The application of change management theory to HR portal implementation in subsidiaries of multinational corporations

HR portals are complex information technology (IT) applications that can be accessed by all employees of a given organization. By placing more applications and information online, HR portals reduce the reliance employees have on HR personnel. Given this relational change, from human to computer, the HR portal implementation process must take into account the challenges of both change management and technology acceptance. By integrating change management theories with IT user acceptance models, this article adds to HR's collective knowledge of ways to effectively implement HR portals. In addition, this article describes the cross‐national challenges that exist when a global firm attempts to implement an HR portal around the world. Thus, this article will present a model that (1) integrates change management theories and IT user acceptance models and (2) illustrates the ways in which change management plans may need to be adapted to be effective in various subsidiaries. A case study of Hewlett‐Packard's (HP's) worldwide implementation of their @HP Employee Portal in the Italian subsidiary of HP illustrates the key issues of these theories. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Pattern of information technology use: The impact on buyer–suppler coordination and performance

The use of information technologies between supply chain organizations has been shown to promote organizational coordination and have a positive impact on performance. Drawing from organizational theories of learning, we build on this research by proposing a model that relates the pattern of supplier use of IT to specific types of supply chain coordination activities and a comprehensive set of organizational benefits. Specifically, we evaluate how two patterns of IT use by suppliers (exploitation and exploration) relate to two specific types of coordination activities with their buyers (operational and strategic coordination), which in turn are posited to promote specific organizational benefits. Using data from 241 first-tier OEM suppliers in the computer industry, our findings show that each pattern of IT use directly promotes a specific type of coordination activity. Although both types of coordination activities are needed to achieve both strategic and operational benefits, we find each coordination activity to be uniquely promoted by a specific pattern of IT use. IT use for exploitation is found to be an antecedent to operational coordination; IT use for exploration is found to be an antecedent to strategic coordination. No crossover between pattern of use and coordination activities is found. Our findings show that to achieve a complete set of benefits, suppliers must ultimately use IT for both exploration and exploitation. These findings provide a deeper understanding of the mechanism of how the pattern of IT use can result in a comprehensive set of organizational benefits for supplier firms.     

Adoption of information systems innovations by individuals: A study of processes involving contextual,adopter, and influencer actions

The extensive literature on the adoption of information systems (IS) or information technology (IT) innovations by individuals has primarily used a variance approach, focusing on individual, organizational, and technological factors that influence the level of adoption. Probably due to this focus on factors affecting adoption, little is known about the processes by which individuals adopt IS/IT innovations. Considering IS/IT adoption as an emergent process involving actions by the potential adopter, actions by individuals who might influence the adopter, and actions within the adopter’s context, we examined the ways in which these actions interacted with each other over time. We conducted optimal matching and cluster analyses using data from 27 interviews about the adoption of 30 IS/IT innovations.The emergent taxonomy includes three distinct processes by which individuals adopt innovations: Conscious Quest, Requisite Compliance, and Asserted Trial. The Conscious Quest process, which results in “full adoption,” seems to be driven by the adopter, with no social influence and no mandate. In contrast, in Requisite Compliance and Asserted Trial processes, both of which resulted in “partial adoption,” the adopter encounters considerable pressure, either from a contextual mandate (Requisite Compliance) or from influencers (Asserted Trial). Implications for research and practice are examined.     

Modeling IT product recall intention based on the theory of reasoned action and information asymmetry: a qualitative aspect

This study proposes an ethical model of IT product recall intention based on the theory of reasoned action considering information asymmetry. This study is one of the first to consider information asymmetry in the formation of IT ethical intention. In the proposed model, nine propositions are provided for understanding the formation of the ethical intention of IT providers. More specifically, IT product recall intention is negatively influenced by information hiding and opportunism practicing, while opportunism practicing is positively influenced by information hiding. Furthermore, both information hiding and opportunism practicing are positively influenced by information asymmetry and negatively influenced by ethical attitude and subjective ethical norm. Last, the implications and limitations are provided.     

基于智能手机的移动学习中微投技术的应用探究

随着信息技术的迅猛发展,计算机技术、网络技术和通信技术充斥着我们的生活,信息技术环境下的学习方式也随之发生改变。移动学习作为信息化学习环境下的一种非正式学习方式,以其巨大的优势成为实现终身学习、建设学习型社会的一种重要途径。但是基于智能手机的移动学习却存在着一个致命的缺点,那就是手机屏幕尺寸的限制、缺少交互,而微投技术恰恰解决了这一问题。本文主要是在介绍智能手机、移动学习及微投技术的基础上,介绍如何利用微投技术完善移动学习。     

Differentiation and dynamism within the IT development program

Information technology (IT) developments of large magnitude organize as collections of multiple projects into a single program, especially under dynamic conditions of market uncertainty that frequently change requirements or solutions midstream. Successful completion of an IT development program requires that the multiple teams work effectively together as well as independently in response to changes by relying on the differentiation of talent and knowledge available to the program manager. We consider and empirically support a model derived from principles in the multi-team systems (MTS) literature to determine the influence of differentiation among the IT program in the sharing of knowledge and information. The relationship from differentiation to program success is mediated by knowledge and information sharing, showing how to manage change through the dissemination of information and knowledge. Uncertainty of the market positively moderates the relation from differentiation among projects to information sharing. These findings contribute to the literature by empirically validating that MTS frameworks are exceptionally well suited for dealing with complex environments in the context of IT development.     

信息技术在工程建设领域中应用的发展趋势--信息孤岛与信息集成

详细分析了国际上信息技术在工程建设领域中应用的发展趋势，主要包括三个方面的内容：首先是介绍信息技术在工程建设领域中应用的信息孤岛现象，然后引进并阐述总体项目系统的概念，最后则描述了基于信息模型的集成和基于Internet的集成等两种解决思路。     

Impact of nontechnical leadership practices on it project success

This article examines the leadership practices utilized by information technology (IT) project managers that contribute to project success. Specifically, technical and nontechnical leadership practices are contrasted. The importance of nontechnical leadership practices in IT project management has been largely ignored in research until recently. The article identifies key nontechnical leadership practices that are important for the success of IT projects. The article is based on a qualitative study that gathered data from actual IT projects conducted at U.S. companies across several different industry segments. Study results are analyzed to determine the relevance and value of Heifetz's adaptive leadership framework to the area of IT project management. Study findings indicate that nontechnical leadership practices are important to the success of IT projects. Findings also indicate that Heifetz's adaptive leadership framework is consistent with the key nontechnical leadership practices that are important for the success of IT projects. A framework for the development of IT project managers is also proposed.     

Walking the line: Mindfulness with IT in hospital medication routines

This paper addresses the dilemma that organizations face when they introduce information technology (IT) to standardize and guide operations and improve performance, while also supporting staff mindfulness in using IT and questioning it, to safeguard against errors. People are warned to be mindful in using the information provided by IT, yet IT may contribute to their mindlessness. Organizational operations involve routine work, where work is distributed across roles, in space and time. To fully understand mindfulness or mindlessness with IT at work it is necessary to consider the routines in which they are embedded. We sought to investigate what factors might influence mindfulness or mindlessness with IT in the context of organizational routines. We carried out an in-depth study of clinicians using technology during medications routines in a UK hospital. The IT in this context aimed to guide and standardize clinical work to improve medication safety. The study uncovered several factors influencing mindfulness and mindlessness with IT: not only the IT design but also task design, individual experience and history of IT use, distribution of work, and the situation at hand. These are interacting influences on mindfulness and mindlessness with IT, each embodying a tension, as each may influence both mindfulness and mindlessness. The distribution of work and the dynamics of the routine over time mean that individuals in the routine may (mindlessly) entrust mindfulness in using IT to others, or to other moments in time. The study highlights the complexity of achieving mindfulness with IT in organizations, and a nuanced relation between mindfulness and IT in a routine work context.     

Capabilities exchange through business interaction: An empirical investigation of a client–IT supplier relationship

This article focuses on the opportunities for capabilities exchange within a specific business-to-business context: the relationship between a client and an information technology (IT) supplier. Research on the features of this type of relationship, although fairly extensive, has focused on IT implementation issues, relationship between IT resources, organisation performance and competitive advantage, IT outsourcing relationships and definition of IT capabilities. However, our understanding of the context where IT capabilities are exchanged within consultancy projects and how this exchange emerges is rather limited. The paper aims to bridge this gap by adopting the Industrial Marketing and Purchasing (IMP) group's interaction approach as a tool for conducting an in-depth investigation of a case study to analyse the context, the parties and the interactions through which IT capabilities are exchanged. The research reveals that interpersonal relationships between users and consultants within consultancy projects are crucial to establish a long-lasting and stable relationship. As a result, during consultancy projects IT-related resources, in the form of IT physical infrastructures, human IT resources and IT intangible resources are exchanged and combined to create or enhance IT capabilities. Furthermore, we also claim that the success of such an exchange depends very much on the degree of social and interpersonal exchange.     

IT project portfolio governance: The emerging operation manager

Today's information technology (IT) organizations are under pressure to meet or improve IT service levels for critical business functions. Various industry standards, such as the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) and the Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology (COBIT) standard, have gained wide acceptance as comprehensive methodologies for improving the effectiveness of IT management. The role of IT operations management is subsequently changing from a component orientation (such as networks, systems, storage, database, and applications) to managing business‐oriented, end‐to‐end IT services. This article presents a detailed analysis of available literature in order to identify the most appropriate competencies and necessary skill sets that will be needed by an operation manager for strategic business alignment.     

Remote control and maintenance outsourcing networks and its applications in supply chain management

The paper analyzes the impact of e-business technologies on maintenance management and supply chain operations. The aim of this work is to investigate the network organization level of supply chains in case of remote maintenance application and to understand how maintenance policies are coupled with information technology (IT) solutions. To this purpose two literature reviews are presented: firstly, on the supply chain and network integration, and then on the evolution of maintenance using information technology. Following this, the paper present four specific industrial case-studies of eMRO network organisation. They have been chosen as reference models from a set of practical applications and pilot tests performed by the authors in different production sectors in the last 5 years. Technology complexity environments, maintenance outsourcing level, and supply chain integration context are discussed for each case-studies with particular regards to the profitable forms of collaboration provided by the introduction of IT and the Web. This analysis work toward the development of a framework useful to: (1) classify different e-maintenance systems and understand the relationships between the different members of the network, and (2) identify the variables which can influence the introduction and development of the systems.     

Role overload,knowledge acquisition and job satisfaction: An ambidexterity perspective on boundary-spanning activities of IT employees

Abstract

Building upon the ambidexterity perspective, this study conceptualizes boundary-spanning activities as both transactional and learning to illuminate their different effects on IT employees’ job satisfaction. Specifically, we offer an overarching theoretical framework rooted in ambidexterity by connecting the role theory and knowledge acquisition perspective to reconcile the inconsistency of extant findings. Role overload has a mediating effect on the relationship between boundary-spanning activities (both transactional and learning) and job satisfaction, whereas knowledge acquisition mediates the relationship between learning boundary-spanning activities and job satisfaction. Furthermore, high achievement motivation and learning goal orientation moderate the positive effect of learning boundary-spanning activities on job satisfaction. The quantitative analysis of IT employees in Chinese state-owned enterprises largely supports our hypotheses. We conclude this paper by discussing theoretical and managerial implications for ambidexterity, boundary spanning, and job satisfaction.     

THE ROLE OF MANAGEMENT CONSULTANTS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: THE INDISSOLUBLE NATURE OF SOCIO-POLITICAL AND TECHNICAL SKILLS*

This paper explores the role of management consultants in the development of information technology (IT) in organizations. Contending that the process of IT systems development is characterized by the exercise of power, the central theme of the argument concerns the indissoluble nature of the technical and socio-political skills inherent in IT consultancy practice. IT consultancy practice is not just socio-political when winning a contract - the sales pitch - and technical when developing an IT system. Rather, socio-political skills centred on the mobilization of discursive and symbolic resources are an inherent part of the construction of such systems.     

Corporate entrepreneurship and information technology towards employee retention: a study of New Zealand firms

While the benefits of entrepreneurship towards firm performance are established, the role of information technology (IT) is mixed. The present study of 158 New Zealand firms responds to calls to extend performance measures to include non‐financial outcomes and focuses on employee retention. Direct and substantial relationships between corporate entrepreneurship and employee retention were found. Furthermore, moderating effects were tested from IT dimensions, and high IT objects (hardware software and personnel) had the greatest interaction with an entrepreneurial culture, reporting a 10 per cent higher retention rate than similar entrepreneurial firms with low IT objects. However, IT was not universally positive, with high IT knowledge interacting with entrepreneurial culture, leading to lower employee retention. The study highlights the way some IT dimensions can enhance entrepreneurial capabilities, although cautions the effects of others, highlighting the potential complexities of IT that may repel rather than retain employees.     

在信息技术教学中如何发挥教师的主导作用

本文重点阐述了教学中运用的手段和方法。教学是教师与学生的双边互动过程,是教师的主导作用与学生的主体作用双重和谐统一的过程。这个过程的诸多因素和每个环节都影响着教学效果的好与坏,决定着教学质量的优和劣,衡量教学水平的高和低。信息技术它可以丰富教学内容,变被动学习为主动学习,有效地体现教学的个体化和因材施教。实现资源共享,弥补不同学校、不同地区之间教学条件的差异,为教师提供形象的表达工具,改变传统教育的单调模式。     

云计算相关问题及其在高校中的运用价值

云计算是计算机科学技术与网络互联技术结合创新发展的产物,已经成为引领未来世界信息产业的关键性技术和手段。云计算在教育领域体现出了很大优势,改进学习方式,改造学习环境,同时可以降低IT成本,对于提高高校现有资产的效率、利用率和灵活性具有重要影响意义。     

Organizational hierarchy adaptation and information technology

Current debate on organization change is concerned increasingly with questioning the extent to which different organizational designs are effective. Consequently, many new forms of organizing have been proffered. In particular, new-form theorists acknowledge hierarchy but rarely test it in generating a variety of information technology- (IT) related change outcomes. This paper focuses on the robustness of hierarchy by tracing its characteristics within two public organizations. It provides an understanding of the relationship between IT applications and structural change by examining how the process of IT adaptation unfolds. Specifically, it explores how management’s disposition to IT change discerns the nature of an organization’s structure and the adaptation of that structure. I argue that the nature of management’s application of information systems—and non-management’s reaction to this practice—guides structural modification. Discussion focuses on explaining the continued presence of hierarchy in IT environments where there is an expectation for significant structural change.     

The complementarity of IT and HRM capabilities for competitive performance: a configurational analysis of manufacturing and industrial service SMEs

ABSTRACT

Building on the resource-based view (RBV) perspective, we analyse the combined effects of two highly-valued organizational resources, namely information technology (IT) capabilities and human resource management (HRM) capabilities, on the competitive performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Three resource configurations are derived from data on 227 SMEs (121 from the manufacturing sector and 106 from the industrial services sector) through a cluster analysis. These resource configurations are labelled IT Capabilities-dominant Configuration (ITC), e-Business Capabilities-dominant Configuration (e-BC), and HRM Capabilities-dominant Configuration (HRC). This last configuration is the best-performing, followed by the e-BC, with the ITC as the worst-performing. The results also show that manufacturing and service firms are very unevenly distributed within HRC and ITC configurations, suggesting notable differences between the two sectors regarding their respective IT and non-IT capability-building. The fact that service SMEs are overwhelmingly represented (93%) in the worst-performing configuration and completely absent (0%) in the most effective configuration while displaying the strongest IT infrastructure capabilities confirms that the IT productivity paradox is aggravated in service SMEs and calls for further research on this issue.     

A Study on the Indian Information Sector: An Experiment with Input-Output Techniques

It is widely recognized that rapid changes in information technology (IT) are bringing about major structural changes in the economies of the world. Information flexibility, product quality and fast response are the key factors for global competition and IT plays a critical role in these areas. Policy-makers in industrialized and developing countries view IT as a critical infrastructure to enhance their access to global knowledge, markets and capital. These views--of IT as infrastructure and as core capability for development--resonate with India's aspirations to modernize its infrastructure, transform its industry and join the global economy. Realizing the huge potential of the Indian IT industry, we make an attempt in this paper to study the extent of informatization in the Indian economy during the period 1983-84 to 1989-90 and try to identify the information intensive sectors. This paper also studies the sources of growth of the information sectors of India during 1983-84 to 1989-90 with the help of a structural decomposition analysis (SDA).