Identifying organizational barriers—A case study of usability work when developing software in the automation industry

This study investigates connections between usability efforts and organizational factors. This is an important field of research which so far appears to be insufficiently studied and discussed. It illustrates problems when working with software engineering tasks and usability requirements. It deals with a large company that manufactures industrial robots with an advanced user interface, which wanted to introduce usability KPIs, to improve product quality. The situation in the company makes this difficult, due to a combination of organizational and behavioural factors that led to a “wicked problem” that caused conflicts, breakdowns and barriers. Addressing these problems requires a holistic view that places context in the foreground and technological solutions in the background. Developing the right product requires communication and collaboration between multiple stakeholders. The inclusion of end users, who fully understand their own work context, is vital. Achieving this is dependent on organizational change, and management commitment. One step to beginning this change process may be through studying ways to introduce user-centred design processes.     

GARUSO: a gamification approach for involving stakeholders outside organizational reach in requirements engineering

Stakeholder participation is a key success factor of Requirements Engineering (RE). Typically, the techniques used for identifying and involving stakeholders in RE assume that stakeholders can be identified among the members of the organizations involved when a software system is ordered, developed or maintained—and that these stakeholders can be told or even mandated to contribute. However, these assumptions no longer hold for many of today’s software systems where significant stakeholders (in particular, end-users and people affected by a system) are outside organizational reach: They are neither known nor can they easily be identified in the involved organizations nor can they be told to participate in RE activities. We have developed the GARUSO approach to address this problem. It uses a strategy for identifying stakeholders outside organizational reach and a social media platform that applies gamification for motivating these stakeholders to participate in RE activities. In this article, we describe the GARUSO approach and report on its empirical evaluation. We found that the identification strategy attracted a crowd of stakeholders outside organizational reach to the GARUSO platform and motivated them to participate voluntarily in collaborative RE activities. From our findings, we derived a first set of design principles on how to involve stakeholders outside organizational reach in RE. Our work expands the body of knowledge on crowd RE regarding stakeholders outside organizational reach.

     

User involvement in the systems design process-a practical guide for users

Increasingly users find themselves 'involved' in IT design projects. This occurs because the organizational culture of the parent organization purports to promote participation, or because structured design methods are being used which require users to play a part. In either case users who find themselves required to participate in IT projects are frequently unclear about what this requires. In most organizations surprisingly little briefing on the users' role in design projects is provided. Users are therefore confused about their brief and concerned about their lack of expertise in computing. Although research reports on participatory design PD projects abound, little coherent guidance for the key stakeholders representing users' interests is available. The contents of this paper go some way towards filling the gap. Clear differentiation is made in the paper between the roles of the different players involved. Detailed guidance is provided for meeting the varied requirements of the different roles. For example, the roles of 'top' management and 'middle' management in supporting user involvement are explored, their special responsibilities specified and required actions listed. The need for an infrastructure to support user involvement and how to create one is discussed. Guidance is provided on, for example, the representation process and the factors to consider in selecting user representatives. The role of user representatives is particularly problematical and therefore receives particularly close attention. Finally guidance is given regarding the common pitfalls in Quality Assurance procedures and especially how to avoid the procedures becoming a meaningless 'rubber-stamping' exercise. The guidance presented is grounded in the extensive experience of the author in participative design processes in a wide variety of contexts including the footwear industry, a major UK government department and a telecommunications and broadcasting company.     

Accounting for information technology in corporate acquisitions

Corporate acquisitions have become key elements in strategic planning for many companies. Historically, analysts of corporate acquisitions have emphasized strategic and organizational factors in evaluating candidates for friendly takeovers. Since company data and information technology (IT) are as much a management resource as are the financial and human resources for the combined firm, the authors propose that IT fit should be explicitly considered in analysis of corporate acquisitions. An assessment of IT fit will refer to the IT environments of the two joining firms, the IT contribution each firm can bring to the combined firm, and the role that IT should play both in negotiating the acquisition price and in integrating the joining firms.     

Managing culture creep: Toward a strategic model of user IT culture

This article describes a framework of IT user culture that has implications for organizational IT strategy. The research was conducted in multiple settings with a grounded theory approach. The resulting framework is anchored to nine archetypal IT user profiles and encompasses their inter-group dynamics. By adopting a cultural perspective on IT usage, the framework can inform IT adoption and usage strategy with possible cultural antecedents and determinants of usage constructs common in IS research. The proposed framework suggests how management can influence the migration of IT user culture (culture creep). This framework can also enrich other acceptance models in order to more fully consider the human factor during IT implementation and adoption. The results underscore the importance of culture-customizing organizational IT socialization, training and evolution programs.     

Organizing for success in internal corporate venturing: An inductive case study of a multinational consumer goods company

This study explores internal corporate venturing programs at two sites of a multinational consumer goods company that differ significantly in their venturing success. Using inductive methodology, it first identifies critical factors of corporate venturing success and then, using both cross‐case variance and within‐case process‐tracing techniques, it establishes linkages between these factors and organizational features of corporate venturing programs. The results of the study suggest that internal corporate venturing based on a structured, company‐wide program characterized by broad involvement of managers from key functional divisions is preferable to a single‐sponsor venturing program, even if sponsors have vast authority in the company. The study identifies a number of organizational elements that facilitate success of internal corporate venturing and provides practical recommendations for managers.     

User involvement in the systems design process-a practical guide for users

Increasingly users find themselves 'involved' in IT design projects. This occurs because the organizational culture of the parent organization purports to promote participation, or because structured design methods are being used which require users to play a part. In either case users who find themselves required to participate in IT projects are frequently unclear about what this requires. In most organizations surprisingly little briefing on the users' role in design projects is provided. Users are therefore confused about their brief and concerned about their lack of expertise in computing. Although research reports on participatory design PD projects abound, little coherent guidance for the key stakeholders representing users' interests is available. The contents of this paper go some way towards filling the gap. Clear differentiation is made in the paper between the roles of the different players involved. Detailed guidance is provided for meeting the varied requirements of the different roles. For example, the roles of 'top' management and 'middle' management in supporting user involvement are explored, their special responsibilities specified and required actions listed. The need for an infrastructure to support user involvement and how to create one is discussed. Guidance is provided on, for example, the representation process and the factors to consider in selecting user representatives. The role of user representatives is particularly problematical and therefore receives particularly close attention. Finally guidance is given regarding the common pitfalls in Quality Assurance procedures and especially how to avoid the procedures becoming a meaningless 'rubber-stamping' exercise. The guidance presented is grounded in the extensive experience of the author in participative design processes in a wide variety of contexts including the footwear industry, a major UK government department and a telecommunications and broadcasting company.     

Information technology: a study of performance and the role of human and organizational factors

The aim of this study was to gather and collate information from the major researchers and consultancies in the UK regarding the performance of Information Technology (IT) and the role of human and organizational factors. The findings are based on the experience of 45 of the leading experts in the UK, drawing on a collective sample of approximately 14,000 organizations, covering all major sectors of economic activity and a comprehensive range of information technologies. The main findings are that 80–90% of IT investments do not meet their performance objectives and the reasons for this are rarely purely technical in origin. The context of technical change, the ways in which IT is developed and implemented, a range of human and organizational factors, and the roles of managers and end-users, are identified as critical areas affecting performance. A major implication is that the poor performance of IT systems is the result of a complex set of interacting forces that will be difficult to change. The study reports ideas concerning ‘best practice’ within companies, along with some suggestions for what needs to be done on a national scale to improve performance and practice in this area. A key goal is that action on these human and organizational issues becomes embedded in practice, part of the natural way of managing organizational and technical change.     

Knowledge Management Models within Information Technology Projects

The purpose of this study is to address the use of knowledge management (KM) in project management (PM) to improve the success of IT projects in achieving organizational goals. The conceptual framework included the project knowledge management (PKM) model, which helped identify the knowledge sharing in IT software projects for a local insurance company in Baltimore, Maryland. Interview data were collected from 26 IT project stakeholders. The analysis revealed four themes of managing knowledge in the requirement process, code development process, testing process, and the helpdesk process for the success of the IT project. Each of the four processes used different KM repositories and face-to-face tools.     

Information technology,the organizational capability of proactive corporate environmental strategy and firm performance: a resource-based analysis

The study of the relationships between information technology (IT), environmental organizational issues and firm performance is a cutting-edge research topic for the information systems (IS) community. However, at present we know very little about these relationships. Drawing on the perspective of IT-enabled organizational capabilities and the literature on organizations and the natural environment, our study introduces conceptually the construct organizational capability of proactive corporate environmental strategy to the IS field. We propose that IT capability may enable the implementation of a proactive environmental strategy and that this strategy could play a significant role in determining the business value of IT. Using structural equations modeling with data collected from 63 firms, we find that IT capability is an enabler of proactive environmental strategy and that this strategy plays a significant role in mediating the effects of IT on firm performance. Our study provides initial evidence on the role of IT in the implementation of proactive environmental practices. Our results suggest to IT executives that their decisions matter in shaping environmental sustainability, which in turn will generate business value from IT.     

Informal feedback rather than performance measurements – user-centred evaluation in Scrum projects

The main features of the Scrum process are intense communication between different stakeholders, and rapid feedback based on regular delivery of working software. The integration of traditional user-centred evaluation activities in this context is challenging. Hence, this paper presents an interview study of 21 informants, categorised in four different professional roles. The main contribution of the paper is an overview of the types of user-centred evaluation conducted by information technology professionals in various Scrum projects. Results show that various forms of feedback are indeed gathered on the usability and user experience of the software, system or service being developed. However, the user-centred evaluations conducted typically are informal with few users, gathering empirical qualitative data and performed during short unplanned sessions. Performance measurements gathering quantitative data are seldom used. The informants in the business specialist role merely ask users about their opinion, whereas the other roles use several user-centred evaluation activities to gather feedback on their design. Generally, feedback is gathered throughout the whole project, but often evaluation is conducted early in the project or even before the actual development starts. Finally, these results are discussed in relation to previous studies in the area.     

Information Technology Alignment Planning—a case study

This paper describes the Information Technology (IT) Alignment Planning process—a strategic IT planning process created to complement the corporate planning model used by a major utility company in the Midwest. Corporate planning activities produced the divisional strategies, critical success factors (CSFs), and goals that then were used to by the IT Alignment Planning process to align IT within the company.The process is intended to aid in making the best possible use of IT resources in meeting the corporation's business objectives. Fifty-eight managers from five major business units participated in the study. Several important factors and their resulting benefits were identified. The model utilized an intuitive color-coded alternative to statistical output that was readily accepted by management. We found that the process helped align IT with business strategies and improved and facilitated communication on IT project management and development.     

Information technology Alignment Planning—a case study

This paper describes the Information Technology Alignment Planning Process—a strategic IT planning process created to complement the corporate planning model used by a major Utility company in the Midwest. Corporate planning activities produced the divisional strategies, critical success factors, and goals that then were used to by the IT Alignment Planning process to align IT within the company.The process is intended to aid in making the best possible use of IT resources in meeting the corporation’s business objectives. Fifty-eight managers from five major business units participated in the study. Several important factors and their resulting benefits were identified. The model utilized an intuitive color-coded alternative to statistical output that was readily accepted by management. We found that the process helped align IT with business strategies and improved and facilitated communication on IT project management and development.     

Managing obesity through mobile phone applications: a state-of-the-art review from a user-centred design perspective

Evidence has shown that the trend of increasing obesity rates has continued in the last decade. Mobile phone applications, benefiting from their ubiquity, have been increasingly used to address this issue. In order to increase the applications’ acceptance and success, a design and development process that focuses on users, such as user-centred design, is necessary. This paper reviews reported studies that concern the design and development of mobile phone applications to prevent obesity, and analyses them from a user-centred design perspective. Based on the review results, strengths and weaknesses of the existing studies were identified. Identified strengths included: evidence of the inclusion of multidisciplinary skills and perspectives; user involvement in studies; and the adoption of iterative design practices. Weaknesses included the lack of specificity in the selection of end-users and inconsistent evaluation protocols. The review was concluded by outlining issues and research areas that need to be addressed in the future, including: greater understanding of the effectiveness of sharing data between peers, privacy, and guidelines for designing for behavioural change through mobile phone applications.     

Strategies for managing user developed systems

The arrival of microcomputers, user-friendly languages, and improved telecommunications have made information more directly accessible to end-users. This increased accessibility has caused an evolution from traditional systems development done solely by MIS professionals to a growing amount of development by end-users. User system development presents new management challenges for both MIS and user departments. These challenges are not different in kind from problems encountered by MIS in the past, but they are different in magnitude. Unless companies educate users and manage user development, they will endure the same slow evolution. Only this time the problems will be multiplied manyfold by the sheer number of users, and will be further exaggerated by users' lack of technical expertise. This paper examines the conflicts created by the emergence of user development. It focuses on the symptoms of mismanagement and suggests key areas to be addressed by an effective management strategy. The evolution of user computing is described in terms of Nolan's stage theory. These issues are illustrated through a case study of policies, practices, and attitudes toward user system development at a steel company.     

Requirements determination for common systems: turning a global vision into a local reality

A ‘common’ information system is one that is intended to satisfy the needs of multiple user groups within a firm for a particular functionality (e.g. one order entry system to be used by all divisions of a global firm). Such systems are often comprised of both core (or common) software modules, as well as local modules to support regional requirements. One of the most significant challenges for any information systems (IS) project is determining information requirements. The requirements determination process is especially difficult in this context in which common, global requirements must be forged from disparate, and potentially conflicting, local needs and priorities. This paper reports on case studies of two projects undertaken to globally deploy common systems, and it develops a model of the requirements determination process. The proposed model posits stakeholders engage in knowledge acquisition and negotiation processes in order to determine global requirements as well as to foster consensus and buy-in, on the part of the local regional stakeholders, to the global system. The findings also suggest that knowledge acquisition is a relatively structured, rational approach to learning about local needs and requirements, where stakeholders share an awareness of the corporate vision for global standards and agree on the need for a new system. Negotiation, in contrast, is less structured and more political, with different parties lobbying for their own interests as they endeavor to identify common requirements for the new global system. Finally, the results suggest that the requirements determination process is influenced by an articulated corporate vision for a global system, needs and priorities of the local regions, and the organizational roles and skills of key stakeholders. Implications of the results are drawn and suggestions for future research are offered.     

Social systems that marginalize the psychological and organizational aspects of information technology

This polemical paper is concerned with identifying the factors which serve to marginalize the psychological and organizational aspects of the development, implementation and use of information technology. Five sets of factors are delineated, those associated with: end-users; suppliers, 'experts' and the development process; management and organizations; research and development; and education and understanding. The analysis points to the presence of a complex, mutually reinforcing set of social systems acting to marginalize psychological and organizational concerns, and helps explain the massive difficulties in achieving change. It also reveals that psychological and organizational expertise tends to be supply-pushed rather than demand-pulled into the community. This may help explain why many working in this field fail to practise the user-centred approaches that we preach.     

When users are IT experts too: the effects of joint IT competence and partnership on satisfaction with enterprise-level systems implementation

Enterprise-level information systems (IS) are fundamental to businesses. Unfortunately, implementing these large-scale systems is a complex and risky endeavor. As a result, these initiatives must tap the expertise and active involvement of both the IS department and the enterprise's functional areas. Past studies focusing on IS implementation teams consistently identify the IS department as the source of technical expertise and leadership, while functional department team members are typically relegated to the role of business experts. However, unlike the past, many business professionals are knowledgeable about information technology (IT) and are increasingly capable of contributing to IS implementations from a technical perspective as well as a business perspective. This study examines how IT competence held by both the IS department and the user department stakeholders contributes to user satisfaction with the enterprise-level system implementation. Specifically, this research introduces a theoretically grounded construct, joint IT competence, which emerges when the IS department and user department stakeholders integrate their individually held IT competences. The study's results empirically demonstrate that joint IT competence is a key driver of user satisfaction in enterprise-level IS implementations. Although not as significant as joint IT competence, results show that partner-based leadership between the IS department and user stakeholders also influences user satisfaction with IS implementations.     

Building minds, not widgets: technology for the business of learning

Over the past decade, CIOs in both the corporate and academic worlds have focused on creating an IT infrastructure that supports a variety of business processes through networks, mail systems, and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. It is clear that to enhance productivity and increase market share, IT must go beyond general business support to a model that improves core product design and quality. Such a shift should occur at institutions of higher education as well. IT provides a competitive advantage only if it improves learning effectiveness while containing the labor costs of instruction. Successful CIOs in higher education are those who can transfer corporate experience to a teaching and learning culture. Key stakeholders n this case, the provost, department heads, and faculty - judge them for their direct contribution to the key university differentiator, the quality of the graduating students. This is a formidable challenge, but one that CIOs must undertake if IT is to reach its full potential in a university setting.     

Social systems that marginalize the psychological and organizational aspects of information technology

Abstract

This polemical paper is concerned with identifying the factors which serve to marginalize the psychological and organizational aspects of the development, implementation and use of information technology. Five sets of factors are delineated, those associated with: end-users; suppliers, ‘experts’ and the development process; management and organizations; research and development; and education and understanding. The analysis points to the presence of a complex, mutually reinforcing set of social systems acting to marginalize psychological and organizational concerns, and helps explain the massive difficulties in achieving change. It also reveals that psychological and organizational expertise tends to be supply-pushed rather than demand-pulled into the community. This may help explain why many working in this field fail to practise the user-centred approaches that we preach.