Dale Carolyn Mackrell

A qualitative case study of the adoption and use of an agricultural decision support system in the Australian cotton industry: The socio-technical view

In response to the call for research that considers the human as well as the technical aspects of information systems implementation, the authors report on an interpretive case study which explores the adoption and use of an agricultural decision support system (DSS) CottonLOGIC in the Australian cotton industry. The study was informed through the innovation-decision model by Rogers and the technology-in-practice model by Orlikowski using a socio-technical approach. It was found that participants who achieved a high level of implementation success were reflexive and resourceful in adapting the technology to their changing needs, often in ways unanticipated by DSS builders.

We Work as a Team Really: Gender Homophily on Australian Cotton Farms

This paper is based on an ongoing study that looks at farm management practices by Australian women cotton growers using farm management software, most particularly an agricultural decision support system, CottonLOGIC. The study is informed through a theoretical framework of structuration theory as a metatheory for probing the recursiveness of farm management and technology usage, and diffusion of innovations theory as a lower-level theory for analysing software adoption characteristics. Empirical research indicates that effective information exchange flows from homophilous communication. In this paper, the principles of homophily and heterophily in communication networks were initially drawn from diffusion theory. The findings suggest that despite apparent gender disparities, the presence of empathy and shared goals between farming partners overrides ‘gender heterophily’ to become gender homophily. Therefore cotton growers are informed of scientific research through homophilous communication, influencing the construction and reconstruction of innovative software usage and existing farm management practices.

A Project to Improve the Employability Skills of Postgraduate ICT Students through Workplace Cultural Awareness

In this working paper, the author proposes that the employability of domestic and international postgraduate information and communication technology (ICT) students can be enhanced through a project in which workplace organizational and cross-cultural awareness is embedded. The genesis of the paper, which focuses on a review of the literature, is a learning and teaching grant application, the overriding aims of which are to address at assessment level the strategic priority areas for an Australian university. The proposed project consists of an assessment requiring the formation of small intercultural student teams as described in this paper. While the assessment is designed for a subject in a coursework Masters in the information systems (IS) field of the university business school, the model if successfully deployed, may be transferable to other tertiary subjects and programs. Outcomes of the project are expected to include: 1) enduring relationships with industry; 2) work-ready graduates with a more professional attitude to employment, a respect for cultural and linguistic diversity, and an appreciation for life-long learning; and 3) the dissemination of findings in research publications.

Win-Win-Win: Reflections from a Work-Integrated Learning Project in a Non-Profit Organization

Introduction Work-integrated learning, integrating work-based learning into the student experience, is expanding rapidly across all academic disciplines in Australia. As Staehr, Martin, and Chan (2014) explain, this approach is imperative since IT employers are currently more likely to employ workready graduates. As well, there are advantages for the various stakeholders, namely, students, academics, and participating industry partners. Staehr et al. (2014) assert that reflective practice differentiates work-integrated learning from work experience. Integrating education and research, the project in this paper is industry-oriented, providing a platform for students to enter the workplace and for academics as researchers to de_ rive guidelines for non-profit organiza tions in improving their decisionmaking and reporting performance through the adoption of business intelligence solutions. The aim of the paper is to report on the issues of student engagement through participation in a reallife project with strong social and community worth. The non-profit in the study is Connections ACT, a local Canberra organization whose main activities are the provision of services in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) for homeless persons, such as outreach support services and crisis accommodation. Connections ACT focuses on the holistic relationship between people and their chosen families and communities. Non-profits such as Connections ACT are increasingly reliant on accurate and quickly-retrievable organizational data for regulatory reporting and on-going funding. This is difficult to realize for most non-profits since the software available is predominantly suited to organizations in the for-profit sector and their databases are often diverse and non-linking. By addressing Connections ACTs software challenges, the project in the study is enabling the organization to concentrate its limited resources on core business (helping the homeless) rather than improving IT services. The intent of the WIL project is to design a data mart and reporting tools in the Cloud to capture, store, and retrieve quality integrated data as first steps towards a business intelligence (BI) solution. The construction of operational BI artefacts takes place progressively in Connections ACT. The aim is to keep costs low and to utilize available resources--student IT project teams and internships, funding from grants, university technical expertise, community support, and smart design options such as open source software and Cloud computing. University of Canberra (UC) student teams, usually comprising a project leader, analyst, developer, and tester, build tailored software artefacts for the non-profit during their final semester of studies as part of a WIL subject offered as a capstone. This project is ongoing, incremental, empirical, and heavily iterative with one to three new student teams each semester allocated to the project until planned implementation and closure in 2016. The project is incorporated in a WIL subject called IT Project in a Bachelor of Business Informatics (BBI) course. See Appendix A for the curriculum where IT Project is shaded in mauve and Appendix B for the generic skills and graduate attributes expected to be acquired by UC graduates during the period of their studies. The methodology adopted for the study is Action Design Research (ADR) which draws on action research and design research (Sein, Henfridsson, Purao, Rossi, & Lindgren, 2011). ADR is a socio-technical approach which takes place through a predefined reflexive process to address a problem-solving situation while stakeholders learn from the intervention. ADR consist of four stages and seven principles as presented in Table 1 in the Research Strategy section. Stakeholder insights are analyzed in this paper through Moores analytical lens (2004) which comprises 1) internal features of the organization, 2) features of the external environment, and 3) personal features of the participants, to reveal a curriculum at work. …