[AISWorld] CFP: Special Issue of JIT on Leveraging the IS Organization for Business Value Creation

[Kotlarsky, Julia]

Call for Papers for a Special Issue of Journal of Information Technology


Leveraging the IS Organization for Business Value Creation


Special Issue Editors:

Peter Keen, Keen Innovations and EGADE, Monterrey, Mexico

Gwanhoo Lee, American University

William DeLone, American University

Frank Land, London School of Economics

Martha Corrales, EGADE, Monterrey, Mexico

Mark McDonald, Gartner Research

Margaret Tan, Nanyang Technology University, Singapore


The only future and sustainable source of competitive advantage through IT is the Business-IS dialog. Every firm now has the same access to new technology. Reliance on and gains from in-house proprietary systems are being replaced by standardization of interfaces and open systems, packages, variable cost options in sourcing, such as cloud computing and hosting and accessible service infrastructures including platforms like Facebook, Amazon and Android.


The aim of this Special Issue is to identify effective organizational strategies, designs, capabilities, and professional and career development processes that distinguish Information Systems units that are demonstrably effective as contributors to business value creation.


The past decade has seen an underinvestment in the IS organization as source of competitive advantage and there are widespread examples of IS lagging rather than leading innovation through IT. The obvious example is in the mobile field, now in its second decade in the consumer field but in pilot or exploratory stage in many organizations.

The role of IS in business innovation has become blurred. Many areas of development and operations have been outsourced, an estimated 70% of IS budgets are for external services, and the main focus of activity has become highly technical, most obviously virtualization, implementation of cloud computing, and security. In some organizations, IS is seen as a bureaucracy, a view that is reinforced when initiatives in the use of “consumer technology”, especially mobile devices and social networking are labeled by IS as “Rogue IT”, as if they are violations of orderly governance rather a positive new source of productivity, collaboration and knowledge mobilization. A fairly consensual stereotyping of the business-IS relationship is that IS is viewed as a cost center not a value creator and that IS professionals lack business focus and skills. The CIO, rather than the IS organization, is seen as the lever for transforming the business-technology relationship.

This Special Issue aims at going beyond the stereotypes and broad statements of needed directions for IS change to highlight what is working, and why, in making IS a leading contributor in the innovation process. The focus is on theorizing and institutionalizing principles and practices, rather than on one-off examples, however striking. The Issue is designed to encourage research-with-practice. It is research-centered but the test of value is what the research points to for specific actions in practice. It is practice-focused but contributions must go beyond situational and individual descriptive examples to provide the base for formal and general normative frameworks. Viewed from either perspective, the articles should be of relevance to three audiences:

(1) Organizational decision makers in IS investment and governance, including but not limited to the CIO community,

(2) The many IS professionals who are actively looking for ways to develop the skills and build the experience that will enhance their career opportunities in the business sphere, and

(3) educators, HR specialists and IS planners who play an active role as catalysts in building an effective IS organizational capability.


Topics of interest


The Editors have identified topics of interest but these are suggestions only and submissions that address other areas of investigation are encouraged. The overarching measure of relevance is that they provide interesting, resonant and useful answers to the question “How does this help build a more effective IS organization that adds to the enterprise’s ability to exploit IT for real innovation?”


Metrics: What measures of IS performance encourage the innovation dialog and business justification and provide convincing indicators of IS value creation and help guide the social and ethical responsibilities in IT development and application?


The financial dialog: What financial frameworks and models most help IS get away from the straightjacket of traditional ROI, cost metrics, and capital budgeting to enable and leverage IT in open innovation initiatives and new infrastructure development?


Organizational design: Are there general principles for organizing and partitioning IS work, such as centers of process excellence, enterprise architecture units, etc., that improve the elements of the business-IS dialog and individual area of responsibilities relevant to innovation?


Coordinance versus governance: What approaches to governance and enterprise architecture get away from the image and often reality of IS as a blockage looking for control to a partner looking to leverage business initiatives?


Project management: Given the complexities, uncertainties, the many known pitfalls and ever-nagging budget/time demands of large-scale development and rollout, how can project management combine innovation and efficiency?


Communication skills and processes: How does IS systematically build the skills to resolve the common criticism of IT professionals as poor in communication and organizational awareness?


Succession planning: How do CIOs ensure they build a new cadre of IS leadership talent and provide formal help to key personnel in career development and CIO potential?


Personal development and education: What do IS professionals need to know that they don’t know they do(e.g., corporate finance) and what education and development vehicles are most effective and efficient?


Communities of practice: What is the contribution to individual professionals and member organizations of such societies as SIM, The Canadian CIO Peer Forum and others in enabling innovation capabilities in IS?


Vendor and partner relationships: What principles of relationship building and IS service contracting best create a win-win relationship and risk-sharing collaboration?


International differences: Are there significant international differences in how organizations structure, fund, and manage the IS function in ways that affect business innovation? Of particular interest are countries noted as leaders in either business innovation or technology innovation. How does the leadership in one feed into the other?

Additional considerations that the editors view as positive additions to the formal requirements are:

1. Original work by junior IS researchers that pushes into new approaches, theoretical grounding and methodology.

2. Style and attractive presentation: the goal for the Special Issue is for it to have influence in all the relevant communities; researchers, IS professionals, CIOs and educators.


Timetable


30 November 2012, Deadline for article submission

28 February, 2013 Reviews returned to author

30 June, 2013 Deadline for final article submission

30 September, 2013 Final articles accepted

31 December, 2013 Online publication of Special Issue

31 March, 2014 Print publication


Submission information


Detailed information on JIT and formatting requirements: www.palgrave-journals.com/jit/index.html

Questions about the Special Issue should be addressed to Special Issue Editor Gwanhoo Lee (glee at american.edu).

Papers for the Special Issue should be submitted by email to JITedoffice at lse.ac.uk with the title of the Special Issue in the Subject Line
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