Unusual business or business as usual: An investigation of meeting support requirements in multilateral diplomacy

Abstract The concept of supporting meetings at the same time and at the same place with computers raises the problem of how salient features of group behaviors are understood in meetings. In this paper we critically examine some aspects of meeting behaviors. We point out that the idea of small, cohesive business teams is not necessarily a valid starting point in thinking of all meeting support. In particular, beliefs that relate to user aspects, group features such as composition, structure and protocols, and task characteristics such as nature, importance, and goals in meetings may need deliberation in many group decision support systems (GDSS) interventions. To demonstrate the credibility…

What does computer support for cooperative work mean? a structurational analysis of computer supported cooperative work

Abstract Technical developments in electronic communication and computing coupled with new understanding of relationships between computers and work processes has given impetus to a significant amount of research in the area of Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW). Much of this work, however, lacks strong theoretical foundations, and there is no clear definition of CSCW, the major research questions of the field, or appropriate strategies for research. In this paper we suggest Giddens' theory of structuration as a conceptual foundation for CSCW research and propose a formal definition for CSCW. We conclude by discussing seven implications of the framework for future research into: (a)…

Metamodeling editor as a front end tool for a CASE shell

Customizable Computer Aided Software Engineering (CASE) tools, often called CASE shells, are penetrating in the market. CASE shells provide a flexible environment to support a variety of information systems development methods. CASE shells are often cumbersome to use and in practice few people can model and implement methods in them. To overcome these problems we have developed a graphical metamodeling environment called MetaEdit and a method modeling interface to the CASE shell RAMATIC. Using this interface the methodology engineer can develop graphical models in RAMATIC's model definition language and then easily generate the resource files that control the operations of RAMATIC. MetaEdit…

How to combine tools and methods in practice— a field study

In spring 1989 we surveyed the experiences of some Finnish companies in methodology modelling (metamodelling) and adaptation of tools and methodologies to each other (methodology adaptation). The companies represented software production, banking, wood and metal industry, and wholesale trade. The study was carried out as a field study where we interviewed method developers, systems analysts and their supervisors. The goal of the survey was to find out whether there was need for metamodelling or methodology adaptation in general and how this need had been satisfied. The study shows that a little experience had been gained in adapting data dictionaries to methodologies but no such attempts ha…

Software Complexity and Organization of Firms’ Offshoring Activities

How does software complexity shape software providers’ offshoring tasks, and how do such firms organize their offshoring activity? These questions are important, since the global software development market is growing rapidly, offering new opportunities for software managers and entrepreneurs to distribute their activities geographically. Based on a multi-site case study of 12 software firms, we study connections between software complexity and the offshoring strategies selected. Our findings suggest that software firms select a variety of organizational structures for their offshoring activity, and that the selection is shaped by the complexity of the software in question. peerReviewed

Comments on “Information Systems as a Social Science” by R.K. Stamper

Ronald Stamper’s paper presents a well-written and systematic account of the subjectivist and social-constructivist view of information system concepts, which is enjoyable to read. It should be read by anyone interested in theoretical discourse around information system phenomena.

Evaluating the motivating environment in Finland compared to the United States—a survey

A comparison was made of perceptions of IS personnel—especially of analysts, programmers and managers—on factors relating to motivation and goal setting in Finland and the United States. The JDS/DP, a modification of the job diagnostic survey instrument, was used to collect data in these locations. The survey covered a statistically unbiased and representative sample in both countries. The results indicated significant similarities between the two populations. Not only were individual characteristics of growth-need and social-need similar, but their perception of job-related variables were also quite similar. The only differences found were in the job satisfaction of technical experts and i…

MetaEdit+ A Fully Configurable Multi-User and Multi-Tool CASE and CAME Environment

Computer Aided Software Engineering (CASE) environments have spread at a lower pace than expected. One reason for this is the immaturity of existing environments in supporting development in-the-large and by-many and their inability to address the varying needs of the software developers. In this paper we report on the development of a next generation CASE environment called MetaEdit+. The environment seeks to overcome all the above deficiencies, but in particular pays attention to catering for the varying needs of the software developers. MetaEdit+ is a multi-method, multi-tool platform for both CASE and Computer Aided Method Engineering (CAME). As a CASE tool it establishes a versatile an…

The Brave New World of development in the internetwork computing architecture (InterNCA): or how distributed computing platforms will change systems development

This essay is a speculation of the impact of the next generation technological platform — the internetwork computing architecture (InterNCA) — on systems development. The impact will be deep and pervasive and more substantial than when computing migrated from closed computer rooms to ubiquitous personal computers and flexible client-server solutions. Initially, by drawing upon the notion of a technological frame, the InterNCA, and how it differs from earlier technological frames, is examined. Thereafter, a number of hypotheses are postulated with regard to how the architecture will affect systems development content, scope, organization and processes. Finally, some suggestions for where the…

Implications of Theories of Language for Information Systems

This article demonstrates how language views can be adopted into an information systems context. We distinguish here between five language views: denotational, generative, cognitive, behavioristic, and interactionist. These views differ in their assumptions about he origin of linguistic behavior, the primary functions of language, elements of language, and the nature of linguistic knowledge. Information system development approaches can be characterized by their underlying language views. This explains great differences in development methods and research. Thus, language views have implications and should be chosen continency for a given information system context.

Components of software development risk: how to address them? A project manager survey

Software risk management can be defined as an attempt to formalize risk oriented correlates of development success into a readily applicable set of principles and practices. By using a survey instrument we investigate this claim further. The investigation addresses the following questions: 1) What are the components of software development risk? 2) how does risk management mitigate risk components, and 3) what environmental factors if any influence them? Using principal component analysis we identify six software risk components: 1) scheduling and timing risks, 2) functionality risks, 3) subcontracting risks, 4) requirements management, 5) resource usage and performance risks, and 6) person…

A Framework for Software Risk Management

We present a simple, but powerful framework for software risk management. The framework synthesizes, refines, and extends current approaches to managing software risks. We illustrate its usefulness through an empirical analysis of two software development episodes involving high risks. The framework can be used as an analytical device to evaluate and improve risk management approaches and as a practical tool to shape the attention and guide the actions of risk managers.

A comparative review of CASE shells: A preliminary framework and research outcomes

Abstract Because of rigidity and weak support of the user's native methods and methodologies in existing CASE tools, there is a growing need for customizable CASE tools (CASE shells). The nature of CASE shells is different from ordinary CASE tools supporting a fixed set of methods. With CASE shells, organizations can define tools to support their own methods, instead of choosing a tool that supports them. Existing CASE shells have different features and architectural principles that make them appropriate for different tasks. Obviously, a framework for comparing them is needed. In this paper we develop one such framework. It takes into account different tasks in customization and the effecti…

Competition Logics during Digital Platform Evolution

How are platforms built and how do they evolve? This is a salient question in digital ecosystems, where the competition has moved from traditional one-sided business logics to multi-sided platforms. In this paper, we explore how a digital platform evolves when the organization of the multilayered platform architecture, and related control points, is modified through competitive moves. We also examine how a firm may be able to manage the increased complexity of the platform. We show that when technical and strategic bottlenecks are solved, the platform owner can expand control to strategically important layers of the platform stack. The findings indicate that the complexity of the platform i…

Comments on “Failure, Identity Loss and Living Information Systems” by P. Kanellis, M. Lycett, and R.J. Paul

Information system (IS) failure is a pervasive phenomenon. Like the paper’s introduction, common sense and statistics show information system failure is common and also important, because huge amounts of human effort and economic resources are spent without much gain. The issue of failure is also related to FRISCO report and the theme of the conference in two ways. First our concepts and ideas about information system and the nature of information system development can affect either positively or negatively our intellectual and technical capabilities to influence the likelihood of IS failure. Second, because information system definition forms one key concept and focus of the FRISCO report…

Modeling Requirements for Future CASE

In this paper we discuss some requirements for future CASE Computer Aided Software/Systems Engineering environments. These requirements include increased modifiability and flexibility as well as support for process and agent models. We claim that they can only be addressed by developing more powerful representation and modeling techniques. As a possible basis for modeling various techniques, we outline a general information architecture for a future CASE environment. In addition, we propose primitive types for specifying techniques, the development process, and agent models, and use these types for modeling an example methodology and examine how the requirements are or can be supported in o…

Modelling Offices Through Discourse Analysis: A Comparison and Evaluation of SAMPO with OSSAD and ICN

In a previous paper the importance of framing office communications in terms of discourse analysis was explored. 2 It also presented an approach based on speech acts and conversations to allow this framing to occur. The approach was termed SAMPO. In this paper, we continue the discussion on discourse analysis by comparing SAMPO with two prominent office modelling approaches, Information Control Nets (ICN) and OSSAD, and discuss its merits in modelling office communications.

Large Scale Requirements Analysis as Heterogeneous Engineering

We examine how to improve our understanding in stating and managing successfully requirements for large systems, because the current concept of a system requirement is ill suited to develop true requirements for such systems. It regards requirements as goals to be discovered and solutions as separate technical elements. In consequence, current Requirements Engineering (RE) theory separates these issues and reduces RE to an activity where a technical solution is documented for a given set of goals (problems). In contrast, we advocate a view where a requirement specifies a set of mappings between problem and solution spaces, which both are socially constructed and negotiated. Requirements are…

Finland

Change and Control Paradoxes in Mobile Infrastructure Innovation: The Android and iOS Mobile Operating Systems Cases

The advent of the smart phone as a highly complex technology has been accompanied by mobile operating systems (OS), large communities of developers, diverse content providers, and increasingly complex networks, jointly forming digital infrastructures. The multi-faceted and relational character of such digital infrastructures raises issues around how change and control can be conceptualized and understood. We discuss how change and control are paradoxically related in digital infrastructures and how they affect the evolution of such infrastructures. We examine these paradoxes by examining the change in, and competition between, two mobile operating systems: Apple's iOS and Google's Android a…

A Framework for Component Reuse in a Metamodelling-Based Software Development

Hong Kong’s EDI bandwagon Derailed or on the right track?

In this paper we explore the adoption of a complex networked technology — that of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) — in the context of Hong Kong. EDI forms a complex and interorganizational innovation and therefore we suggest a multi-theoretical framework to examine its diffusion. The framework takes into account institutional, industry specific and organizational factors in the study of diffusion processes and thus extends the analysis beyond organizational borders. Using the framework we deliver an account of the EDI diffusion in Hong Kong based on field study data. The study clarifies how simultaneous organizational, industry and environmental factors can be brought to bear to understan…

M-commerce - mobile commerce: a new frontier for E-business

Mobile commerce involves the use of mobile computing devices in carrying out different types of economic transactions or enabling them to take place over space and time. The m-commerce includes use of such technologies as SMS services over a number of carriers (GSM, IS95, CDMA, W-CDMA), Bluetooth applications, and the integration of low-level digital carriers to IP based services through WAP or Compact HTML like the Japanese I-Mode service. This integration is one of the fastest growing markets of E-business and it will involve the development and design of a host of new applications, services, business models and technological solutions. The theme is both topical and challenging, as the nu…

What’s Wrong with the Diffusion of Innovation Theory?

This paper examines the usefulness of the diffusion of innovation research in developing theoretical accounts of the adoption of complex and networked IT solutions. We contrast six conjectures underlying DOI research with field data obtained from the study of the diffusion of EDI. Our analysis shows that DOI based analyses miss some important facets in the diffusion of complex technologies. We suggest that complex IT solutions should be understood as socially constructed and learning intensive artifacts, which can be adopted for varying reasons within volatile diffusion arenas. Therefore DOI researchers should carefully recognize the complex, networked, and learning intensive features of te…

Strategies for Heading Off is Project Failure

Although investment in information technology and information systems continues to increase, projects continue to fail. As a result, IS projects, particularly software projects, are perceived as high risk. By categorizing types of risk, this article helps IS professionals and all project sponsors to identify classes of risk and choose the appropriate managerial behavior to mitigate each of them.

Attention Shaping and Software Risk—A Categorical Analysis of Four Classical Risk Management Approaches

This paper examines software risk management in a novel way, emphasizing the ways in which managers address software risks through sequential attention shaping and intervention. Software risks are interpreted as incongruent states within a socio-technical model of organizational change that includes task, structure, technology, and actors. Such incongruence can lead to failures in developing or implementing the system and thus to major losses. Based on this model we synthesize a set of software risk factors and risk resolution techniques, which cover the socio-technical components and their interactions. We use the model to analyze how four classical risk management approaches—McFarlan's p…

Erratum to: Information System Concepts

Erratum to: E.D. Falkenberg et al. (Eds.) Information System Concepts DOI: 10.1007/978-0-387-35500-9

Contours of diffusion of electronic data interchange in Finland

Abstract Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)—despite its basic simplicity—forms a complex and inter-organizational innovation. This necessitates multiple points of observation and the use of multiple theoretical frames in accounting EDI diffusion processes. Based on field study data we deliver a multi-level account of EDI diffusion in Finland. The study clarifies how factors located on three levels of analysis can be applied to understand the unfolding of EDI adoption in different organizational constellations, here called diffusion patterns. We examine three families of diffusion patterns: local dyadic patterns; industry-wide networks; and national initiatives. Overall we discern five distin…

Notes on the Success of Speech Acts and Negotiating Commitments

Technologies that support communication and models used in the development of communications need good underlying theories. One theory suggested as a base for design is speech act theory. Both communication support tools and modelling notations informed by speech act theory have been proposed. Speech act theory forms no unified, single theory, but actually houses several variants for dealing with semantics, pragmatics, and social context of communications. They all have one common feature: they assume that language is not merely a means of describing but also a means for doing things. In this paper we present an overview of speech act theories and their uses in information systems research.…

The effectiveness of office information systems: a social action perspective

. The purpose of this paper is to show that a number of basic issues have not been adequately addressed in existing office information systems research. Prominent among these are the nature and role of offices, the goals of office information systems development, and the nature of its organizational and managerial consequences. It is proposed that office information systems should be analysed as social action systems the behaviour of which is strongly affected by socially determined forces and constraints such as the behaviour-channelling influences of authority, norms, customs, habits and precedence. Four types of social action are discussed: instrumental, strategic, communicative and disc…

Learning failure in information systems development

Information systems development is a high-risk undertaking, and fail- ures remain common despite advances in development tools and technologies. In this paper, we argue that one reason for this is the collapse of organizational intelligence required to deal with the complexities of systems development. Orga- nizations fail to learn from their experience in systems development because of limits of organizational intelligence, disincentives for learning, organizational designs and educational barriers. Not only have many organizations failed to learn, but they have also learned to fail. Over time they accept and expect poor perfor- mance while creating organizational myths that perpetuate sho…

How to Distribute a Cake before Cutting It into Pieces

This article analyses social networks by looking at the standard making processes. As a framework for analysis, actor network theory is chosen. Standards are of particular interest for actor network theory for they provide mechanisms to align interests of multiple social groups organized in networks that have a joint incentive in working with the standards and /or associated technologies. These social groups include scientific communities, government institutions and social movements (industrial groups, companies, and consumers) that are interested in regulating and innovating with new technologies. Standards provide the mechanisms to inscribe subsequent behaviors that are expected to becom…

A speech-act-based office modeling approach

In this paper methods and principles that help to analyze offices as systems of communicative action are explored. In communicative action, office agents create commitments through symbolic means. A SAMPO (Speech-Act-based office Modeling aPprOach), which studies office activities as a series of speech acts creating, maintaining, modifying, reporting, and terminating commitments, is presented. The main steps and methods in the office system specification are outlined and their application illustrated through a simple example. In the final section advantages and disadvantages in the SAMPO are noted and some research directions for the future are suggested.

Panel — Assessing Critical Social Theory Research in Information Systems

The Critical Social Theory (CST) program of information systems research is now just over a decade old. Although the number of researchers associated with the CST program are few, they have had a disproportionately larger impact on the field than other research communities. The main reason for this disproportionate impact can be found in the intense and incisive radical critiques of the foundational assumptions of our field that CST researchers have conducted. These radical critiques have helped to open up the theoretical debate on IS research and point out new directions for future inquiry. But as we turn the century, new challenges are emerging. New information technologies (IT) are rapid…

Improving graphical information system model use with elision and connecting lines

Graphical information system (IS) models are used to specify and design IS from several perspectives. Due to the growing size and complexity of modern information systems, critical design information is often distributed via multiple diagrams. This slows search performance and results in reading errors that later cause omissions and inconsistencies in the final designs. We study the impact of large screens and the two promising visual integration techniques of elision and connecting lines that can decrease the designers' cognitive efforts to read diagrams. We conduct a laboratory experiment using 84 computer science students to investigate the impact of these techniques on the accuracy of t…

Conceptual and Paradigmatic Foundations of ISD

Groups are not always the same

The idea of supporting group meetings at the same time and at the same place by computer raises the problem of how salient features of group behaviors are understood in meetings. In this paper we take a critical look at several beliefs about group behaviors in research dealing with electronic meeting systems (EMS). The paper argues based on an empirical study that the concept of a small, cohesive business team, so widely held, in all EMS research is not necessarily a valid starting point in thinking of meeting support. In particular, the paper critically evaluates a number of beliefs of user aspects, group features such as composition, structure and protocols, and task characteristics such …

MetaEdit— A flexible graphical environment for methodology modelling

Existing CASE tools are often rigid and do not support the users' native methodologies. To alleviate this, more flexible and customisable tools called CASE shells are emerging. However, the customisation of those tools is still cumbersome and error-prone, and demands several configuration files that follow a rigid syntax of some metamodelling language(s). In order to make the customisation easier, we propose a graphical metamodelling editor, MetaEdit, with which the conceptual structures of the user methodology can be modelled easily using an easy-to-grasp graphical notation. With MetaEdit, methodology models can be constructed with less effort and the configuration files for the CASE shell…

Designing meeting support systems in a user-centered manner

Multilateral diplomacy faces pressures to improve the efficiency of its operations. Because meetings play a central role in diplomacy they form one promising target in productivity improvements. Diplomatic meetings are rife with political maneuvering and embedded with pervasive diplomatic rituals and protocols which all affect considerably the content and form of successful technology interventions. In this paper we describe a meeting support system called the Helsinki Prototype System. To our knowledge it was the first meeting support system (MSS) which was intended to support multilateral diplomatic meetings. It was designed for the fourth Follow-up meeting of the Conference on Security a…

Success factors for information technology supported international technology transfer: Finding expert consensus

Information technology (IT)-supported international technology transfer (ITT) is complex, risky, and fails often. No empirical studies are available on the factors that affect the success of IT-supported ITT. We review applicable theories (i.e. diffusion of innovation theory) and empirical research in conventional technology transfer to develop such a model. We carry out a multiple focus group method to rank factors that affect the success of IT-supported ITT and then apply a branch and bound method to derive a consensus ranking of these factors. The identified consensus ranking sheds light on factors that are similar to those of DOI theory and suggests a pattern of factors that affect IT-s…

How Can Steering Committees Manage Change Through Dynamic Capabilities to Increase System Satisfaction?

A model to assess the behavioral impacts of consultative knowledge based systems

This paper develops a research model to study the behavioral impacts of consultative knowledge based systems (KBS). An experiment was conducted with 36 experienced MBA students in marketing management to explore to what extent their decisions were affected by the following factors: user participation in updating the knowledge-base of the KBS, ambiguity of decision setting, routinization of usage, and source credibility of the expertise embedded in the KBS. Results show that ambiguity and source credibility affect user acceptance of the KBS recommendation and cause them to revise decisions. Implications of these findings for the design of consultative KBS are discussed.

User participation in knowledge update of expert systems

Abstract Applying the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) of persuasion we conducted an experiment to examine the effect of participation of users in the design process on their acceptance of system recommendations and revision of their original decisions. Results of our study indicate that two different types of information processing occur when subjects are reviewing the expert system recommendations. 1. (i) For users who have a high perceived level of participation in updating the knowledge of the ES, ambiguity of the decision setting is the primary determinant affecting acceptance of the recommendation from the ES. 2. (ii) For users who have a low perceived level of participation in upda…

Balancing Flexibility and Coherence: Information Exchange in a Paper Machinery Project

The problem of balancing coherence and flexibility in collaborative information system design is approached here with two pairs of concepts. Boundary objects can support communication for perspective taking between communities of practice. Conscripting devices can support communication for perspective making within a community of practice. These theoretical lenses are used to study the uses of the technical specification in paper machine projects. Our study showed that as a boundary object it provided enough flexibility to allow negotiations, and sufficient local structure, for carrying out work in both communities of practice, the customer and the manufacturer. As a conscription device in …