Cynthia Mathis Beath

The Contradictory Structure of Systems Development Methodologies: Deconstructing the IS-User Relationship in Information Engineering

In this paper we show that systems development methodologies may contain incompatible assumptions about the role of users and information systems IS personnel during systems development. Using deconstruction, we analyze and interpret a systems development methodology currently receiving considerable attention-Information Engineering. We find that this methodologys characterization of IS-user relations and, in particular, its recommended partitioning of responsibility between IS and users is inconsistent and contradictory. Despite a heavy emphasis on user involvement, users are given a relatively passive role to play during development. At the same time, users are expected to sign off on projects and take responsibility for project outcomes. We suggest that such prescriptions, when put into action during systems development, make the relationship between users and IS personnel problematic. Further, we argue that the contradictions we surface in the methodology reflect contradictions and ideologies in the context within which systems development occurs. Our analysis raises important questions about the relationship between the production and consumption of information technology in organizations.

Managing client dialogues during information systems design to facilitate client learning

It has long been recognized that client learning is an important factor in the successful development of information systems. While there is little question that clients should learn, there is less clarity about how best to facilitate client learning during developer-client meetings. In this study, we suggest that a cooperative learning strategy called collaborative elaboration developed by educational psychologists provides a theoretical and practical basis for stimulating client learning during an IS design process. The problem with assessing the effects of collaborative elaboration, however, is in controlling for the many other factors that might affect client learning and outcomes of an IS design phase. In a unique research opportunity, we were able to measure the use of collaborative elaboration among 85 developers and clients involved in 17 projects over a semester-long IS design process. The projects were homogeneous with respect to key contextual variables. Our PLS analysis suggested that teams using more collaborative elaboration had more client learning and teams with more client learning achieved better IS design-phase outcomes. This suggests that theories about collaborative elaboration have significant potential for helping IS researchers identify new approaches for stimulating client learning early in the IS design process.

Departmentalization in software development and maintenance

Exploring the strengths and weaknesses of three alternative bases for systems staff departmentalization suggests the benefits of an organizational form in which maintenance is separate from new system development.

IT Workforce Trends: Implications For IS Programs

Findings in an IT workforce study support the emphasis of business content espoused by IS curriculum guidelines. Business domain and project management skills are critical to keep in house while technical skills were cited as the top skills sourced. Paradoxically, technical skills are those cited for entry-level positions. We discuss the issues raised by these findings and recommend several approaches for IS programs to consider. IS programs must offer a functionally integrated curriculum and deliver it in an experiential business context. We provide several examples of innovative pedagogical approaches and industry alliances which demonstrate mechanisms to provide students with a stronger business orientation in applying IT. We recommend a more proactive approach to enrollment including better promotion of IS programs.

Hierarchical elements in software contracts

Recent literature in information systems notes that software development outsourcing is increasingly prevalent, despite the complexity of managing development across organizational boundaries. Information systems researchers have used transaction cost and agency theories to propose incentive schemes to address this problem. Drawing on legal and organizational theories about contractual relations between firms, this article describes and illustrates a set of contractual elements, essentially hierarchical control mechanisms, that can contribute to the governance of external software development. Software outsourcing contracts using such elements should be viewed as hierarchical, rather than market, organizational forms, in that they are sheltered from the disciplining influence of market forces. Following transaction cost theory, the article proposes that the use of hierarchical elements will vary with transaction characteristics. Actual software contracts are content analyzed to lend empirical support to t...

The requisite variety of skills for IT professionals

Introduction IT professionals are beset by ongoing changes in technology and business practices. Some commentators have suggested that, in order to stay competitive, IT professionals should retool themselves to gain competency in specific in-demand technical skills. This article argues that thriving in such a dynamic environment requires competency in a broad range of skills, including not only technical skills, but non-technical skills as well. Our research shows that IT departments in non-IT companies report that while both technical and non-technical skills are important, the skills most critical to retain in-house and most sought in new mid-level employees are non-technical skills such as project management, business domain knowledge and relationship skills. These skills are critical because they enable IT departments to work effectively with other departments, internal users, and external customers and suppliers. Non-technical skills leverage technical skills to augment the organizations overall effectiveness in designing and delivering solutions to meet an organizations challenges and opportunities. These findings depart from previous articles emphasizing technical skills as a basis for valuing IT workers and other research recommending business-oriented skills only for those managing IT workers, not for IT professionals themselves. Our findings lead us to the realization that in todays environment of continuous and fast-paced change, a mix of skills is essential for IT professionals. We believe that the Law of Requisite Variety can help explain the need for greater breadth of knowledge and skills among IT professionals. From cybernetics, the Law of Requisite Variety states that adapting to change requires a varied enough solution set to match the complexity of an environment. In this case, IT workers need a broad enough range of knowledge and skills to meet the demands of their increasingly dynamic and complex profession. Based on our research, we offer a framework outlining six skill categories. We believe that all six skill categories are critically important for the career development of IT professionals.

The information technology champion: aiding and abetting, care and feeding

The literature on strategic uses of information technology cites many examples of so-called champions, who were instrumental in the initiation and implementation of strategic information systems. The focus is predominately on the individual characteristics of a successful champion or on organization structures that foster championship. There is little consideration of lateral relationships with a champion, such as that between the information systems function and a potential champion for the development of a new use for information technology. The authors summarize the literature on champions, relate it to the IS experience, and suggest a number of propositions to guide IS managers as they seek out and encourage champions of information technology.<<ETX>>

Outsourcing of application software: a knowledge management perspective

Summarizes results from an exploratory field study of application software acquisition decisions and outcomes. We argue that outsourcing for application software is easiest when the objective is to obtain knowledge codified in artifacts such as packaged programs and their documentation. It is more complex when the objective is to get access to tacit knowledge about information technology or business processes held by professionals, and most problematic when the firm depends on learning or inventing new knowledge specific to the business process.

The use of case study data in software management research

Abstract Among the problems of software engineering are its effective organization and management. Particularly suited to research on such problems is the case study method, which presents a number of challenges in data collection, analysis and sharing. Direction in meeting these challenges is given, by means of an illustrative multiple-case study of application software maintenance, which combines quantitative with qualitative data. Discussed are the research context and design, the data collection process, an approach to analysis and synthesis, and the sharing of data and results. Methodological lessons in data collection and use are drawn for researchers and practitioners in conclusion.

Managing information resources at the department level: an agency perspective

The authors contrast the role of department-level information resource management with information resource management at the individual, institutional and market levels. They argue that changes in the economics of computing, which have decreased the economies of scale and specialization previously found in mainframe computing facilities at the institution level, make it feasible to locate information-resource management closer to the tasks where that information is used, and have caused a focus on agency costs of residual efficiency losses, monitoring, and bonding to arise. Desirable reductions agency costs have thus been pursued through a growth of departmental-level information-resource management.<<ETX>>