41220365
Presumed Versus Actual Organizational Culture: Managerial Implications for Implementation of Information Systems
This paper builds on Markus and Rohey's four-level framework of analyzing resistance to implementation of information systems. The four levels of analysis pertain to the user, the organizational structure, the political power and the environment. We suggest adding a complementary fifth level pertaining to the organizational culture. The paper proceeds from a definition of culture to an explanation of its dimensions, in line with the management and control approach to culture. A case study of an attempt to implement an information system is presented and the five levels of analysis are used to explain the implementation failure
18476883
Electronic Mail as a Medium for Rich Communication: An Empirical Investigation Using Hermeneutic Interpretation
This study provides an account of how richness occurs in communication that uses electronic mail. In examining actual e-mail exchanged among managers in a corporation, the study interprets the managerial use of the communication medium of electronic mail as the users themselves understand and experience it. Employing the research approach of interpretivism in general and hermeneutics in particular, the study finds that richness or leanness is not an inherent property of the electronic-mail medium, but an emergent property of the interaction of the electronic-mail medium with its organizational context, where the interaction is described in terms of distanciation, autonomization, social construction, appropriation, and enactment.Conclusions and recommendations are that managers who receive e-mail are not passive recipients of data, but active producers of meaning; that the best or just an appropriate communication medium is not determined through an individual manager's exercise of rational decision making, but emerges as best or appropriate over time, over the course of the medium's interactions with many users; that systems professionals need to treat the managerial user of an e-mail system not merely as a client of information services, but also as a processor or co-processor to be integrated into the system design; and that information systems researchers need to dedicate attention to the actual processes by which the users of communication medium come to understand themselves, their own use of the medium, and their organizational context.
17399297
Distinctions Among Different Types of Generalizing in Information Systems Research
It is incorrect and even harmful that many information systems researchers typically criticize their own intensive (qualitative, interpretive, critical, and case) research as lacking “generalizability.” We untangle and distinguish the numerous concepts now confounded in the single term “generalizability,” which are generality, generalization, generalize, general and generalizing. These clarified terms allow us to identify four distinct forms of generalizing (everyday inductive generalizing, everyday deductive generalizing, academic inductive generalizing, and academic deductive generalizing), each of which we illustrate with an information systems-related example. The clarified terms provide the basis for an explanation of how information systems researchers who perform intensive research may properly lay claim to generality for their research.
1879649
Low-Complexity Approaches to Slepian&#8211;Wolf Near-Lossless Distributed Data Compression
This paper discusses the Slepian-Wolf problem of distributed near-lossless compression of correlated sources. We introduce practical new tools for communicating at all rates in the achievable region. The technique employs a simple "source-splitting" strategy that does not require common sources of randomness at the encoders and decoders. This approach allows for pipelined encoding and decoding so that the system operates with the complexity of a single user encoder and decoder. Moreover, when this splitting approach is used in conjunction with iterative decoding methods, it produces a significant simplification of the decoding process. We demonstrate this approach for synthetically generated data. Finally, we consider the Slepian-Wolf problem when linear codes are used as syndrome-formers and consider a linear programming relaxation to maximum-likelihood (ML) sequence decoding. We note that the fractional vertices of the relaxed polytope compete with the optimal solution in a manner analogous to that observed when the "min-sum" iterative decoding algorithm is applied. This relaxation exhibits the ML-certificate property: if an integral solution is found, it is the ML solution. For symmetric binary joint distributions, we show that selecting easily constructable "expander"-style low-density parity check codes (LDPCs) as syndrome-formers admits a positive error exponent and therefore provably good performance
93693
Facilitating communication in software development
ABSTRACT Effective communication is critical to the success of a softwaredevelopment project. It factors into the productivity of individualsand organizations, and has particular impact when change occurs.Yet communication is generally left unsupported by the softwaredevelopment process and by the communication infrastructure. Weaddress this issue in the context of two software developmentprojects at N YNEX through a conceptual framework called DesignIntent. There are three innovations in our approach. Design Intentencourages stakeholders to engage in active listening, enablesstakeholders to collaboratively construct a consistent understand-ing of the development effort, and provides a communicationinfrastructure for stakeholders to share ideas and participate in dis-cussions. INTRODUCTION Effective communication among the stakeholders of a softwaredevelopment project is crucial to its success. The importance ofthis communication has been well documented by Curtis, Krasner,and Iscoe [8], who noted frequent, recurring problems related tothe lack of adequate communication among those involved in thedevelopment effort. In order to improve the communication amongmembers of a software development team, an effective process andthe infrastructure to support it must be provided.As designers, we have a new role of “designing experiences” orways for people within our corporation to appreciate new ideas.This role is “designing the boundary objects that facilitate commu-nication and the interpretative moves [leaping] of overlappingcommunities of practice”[18]. We need to build not only “proto-types of need or use” and “prototype systems” [2] — but also theinfrastructures that support relationships, work practices, andsocial intercourse in communities of learners and knowledgeworkers.We feel that three main activities are essential for producing goodsoftware systems:1. Active listening andinterpretive leaping: understanding theproblem and how to solve it in a signiﬁcant way — offering amodel of transcendence.2. Designing boundary objects that help peopleexperiencethepower and possibilities of new ideas.3. Facilitating the communication of ideas and innovations bybuilding the infrastructures.We refer to them as the three dimensions of Design Intent. We willdiscuss our experiences along these dimensions using two projectsat
15346826
Open implementation analysis and design
This paper describes a methodology for designing Open Implementations -software modules that can adapt or change their internals to accommodate the needs of different clients. Analysis techniques are used for capturing domain knowledge, user requirements, and domain properties that influence the module’s eventual implementation. Design techniques are used for determining and refining the interfaces by which clients control the modules implementation strategies. The methodology has evolved over the past two years in several pilot projects.
329024
NYNEX portholes: initial user reactions and redesign implications
The prevalence of audio and video options on computers, coupled with the promise of bandwidth, have many prognosticators predicting a revolution in human communications. But what if the revolution materializes and no users show up? We were confronted with this question when we began deploying and studying the use of a video-based, background awareness application within our organization. Repeatedly, new users raised strong concerns about self-presentation, surveillance, privacy, video snapshots, and lack of audience cues. We describe how we addressed these concerns by evolving the application. As a consequence, we are also redesigning the user interface to the application.
15530872
Design, experiences and user preferences for a web-based awareness tool
We describe our experiences with the design, implementation, deployment and evaluation of a Portholes tool which provides group and collaboration awareness through the Web. The research objective was to explore as to how such a system would improve communication and facilitate a shared understanding among distributed development groups. During the deployment of our Portholes system, we conducted a naturalistic study by soliciting user feedback and evolving the system in response. Many of the initial reactions of potential users indicated that our system projected the wrong image so that we designed a new version that provided explicit cues about being in public and who is looking back to suggest a social rather than information interface. We implemented the new design as a Java applet and evaluated design choices with a preference study. Our experiences with different Portholes versions and user reactions to them provide insights for designing awareness tools beyond Portholes systems. Our approach is for the studies to guide and to provide feedback for the design and technical development of our system.