Using organizational influence processes to overcome IS implementation barriers: lessons from a longitudinal case study of SPI implementation

A fundamental tenet of the information systems (IS) discipline holds that: (a) a lack of formal power and influence over the organization targeted for change, (b) weak support from top management, and (c) organizational memories of prior failures are barriers to implementation success. Our research, informed by organization influence, compellingly illustrates that such conditions do not necessarily doom a project to failure. In this paper, we present an analysis of how an IS implementation team designed and enacted a coordinated strategy of organizational influence to achieve implementation success despite these barriers. Our empirical analysis also found that technology implementation and change is largely an organizational influence process (OIP), and thus technical-rational approaches alone are inadequate for achieving success. Our findings offer managers important insights into how they can design and enact OIPs to effectively manage IS implementation. Further, we show how the theory of organizational influence can enhance understanding of IS implementation dynamics and advance the development of a theory of effective IS change agentry.     

Successful process implementation

We propose measuring software process improvement (SPI) success through implementation success - the extent to which initiatives lead to actual changes in software engineering practice. First, without implementation success, SPI success is impossible. Second, only when implementation succeeds can we see how SPI initiatives affect software practices. Third, implementation success is easy to assess. Finally, focusing on implementation success is a pragmatic way to steer SPI initiatives toward success. We studied the approach and outcome of 18 different SPI initiatives conducted over a five-year period at the telecom company Ericsson AB, based in Gothenburg, Sweden. Doing so gave us insight into how SPI initiatives can best 1) ensure stakeholder commitment 2) support organizational learning 3) distribute resources over different activities 4) manage customer relations.     

Software Process Improvement barriers: A cross-cultural comparison

ContextSoftware Process Improvement initiatives have been around for many years with the growing globalisation of software development is making them increasingly important.ObjectiveThe objective of this exploratory research is to gain an in-depth understanding of barriers that can undermine SPI, in the context of Global Software Development, from the perspective of software development practitioners; this will enable SPI managers to better manage SPI initiatives. We intend to discover if the barriers to SPI initiatives in a developed country are different to those in a developing country.MethodIn an empirical study, Vietnamese software practitioners’ experiences of SPI barriers are compared with barriers identified by Australian practitioners. Face-to-face questionnaire-based survey sessions with 23 Vietnamese SPI practitioners were conducted. Our survey included barriers to SPI improvement initiatives identified in previous research. We asked the participants to rank each SPI barrier on a three-point scale (high, medium, low) to determine the importance of each barrier. We then compare our results, with results (identified in previous work), from 34 Australian software development practitioners.ResultsWe identify (1) lack of project management, (2) lack of resources, (3) lack of sponsorship, (4) inexperienced staff/lack of knowledge, and (5) lack of SPI awareness as ‘high’ value SPI barriers in Vietnam. The results also reveal similarities and differences between the experiences of Australian and Vietnamese practitioners regarding the importance of the SPI barriers identified. While the Australian practitioners were also concerned with (1) lack of SPI awareness, they were even more concerned with (2) organisational politics, and (3) lack of support.ConclusionsPractitioners identify SPI barriers based on previous SPI implementation experience. Their role(s) in their different organisations have helped them to understand the importance of that barrier. Vietnamese software practitioners cited more SPI barriers than their counterparts in Australia. The Vietnamese SPI barriers relate to project management, resources, and sponsorship while the Australian barriers are concerned with organisational politics and lack of support.     

Applying grounded theory to understand software process improvement implementation: a study of Brazilian software organizations

Despite the fact that organizations recognize the importance of implementing software process improvement (SPI) to enhance software development capabilities, recent studies show that many organizations still struggle to successfully implement SPI. These studies demonstrate that most SPI initiatives fail due to their incapacity to overcome social–cultural critical barriers, such as lack of motivation and higher management support. Therefore, the accurate understanding of the context where SPI occurs may facilitate the development of more efficient SPI implementation strategies aiming to overcome those difficulties. The objective of this work was to present a Grounded Theory-based study that investigated SPI implementation initiatives conducted by Brazilian software organizations. The main product of this study is a theoretical framework that tries and explains the phenomenon associated to the success of SPI implementation initiatives. The theoretical framework constituted a set of interrelated SPI domain entities supported by a set of propositions assessed by experienced Brazilian SPI consultants. We expect that such theoretical framework can facilitate SPI implementation by providing better understating of the dependency relationships among critical success factors that may jeopardize SPI initiatives.     

Software Process Improvement Motivators: An Analysis using Multidimensional Scaling

In this paper we present an analysis of software practitioners' motivations for software process improvement (SPI). Our findings are based on an empirical study of SPI in 13 software companies where we conducted focus groups with nearly 200 software practitioners. Our aim is to better understand how companies can maximise practitioner support for SPI. This insight should help SPI managers establish more effective SPI implementation strategies. In this paper we introduce the use of multidimensional scaling (MDS) in SPI research. MDS is a social science data analysis technique designed to generate a rich visual understanding of human issues. By using MDS we found evidence to suggest distinct clusters of punitive and rewarding SPI motivators. Furthermore our analysis also suggests that different clusters of motivations exist for different staff groups.     

Managing change in software process improvement

Software process improvement has become the primary approach to improving software quality and reliability, employee and customer satisfaction, and return on investment. Although the literature acknowledges that SPI implementation faces various problems, most published cases report success, detailing dramatic improvements. Such best-practice cases are a great benefit when learning how to effectively implement SPI. On the basis of experiences from SPI initiatives and insights into organizational-change management, we offer the following advice for successful SPI implementation: software managers must appreciate that each SPI initiative is unique and carefully negotiate the context of change. Managers must also understand the elements of change involved. SPI can't succeed without managerial commitment and a mastery of appropriate change tactics.     

Examining the impacts of organizational culture and top management support of knowledge sharing on the success of software process improvement

Although numerous studies have discussed the importance of the relationship between knowledge management and software process improvement (SPI), a research gap still exists in relation to how the specific role of knowledge sharing influences successful SPI implementation. This study advances our knowledge by developing an innovative model for exploring the impact of knowledge sharing on SPI success, the impact of knowledge sharing in specific organizational cultures, and how the support of top management specifically influences the path to SPI success. To empirically test the model, this study adopts the statistical technique of partial least squares (PLS) to analyze 118 samples collected from SPI-certified Taiwanese organizations. The results suggest that clan-type organizational culture has a stronger association with knowledge sharing than hierarchy-type in the context of SPI success. SPI knowledge sharing is found to be a mediator of both clan culture and top management support in the context of SPI success. The findings also include the implication to improve our knowledge about how organizational culture and top management support drive effective knowledge sharing on the way to SPI success.     

RefModPM: A Conceptual Reference Model for Project Management Information Systems

Project management information systems have changed considerably in the last decade. Today they go far beyond traditional scheduling as well as resource management. These systems have become comprehensive information systems (IS) that support the entire life cycle of projects, project programmes and project portfolios. In this context, project-oriented organizations face a new challenge: the design, implementation and operation of such information systems has become increasingly complex, since numerous processes have to be considered, diverse stakeholder interests taken into account and corresponding software systems selected. The reference model for project management IS (RefMod^PM) presented here addresses these challenges and aims to support corresponding implementation projects. This article introduces RefMod^PM by discussing its construction process and evaluation, as well as providing an overview of its architecture and presenting one part of the reference model in detail.     

Commitment to Software Process Improvement—Development of Diagnostic Tool to Facilitate Improvement1

This paper suggests that by operationalizing the concept of commitment in the shape of a model, a new insight is provided in improving software processes—a more human centered approach as opposed to various technical approaches available. In doing so the SPI managers/change agents are able to plan better the software process improvement initiative and benchmark successful projects (as well as failed ones). Results from five interviews with SPI professionals on the proposed Behavior-based Commitment Model are reported, together with early results from the empirical test in 14 software process improvement projects. Early results suggest that the behaviors introduced in the model are relevant in SPI initiatives, the use of model raises the awareness about the people issues in improving processes, and the model could be used aside with CMM, SPICE or other process improvement models.     

Empirical evaluation of selected best practices in implementation of software process improvement

To be successfully applied in practice, software process improvement (SPI) needs not only identifying what needs to be improved, and which factors will influence its success, but also guidelines on how to implement those improvements and meet the factors. This paper proposes an SPI implementation strategy that has been developed in lines with standard SPI models and frameworks, intended to be suitable for global software development (GSD), and exploiting ideas of incremental deliveries, short iterations with frequent reviews and close collaboration with customers. Quantitative analyses of data from case studies within large GSD show that improvement teams implementing the strategy are more likely to have better progress and achieve better effectiveness in terms of improvement deployment within development teams. The results could be useful to SPI practitioners in making their SPI initiatives more successful.     

How CIOs obtain peer commitment to strategic IS proposals: barriers and facilitators

Effective initiation and execution of strategic information systems/technology (IS/T) projects has become a critical competence for many organizations. One key to this is the ability of the senior executive responsible for IS/T, called the Chief Information Officer (CIO), to obtain peer commitment to implement strategic IS/T projects. This paper explores the barriers and facilitators of peer commitment to the implementation of such projects. Peer commitment barriers and facilitators include the firm's external and internal IS/T environment, appropriateness of the IS/T initiatives, peer relationships, the ability to use the peer's preferred influence behaviors, and post-commitment implementation realities.     

The impact of institutional forces on software metrics programs

Software metrics programs are an important part of a software organization's productivity and quality initiatives as precursors to process-based improvement programs. Like other innovative practices, the implementation of metrics programs is prone to influences from the greater institutional environment the organization exists in. In this paper, we study the influence of both external and internal institutional forces on the assimilation of metrics programs in software organizations. We use previous case-based research in software metrics programs as well as prior work in institutional theory in proposing a model of metrics implementation. The theoretical model is tested on data collected through a survey from 214 metrics managers in defense-related and commercial software organizations. Our results show that external institutions, such as customers and competitors, and internal institutions, such as managers, directly influence the extent to which organizations change their internal work-processes around metrics programs. Additionally, the adaptation of work-processes leads to increased use of metrics programs in decision-making within the organization. Our research informs managers about the importance of management support and institutions in metrics programs adaptation. In addition, managers may note that the continued use of metrics information in decision-making is contingent on adapting the organization's work-processes around the metrics program. Without these investments in metrics program adaptation, the true business value in implementing metrics and software process improvement is not realized.     

The Use of a Formalised Risk Model in NHS Information System Development

Information systems (IS) and technology are used extensively throughout the National Health Service (NHS), and the 1998 national information strategy, ‘Information for Health’, sets out how the NHS will be developing and implementing IS to support patient care within the next decade. This new IS initiative is set against a mixed record of success of IS projects in the NHS, with a number of high-profile failures. This paper highlights the need to consider the ‘organisational issues’ involved in systems implementation to avoid failures. It goes on to advocate the use of a process-oriented and organisation studies-based model for risk analysis and management for use in NHS IS projects. Two famous NHS case studies are used to validate the model. It is concluded that there is a real need in the NHS for tools to better control the inherent risks involved in IS development and implementation. Ultimately, the success of IS projects in the NHS is crucial if they want to best utilise clinical and patient information, with the overall aim of improving the efficiency and standard of the nation’s health care.     

Using Scrum to guide the execution of software process improvement in small organizations

For software process improvement - SPI - there are few small organizations using models that guide the management and deployment of their improvement initiatives. This is largely because a lot of these models do not consider the special characteristics of small businesses, nor the appropriate strategies for deploying an SPI initiative in this type of organization. It should also be noted that the models which direct improvement implementation for small settings do not present an explicit process with which to organize and guide the internal work of the employees involved in the implementation of the improvement opportunities. In this paper we propose a lightweight process, which takes into account appropriate strategies for this type of organization. Our proposal, known as a “Lightweight process to incorporate improvements”, uses the philosophy of the Scrum agile method, aiming to give detailed guidelines for supporting the management and performance of the incorporation of improvement opportunities within processes and their putting into practice in small companies. We have applied the proposed process in two small companies by means of the case study research method, and from the initial results, we have observed that it is indeed suitable for small businesses.     

A multi-method, holistic strategy for researching critical success factors in IT projects

In the field of information systems (IS) there is an observable trend towards the use of multi-method research. Using different research methods allows for the cross-validation of data obtained via multiple approaches, with the potential to increase the robustness of research results. Such a multi-method approach is applicable to a comprehensive research agenda on critical success factors, an agenda that needs to take into account not only the identification, but also the analysis and management of critical success factors. The goal of this article is to contribute new knowledge on how to carry out research on critical success factors in IS projects using a multi-method approach. For this purpose, two research projects are presented, each a variation of the research design customized to particular circumstances. First, there is an outline of the research approach taken for a critical success factor research project in the field of portal implementation, with discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of the project. Taking into consideration these experiences, the research approach of a similar critical success factor research project in the field of offshore software development is then described. Finally, recommendations for using the multi-method research approach in critical success factor research are presented.     

Understanding the implementation of software process improvement innovations in software organizations

Abstract. The development of software is a complex task frequently resulting in unfinished projects, project overruns and system failures. Software process improvement (SPI) approaches have been promoted as a promising remedy for this situation. The organizational implementation of such approaches is a crucial issue and attempts to introduce SPI into software organizations often fail. This paper presents a framework to understand, and subsequently successfully perform, the implementation of SPI innovations in software organizations. The framework consists of three perspectives on innovation: an individualist, a structuralist and an interactive process perspective. Applied to SPI, they emphasize different aspects of implementing SPI innovations. While the first focuses on leadership, champions and change agents, the second focuses on organization size, departmental and task differentiation and complexity, and the third perspective views the contents of the innovation, the social context and process of the implementation as related in an interactive process. We demonstrate the framework's applicability through two cases. We show that the three perspectives supplement each other and together provide a deeper understanding of the implementation process. Such understanding is crucial for the successful uptake of SPI approaches in software organizations.     

Case Study: Managing the Change to CASE

Successful implementation of computer-aided software engineering (CASE) is more than a technical issue; it is a people issue as well. IS managers must realize that their staffs often have a strong resistance to change especially when it comes to learning to use a new tool As a result, IS managers must ensure that the proper training program, technical support, and commitment are in place before beginning a CASE implementation. This article presents a case study of how one company followed this plan and successfully implemented CASE.     

Undersizing software systems: third versus fourth generation software development

A critical component of information systems (IS) project management is completing projects on time; however, most software development efforts have completion time overruns. This study examines the prior research in IS project management for assessing the completion time for new software development projects and discusses a project management phenomenon where the expected time for project completion is undersized. At one firm two groups of software development projects are examined: (1) Cobol projects (third generation) and (2) Natural (fourth generation). It was found that both the Cobol and Natural projects experienced similar overruns. Undersizing is posited as the explanation.     

Important characteristics of software development team members: an empirical investigation using Repertory Grid

An information system is typically developed by a team of information systems (IS) professionals. Research shows that teams staffed with the right people are more likely to be effective and efficient. There is a paucity of study that examines the important traits of IS professionals in team contexts. The objective of this research is to identify and understand the important characteristics of good team members in software development projects. We applied an established psychological technique (Repertory Grid) to guide our interviews with 21 experienced IS professionals, who have had extensive experience in software development teams. The comprehensive list of important characteristics was analysed qualitatively using open coding method of grounded theory. Fifty‐nine unique characteristics were identified and classified into eight categories. Among them, attitude/motivation, knowledge, interpersonal/communication skills, and working/cognitive ability were perceived by research participants to be the most important categories. Our study provides a context‐specific (i.e. software development team) evaluation of important characteristics of IS professionals. The results have significant implications for IS recruiting, IS training, IS staffing, and IS human resource management. Our study also supplements the research on management of IS development teams.