Finn Borum

Actors and structure in IS projects: What makes implementation happen?

Several perspectives are assumed to be required in order to reach a sufficient understanding of complex (implementation) processes. Three perspectives on implementation processes are derived from the literature: an administrative, a political and a network perspective. These reflect different assumptions about the nature and control of implementation processes. The implementation of a formalized project management system in a large computing centre is analysed from these three perspectives. The analyses yield different explanations of the implementation process, and may be regarded as supplementing each other. However, the rupture of the network perspective with the conception of structure and the structure-actor relation of the two other perspectives contests traditional, normative project organization thinking. The multi-perspective analysis indicates the potential of in-depth studies of implementation processes.

The Construction and Standardization of Evaluation: The Case of the Danish University Sector

Evaluation as an organizational element has spread across countries and organizational fields. Yet little attention has been paid to the comparative analysis of adoption, construction and implementation processes of evaluation within different organizational fields. The article is based on an empirical study of research evaluation and evaluation of education within the Danish university sector. It conceptualizes and explains similarities and differences in adoption processes and constructed evaluation standards within the two subfields. Three models are used for explaining differences and similarities: a stakeholder model, an institutional field model and an institutional heritage model. The article shows how evaluation as an organizational element is used simultaneously for processes of change and processes of reproduction of norms and values.

The Local Construction and Enactment of Standards for Research Evaluation The Case of the Copenhagen Business School

The local adaptation of research evaluation at faculty and departmental level is analysed in terms of the processes through which an evaluation standard is stipulated and enacted. Three aspects of the interplay of the standard with the local evaluation context are discussed: conflict regulation; activity coordination; and processing of local problems and issues. A ‘soft’ standard appears as a compromise between different interested parties, which allows for some coordination between loosely coupled actors, and which functions as an open garbage can for departmental problems and issues. The evaluation standard is discussed in relation to local sense-making processes, the introduction of ‘managerialism’ in academia, and organization development and exploration.

Developing managerial skills in IT organizations—a case study based on action learning

Abstract Information technology (IT) organizations are facing important challenges. They must respond to new technologies and business applications and at the same time provide quality services that satisfy the present needs of their client organizations. The Chief information officer (CIO) of a Danish financial institution experienced increasing problems with internal recruitment of managers with sufficient and suitable competencies to face these challenges. As a consequence, he decided to establish an ambitious in-house training program aimed at developing appropriate managerial skills and attitudes. The paper presents a number of tales about this training program, each of them told from a different perspective and with varying degrees of interpretation. The paper first describes the training program, its context, the initial design, the process, and the results. The program is then evaluated from different viewpoints: the sponsor and designers, the trainees, and the IT organization. Subsequently, the program is discussed as an action learning activity in which individual learning interacts with the organizational context. Based on these analyses, normative propositions are made about action learning as a strategic thrust for developing managerial skills in IT organizations.