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| 2. |
- Keil, Mark, et al.
(författare)
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Reporting bad news on software projects: the effects of culturally constituted views of face-saving
- 2007
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Ingår i: Information Systems Journal. - : Blackwell Publishing Ltd. - 1365-2575 .- 1350-1917. ; 17:1, s. 59-87
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The reluctance to report bad news about a project and its status is a known problem in software project management that can contribute to project failure. The reluctance to report bad news is heightened when it bears personal risks. Oftentimes, those who report bad news end up losing face. In extreme cases, they not only lose face, but may end up on the unemployment line. The need to preserve face is a powerful influence on social behaviour. While universal, it manifests itself differently in different cultures. To date, there have been no empirical studies of the extent to which culturally constituted views of face-saving affect reporting of bad news on software projects. This is a particularly important topic given the increased prevalence of global, dispersed software development teams and offshore outsourcing of software development. In this study, we conducted a role-playing experiment in the USA and in South Korea, to investigate the effect of culturally constituted views of face-saving on the willingness to report bad news regarding a software development project. A blame-shifting opportunity was chosen as the means to operationalize face-saving in a culturally sensitive fashion. The two countries were chosen because they differ markedly in their views of face-saving and the relative importance ascribed to two important aspects of face: lian and mianzi. Results reveal that the presence of a blame-shifting opportunity had a significant effect on US subjects' willingness to report bad news, but the effect on Korean subjects was not found to be statistically significant. In the absence of a blame-shifting opportunity, we did not observe any significant differences between US and Korean subjects in willingness to report bad news. The implications of these findings are discussed.
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| 3. |
- Kiel, M, et al.
(författare)
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Information Technology Project Escalation: A Process Model
- 2008
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Ingår i: Decision Sciences. - : Wiley. - 1540-5915 .- 0011-7315. ; 39:2, s. 239-272
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Information technology (IT) a common and costly problem. While much is known about the factors that promote escalation behavior, little is known about the actual escalation process. This article uses an in-depth case study to construct a process model of escalation, consisting of three phases: drift, unsuccessful incremental adaptation, and rationalized continuation. Each phase encompasses several within-phase escalation catalysts and the model also identifies triggering conditions that promote transition from one phase to the next: project framing (antecedent condition), problem emergence, increased problem visibility, and imminent threat to project continuation (triggering the outcome deescalation). The results show that escalation is not necessarily the result of collective belief in the infallibility of a project. Rather, escalation results from continued unsuccessful coping with problems that arise during a project. Furthermore, the results suggest that the seeds of escalation are sown early: the very manner in which a project is framed contributes to whether or not the project will become prone to escalation. As problems ensue, repeated mismatches between attempted remedies and underlying problems contribute to fueling the escalation process. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
- Källberg, Niklas, et al.
(författare)
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Pushing Organizational Change with Technology : Re-Balancing in a Radiology Unit
- 2006. - 1st
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Ingår i: IT & Business Performance: A Dynamic Relationship. - Stockholm : Ekonomiska forskningsinstitutet vid Handelshögskolan i Stockholm (EFI). - 9789144020693 - 9144020694 ; , s. 89-111
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- What can an organization do when it is faced with demands to improve, but lacks the capabilities necessary to conduct improvement work? This chapter suggests that – under these circumstances – technology-related organizational change can be conducted not as an orderly and balanced process but rather as a re-balancing act. Such a re-balancing act focuses one organizational resource or capability at a time and shifts focus to the next area when visible improvements are achieved. Based on a case study of digital radiology implementation, we also find that with such an approach, pushing organizational change by implementing technology ahead of changes in processes, structures and resources might work. With this re-balancing approach, technology-related change becomes emergent rather than pre-planned, pragmatic rather than principled and improvisational rather than structured. The process also does become somewhat precarious; prerequisites for and consequences of this change approach are therefore discussed.
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| 6. |
- Lundeberg, Mats, et al.
(författare)
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IT & Business Performance : A Dynamic Relationship
- 2006. - 1st
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Samlingsverk (redaktörskap) (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- How and when does information technology (IT) contribute to the performance of the firm? Does IT provide competitive advantage? Why is IT so difficult to understand and manage? Does it have to be that way? This book explores the complex, dynamic relationship between IT and business performance. It contains studies of IT-related change in different contexts, and it also offers models, tools and approaches that further the understanding and management of IT and business performance. The book illustrates how value from IT is derived indirectly, through innovation of business processes and development of organizational capabilities. From this it follows that a deep understanding of the transformation of IT resources into business performance is crucial – because ultimately, it is the actions of people in a specific context that lead to realization of business performance improvements. The primary audience for this book is reflective practitioners working with IT & business Performance, such as chief information officers (CIOs), general managers and change agents. The book is also well suited for people studying these and related roles.
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| 7. |
- Lundeberg, Mats, et al.
(författare)
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Transforming IT Resources into Business Performance
- 2006. - 1st
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Ingår i: IT & Business Performance: A Dynamic Relationship. - Stockholm : Ekonomiska forskningsinstitutet vid Handelshögskolan i Stockholm (EFI). - 9789144020693 - 9144020694 ; , s. 25-38
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- How and when does IT contribute to the performance of the firm? Does IT provide competitive advantage? Why is IT so difficult to understand and manage? Does it have to be that way? This chapter provides a condensed discussion of some key mechanisms in the dynamic relationship between IT, business performance and competitive advantage. It does so by employing a conceptual view that link IT resources, business processes and organizational capabilities. An underlying theme of the chapter is that managers need to have a rich understanding of how IT resources are transformed into business performance in order to adequately manage IT and integrate IT issues into strategic processes and governance activities. Knowing that IT contributes to business performance is simply not enough, because the complexity inherent in the task of transforming IT into business performance is not disappearing anytime soon. The discussion provided in this chapter is intended to contribute to a richer understanding of the transformation process.
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
- Melian, Catharina, et al.
(författare)
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Lost and gained in translation: Adoption of open source software development at Hewlett-Packard
- 2008
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Ingår i: Open source development, communitites and quality. - Boston, MA : Springer US. - 9780387096841 ; 275, s. 93-104
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- What happens when an organization form that has emerged in one context is brought into a different context? In this paper, a longitudinal field study approach is used to explore how Hewlett-Packard (HP) molded open source software development (OSSD) into a proprietary software development approach called “Progressive Open Source” (POS). With the help of actornetwork theory, we understand this as a process of translation and find that some central characteristics of OSSD where lost in the translation into POS while other characteristics were gained.
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| 10. |
- Mähring, Magnus, et al.
(författare)
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De-escalating IT Projects: The DMM Model
- 2009
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Ingår i: Communications- ACM. - : ACM Association for Computing Machinery. - 0001-0782. ; 52:10, s. 131-134
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Taming runaway Information Technology (IT) projects is a challenge that most organizations have faced and that managers continue to wrestle with. These are projects that grossly exceed their planned budgets and schedules, often by a factor of 2--3 fold or greater. Many end in failure; failure not only in the sense of budget or schedule, but in terms of delivered functionality as well. Runaway projects are frequently the result of escalating commitment to a failing course of action, a phenomenon that occurs when investments fail to work out as envisioned and decision-makers compound the problem by persisting irrationally. Keil, Mann, and Rai reported that 30--40% of IT projects exhibit some degree of escalation. To break the escalation cycle, de-escalation of commitment to the failing course of action must occur so that valuable resources can be channeled into more productive use. But, making de-escalation happen is neither easy nor intuitive. This article briefly examines three approaches that have been suggested for managing de-escalation. By combining elements from the three approaches, we introduce a de-escalation management maturity (DMM) model that provides a useful framework for improving practice.
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