J. Roberto Evaristo

Toward a Theory-Based Measurement of Culture

In reviewing the history of the conceptualization and measurement of “culture,†one quickly realizes that there is wide-ranging and contradictory scholarly opinion about which values, norms, and beliefs should be measured to represent the concept of “culture.†We explore an alternate theory-based view of culture via social identity theory (SIT), which suggests that each individual is influenced by plethora of cultures and sub-cultures–some ethnic, some national, and some organizational. In IS research, the culture of subjects and respondents is problematic because it is typically an overly simplistic categorization. IS research nearly always assumes that an individual living in a particular place and time belongs to a single “culture,†e.g., someone living in Egypt is automatically classified as being a member of the Egyptian culture, or, more broadly, the Arab culture. This dearth of clear concepts and measures for “culture†may explain why cross-cultural research has been so exceedingly difficult to conduct. It may also explain why it has been hard to develop and refine theories. Moreover, it may give insight into why reasonable explained variance in predictive models has not been higher. Finally, it is very possible that much cross-cultural business research could be rightly accused of advancing an “ecological fallacy†by not recognizing the individual makeup of persons with respect to culture. Using SIT (or other theory bases) as grounding for cultural research programs implies the use of certain methodological approaches. Each study would have to establish the salient “cultures†in each individual’s background and include these different “cultures†as independent variables in positivist research. In qualitative research, there would need to be an equally rigorous assessment of the cultural identifiers of each individual.

Levels of Culture and Individual Behavior: An Investigative Perspective

In an organizational setting, national culture is not the only type of culture that influences managerial and work behavior. Rather, behavior is influenced by different levels of culture ranging from the supranational (regional, ethnic, religious, linguistic) level through the national, professional, and organizational levels to the group level. The objective of this study is to integrate these different levels of culture by explicitly recognizing that individuals’ workplace behavior is a function of all different cultures simultaneously. It is theorized that the relative influence of the different levels of culture on individual behavior varies depending on the nature of the behavior under investigation. Thus, for behaviors that include a strong social component or include terminal and moral values, supranational and national cultures might have a predominant effect. For behaviors with a strong task component or for those involving competence values or practices, organizational and professional cultures may dominate. These propositions are illustrated with examples from the IS field. This paper is a conceptual study and therefore extends theory and the current understanding of how culture is examined by not only explicitly recognizing that behaviors are simultaneously influenced by multiple levels of culture but by also specifying conditions under which certain levels of culture dominate. Such an approach has the potential to inform researchers and practitioners about the generalizability or universality of theories and techniques across national, organizational, and professional borders.

Global software development in practice lessons learned

More than a decade ago, organizations seeking lower costs and access to skilled resources began to experiment with remotely located software development facilities. This change is having a profound impact not only on marketing and distribution but also on the way products are conceived, designed, constructed, tested, and delivered to customers. The number of organizations distributing their software development processes worldwide keeps increasing. As a result, software development is becoming a multi-site, multicultural and globally distributed undertaking. More recently, attention has turned toward trying to understand the factors that enable multinationals and virtual corporations to operate successfully across geographic and cultural boundaries. On the basis of these factors, we present the lessons learned from case studies in two software development units from multinational organizations located in Brazil. Copyright

Global Knowledge Management Strategies

In this paper we address the issue of managing knowledge within firms that span multiple countries. Through a series of semi-structured interviews with 29 senior managers, spanning three continents and 11 firms, we present insights on knowledge management approaches and strategies being undertaken. In the organizations we interviewed we found presence of three strategies for knowledge management: Headquarter Commissioned and Executed, Headquarter Commissioned and Regionally Executed, and Regionally Commissioned and Locally Executed. We also discuss challenges faced in executing global knowledge management initiatives.

Project management offices: A case of knowledge-based archetypes

While Project Management Offices (PMOs) have become a mainstay in organizations, systematic research has not yet been undertaken to study their intricacies. In this paper, we conduct an exploratory and descriptive case study of PMOs, based on our interviews with senior managers and directors of PMOs in 32 IT organizations. The objectives are to: (1) outline the nature and characteristics of PMOs; (2) classify and derive archetypes of PMOs; and (3) enumerate critical success factors of PMOs. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper to systematically investigate PMOs from a knowledge archetype perspective. A novel and significant contribution of this paper is the case description of four PMO archetypes, which clearly delineate PMOs based on their knowledge management functions and capabilities.

The Management of Distributed Projects Across Cultures

A model of cross-cultural distributed project management is proposed. The model is based on recent theoretical developments regarding trust and team processes, and suggests that trust relates to cultural differences between distributed members. Trust affects project performance in two key ways: through the traditional view of main effects on performance, and via moderating effects on other determinants of performance in distributed projects. We also use a task characteristics categorization, together with several mini-case studies, to create a set of guidelines for best practices for management of cross-cultural distributed projects.

A Reference Model for Global Software Development: Findings from a Case Study

The purpose of this paper is to present a reference model for global software development, based on the results found in a case study conducted in two software development units from multinational organizations located in Brazil. A preliminary description of this model was originally published in 2004. In this paper, we present the reference model in detail, improving the description and discussing the factors that enable multinationals corporations to operate successfully across geographic and cultural boundaries. At the end, we also discuss a preliminary evaluation of the reference model usage

Methodological Issues in MIS Cross-Cultural Research

This paper presents a discussion of methodological issues that are relevant and idiosyncratic to cross-cultural research. One characteristic that typifies cross-cultural studies is their comparative nature, i.e., they involve a comparison across two separate cultures on a focal phenomenon. When differences across cultures are observed, the question arises as to whether the results are true cultural differences or merely measurement artifacts. Methodological considerations in cross-cultural research focus on ruling out alternative explanations for these differences and thus enhancing the interpretability of the results. The paper presents an overview of key methodological issues in cross-cultural research and reviews methods of preventing or detecting methodological problems.

Distributed analysis: the last frontier?

It is widely agreed that the trend toward distributed software development is growing. Although there are difficulties involved, this trend is here to stay, as organizations will continue to search for ways to develop software at lower cost but with same quality. Current research has focused primarily on the later stages of the software development life cycle, especially coding of software requirements. However, as organizations become more virtual, distributed development will become more apparent throughout the entire life cycle. In this study, we investigate distributed analysis in software development. We report on results from a field experiment with two graduate level Information Systems classes, one located in Porto Alegre, Brazil and one in Chicago, U.S. The students in Brazil played the role of users whereas the students in Chicago role-played analysts. The Chicago-based students developed a requirements document for an information system by interviewing the Brazil students using an electronic discussion board. Our findings provide insight into the distributed analysis process and identify sources of potential problems.

Risk Factors in Distributed Projects

In this manuscript we develop a conceptual understanding of how key risk factors associated with Information Technology development projects are magnified or multiplied when dealing with distributed project teams as might be seen in global corporations or with the use of outsourced development resources. The analysis goes beyond the typical cultural or time zone view to include additional dimensions of project team distribution such as perceived distance (spatial and temporal), national culture, systems methodologies, task structure, and organizational distance. How these dimensions interact with key project risk factors is explored through the lens of agency theory and transaction cost theory and further developed providing useful insight on the challenge of managing distributed project teams. Data from several prior research studies by the authors and extant published data is presented in support of the key arguments presented.