sides. This is done by researching grassroots human rights groups from the Egyptian revolution, and there-fore contributing to the narrative that social media has presented as many challenges as opportunities to activism, because the same tools that are used to leverage activism are also used strategically by the state to suppress activism

Moving Up The Value Chain: Exploring The Issues For Chinese Software & Services Outsourcers

To move up the value chain, Chinese software and services outsourcing (SSO) providers will need to provide more value-added services by improving their organisational capabilities and innovative capacity. This paper reports on early findings on processes in which Chinese SSOs engage in order to move up the value chain, towards a transformative collaborative relationship with clients which is referred to as “collaborative innovation”. We provide a literature review on the concept of collaborative innovation and examine different aspects of organisational learning that occur in the interaction between vendors and clients. Data obtained from semi-structured interviews with 12 Chinese SSO providers supplies the basis for the findings which suggest that there are spaces of interaction between clients and providers which offer opportunities for better collaborative practices to emerge and consequently more innovative capacity

From Boundary Spanning to Creolization: Cross-cultural Strategies from the Offshore Provider’s Perspective

In achieving success in global sourcing arrangements, the role of a cultural liaison, boundary spanner or transnational intermediary is frequently highlighted as being critical. In this paper, we argue that concepts like “boundary spanning” have been limited in theorizing the complexities of cross-cultural collaborations in offshore outsourcing processes. This paper presents an alternative framework of “creolization” that combines and further extends theoretical understandings of these processes. We investigated 13 companies through 26 in-depth, semi-structured interviews in Xi’an Software Park, an emerging Chinese software and services outsourcing hub. A grounded analysis of the data revealed four conceptual groupings for the practices undertaken at these companies, labeled as boundary spanning, mixed identity, network expansion and cultural hybridity. We posit that the process of creolization supports these practices and furthermore provides a unique basis for strategies positioning cross-cultural work from a supplier’s perspective

Internal and contextual factors, knowledge processes and performance: From the Chinese provider's perspective

This is the post-print version of the final paper published in Expert Systems with Applications. The published article is available from the link below. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. Copyright @ 2011 Elsevier B.V.This paper explores the influences of two internal factors, i.e. supplier team’s IT-based skills and communication with client’s team, and two contextual factors, i.e. supplier team’s understanding of client’s culture and collaboration with client’s team, on knowledge processes and performance in global sourcing of IT services from the Chinese provider’s perspective. Knowledge processes are characterized by knowledge sharing, knowledge-based coordination and expertise management, and performance is measured by product success and personal satisfaction. Data have been collected in 13 companies in Xi’an Software Park, with 26 in-depth, semi-structured interviews held with top and middle managers, and 200 structured questionnaires distributed to knowledge workers who are involved in global sourcing projects. The results indicate that supplier team’s IT-based skills, communication with client’s team, cultural understanding of client’s culture and collaboration with client’s team are positively associated with knowledge process and performance. Also, knowledge sharing, knowledge-based coordination and expertise management are found to be crucial for those influential factors to function positively and contribute to the performance. The findings of this study suggest that the effects of key factors on knowledge processes and performance in global sourcing of IT services appear to transcend the social and cultural differences; however, contextual factors seem to have more significant influences on knowledge processes and performance in global sourcing of IT services.National Natural Science Foundation of Chin