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- Aakhus, Mark, et al.
(författare)
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Symbolic Action Research in Information Systems : Introduction to the Special Issue
- 2014
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Ingår i: Management Information Systems Quarterly. - 0276-7783 .- 2162-9730. ; 38:4, s. 1187-1200
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This special issue introduction explores the need to study information systems as symbolic action systems, defines broadly the research domain and related assumptions, notes the origins of this perspective, articulates its key lines of study, and discusses the state of the field in light of published research. The essay also positions the three papers of the special issue in the broader Information Systems (IS) discourse and notes their specific contribution in bridging so far unconnected streams of research and expanding research methods amenable to symbolic action research. This introductory essay furthermore observes some unique challenges in pulling together the special issue that invited the editors to combat against the tendency to approach communicative processes associated with information systems as primarily psychological processes. In closing we note several lines of inquiry that can strengthen future studies of symbolic action including better design theories, more flexible and open use of methods, and attentive use of rich traditions that inform symbolic action research in IS.
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| 2. |
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| 3. |
- Arvidsson, Viktor, 1984-, et al.
(författare)
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Information systems use as strategy practice : a multi-dimensional view of strategic information system implementation and use
- 2014
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Ingår i: Journal of strategic information systems. - : Elsevier. - 0963-8687 .- 1873-1198. ; 23:1, s. 45-61
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Information systems (IS) are strategic in so far as they are used to realize strategic intent. Yet, while much has been said about aligning IS functionality with the strategic intent and how to organizationally implement strategically aligned systems, less is known of how to successfully implement strategic change associated with system use – a truly critical challenge within strategic IS implementation. Drawing on a strategy-as-practice perspective we address this gap by developing a multi-dimensional view of IS strategy, conceptualizing three key challenges in the IS strategy process, to explain how and why a paper mill, despite successfully implementing a strategic production management system, failed to produce intended strategic change. We call this outcome strategy blindness: organizational incapability to realize the strategic intent of implemented, available system capabilities. Using a longitudinal case study we investigate how cognitive rigidity of key actors and fixed, interrelated practices shaped the implementation of the new production system. We also identify core components and dynamics that constitute a richer multi-dimensional view of the IS strategy implementation (alignment) process. In particular, we identify three salient factors that contribute to strategy blindness – mistranslation of intent, flexibility of the IT artifact and cognitive entrenchment – and discuss how they affect strategic implementation processes. We conclude by discussing implications of our findings for IS strategy theory and practice, especially the contribution of strategy-as-practice to this stream of research.
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| 4. |
- Arvidsson, Viktor, 1984-, et al.
(författare)
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Outflanking with information technology : a dialectic model of organizational transformation
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The information systems (IS) literature conveys two opposing narratives of how to create radical organizational transformation (OT) with information technology (IT): “Iron fist” scholars argue that such OT is best achieved by resolute leaders capable of driving episodic change by fiat, while “velvet glove” scholars posit that OT is best induced incrementally by compassionate leaders who nurture shared vision and minimize conflict. These narratives portray implicitly gendered management stereotypes and promote accounts of heroism. Built to celebrate deliberate managerial action, they also brush aside back-stage work necessary for successful IS strategy implementation and cast IT in the marginal role of a trigger for or enabler of OT. To address these shortcomings, we advance a dialectic model of OT that views IT as a material change agent. To synthesize insights from these opposing narratives of change, our dialectic model also interrogates dominant assumptions in received OT theory. The model is motivated by an unexpected and intriguing case of OT in a Swedish municipality where initially peripheral actors used IT to gradually bring about a much-contested radical change to the organization’s service logics. These actions resembled the military tactics founded on stealth and surprise that military leaders use to overcome overwhelming enemies; therefore, we term the new OT narrative “outflanking.” The narrative foregrounds three tactical IT uses—shielding, priming, and enrolling—that the actors deployed to overcome the opposition. As a result, we theorize that the role of novel IT uses is a necessary component of contemporary OT. Following a call for analyses of OT that recognize material effects of IT, the article concludes with a discussion of how managers can strike alliances with peripheral actors to render their organizations more dynamic, and how researchers need better articulate the complexity of the current IT-based OT.
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| 5. |
- Arvidsson, Viktor, 1984-, et al.
(författare)
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To make or fake sense of information technology? : strategic ambiguity as a source of radical change
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- While Information Technology (IT) resources signal different meanings to different actors, strategy scholarship advocates the establishing of tight links between the functional role and strategic purpose of IT resources. Particularly, the “interpretative flexibility” of IT resources is depicted as an obstacle for effective strategy implementation that needs to be overcome through planned deployment, training, and control. We challenge this conventional assumption. Through applying a practice lens in a qualitative multi-site case study, we identify four types of IT resource configurations, theorizing IT resource ambiguity as a source for radical change. Ultimately, we observe how, when, and why ambiguous uses of IT can form critical elements of new IT strategy practices, and suggest several implications of the observed IT resource ambiguity for strategy and management research.
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| 6. |
- Jonsson, Katrin, 1978-, et al.
(författare)
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Desituating context in ubiquitous computing : Exploring strategies for the use of remote diagnostic systems for maintenance work
- 2010
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Ingår i: International Journal of Actor-Network Theory and Technological Innovation (IJANTTI). - : IGI Global. - 1942-535X .- 1942-5368. ; 2:3, s. 40-55
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context awareness forms a core concern in ubiquitous computing and goes hand in hand with today’s extensive use of sensor technologies. This paper focuses on the use of sensors as part of remote diagnostic systems (RDS) in industrial organizations. The study shows that the process of desituating context, that is, capturing context and transferring it to another context, is critical for the successful use of the technology. The processes of capturing and transferring context are explored in industrial maintenance work through interviews with suppliers and users of RDS. To successfully manage the desituation of context, industrial organizations must find strategies of creating and managing a center of calculation, a center where the captured contexts meet and merge. To enable the long-distance control of the equipment, all data must be compiled into one manageable view without losing the specifics of the local contexts. The data collection must be designed with this in mind. Moreover, to bridge the gap between the digital and the physical world created by the new way of organizing the maintenance work, a new kind of maintenance network must be formed, one in which local technicians’ practices are reconfigured and instituted.
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| 8. |
- Jonsson, Katrin, 1978-, et al.
(författare)
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Turn to the material : remote diagnostics and new forms of boundary-spanning
- 2009
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Ingår i: Information and organization. - : Elsevier BV. - 1471-7727 .- 1873-7919. ; 19:4, s. 233-252
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- To learn and adapt, organizations engage widely in Information Technology (IT)-mediated boundary-spanning. This involves making sense of a swath of peripheral information made available by digital means so as to expand local knowledge. Prior research on boundary-spanning has paid scant attention to material differences between IT systems in enabling or constraining such activity. In this article, we argue that material features do matter: features afforded by IT systems have a significant impact on the form and content of boundary-spanning. We analyze material features and related affordances provided by remote diagnostics systems – a family of ubiquitous IT systems. These features allow remote diagnostics systems to collect, store, and continuously analyze data about the state of machinery and related production processes across space, time and organizational boundaries. Organizations use these systems to determine when maintenance intervention is needed, or to improve their production processes. Often, these systems are run by external service providers at remote sites, which become the new ears and the eyes of a focal organization’s production processes. Building on a longitudinal multi-site case study of two organizations, we explore the impacts of remote diagnostics systems on boundary-spanning. We observe that material features afforded by the remote diagnostics led the organizations to change their boundary-spanning in contradictory ways. On one hand, they reinforced existing boundaries. On the other hand, they crossed or cut down others, or created new ones. This suggests that the material features of these systems, when combined with new knowledge creation and sharing practices, within and between the local and the remote sites generate richer, multifaceted inter-organizational knowledge flows. We surmise that IT’s new material features will continue to significantly shape organizing logics that determine where and when organizational boundaries are drawn and crossed. Future boundary-spanning will increasingly be shaped by socio-technical assemblages brought together by increasingly pervasive IT capabilities.
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| 9. |
- Lindgren, Rikard, 1973, et al.
(författare)
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Managing identity tensions during mobile ecosystem evolution
- 2015
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Ingår i: Journal of Information Technology. - : SAGE Publications. - 0268-3962 .- 1466-4437. ; 30:3, s. 229-244
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The idea of an ecosystem suggests a holistic framing of how heterogeneous actors relate to one another and of the dynamics of their relationships. Because of the dynamics some relationships will become uncertain, posing significant challenge to the identity of participating organizations. Unfortunately, the Information Systems (IS) literature has not examined how organizations develop and negotiate their identities during ecosystem evolution. We fill this void by exploring identity challenges that Swedish Road Administration (SRA) faced while implementing the Radio Data System - Traffic Message Channel (RDS - TMC) traffic information service. Through a longitudinal case study we follow how SRA's inherited expectations, guiding norms, and standards of sense-giving about its identity prevented it from becoming a flexible service provider within an emerging mobile ecosystem. We record a constant clash - the identity tension - between the old inherited identity of a public road administrator and the aspiring new identity of a digital service provider. To enact a successful identity change, SRA had to engage in a series of change episodes whereby it deliberately implemented new routines that forged novel relationships with actors within the ecosystem. This permitted SRA to gradually align its identity to the evolving needs of the RDS-TMC service ecosystem. Our findings suggest that deliberate attempts to implement innovative mobile services - especially those involving public-private partnerships - trigger intriguing identity ambiguities and role dilemmas, and future research should therefore focus on effective strategies to identify, manage, and resolve inherent identity tensions.
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