Frank Ulbrich

Improving shared service implementation: adopting lessons from the BPR movement

Purpose – To reveal similarities between the business process reengineering (BPR) and shared service approaches, in order to improve outcomes of shared service implementation processes through lessons learnt from previous BPR projects.Design/methodology/approach – As the focus of this paper is primarily theoretical, the paper starts out with a literature review of developments in the BPR and shared service movements. Similarities between the two change alternatives are discussed and drawn up.Findings – The paper concludes by identifying which previously learnt lessons the emerging shared service movement should take into account from the BPR era when implementing shared services.Research limitations/implications – The paper is primarily based on previous findings from a literature review. To increase insights into the contemporary shared service phenomenon, complementary research in the form of in‐depth case studies are recommended.Practical implications – Based on the similarities between BPR and shared ...

Gender-specific on-line shopping preferences

This study approaches the question of whether on-line shopping preferences differ from a gender perspective. Data is collected by the means of an on-line survey (n=170) in which male and female on-line shoppers rank the importance of various features that have an impact on their shopping experience. The results show no gender differences at the construct level. However, when comparing the ranking of individual features some statistically significant differences exist. Males, for example, rank accurate description of products and fair pricing significantly more important than females. Females on the other hand consider return labels significantly more important than their male counterparts. The implications for research are twofold. First, the study provides additional insights into on-line shopping preferences from a gender perspective. Second, the study demonstrates that significant differences might not show on the construct level but only when features are individually compared with each other. The implication for practice is to help businesses enhance their on-line shopping platforms to better consider the particular needs of male and female on-line shoppers.

Adopting shared services in a public‐sector organization

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to combine translation theory with aspects of socio‐technology and systems theory to study the adoption of shared services in a public‐sector organization. The paper aims to involve the process of translating the shared‐services idea in concert with people and policies, both in terms of inputs and outputs.Design/methodology/approach – An interpretive case‐study strategy was applied.Findings – The mutual impact of process, people, and policies shed light on what influences the adoption of the shared‐services idea. The translation process considers different people and policy aspects, transforming the idea into a specific configuration that reflects the organizations individual conditions.Research limitations/implications – The in‐depth case study enables better understanding of the adoption of shared services at an organizational level. The paper enriches previous research on the translation of management ideas. It is limited to the extent that it focuses on one part...

Managing Dependencies in Inter-Organizational Collaboration: The Case of Shared Services for Application Hosting Collaboration in Australia

This study proposes an approach to improve un-derstanding of dependencies in inter-organizational collaboration and so assist managers make more informed decisions. Data has been collected through a case study on shared services in the Australian fi-nancial services industry and DNDs (dependency network diagrams) employed to analyze the complex web of dependencies associated with the collabora-tion. The paper suggests that it is not sufficient to consider a collaboration in isolation. In particular it is noted that a change affecting one dependency may trigger a compounding and cumulative interaction with other dependencies. DNDs also surface details of the governance control associated with each de-pendency and the availability of alternative part-ners-enabling an organization to assess the risk associated with each dependency. Finally, a weak-ness of DNDs is noted; specifically that they are static and are unable to capture the dynamics of de-veloping dependencies in inter-organizational collaboration.

Seven challenges management must overcome when implementing IT-shared services

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to empirically explore management challenges that management must overcome in the early phase of adopting IT-shared services. Organizations to an increasing extent adopt IT-shared services as a means to providing organization-wide IT services. Design/methodology/approach – Qualitative data from 20 case studies were analysed. The data were originally collected in a variety of predominantly large-size organizations from the public and private sectors in six different countries. The data used were collected between 2002 and 2010. Findings – Our research identifies seven reoccurring themes in the collected data, all being common management challenges. These challenges are evident within the whole organization – including their service-consuming business units – as well as their service-providing IT units. The seven challenges are related to the ability to deliver IT services, communication between IT and non-IT staff, IT-service portfolios, nature of IT services, power a...

Shared service trajectories

Numerous studies have reported on the virtues of shared services—especially cost reduction and quality improvement. Process standardization plays a prominent role in strategies to deliver those benefits. This chapter reviews previous research on process standardization and shared services to outline how unbalanced standardization causes shared service centers to transition into less effective service delivery modes.

Extended dependency network diagrams: adding a strategic dimension

Purpose Organizations increasingly form or join collaborations to gain access to resources paramount for achieving a sustained competitive advantage. This paper aims to propose an extension to the established dependency network diagram (DND) technique to better facilitate analysis, design and, ultimately, strategic management of such collaborations. Design/methodology/approach Based on the resource dependence theory, the constructs of power and secondary dependency are operationalized and integrated into the original DND technique. New rules and an updated algorithm for how to construct extended DNDs are provided. Findings The value of the proposed extension of the DND technique is illustrated by analysis of an application hosting collaboration case study from the Australian financial service industry. Research limitations/implications This study provides preliminary evidence for strategically managing resource collaborations. Future research could further test empirically the usefulness of the proposed extension of the DND technique and how much it contributes to better understanding resource collaborations. Practical implications The proposed extension of the DND technique enables managers to perform a broader analysis of dependencies among participants in a collaboration, helping them to more accurately comprehend the relationships between the entities in their collaborative environment and, thus, being in a better position of strategically managing resource dependencies. Originality/value The proposed extension of the DND technique makes a central contribution to the extant literature by adding a strategic dimension to a visualization technique used to represent collaborative environments.

Ambiguity acceptance and translation skills in the project management literature

Purpose The project management literature provides a fairly united picture of the importance of projects being successful. One success factor is represented by project managers themselves, whose personality, skills, knowledge, competencies, and traits affect project success. To better understand various project manager types, the purpose of this paper is to review the extant project management literature and propose a framework for categorising project managers based on the traits that they possess or lack. Design/methodology/approach The research commenced with identifying and collecting articles from the academic project management literature. The articles were then coded to identify different competencies and traits that a project manager needs to be successful. Based on this analysis, a framework with four main project manager types was developed. Findings The results indicate that ambiguity acceptance and translation skills are two important dimensions that project managers need to be successful. The four project manager types were arranged around two dimensions. Research limitations/implications The framework presented is based on previous research. Empirical testing of the proposed framework would be a promising direction for future research. Practical implications The framework assists reflective practitioners in identifying what kind of project manager they currently are, suggesting how they might transition into a different project manager type to increase their project management success rate. Originality/value This paper conceptualises project managers and how their personal traits relate to project success. It offers practical help to project managers in understanding their strengths and limitations, and how to become a different type of project manager.

Failing with success

An e-commerce dissemination project for small and medium-sized enterprises is analyzed to determinate its successfulness. After a theoretical discussion of different success measurements, different phases of the dissemination project are examined from different perspectives by representing the three different groups of participants - project management, consultancies, and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Understanding the process of carrying out a dissemination project will help to identify determining factors for the successfulness of such projects which in fact depends on the different perspectives presented in this paper.