Just completed reading Orlikowski’s “Integrated information environment or matrix of control? The contradictory implications of information technology.”

This paper describes a research project undertaken to understand how organizations use information systems as control mechanism. The author used a ethnographic research method during this project over the course of the eight month research project.  The author collected data using participant observation, interview, documentation review, and historical documents (Orlikowski, 1991).  To perform this research, the author selected five specific projects to analyze deeply for how the organization (a company called SCC) had implemented control mechanisms using information technology as well as other managerial control types.

The author claims that there were there forms of control found at SCC with two being internal control mechanisms and one being an external control method.   Internal control mechanisms are what are considered ‘normal’ methods of control and are implemented via systems (using technology, organizational processes, etc) and social structure and organizational culture (using personal controls mechanisms) (Orlikowski, 1991). External forms of control are found outside of an organization with professional associations and certifications for specialized job functions.   The author found both internal and external controls being used at SCC through this research project and reported on these controls and their effects throughout the organization.  A brief summary of these controls follows.

During this research, the author found that there were multiple forms of systemic and personal control mechanisms.  In particular, the forms of control were found to be based around organizational structure, human resource policies, knowledge of processes and development, cultural, socialization and technological tools and supervisory controls (Orlikowski, 1991).   The author notes that over the course of eight years, the organization implemented information systems to help implement these control mechanisms and found these systems to be helpful in implementing current and new forms of control.

One of the stated goals of this research was to understand if and/or how information systems can create organizational change by “loosening the hierarchical stranglehold on organizational practices, creating networked and lateral relations that can usher in new organizational forms and practices” (Orlikowski, 1991, p. 9).  The author doesn’t believe that information systems can, by themselves, bring about this change and, based on the outcome of this research, this viewpoint is backed up.  The systems implemented by SCC to enforce systemic and personal controls were developed to follow the structure, processes and policies, therefore the systemic controls that were built to follow the existing controls did exactly that. SCC implemented a system to enforce control mechanisms that were already in place.

While I agree with the author’s findings that information technology can enforce control, I do believe that the use of information systems within organization can bring about a great deal of change throughout the culture, processes and organization.  With the right mindset in place, an organization can use information systems to bring about change but the organization has to want to change.  With the example shown in the SCC research project, the organization set about to implement current controls and improve upon those controls rather than allow those new information systems to change the culture of the organization.

References

• Orlikowski, W. J. (1991). Integrated information environment or matrix of control? The contradictory implications of information technology. Accounting, Management, and Information Technologies, 1(1), 9-42.

I recently read The speed trap: Exploring the relationship between decision making and temporal context by Perlow, Okhuysen  & Repennning.

This paper describes a nineteen-month ethnographic research project undertaken by one of the authors (with assistance from a research assistant) studying a ‘dot-com’ company during the late 1990’s.  This company, given the name ‘Notes.com’ for the purposes of the research paper, was a start-up company who began with initial seed money, moved into venture capital money and was eventually bought out for $125 million by another ‘dot-com’.

As mentioned, the research was conducted using the ethnographic research method with a researcher spending twenty to forty hours per week with the company and, in addition, a research assistant spending sixty hours per week observing the organization.  During this time spent observing, the researcher was focused on decision-making speed and how this speed might affect performance.   To perform this study, the researcher and assistant had access to the entire senior leader meeting as well as all documents available to any of the senior leadership of the organization.

After completing the research project and performing an initial review of the collected data, the authors found two findings that stood out.  The first was that the speed of the decision making process increased dramatically over the life of company while the second finding showed that the process used to make decisions changed significantly during the research project (Perlow, Okhuysen, & Repennning, 2002).  These two findings are discussed briefly in the following paragraphs.

The first major finding showed a dramatic increase in decision speed through the life of the organization. The authors used ‘strategic decisions’ as the object to be measured and defined these decisions as those that involved “novelty, complexity and open-endedness” (Mintzberg, Raisinghani, & Theoret, 1976, p. 250).  Using these criteria, the authors were able to identify thirty-eight strategic decisions during a nine-month period during the research project.  Out of these thirty-eight strategic decisions, 24% of these decisions made during the first five and one-half months (hereafter known as the first-half) of the project and 76% of these decisions occurring during the last three and one-half months of the project (hereafter known as the second-half) (Perlow, et al., 2002).

With these thirty-eight decisions selected, the authors reviewed the amount of time the senior leaders spent in meetings discussing these decisions.  For the first-half decisions, the Notes.com leadership team spent an average of 208 minutes of meeting time while during the second-half the leadership team spent an average of 58 minutes of meeting time (Perlow, et al., 2002).    While this isn’t proof that the ability to make decisions increased for the senior leadership team, it does show that less time was spent on making decisions during this time and that more strategic decisions were made during a shorter period of time.

The second major finding by the authors claim to show that the process by which the Notes.com senior leadership made decisions changed.   Using the same data as above, the authors reviewed the meetings and compared the process for decision making in the first-half to the decisions making process in the second-half and found that the process changed dramatically.  During the first-half, the senior leaders discussed and debated issues and spent time reviewing options while during the second-half, senior leaders made more decisions with little discussion or debate.

While the authors claim that the speed at which decisions were made as well as the decision making process negatively affected Notes.com decision making abilities and ultimately the future of the company, I have to wonder if the senior leadership team wasn’t employing the fast decision making process described by Eisenhardt (1989). This fast decision-making process is claimed by Eisenhardt to be the main factor in success in high-velocity environments, which the ‘dot-com’ industry most certainly was in the late 1990’s.

While this paper touches on an interesting topic, I fail to see the connection between speed of decisions and ultimate failure of Notes.com.  The authors do not go into detail on the background of the senior leadership team nor their experience in running startups.  The authors also fail to include which of the senior leaders are involved in the decision making during the first- and second-half of the period reviewed.  Does the speed of the decisions made during the second-half show that the senior leadership team has matured and/or more senior leaders are involved? These types of questions bring the outcome of this research project into question.

References

• Eisenhardt, K. (1989). Making Fast Strategic Decisions in High-Velocity Environments. The Academy of Management Journal, 32(3), 543-576.
• Mintzberg, H., Raisinghani, D., & Theoret, A. (1976). The structure of” unstructured” decision processes. Administrative Science Quarterly, 21, 246-274.
• Perlow, L. A., Okhuysen, G. A., & Repennning, N. P. (2002). The speed trap: Exploring the relationship between decision making and temporal context. Academy of Management Journal, 45(4), 931-955.

The article by Street and Meister (2004) titled “Small business growth and internal transparency: The role of information systems” describes an action research project that was undertaken by the authors working with a small manufacturing company (hereafter known as ‘manufacturer’) in Canada.  The project investigated the role of information systems in small business growth and how a small business management team can plan for and build an appropriate information system strategic plan to address current and future growth needs.

The authors were placed in contact with the manufacturer by a third-party governmental funding agency.  This introduction and source of funding helped the manufacturer tremendously as they didn’t feel as though they were paying a consultant to recommend a system…they were getting answers to the main issues they were facing. The authors also were able to gain from this introduction, as they were able to put their academic and research experience to good use in a real-world setting.

The main contribution of this paper is subtle but very important one: when a small business begins to move into a growth cycle, the internal communication within the organization must be maintained.  The authors describe this as ‘internal transparency’ and claim that by ensuring that internal transparency is maintained, an organization can navigate the dangerous perils found during growth periods.  Using internal transparency as a means of guidance, organizations can begin to consider the use of information systems as a way to increase (or at least hold steady) internal communications throughout the organization.

As mentioned, the authors conducted this research project as an action research project using three separate phases with different planned outcomes for each phase. The three phases were split into three separate activities: Baseline Analysis, Strategic Planning, Requirements Specification (Street & Meister, 2004).  Each phase is briefly discussed in the following paragraphs.

The Baseline Analysis phase was performed to determine the existing systems, policies and procedures within the manufacturer.  It was during this phase that the authors determined that the communications between the management team of the organization was breaking down due a lack of proper information systems.  Prior to the growth that they were experiencing, the management team had ample time to communicate with each other but while planning for the future growth, their ability to communicate clearly about operational activities was impeded due to the poor information systems in existence.  The authors realized during this phase that the organization didn’t have any strategic plan for growth nor was there a plan for information system growth.

Phase two of the project was the Strategic Planning phase.  During this phase the authors and manufacturer deviated from the original plan for developing a growth plan for information systems and instead built a strategic plan for the business, which included a plan and strategy for the IS of the organization. This phase also saw some investigation into what was causing the internal transparency issues found in phase 1.   The authors found that the lack of proper IS planning was to blame for the reduction in internal transparency within the organization.   Because the management team didn’t have the proper information systems in place, they had to spend more time finding and reviewing operational data in a format that was not easy to review or digest. The more time spent reviewing operational data in this manner, the less time the management team had to focus on internal communications, which caused a reduction the reduction in internal transparency.

Phase three of this project was the Requirements Specification phase where the authors and manufacturer developed a “Request for Quote” (RFQ) to send out to vendors to bid on developing and implementing three distinct information systems.   This final phase of the research project was a key factor for the project as it forced the authors and the manufacturer’s management team to specifically state what their needs were in an information system.  This forced both parties to realize that the biggest need at hand wasn’t a need for automated manufacturing or some other manufacturing related information system. Their biggest need was for an information system that would provide communication across the different functions of the organization to improve internal transparency.

This paper provides an excellent walk-through of using action research in a real world. More importantly though, this paper provides a significant contribution to the world of IS research by showing the connection between information systems, strategic planning and growth in business.

References

• Street, C. T., & Meister, D. B. (2004). Small Business Growth and Internal Transparency: The Role of Information Systems. MIS Quarterly, 28(3), 473-506.

This is part 5 of a 5 part series on using case study research methods in information systems research

This essay provides an overview and review of Eisenhardt’s (1989) article titled “Building theories from case study research” published in Volume 14 of the Academy of Management Review in 1989. In this paper, Eisenhardt (hereafter known as ‘the author’) the author presents a roadmap to help researchers use case study research to build theories.  The roadmap is made up of nine ‘building blocks’. These building blocks are described in more detail in the following paragraphs and examples from research are given for each.

The first building block for using case studies is arguably the most important.  Prior to starting any research project, the basic research question must be determined so that the research project is well defined.  This holds true for case study research as well. Santora & Sarros (2008) clearly defined their research question to be specifically around the reasons that an interim executive director wouldn’t seek to become the full-time executive director of a non-profit organization.  This narrow focus helped set the stage for the case study research.   Another example can be seen in Haunschild & Eikhof’s (2009) case study use to build a theoretical basis for managing a mobile workforce.  In this case study, the authors defined their research question in terms of human resource practices and policies for managing telecommuting and mobile workers in the creative industry.

The second building block consists of selecting appropriate cases for the study.  By ‘appropriate’, it is meant that the theory being built should be tested against a population that allows for testing of the specific theory being built as well as providing variation in environments.  An example of this can be in the case study by Moller, et al., (2005) that reports on school leadership in Norway. The authors chose their cases based on a set of criteria that allowed them to use ‘good schools’ (as defined by the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research) and school size, structure, location and the principal’s gender.  This variation allowed the researchers to vary the demographics across their cases to test their theories.  Another example can be found in a case study by Opoku (2006) where the author conducted multiple case studies on different small and medium sized businesses to conduct research on these types of companies’ methods of collecting customer feedback.  The author used similar sized companies with similar backgrounds to try to have a similar population across multiple organizations.

The third building block has to do with research methodologies, data collection methods and types of data to be used in the case study.   Prior to beginning any research project, the research methodology should be determined and a game plan for collection, storing and analyzing data should be created.  An example of this building block can be found in Masterman, Jameson & Walker’s (2009) article describing their use of data collection techniques during a research project to determine best practices for learning design.  Yet another example can be found in Abdullah & Zainab’s (2008) article that describes data collection methods during a research project on digital libraries.

The fourth building block is the aspect of entering the field to simultaneously collect and analyze data.  By collecting and analyzing data at the same time, researchers are able to adjust data collection methods as needed. Abdullah & Zainab’s (2008) article describe this in detail as they use data collection methods to collect user requirements and analyze said requirements while working in the field. Haunschild & Eikhof’s (2009) article also provides a good example of collecting and analyzing case study data while in the field.

The fifth building block is analyzing and writing up case data on a per-site basis.  This provides a few benefits to the research; namely by writing up and analyzing data for each site (case), the research becomes intimately familiar with each case while staying away from ‘data overload’ trap that multiple-site case studies normally create (Eisenhardt, 1989).   Excellent examples of the use of within-case analysis can be found in Yeo’s (2003) research on linking organizational learning to performance and  Seawright & Gerring’s (2008) article on case selection techniques.

The sixth building block is analyzing data across the multiple cases to find patterns that may exist.  In performing cross-case data analysis, it is imperative to use multiple analysis methods to keep from over-simplifying the outcomes and/or to keep from jumping to any conclusions based on initial impressions. Great examples of the use of cross-case analysis can be seen in Doolin & Ali’s (2008) research on mobile technology adoption in the supply chain and Masumoto & Brown-Welty’s (2009) case study of leadership practices and community relationships in high school education in California.

The seventh building block involves using the within-case and cross-case analysis that was performed in previous steps to shape a hypothesis.  This is done by reviewing the cases and data collected and refining the definition of the theory and ensuring that the collected data provides evidence to help solidify the hypothesis. An example of building and shaping a hypothesis using cross-case and within-case analysis (and other methods) can be see in Kambil’s (2008) article that looked at multiple organization’s recesession strategies to create a hypothesis for organizational strategies for recession planning.  Another example can be seen in Scholes, Westhead & Burrows (2008) research project involving family firm succession planning and buyout/buy-in rules and strategies.

The eighth building block involves performing an extensive literature review to determine if the theory being developed is similar to other theories and/or to determine if there are other studies that support or conflicts with the theory. An example of an extensive literature review can be found in many of the previously mentioned papers with Abdullah & Zainab (2008) and Haunschild & Eikhof’s (2009) articles.

The ninth building block is the final block and involves closing the case study process down.   This is an important step in theory building, as it requires the researcher to really think about how much data and how many cases are ‘enough’.   While no specific examples were found that specifically mentioned ‘closure’, two good examples that show some signs of selecting the ‘right’ number of cases to study can be seen in Moller, et al., (2005) and an excellent write-up of case selection techniques (including choosing the number of cases) can be found in Seawright and Gerring’s (2008) article.

References

• Abdullah, A., & Zainab, A. N. (2008). The digital library as an enterprise: the Zachman approach. The Electronic Library, 26(4), 446.
• Doolin, B., & Ali, E. (2008). Adoption of Mobile Technology in the Supply Chain: An Exploratory Cross-Case Analysis. International Journal of E-Business Research, 4(4), 1.
• Eisenhardt, K. (1989). Building Theories from Case Study Research. The Academy of Management Review, 14(4), 532-550.
• Haunschild, A., & Eikhof, D. (2009). From HRM to Employment Rules and Lifestyles. Theory Development through Qualitative Case Study Research into the Creative Industries**. Zeitschrift f¸r Personalforschung, 23(2), 107.
• Kambil, A. (2008). What is your recession playbook? The Journal of Business Strategy, 29(5), 50.
• Masterman, E., Jameson, J., & Walker, S. (2009). Capturing teachers’ experience of learning design through case studies. Distance Education, 30(2), 223.
• Masumoto, M., & Brown-Welty, S. (2009). Case Study of Leadership Practices and School-Community Interrelationships in High-Performing, High-Poverty, Rural California High Schools. Journal of Research in Rural Education (Online), 24(1), 1.
• Moller, J., Eggen, A., Fuglestad, O. L., Langfeldt, G., Presthus, A.-M., Skrovset, S., et al. (2005). Successful school leadership: the Norwegian case. Journal of Educational Administration, 43(6), 584.
• Opoku, R., A. (2006). Gathering customer feedback online and Swedish SMEs. Management Research News, 29(3), 106.
• Santora, J., & Sarros, J. (2008). Interim Leadership in a Nonprofit Organization: A Case Study. The Business Review, Cambridge, 11(2), 66.
• Scholes, L., Westhead, P., & Burrows, A. (2008). Family firm succession: the management buy-out and buy-in routes. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, 15(1), 8.
• Seawright, J., & Gerring, J. (2008). Case Selection Techniques in Case Study Research: A Menu of Qualitative and Quantitative Options. Political Research Quarterly, 61(2), 294.
• Yeo, R. (2003). Linking organisational learning to organisational performance and success: Singapore case studies. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 24(1/2), 70.

This is part 1 of a 5 part series on using case study research methods in information systems research

This essay provides an overview and review of Cavaye’s (1996) article titled “Case study research: a multi-faceted research approach for IS” published in Volume 6 of the Information Systems Journal in 1996. In this paper, Cavaye (hereafter known as ‘the author’) provides an impressive description of the case study research method and the various ways in which case research can be used by information systems researchers.

While there is no generally agreed upon definition of case research, the author uses the characteristics of case research to help describe this valuable research method. Case research is often used by researchers when they are attempting to fully understand the “context of a phenomenon” (Cavaye, 1996, p. 229) and attempts to contribute to subject knowledge by relating research output to generalizable theories (Cavaye, 1996). While describing the strengths and weaknesses of case research, the author also provides a description of related research strategies that utilize the case method.  These methods are: Field Study, Action Research, Application Descriptions and Ethnographic Research (Cavaye, 1996).  Including these related research methods helps the reader to understand the different approaches that the case method can take.

The author takes a much-appreciated approach of providing a non-critical and seemingly unbiased view of case research as it is used in the field of information systems research.  The non-critical approach taken by the author of this paper is appreciated because it steps away from the mindset of previous researchers that there are ‘better’ approaches for IS research (Cavaye, 1996).  The dominant approach used in information systems research is positivist (Benbasat, Goldstein, & Mead, 1987; A. S. Lee, 1989; Orlikowski & Baroudi, 1991; Yin, 2009) with most researchers and authors claiming that the positivist approach is the superior approach (Cavaye, 1996).  The author argues, using contributions and research from the field, that while the positivist approach may be the dominant one, there are other methods (e.g., the interpretivist approach) for case research is a valid method and one that beginning to appear in more information systems case research.  This open-ended and non-biased approach is quite refreshing when compared to other articles that do not mention other case research methods for use in information systems (Benbasat, et al., 1987).

In addition to providing a discussion of the interpretivist versus positivist approach to case research, the author provides a significant contribution to the body of knowledge by describing case research approaches and alternatives. As previously mentioned, the author’s un-biased approach to describing the various approaches and alternatives provides the reader with straightforward information about case research and its alternatives.  For example, the author provides descriptions of the interpretivist and positivist approaches as well an approach that combines both the positivist and interpretivist approaches described by using one approach to support the other (Kaplan & Duchon, 1988; A. Lee, 1991).

Another significant contribution of this paper is the simple but important descriptions of the use of case research.  The author argues that research is performed for many reasons but the basic reason for research to be performed can be found in the following three reason: To Describe, To Discover and/or To Test Theory (Cavaye, 1996, p. 234).  The author continues to argue that case research can be used for all three and describes various approaches for using case research for these three research reasons.

Lastly, the author provides evidence that case research can be used with either qualitative or quantitative research methods or using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods.  The combination of these two methods is described in detail in Kaplan and Duchon’s (1988) research using both qualitative and quantitative methods in case research.

The author does a great job describing case research and the various approaches and alternatives for case research.  The author claims in the introduction that case research can be either positivist or interpretivist, deductive or inductive, qualitative or quantitative and can be used for many different types of information research (Cavaye, 1996).  After reading through the paper and many of the articles that the author provides references to, it’s clear that case research is an excellent option for information systems researchers.

References

• Benbasat, I., Goldstein, D. K., & Mead, M. (1987). The case research strategy in studies of information systems. MIS Q., 11(3), 369-386.
• Cavaye, A. L. M. (1996). Case study research: A multi‐faceted research approach for IS. Information Systems Journal, 6, 227-242.
• Kaplan, B., & Duchon, D. (1988). Combining qualitative and quantitative methods information systems research: a case study. Management Information Systems Quarterly, 12(4), 571-586.
• Lee, A. (1991). Integrating Positivist and Interpretive Approaches to Organizational Research. Organization Science, 2(4), 342-365.
• Lee, A. S. (1989). A scientific methodology for MIS case studies. MIS Q., 13(1), 33-50.
• Orlikowski, W. J., & Baroudi, J. J. (1991). Studying Information Technology in Organizations: Research Approaches and Assumptions. Information Systems Research, 2, 1-28.
• Yin, R. K. (2009). Case Study Research: Design and Methods (Vol. 5): SAGE.

As part of my doctorate work, I’ve been looking at many different research methodologies.  One of the more interesting qualitative methods is the use of the case study in information systems research.

While reviewing the case study, I found a few articles that discuss the use of the case study approach in the field of inforamtion systems and that i’d provide a brief review of each.

Over the coming weeks, I’ll be publishing reviews of the following articles:

• Cavaye, A. L. M. (1996). Case study research: A multi‐faceted research approach for IS. Information Systems Journal, 6, 227‐242.
• Lee, A. S. (1989). A Scientific Methodology for MIS Case Studies. MIS Quarterly, 13(1), 33‐50.
• Walsham, G. (1995). Interpretive case studies in IS research: Nature and method. European Journal of Information Systems, 4(2), 74‐82
• Darke, P., Shanks, G., & Broadbent, M. (1998). Successfully completing case study research: combining rigour, relevance and pragmatism. Information Systems Journal, 8(4), 273‐289.

My plan is to publish one review per week.  Check back later this week for the first article review.

The first year of my doctorate program is done!

Actually…I finished my last course about a month ago but with the Fall 2008 semester starting next week, I figured I should claim the First Year is complete.

During the first year I took five courses:

• INFS 614 – Introduction to Research
• INFS 720 – Systems Analysis and Design
• INFS 724 – Project & Change Management
• INFS 834 – Knowledge Management
• INFS 730 – Programming for Ecommerce

The Project & Change Management course had me worried (joke!)….i was a little upset that I would have to take the course but it turned out ok…I got 45 PDU’s for my PMP continuing education out of it.

The Fall 2008 Semester finds me taking some interesting courses.   They are:

• INFS 805 – Design Research Methods

Summary: The course develops skills needed for conducting research whose aim is to invent methods and techniques that make information systems more effective and efficient. Students will also acquire skills in developing research proposals that follow the design research paradigm and will learn how to publish such research.

• INFS 830 – Decision Support Systems

Summary: The primary objective of this course is to introduce students to the concepts, techniques and applications of computer-based decision support systems. The course covers issues pertaining to the design, history, theory, practice, methods and techniques, new developments, and applications of computing technologies to support decision processes and decision-making by individuals, groups and organizations

It should be fun!  Look for more info from me as the semester unfolds.  Feel free to check out my Academic page for more info on my progress and/or the Doctor of Science program at Dakota State University.