[AISWorld] TOC: Information and Organization 2012

[Dan Robey]

I am pleased to announce the articles published during 2012 in Information and Organization:

 

October 2012

Exploring preconditions for open innovation: Value networks in industrial firms <http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.infoandorg.2012.05.001> 

Ulrika H. Westergren | Jonny Holmström

Abstract: The open innovation model embraces the purposive flow of internal and external ideas as a foundation for innovation and network formation. While the open innovation paradigm has been successfully applied in high-tech settings, there is a lack of research on adopters of open innovation in other settings. We describe a case study conducted in a process industry setting, focusing on the LKAB mineral group as it makes a transition from a closed to a more open innovation context by adopting remote diagnostics technology. This process has resulted in the creation of new value networks. By tracing the reasoning behind the organizational transformation and studying the technology used to carry it through, we seek to explore the preconditions for open innovation and provide insight into the role of IT in the process. Our findings show that adoption of the open innovation model is grounded in developing organizational environments that are conducive to innovation, including expertise in creating a culture for knowledge sharing, building a trustful environment, and a resourceful use of IT.

 

Institutional effects in the adoption of e-business-technology <http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.infoandorg.2012.06.002> 

Markus Hertwig

Abstract: This article analyzes the adoption of B2B-e-business technology in German automotive supplier companies during the internet hype period, i.e. in the very early stage of technology diffusion. While from the outset e-business was assumed to be used by companies in order to increase efficiency and reduce costs, some previous IOS research and theoretical considerations suggest that both efficiency and environmental expectations can be important reasons for companies to implement e-business. On this backdrop, the paper analyzes the reasons for e-business technology adoption, focusing on the explanatory value of institutional factors like mimesis, coercion, and normative pressures. Theoretically based hypotheses are developed and tested using regression models with a quantitative data set of more than 1900 companies.The article tries to make an innovative contribution to the field of IOS research, first, by drawing on theories of organizational structuring - new institutionalism, social psychology, and transaction cost economics; second, variation of adoption rationales in different types of companies and different business functions inside a company is taken into account.It appears that the adoption of e-business is explained by external pressures from other customers, bandwagon effects and herding behavior during the e-business hype, and expectations and interests of professionals inside a company. In the 'core' areas of a firm, efficiency rationales play an important role, too. The data reveals that the reasons of e-business usage differ significantly by department and company type.

 

>From disruptions to struggles: Theorizing power in ERP implementation projects <http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.infoandorg.2012.06.001> 

Leiser Silva | H. Kevin Fulk

Abstract: Enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation projects often fail to achieve their objectives. These often problematic projects are frequently the setting for intense and growing power struggles. Existing studies (e.g., Boonstra, 2006; Shepherd, Clegg, & Stride, 2009) have provided researchers with insights about issues of power in these projects. However, existing research has yet to provide a comprehensive picture of power in these projects or insights on how this picture changes with the passage of time. Clegg's (1989) circuits of power framework provides a useful tool for developing this needed comprehensive picture. We use the circuits of power framework as a tool for categorizing existing literature on power in ERP implementations. More importantly, we draw on this framework to provide a comprehensive view of power in the particular context of these projects. Specifically, we analyze the power relations during the implementation of an ERP in an organization. We do so by identifying how disturbances to the circuits of power - power struggles - arise and intensify during the implementation of the ERP. In this way, our work makes both a theoretical and an empirical contribution to the study of power in ERP implementation projects.

 

How does PLM technology support knowledge transfer and translation in new product development? Transparency and boundary spanners in an international context <http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.infoandorg.2012.07.002> 

Valéry Merminod | Frantz Rowe

Abstract: Information Technology is often viewed as imposing too much standardization and limiting flexibility in New Product Development (NPD). This paper aims at understanding how the use of Product Lifecycle Management Technology (PLM) contributes to knowledge sharing in an international NPD environment. The research is based on a longitudinal case study of a consumer goods industry group and involved development teams in Europe and local suppliers in China. Knowledge transfer and translation were observed through the reduction of communication glitches among members and increased NPD work with Chinese suppliers. The results of the case study indicate that (1), with an important codification effort, the use of PLM technology resulted in higher data and network transparency and enhanced knowledge transfer; (2) PLM served as a particularly useful tool for knowledge translation especially for boundary spanners in their work relationships. While PLM can be considered the main mechanism for knowledge transfer in this context, the case suggests that knowledge translation requires a boundary spanner intervention and that, with the use of PLM, they reinforce each other. Particularly noteworthy was a positive shift in the boundary spanners' roles from the project leader to the outsourcing engineer. In turn, this unintended consequence reinforced their credibility and the legitimacy of the use of the system with the Chinese suppliers.

 

A narrative networks approach to understanding coordination practices in emergency response <http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.infoandorg.2012.07.001> 

Panos Constantinides | Michael Barrett

Abstract: This paper examines coordination practices in emergency response by adopting a narrative networks approach (Pentland & Feldman, 2007). We apply this approach in the analysis of qualitative data collected in an empirical longitudinal study (2003-2006) of emergency response across a geographical region of Greece. We provide an in-depth narrative analysis of two different emergency incidents and the efforts to coordinate those. The paper concludes with the implications of using a narrative networks approach for understanding the temporal and situated nature of coordination, while placing emphasis on the performativity of coordination practices.

 

July 2012

The family resemblance of technologically mediated work practices <http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.infoandorg.2012.03.001> 

Eric Monteiro | Gasparas Jarulaitis | Vidar Hepsø

Abstract: Practice-based perspectives in information systems have established how, in every instance of use (i.e., work practices), the user exercises considerable discretion in their appropriation of the technology with local workarounds and situated improvisations. We analyse the relationship between technologically mediated work practices separated in time and space. Specifically, we analyse how similarity in work practices is achieved. Achieving absolutely similar (or 'best') practices is unattainable. Drawing on a longitudinal (2007-2011) case of ambulatory maintenance work in the oil and gas sector, we identify and discuss three constituting strategies (differentiation, assembling and punctuation) through which a family resemblance of - similar but not the same - work practices is crafted. We discuss how, in the absence of an essentialist criterion, similarity is subject to pragmatic but also political negotiations.

 

People, practice, and technology: Restoring Giddens' broader philosophy to the study of information systems <http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.infoandorg.2012.04.001> 

Mark Thompson

Abstract: This paper argues that practice-based management and IS literature has tended to portray a voluntaristic account of human agency that downplays the contribution to emergent social outcomes of more deeply rooted psychological dimensions of the human condition. Within the IS research community, this tendency is exemplified in work using Giddens' structuration theory, which, whilst acknowledging the importance of human interpretive properties, has foregrounded cognitive aspects to interpretation at the expense of important non-cognitive ingredients such as affect and biographical identity. These non-cognitive ingredients are less amenable for study using the structurational model, but receive comprehensive treatment elsewhere in Giddens' work. Accordingly, it is argued that a useful direction for future theory development would be to seek a more balanced account of humans' co-constitutive relationship with technology in practice. This could be achieved by supplementing the structurational perspective, with its primary focus on emergent social structure, with a more explicit engagement with Giddens' broader concern with emergent biographical structure. An initial integrative framework is offered as a first step in this direction.

 

April 2012

eHR software, multinational corporations and emerging China: Exploring the role of information through a postcolonial lens <http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.infoandorg.2012.01.004> 
Jose M. Alcaraz | Miquel Domènech | Francisco Tirado

Abstract: This paper seeks to offer an alternative account of Human Resources Information software (eHR) informed by a critical/postcolonial view on information systems. In so doing, it aims to explore the possibilities for managing people that information brings when Human Resources Management practices are transferred from "developed" to "developing" countries. The paper relies on several qualitative in-depth interviews with renowned Chinese Human Resources experts in Shanghai, and the examination of diverse eHR software-related documentation and functionalities. Critical discourse analysis was used to examine these sources. The findings show that eHR information systems bring new governance possibilities that support and expand the discipline of Human Resources Management. The use of eHR software in people management gives a new momentum and increased dominance to key Western-originated practices, such as HR-based performance management. Information brings new ordering options that facilitate the transferability, mobility and standardization of HR values, discourse and practices and, ultimately, the construction of a global "generified employee". The paper offers a first critical analysis of eHR software, showing the need to understand the relevancy of the informating power of these systems for a postcolonial critique of ICT. It offers a view of the "micro-processes" that facilitate organizational transfer from the multinational corporation headquarters to the subsidiaries and across countries. In so doing, it challenges mainstream deterministic assumptions and apolitical approaches to this technology.

 

Dual materiality and knowing in petroleum production <http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.infoandorg.2012.01.001> 

Thomas Østerlie | Petter G. Almklov | Vidar Hepsø

Abstract: This paper explores the relationship between materiality and knowing through the notion of dual materiality. Dual materiality highlights how digital technology becomes important, as its materiality plays an integral part in creating, not simply representing, the materiality of the physical world. We elaborate upon this insight through a theory on sociomaterial knowing grounded in ethnographic fieldwork within a petroleum company. The main theoretical proposition of this theory is that knowing arises from the emerging patterns of interaction between material phenomena, the material arrangements for knowing about these phenomena, and knowledge practices. We elaborate upon this through three predominant modes of knowing in petroleum production: instrumentation, interpretation, and learning. This paper contributes to the broader discourse on sociomateriality by refining ideas of materiality through the notion of dual materiality. We conclude by encouraging further exploration of different materialities in contemporary work and organizing.

 

Technology-as-text in the communicative constitution of organization <http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.infoandorg.2012.01.002> 

Senem Güney | Anthony M. Cresswell

Abstract: In this paper, we introduce the concept of technology-as-text, based on a distinct variant within the perspective of the communicative constitution of organization (CCO). We apply this concept in a case study on the emergence of a new organizational form for IT governance within a state government. Our analysis illustrates the insights to be gained from the technology-as-text concept for the study of constitutive entanglement, specifically with respect to technology's role in the materialization of authority relationships that constitute organization.

 

The institutionalization of information system project management practices <http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.infoandorg.2012.01.003> 

Muriel Mignerat | Suzanne Rivard

Abstract: Considering that current structures are the result of choices made in specific contexts in the past, we adopt a historical perspective in order to understand how some information systems (IS) project management practices evolved and became norms. Using historical methods, we analyze sources of data spanning 52years of IS project management (1945-2007) - interviews with IS project managers and academics, IS project management textbooks, curricula, and the scientific and professional literature - to: (1) determine whether some IS project management practices may now be considered institutionalized, and (2) understand their institutionalization processes over time. Based on this analysis, three groups of IS project management practices may now be considered institutionalized: formal control, external integration, and project risk management.

 

January 2012
Context and the processes of ICT for development <http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.infoandorg.2011.10.001> 

Niall Hayes | Chris Westrup

Abstract: This paper argues for a rethinking of the notion of context in the information and communication technology for development (ICT4D) research domain. We argue that context can be conceived of as a dynamic outcome constructed through processes of development and interpretation rather than as an entity which can be isolated and represented. Instead of focusing on the adequacy of the representation of context-the motivation of contextualism-researchers should consider the processes by which context is represented. Three principles are proposed to assist in this endeavour. Firstly, representation of context is a relational process in which both 'macro' and 'micro' actors engage. Understanding the context of ICT4D requires multiple accounts drawn from different actors. Secondly, while research needs to describe the concepts used by 'macro' actors to represent context, it is crucial to recognize them as outcomes of processes of development and not as self-evident entities. Finally, we suggest that research needs to attend to how these accounts are produced, be they by 'macro' and 'micro' actors. This can be understood as an emergent activity showing not only unexpected outcomes but also that the concepts describing actors change in development. These principles are applied to the case of M-PESA, now widely known as an innovative mobile banking application from Kenya. One outcome of this approach is that it helps explain why ICT4D projects in general, and M-PESA in particular, are often difficult to replicate successfully.

 

Unpacking ostensive and performative aspects of organisational routines in the context of monitoring systems: A critical realist approach <http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.infoandorg.2011.10.002> 

Federico Iannacci | Kyriakos S. Hatzaras

Abstract: Drawing on the theory of organisational routines as generative systems, we deploy a critical realist approach based on Searle's philosophy of language to analyse the generative mechanisms that specify the pre-conditions for recognisable, repetitive patterns of interdependent activities. Using the example of the organisational routines implemented in Germany to monitor the allocation and disbursement of the European Social Fund, we contend that constitutive rules of the type "X counts as Y in context C" are at the very centre of organisational routines. Such rules consist of generative mechanisms that account for the emergence of the ostensive aspects of organisational routines out of artefacts and/or procedures in a social structure of power relations. We further claim that, far from being proxies for the ostensive aspects of routines, artefacts whether tangible or intangible are instantiations of such ostensive aspects on a par with any other performative aspects of routines. On this basis, a re-conceptualisation and a re-labelling of the ostensive and performative aspects of routines are proposed. The former are the result of the activation of systems of constitutive rules, i.e. actual routines in critical realist terminology, the latter are patterns of interdependent activities instantiating the ostensive aspects of routines, i.e. empirical routines in critical realist terminology. Implications for theory and practice are discussed by developing a model of organisational routines that interweaves extant research streams.

 

Witty invention or dubious fad? Using argument mapping to examine the contours of management fashion <http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.infoandorg.2011.11.001> 

Rudy Hirschheim | David M. Murungi | Santiago Peña

Abstract: This paper examines management fashion discourse based on the premise that management fashions are not neutral, but problematic. It grounds this premise on Abrahamson and Fairchild's (1999) observation that attributes the upswings of management fashion discourse to "emotionally charged, enthusiastic and unreasoned discourse". Adopting this critical perspective, the paper conducts a careful analysis of faddish discourse in an attempt to understand the discursive ailments that would justify ascribing a diagnosis of "unreasoned" to this discourse. To achieve this goal, the paper employs the technique of argument mapping to examine and compare the structures of early discourse surrounding: (1) Business Process Reengineering (BPR) - typically now considered a fad; (2) Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) - an enduring, non-faddish IS discourse; and (3) Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) - a more recent discourse that is evaluated based on insights derived from comparisons of BPR and ERP. Findings from the resultant argument maps show conspicuous differences between BPR and ERP argumentation, which suggests an association between early argument structure and the faddish trajectory of discourse. Similarly, insights derived from ERP and BPR argument comparisons suggest that SOA is more likely to follow the faddish course of its BPR predecessor rather than the enduring track of ERP.

 

Knowledge management technology as a stage for strategic self-presentation: Implications for knowledge sharing in organizations <http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.infoandorg.2011.10.003> 

Paul M. Leonardi | Jeffrey W. Treem

Abstract: This article explores why it is often difficult for organizations to capture, store, and share employees' individually held expertise. Drawing on studies of the social construction of expertise and theories of transactive memory systems and self-presentation in computer-mediated environments, we argue that knowledge management technologies are not simple containers for the storage of expertise, but that they are stages upon which individuals enact performances of expertise. Through a longitudinal study of the work of IT technicians we show that users of a knowledge management technology strategically craft their own information entries to position themselves as experts vis-à-vis their coworkers. The data suggest that proactive self-presentations enacted by a few actors early on may spur reactive behaviors of strategic self-presentation across the organization. We explore implications of these findings for theories of transactive memory systems and technology use in organizations.

 

For more information about the journal, please go to: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/information-and-organization/ <http://www.journals.elsevier.com/information-and-organization/> 

 

 
Daniel Robey
Department of Computer Information Systems
Robinson College of Business
Georgia State University
P.O. Box 4015
Atlanta, GA 30302-4015
USA
Editor in Chief
Information and Organization
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