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Colloquially, myth denotes a widely held belief that is fictional or erroneous. Its anthropological usage, however, does not carry the same pejorative charge: myths are simply conceptual schemata, embodying core metaphysical concepts and moral wisdom. It is in this latter sense that I dub alignment as a myth; not to question its factuality (a nonsensical property in the case of a belief) but to highlight and interrogate the cultural work that it does (Stillman, 1985). Barthes (1973) defines myth as a type of speech, a "second order semiological system" of signs drawn from the medium of language in which their original meanings are modified to suit the myth-building role. Any elementary linguistic object (the definition is broad, encompassing visual imagery as well as language) can be symbolically coopted as raw material by the mythical system. Barthes uses a cover page of Paris Match depicting a French negro soldier saluting the tricolour as an exemplar. Beyond the naive meaning, the second-order mythical signification is easily read: "France is a great Empire, that all her sons, without colour discrimination, faithfully serve under her flag..." (Barthes 1973, p. 116). Other symbols conveying the same underlying idea may readily be imagined. Through a matrix of such varied forms, the myth of French colonialism as a beneficent force is constituted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the important but largely unstudied role of contextual influences on the diffusion of innovations, theories and methodologies which take context into account are increasingly relevant. One such approach, the system of innovation approach (SIA), considers context as a network of organizations and groups involved in the production and diffusion of innovations. In addition to the focal innovation, these organizations and groups are influenced by other contexts, and so the further study of their diffusion settings extends the diffusion research agenda. To this end, we focus on a subset of the public programs involved in the diffusion of e-business innovations to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). E-business applications are complex innovations, and the need for outside assistance is especially significant for SMEs because they often lack the knowledge and resources to strategically adopt, modify, and use e-business applications. To understand how these programs influence e-business adoption, we used theories that examine the contexts around public program interventions in order to explain its form and outcome. The empirical findings suggest that many public programs fail to effectively deliver interventions because program personnel work in contexts that restrict their focus and ability to completely assess SME business needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is well known that information systems and technology can facilitate innovation in organizations. For example, companies in the automotive industry are leveraging product lifecycle management systems and advanced information technologies such as automated product design and testing tools, digital simulation and visualization, knowledge repositories of best practices, and collaboration tools linking globally distributed design teams. These technologies are revolutionizing the automotive product development process, facilitating the development of novel products, significantly reducing product development time and eliminating inconsistencies in product design, creation, and production (Rosencrance 2002). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Governments all over the world are encouraging broadband Internet connectivity to both residential and small business consumers. Despite large investments for developing the enabling infrastructure and the provision of access at affordable prices, however, demand for broadband has not increased the expected rate in many countries. The slow rate of broadband adoption can be viewed as being "supply constrained" in the developing world where countries are lagging behind in infrastructure development, but "demand constrained" in countries where high-speed access is already available to the majority of the population. In order to achieve greater uniformity in rates of adoption and use of broadband in both residential and small business contexts, and to reduce the digital divide, it is essential to focus upon understanding both macro- and micro-level factors influencing adoption and consequent use of broadband. The overall aim of this panel is to stimulate discussion and contribute to an understanding of the diffusion of broadband from a global perspective. In order to realise the overall aim, a number of studies from a range of different countries (including Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and United Kingdom) are integrated within the panel discussion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The success of agile software development has drawn attention to coaching as an alternative management style. In this paper, we argue that coaching, with its focus on trustful relationships, empathetic communication, mental models, and experiential learning, is suitable to facilitate the sustainable application of agile software development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technology offers great benefits to employees. This study draws from the theory of the technology acceptance model (TAM) and counterfactual thinking theory and posits anticipated emotion to be an important intermediate variable between adoption intention and exogenous factors (i.e., perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use). The proposed model lays the foundation for a richer understanding of employee's adoption of technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The attention of software vendors has moved recently to SMEs (small- to medium-sized enterprises), offering them a vast range of enterprise systems (ES), which were formerly adopted by large firms only. From reviewing information technology innovation adoption literature, it can be argued that IT innovations are highly differentiated technologies for which there is not necessarily a single adoption model. Additionally, the question of why one SME adopts an ES while another does not is still understudied. This study intends to fill this gap by investigating the factors impacting SME adoption of ES. A qualitative approach was adopted in this study involving key decision makers in nine SMEs in the Northwest of England. The contribution of this study is twofold: it provides a framework that can be used as a theoretical basis for studying SME adoption of ES, and it empirically examines the impact of the factors within this framework on SME adoption of ES. The findings of this study confirm that factors impacting the adoption of ES are different from factors impacting SME adoption of other previously studied IT innovations. Contrary to large companies that are mainly affected by organizational factors, this study shows that SMEs are not only affected by environmental factors as previously established, but also affected by technological and organizational factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This position paper examines the processes of creativity and innovation within the current context of virtual working. There is a discrepancy between innovation practice and support techniques: techniques are dominated by group activity, yet much of the work on instances of creativity indicate individual activity. There are considerable challenges in supporting creativity and innovation in virtual groups, however it is an area calling for innovation and the paper proposes where this innovation may take place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The norm of the 21st century has been decentralization as competition in the marketplace has increased significantly. Organizations commonly freelance or outsource work to other professionals or manufacturers where it can be performed at lower cost. Thus, due to the changing nature of work, there is a need to reconsider the ETHICS of the past. Based upon the new work order, changes in ETHICS are proposed and will be discussed in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When Working Group 8.6 was formed, there was only partial recognition among academics and practitioners that implementation of information technology did not automatically translate into adoption and diffusion. Rigorous study of these issues was thus well-motivated. In the last decade, focus on adoption has become mainstream for practice. For example, the UK's National Health Service Connecting for Health program has contractually required its suppliers not only to implement new medical record and booking systems, but also to secure their adoption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to Brehm (1966), if a person's freedom to behave as they choose is threatened in some way, then they will become motivationally aroused to either reestablish the lost freedom, or to ensure that there is no further loss. This hypothetical motivational state is referred to as psychological reactance. While resistance is defined as behavior against compliance, psychological reactance is a motive to behave to recover a lost freedom, and may result in behavior against compliance. It is argued that negative behaviors, which contribute to the poor record of information system implementation, likely contain some element of psychological reactance and that the latter may be brought about by threats directly or indirectly related to the implementation at hand. Therefore, an understanding of the interactions between system implementation, broader contextual influences, such as organizational climate and the formation of reactance, offer an opportunity to base interventions in strategies that avoid or minimize the motive to adopt negative behaviors, and therefore enhance the implementation of information systems in organizational settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Higher education institutions (HEIs) in the United Kingdom are undergoing strategic changes, not least being the introduction of a new fees scheme and the identification of information and communication technologies (ICTs) as central to their strategic vision. However, little is known about the contexts and processes of formulating and implementing information systems strategy to support university "customer" and "user" communities. This paper investigates the process of customer service strategy implementation as at GM University using an integrated perspective that conceptualizes the implementation process as a network formation, interconnected with both the strategy context and content. Our theoretical framework draws on both "contextualism " and actor network theory to understand the IS strategy implementation process. We demonstrate that IS strategy implementation is an emergent and dynamic process. Our conceptual framework provides us with an insight into the process of implementation that transcends the human strategic agency to the"collective" transformation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we explore patterns of organizational communication during normal state and crisis state using e-mail communications data. We apply social networks analysis (SNA) to understand the communication behavior and its structural changes during crisis from a real-world organization's communication data. By applying SNA, we first analyze the changes of social network structures from normal organizational state to crisis state. Second, we explore the changes of different positions or roles of the organizational communication networks during the crisis. Third, we apply measures of centrality (i.e., degree, betweenness, and closeness) for studying how different structural changes in social networks correlate to organizational hierarchy during normal and crisis state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper entertains the notion that software maintenance and innovation are more closely related than is commonly accepted. We consider perspectives where innovation projects are understood as attempts to engineer both the social and the technological, where processes of innovation imply the configuring of users, communities, and artifacts through the work of maintenance, manifest perhaps as bricolage or drift. If this alternate interpretation of innovation is accepted, it implies a renewed sensitivity to research and method aligned to innovation settings, emphasizing subjects' interpretations, language, perceptions, behavior and even culture. This has implications for developing a deeper and more intimate understanding of processes surrounding software development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intention in this position paper is to propose a possible new future for the technology diffusion research community, based on the integral approach of American philosopher Ken Wilber. The trends and current state of technology diffusion research are reviewed, and relevant aspects of Wilber's integral approach and its possible contributions are described. These aspects include Wilber's basic quadrants model and integral methodological pluralism, as well as the metapractices from which they arise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the implications for research on the diffusion of innovations (DOI) arising from a growing body of literature in two related fields. The first area concerns the debate on the role of regional and national systems of innovation in the innovation process. The second area deals with the argument that enterprises must move from a "closed innovation" to an "open innovation" paradigm. The review is presented in the context of a case study being undertaken in a subsidiary of American Power Conversion (APC) located in the West of Ireland. Based on the preliminary stages of our work, we present a conceptual 3-D model of Rogers' innovation-decision process and suggest a series of propositions to stimulate future research efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adopt the viewpoint of a U.S. citizen and recall the contribution of knowledge exchanges (or lack thereof) to the major events of the last 6 years: incorrect estimates of the Al-Qaeda threat prior to the 9/11 attacks, failing to apprehend the culprit behind the anthrax events of 2001, inadequate response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Repeat investigations and comprehensive certifications by the U.S. General Accounting Office all report the same theme: more than sufficient knowledge existed to mitigate these events, but the knowledge was in a highly distributed and fragmented form across multiple departments, agencies, and the White House (Kean and Hamilton 2004; U.S. GAO 2003, 2004a, 2004b, 2006a, 2006b). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Is never-ending innovation really the key to the ultimate success? Reading marketing and technological innovation literature, it is easy to get the impression that businesses today cannot survive without the continuously innovating processes and technology that new products are based upon. Yet, it seems that truly successful businesses know better. Asked about the rate of innovation and measuring innovation process success, the executive director of development in a successful manufacturing company responded: Sure, we do set goals, we do measure, and we do assess the rate of innovation. But this is only for incremental innovation, small ideas that improve daily working practices and result in minor product changes. We are situated in a mature industry with narrow profit margins and products with approximately 5 to 7 years of shelf-life. ...So our development goals are not oriented toward rapid renewal of product lines and our activities are not labeled with aching urge to replace existing products. Rather, we are harvesting our crops from well-designed products throughout the life-cycle and definitely don't cut the mature stage too early as it is the most profitable stage. Also we don't cut the development cycles as the teething troubles do more harm than good to our image. We are even so working hard on figuring out the future trends and steadily and prudently updating our product portfolio—when the time is right and with the features and products that are aligned with customers ' needs and which promise the best margins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to analyze the diffusion of information technologies, applications, and systems in the Jordanian telecommunication industry. The paper introduces changes and challenges facing the public switched telephony network (PSTN) providers in Jordan and a number of strategies to face or even to exploit such changes and challenges to PSTN providers' advantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By analyzing survey data from 1,211 firms across 14 industries in Shanghai, this study examines factors that influence information technology usage in Chinese firms applying a technology-organization-environment framework and institutional theory. This study provides an in-depth examination of governmental impact on Chinese firms' IT adoption. Although government cannot directly influence firms' IT adoption, it does so indirectly by influencing firms' IT infrastructure construction and management. Firms' IT infrastructure development and IT management decisions act as a mediator between government policies and firms' IT adoption. Furthermore, firms adapt to governmental impact in distinct ways. The findings suggest that e-government approaches and government promotion policies have a significant impact on IT usage in manufacturing firms, in local firms, and in national-background firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Radio frequency identification (RFID) is a complex ICT application. Adoption by organizations has been relatively slow. This paper assesses the contribution that research into information systems adoption and diffusion can make to understanding and predicting the diffusion of RFID. The paper concludes that traditional research methods are inappropriate for such applications. Information systems stage research and diffusion research offer more promising models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technology vendors increasingly praised RFID technology to improve tracking and replenishment in supply chain management (Vervest et al. 2004). Many companies, especially retailers, announced plans for quick RFID adoption. Despite obvious technology advantages, RFID adoption made only little progress in today's supply chains. This paper explores the discrepancy between RFID announcements and reality. From a literature review, the paper derives three theoretical concepts and ten associated factors of organizational technology adoption and diffusion. It then describes the RFID adoption by a fashion retailer that started with an RFID pilot and stretched the RFID roll-out process over several stages. In the description, the paper also briefly touches upon RFID diffusion in the fashion supply chain. Finally, the paper discusses to what extent each of the ten factors derived from the literature apply to RFID adoption and diffusion in the fashion industry. It discovers some factors, crucial for adoption and diffusion and others which play only a minor role. The paper closes with some conclusions and suggestions for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary issues such as increases in operational scope, connectivity, and dynamism in organizations have meant also a corresponding increase of complexity in producing everyday interaction. A simple task on the individual level can be approached as a part of complicated whole or even as adding to complexity on the organizational level. In this paper, we compare two strong metaphors for studying complex nonlinear interaction in heterogeneous networks: complexity theory and actor-network theory. Both examine sociotechnical phenomena as evolving in on going negotiations of participants within complex networks. Understanding complex networks can add to our understanding of relationships between social actors and technical artefacts, that is, of information systems in use. As an example, we introduce a study of work practices in intensive care. We argue that this work is carried out as multiple and interdependent interactions further generating complexity in a network of humans, technical artefacts, and other materials. In such socio-technical networks, work practices, new technology, and work processes are negotiated or made irreversible through the actions ofparticipants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contextual studies of information technology diffusion offer an opportunity to understand both the production and diffusion of IT innovations. Using a case of mobile-TV in the United Kingdom, this paper uses actor network theory (ANT) to render context as the various cross-industry groups and technologies enrolled and translated into the construction and reinvention of the mobile-TV services. By focusing on the various cross-industry actors, context is recast as a dynamic environment composed of other actors' behaviors, and no longer as a set of static factors. Implications for diffusion research and practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On the basis of a longitudinal interpretive case study, this paper explores the dynamics in the implementation of an industry interorganizational information system (IOIS). The paper covers 11 years (1994-2005) of the implementation process. We use the lens of actor network theory (ANT) to analyze the process of emergence, development, and progressive stabilization of a socio-technical network, that of the IOIS. We focus on the negotiations and translation of interests that occur during the implementation of the IOIS. By using ANT we develop a different reading of the implementation process, which we believe provides a holistic view of the implementation, and can be adapted and applied to similar implementation projects. ANT is suitable as it helps us trace the course of the implementation, and because of the nature of the IOIS and of the implementation process, which involves political negotiations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today's organizational renewal and change is conducted primarily within projects (i.e., temporary organizations), and, in varying degrees, includes information and communication technology (ICT) systems that should mediate or trigger intended changes. However, the definite duration of a project process and the indefinite duration of ICT-mediated change processes cause challenges for the permanent organization when intra-organizational transfer of intended and emergent project outcomes would be managed. However, when studying the interaction between ICT and an organizational context, it is of crucial importance to also include the ICT in the analysis. Accordingly, the aim this paper is to uncover technology features and their consequences for the permanent organization when intra-organizational transfer of intended and emergent project outcomes is managed. In order to achieve the aim of the paper, three case studies of ICT projects are analyzed and discussed. The ICT features predefmition of processes to change and the ease of making the ICT into an obligatory passage point will have consequences for the permanent organization's management of intra-organizational transfer of intended and emergent project outcomes. The conclusion is that these features of ICT have an impact on arrangements to be made by the permanent organization in order to support the intra-organizational transfer and integration of intended and emergent project outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Models of the diffusion of innovation have received wide acceptance in IS research. Such diffusion models are typically based on the assumption that projects are either accepted or rejected by adopters, without recognizing or accounting for the negotiation, adaptation, and drift that take place during the implementation (Rogers 1995). This paper presents an alternative view, based on the actor network theory (ANT) concepts of translation, moving the token, and modality. This lens reveals that software implementation projects, such as enterprise resource planning (ERP), have no inertia in themselves. Instead, a project's fate depends on each move it takes and each party involved in handling that move. Every handling of the project by different parties could present either a positive modality (that strengthens it and pushes it forward on its track) or a negative modality (that weaken its initial form and drags it in a different direction). The findings provide an explanation of drift and an alternative view of the diffusion of innovation in the ERP case. This could be extended to other technological projects. The findings also invite practitioners to monitor the various movements of their projects and encourage academics to revise their endorsement of the previously dominant diffusion model. They also contribute to the drift argument by identifying and discussing one of the sources of drift. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agile software development methods have become increasingly popular since the late 1990s, and may offer improved outcomes for software development projects when compared to more traditional approaches. However there has previously been little published empirical evidence to either prove or disprove this assertion. A survey carried out in March 2006 gathered responses from a large number of software development professionals who were using many different methods, both traditional and agile. A statistical analysis of this data reveals that agile methods do indeed improve outcomes from software development projects in terms of quality, satisfaction, and productivity, without a significant increase in cost. However, adoption of methods appears to involve a high degree of adaptivity, with many methods being used in combination and sets of techniques being adopted on an ad hoc basis. In this context, our analysis suggests that choosing specific combinations of methods can be particularly beneficial. However, we also find that successful adoption of an agile method is to some extent dependent on rigorous integration of certain core techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As stated in the conference theme, the failure of information systems and information technology projects remains stubbornly high. Agile methods have recently emerged as a new and seemingly popular alternative approach to systems development. Purveyors of these methods claim they solve many of the problems that have plagued the field for over 40 years, and there is now anecdotal evidence to suggest that these benefits are being realized and that diffusion of agile methods is rapidly increasing. However, a key factor in the diffusion of any technology or method is its ability to be customized. Innovative customization, tailoring, and fragmentation of systems development methods are viewed by many as a necessary step to avoid project failure like so many projects in the past. The ability to tailor any method is considered critically important given the complex and unique nature of each and every ISD environment, and in particular, one would logically expect that a method labeled as agile should be malleable. However, it is still unclear whether agile methods are amenable to tailoring. On one hand, purveyors of these methods advocate and often recommend tailoring. On the other hand, however, tailoring of agile methods has been described as a potential minefield due to the fact that their practices are interconnected, synergistic, and socially embedded in the development effort. This study develops a better understanding of agile method tailoring in practice through semi-structured delphi interviews with 40 ISD expert practitioners and academics. The study sought to ascertain their opinion on the tailoring of agile methods in general, and then honed in on specific critical success factors (CSFs) of tailoring, namely built-in contingency, clear rationale behind method practices, independence of method practices, and disciplined and educated tailoring of practices. The study found that these factors are largely ignored by the agile method movement except in rare instances, and concludes with a set of recommendationsfor agile method creators and users to ensure agile methods experience higher diffusion rates than at present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A major challenge in process improvement is to understand process innovation. and improvement efficiency and use. How do we know that process innovations and improvements give organizational benefits? We need a mechanism for measuring. In this paper, we report from a longitudinal action research study at the telecom company Ericsson where a measurement mechanism was designed and successfully used in practice to understand, learn, and measure process efficiency. In the concrete, the measurement mechanism was built through empirical testing combined with using a goal-question-metrics (GQM) approach. The resulting measurement mechanism consists of four correlated metrics that indicate process use, process commitment, process learning, and process improvement. The same measurement mechanism can also he used to obtain feedback and evaluation, thereby allowing the organization to determine process efficiency and use, and to determine the success of the process improvements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditionally, software processes improvement (SPI) has been approached. from a problem-oriented perspective, focusing on diagnosing and solving problems using methods such as the IDEAL model and DMAIC. In contrast, appreciative inquiry is an approach that focuses on what is best in an organization in order to further develop this to create a better future. It is, therefore, interesting to explore if and how software organizations familiar with problem-solving approaches can benefit from using appreciative inquiry. In this paper, we present an action research study conducted at the telecom company Ericsson in Sweden. Appreciative inquiry was used to facilitate an SPI initiative implementing a new process and tool for requirements and test case management. While the SPI initiative was considered successful, important lessons were learned regarding the application of appreciative inquiry. We conclude that the use of appreciative inquiry does not eliminate the dependence of other well-known key factors for SPI success. Also, the study indicates that the preference and satisfaction of problem-solving among individuals familiar with problem-oriented approaches may impede the use of appreciative inquiry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]