There’s More to Information Systems Development than Structured Approaches: Information Requirements Analysis as a Socially Mediated Process

Information systems (IS) development approaches are considered with particular reference to those aspects of the process most concerned with the determination of information requirements. The majority can be classified as adopting a unitary, objective perspective. This perspective fails to recognise the interpretative, inter-subjective nature of information and the importance of informal as well as formal data-processing systems. This paper aims to contribute to the discussion on socio-technical and soft approaches to IS development by providing a contrasting perspective on information requirements analysis as a process which is socially mediated. A framework is developed which places information requirements analysis in the context of strategic IS development. This locates social communication networks centrally in this process and raises implications for the practice of IS development, and of information requirements analysis.     

Information: a perceiver-concerns perspective

The transmission perspective on information which has dominated information systems (IS) development is only one way of perceiving information. Many of the issues of information systems development of recent years may be better understood if other, alternative, perspectives are encouraged. This paper attempts to synthesise the arguments for an alternative perspective which may be particularly useful for setting information system design attitudes. The paper concludes that a perceiver-concerns perspective can be beneficial in defining information since a concerned perceiver has to be present for information to exist, and the paper considers the implications of this for IS.     

Expectation failure concept and systems analysts' view of information system failures: Results of an exploratory study

The paper presents a new concept of information system (IS) failure called an expectation failure. An IS failure is defined as the inability of the IS to meet a stakeholder group's expectations. Results of an empirical study focusing on systems analysts' perception of information system failures are presented. The study shows that systems analysts' perceptions can be largely accounted for by their professional and structural position in the systems development process and associated interests. This supports the view that a perception of IS failure is largely stakeholder-dependent.     

Value-focused assessment of information system security in organizations

Abstract.  Information system (IS) security continues to present a challenge for executives and professionals. A large part of IS security research is technical in nature with limited consideration of people and organizational issues. The study presented in this paper adopts a broader perspective and presents an understanding of IS security in terms of the values of people from an organizational perspective. It uses the value-focused thinking approach to identify 'fundamental' objectives for IS security and 'means' of achieving them in an organization. Data for the study were collected through in-depth interviews with 103 managers about their values in managing IS security. Interview results suggest 86 objectives that are essential in managing IS security. The 86 objectives are organized into 25 clusters of nine fundamental and 16 means categories. These results are validated by a panel of seven IS security experts. The findings suggest that for maintaining IS security in organizations, it is necessary to go beyond technical considerations and adopt organizationally grounded principles and values.     

The use of domination and legitimation in information systems implementation

In this paper, we present the results of a longitudinal case study on information systems (IS) implementation conducted in a community healthcare organization. Using structuration theory as a sensitizing framework, we highlight how the information technology (IT) Management improved their influence through gaining legitimation from other organizational stakeholders, and how the nature of this evolved over time. Our results highlight how an appropriate, sophisticated use of what Giddens refers to as the duality of structure contributed to the consolidation of the IT Manager's credibility and authority. We also report on how the IT Management had most of their actions legitimated as an integral element of their actions. The results also highlight the distributed nature of power, such that even those at the lower end of organizational hierarchy were able to influence the success or failure of IS implementation.     

Sociomateriality and boundary objects in information systems development

Information systems (IS) development is a complex organisational activity involving multiple stakeholders who interact with various artefacts in order to facilitate understanding and cooperation across diverse knowledge domains. A considerable body of work has analysed such artefacts as boundary objects, focusing on their interpretive flexibility across communities of practice. Increasing interest in the materiality of organisational practices directs attention to how such objects result from the performance of sociomaterial relations. This paper draws on these two strands of research to complement the analysis of project-related artefacts as boundary objects with a sociomaterial perspective on such objects and the practices within which they are constituted. The contribution of this combined approach is illustrated using the findings of a longitudinal case study of IS development. We trace the production and use of a prototype, the various people and practices with which it was associated, the multiple sociomaterial configurations that constituted it as a boundary object, and the social and material consequences of its use. The utilisation of sociomateriality as a theoretical lens enables us to further our understanding of how project-related artefacts act as boundary objects, and in doing so, constitute IS development as a sociomaterial practice.     

Burnout Syndrome among Information System Professionals

Burnout is a unique type of stress syndrome. Although it has been shown to be potentially very costly in the helping professions, such as nursing, education, and social work, little work has been done to apply the concept to technical professionals such as information systems (IS) professionals. Given the nature of information systems development, we believe that burnout can be a potential problem for IS professionals. the study described herein examined the levels of burnout among a group of IS developers in the United States. the results indicated that the levels of burnout among IS professionals differ according to their job types and work contents.     

Information systems strategizing,organizational sub-communities,and the emergence of a sustainability strategy

The realized strategy contents of information systems (IS) strategizing are a result of both deliberate and emergent patterns of action. In this paper, we focus on emergent patterns of action by studying the formation of strategies that build on local technology-mediated practices. This is done through case study research of the emergence of a sustainability strategy at a European automaker. Studying the practices of four organizational sub-communities, we develop a process perspective of sub-communities’ activity-based production of strategy contents. The process model explains the contextual conditions that make sub-communities initiate SI strategy contents production, the activity-based process of strategy contents production, and the IS strategy outcome. The process model, which draws on Jarzabkowski’s strategy-as-practice lens and Mintzberg’s strategy typology, contributes to the growing IS strategizing literature that examines local practices in IS efforts of strategic importance.     

Using information-systems constructs to study online- and telephone-banking technologies

The research literature has seen a number of studies aimed at understanding customer attitudes towards banking technologies, and thereby providing implications for developmental planning and marketing. However, even though banking technologies have a significant amount of information systems (IS) component to them, there is a paucity of research that considers them from the IS perspective. In this paper, we fill this gap by considering three constructs, namely usefulness, ease of use and usage, that are all rooted in the IS literature. We study user’s perceptions of these constructs, as well as the relationships among them, for both online and telephone banking.     

Understanding flow experience from users’ requirements

This paper argues that the concept of flow can be useful in gaining a better understanding of information system users’ flow experience. This paper applies this concept in the requirements development phase of an Internet protocol television e-learning service development project. The findings show that flow experience can be visualised and measured, and that there are differences in how users see and perceive different features. Some features are driven by more experiential needs, whereas others are driven by more task-oriented goals. The findings indicate that the users’ perceived flow experiences can already be measured during the early phases of information systems (IS) development projects without having a working prototype of the IS for testing. This enables practitioners to design IS that better facilitate flow experience for the users, which in turn will potentially lead to shortened development time and cost savings for firms. This paper calls for further research in IS development and design methods that take into account the different ways of understanding user experiences, particularly their flow experiences.     

Using information-systems constructs to study online- and telephone-banking technologies

The research literature has seen a number of studies aimed at understanding customer attitudes towards banking technologies, and thereby providing implications for developmental planning and marketing. However, even though banking technologies have a significant amount of information systems (IS) component to them, there is a paucity of research that considers them from the IS perspective. In this paper, we fill this gap by considering three constructs, namely usefulness, ease of use and usage, that are all rooted in the IS literature. We study user’s perceptions of these constructs, as well as the relationships among them, for both online and telephone banking.     

The effect of culture on requirements: a value-based view of prioritization

This paper examines how culture affects requirements and their prioritization. We analyze the requirements of a mobile service, which were collected from Helsinki, Hong Kong, and Las Vegas. We argue that the current prioritization techniques for requirements do not sufficiently account for the cultural effects, nor does the literature offer information on ways of prioritizing such requirements according to users’ values. We see this as problematic because the literature suggests that culture should be viewed as a set of values. Our findings support the argument that we should use a value-based approach in prioritizing requirements. Furthermore, by focusing on the links between needs and values, we should be able to develop prioritization techniques not only for multicultural settings but also for information systems (IS) development projects that involve subcultures, such as adolescent users or members of specific organizations. Our findings show that this can be a powerful way of understanding the differences between various subcultures of IS users. In addition, we demonstrate how the laddering interviewing technique can be used to support this work. The proposed value-based requirements prioritization approach is also ready for industry applications and it is agnostic to the underlying IS development method used by developers.     

Cognitive evaluation of information modeling methods

In the field of information system engineering, information modeling method is a technique to capture user requirements and to understand system complexity. The importance of information modeling has been recognized by practitioners and researchers, but little has been explored to analyze the available information modeling methods or to evaluate them in terms of their strengths, weaknesses, and effectiveness. This research analyzes six information-modeling methods: use case diagram, rich picture diagram, entity-relationship diagram, Trochim’s concept mapping, repertory grid, and causal mapping. These information-modeling methods are analyzed from a cognitive perspective in order to better understand their nature, the assumptions, and the important features associated. The research contributes to the understanding of the information modeling methods and their potential uses and values during IS development.     

Information systems development as situated socio-technical change: a process approach

We outline a process approach for conducting qualitative research on how contemporary information systems (IS) development is enacted in practice. The approach involves a longitudinal case study to obtain rich data from which a detailed process narrative is produced. The narrative is informed by a conceptual model of IS development as situated socio-technical change, generating a theoretical explanation that highlights the temporal, emergent and contingent nature of IS development. This approach extends prior process studies of IS development by focusing on micro-level project activities, examining change as a continuous process and theorising IS change as the outcome of a dynamic trajectory of situated and socio-technical interactions. The methodological approach developed here can be used by other researchers to inform process studies of this complex organisational phenomenon.     

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.     

The concept of mindfulness in information systems research: a multi-dimensional analysis

The concept of mindfulness has garnered increasing attention during the last decade. Initially proposed within the scope of information systems (IS) research as a means of creating a deeper knowledge foundation for decision making regarding information technology (IT) innovations, it soon became broadly applied throughout IS research. To gain a better understanding of the evolved diversity of this concept, this paper reviews and analyzes extant IS research by means of (a) the investigated IS themes, (b) the purpose of using the concept, (c) the level of application of the concept, and (d) the tendency to focus either on mindfulness, mindlessness, or both. By synthesizing research findings, we derive a high-level IS mindfulness theory. We then propose future research opportunities, such as the explanation of the relationships between different levels of mindfulness, applying mindfulness to bridge the different phases of the software development process, and the identification of guidelines for designing information systems that facilitate mindfulness. As the first review on the application of mindfulness in IS research, we contribute to the overall understanding of mindfulness and address the four abovementioned dimensions from which mindfulness emerges in order to demonstrate that mindfulness provides a meaningful platform for generating knowledge.