Organisational Themes;

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IMS5006 - Information Systems Development
Practices

• Organisational Themes
• Organisational Culture and Organisational Change

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Organisational themes in ISD

• Strategic information systems
• Business process re-engineering (BPR)
• Information systems planning
• Organisational culture
• Organisational change

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Organisational themes in ISD

• strategic information systems top managements
  needs
• BPR (Business Process Re-engineering)
  re-examination of the organisations information
  systems
• Strategic planning approaches

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Organisational themes in ISD
strategic information systems early
computerisation focused on basic transaction
processing cost savings quantifiable, perform
same processing more efficiently limitations of
further efficiency gains opportunities limited
as more projects completed some opportunities
unlikely to demonstrate these types of
savings emergence of an additional role for
information systems and IT a direct tool for
gaining competitive advantage
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strategic information systems
use information systems to improve the business
in the market place competitive
advantage - redefine the boundaries of specific
industries - develop new products and
services - change the relationships between
customers and suppliers - establish barriers to
deter new entrants to the market place cost
justifications more difficult - benefits are not
reduced costs - need to show that benefits (e.g.
improved service) will be recognised - implicatio
ns for methodologies
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strategic information systems
classic examples of use of IS for competitive
advantage American Hospital Supply Corporation,
Merrill Lynch and Co (see pp 51-52 Avison and
Fitzgerald 2003) the role of IS/IT success due
to a good product, and can success be sustained
when competitors copy and improve on the
product? Michael Porters (1980) framework of
competitive strategy bargaining power of
customers, of suppliers, threat of new
entrants, threat of substitute products/services,
rivalry amongst existing firms (pp 51-52 Avison
and Fitzgerald 2003)
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strategic information systems
approaches to addressing competitive
effectiveness using IS/IT 1. technology/ist-drive
n model assume IT investment always provides
business benefits - can result in IT not meeting
business needs, lack of budget control over IT,
lack of accountability 2. competitor-driven
model react to competitors by copying them
e.g. data warehousing - organisations will
not develop their own strengths/innovations - miss
opportunities for being a leader - may still be
disadvantaged by not being the first
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strategic information systems
approaches to addressing competitive
effectiveness using IS/IT 3. Earls (1989)
model a combination of approaches/techniques is
necessary - top down analysis of business goals,
objectives and the role of IT e.g. CSFs, SWOT
analysis, business-led - bottom up analysis of
the current systems evaluate strengths/weaknesses
of existing IS/IT and take action business
contribution/value and technical quality enhance
or exit - identify IT opportunities assess the
enabling effects of IT for its potential
application implications for methodologies
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Business process re-engineering (BPR)
business process re-engineering
(BPR) opportunity to re-engineer business
processes which is enabled by technology the
fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of
business processes to achieve dramatic
improvements in critical, contemporary measures
of performance, such as cost, quality, service,
and speed Hammer and Champy (1993) what an
organisation should do, how it should do it, what
its concerns should be, not what they currently
are
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Business process re-engineering (BPR)
motivations for re-engineering - no choice
commercially - competitive forces require
re-aligning business processes with strategic
positioning - organisation management see
re-engineering as an opportunity to streamline
and to overtake their competitors - the band
wagon effect copy the competitors
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Business process re-engineering (BPR)
Hammer and Champys model - combine several
jobs which are performed by a case worker
responsible for an entire process - case team
members are empowered to find ways to improve
service and quality, reduce costs and cycle
times - process integration means less checks and
controls - less defects as the entire process is
completed by those responsible for the final
product - process steps determined by those
completing the task - parallel processing of
entire operations is possible
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Business process re-engineering (BPR)
issues for a BPR programme - IT is an enabler,
not a driver, of change - IS personnel should be
involved in early planning but not as leaders
of the change process - consider the
organisation of the company, the way work is
carried out, the existing operational
systems - organisational culture change is
inevitable e.g. flatter structure, customer
focus, more teamwork, coaching rather than
directing, facilitative team management style,
balance between management authority and worker
empowerment - may need to recruit a BPR team
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Business process re-engineering (BPR)
BPR experiences of project failures (and
failure rates) - senior managers lack motivation
for organisational change BPR must be driven
from the top - extent of necessary change not
fully recognised - piecemeal approaches mean
individual process gains not translated into
organisational level improvement - failure by top
management to adequately define future
operations - non-critical business operations
addressed - motivation is publicity/bandwagon or
managements reputation - short-term financial
pressures result in lack of resources - BPR is
radical change, not TQM etc.
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Business process re-engineering (BPR)
BPR crosses functional boundaries - increasingly
complex environment means new threats and
challenges - BPR and IS/IT provide opportunity
for radical change - need to maximise performance
of interrelated activities rather than
individual functions co-ordination of
activities - alignment of IS with business
strategy through strategic IS - role of IS
personnel is support BPR is itself now undergoing
re-engineering - see pp 58-59 Avison Fitzgerald
2003 implications for methodolgies
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Information systems planning
planning approaches stress the planning required
to develop an organisations information
systems top management involved in analysing the
organisations objectives plan for the use of
IS/IT to achieve the business objectives avoid a
piecemeal approach to IS development align IS/IT
with the business planning at three levels long
term, medium term, short term
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Information systems planning approaches
- organisation-wide perspective promotes
integration - involvement of top
management - IBM's BSP (Business Systems
Planning 1975) strategic management view of
entire organisation top management defines
organisational needs and priorities establ
ish a stable information architecture implemen
tation from bottom up
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IBM's BSP (Business Systems Planning
1975) 1. define business processes 2. define
business data 3. define an information
architecture 4. analyse current systems
support 5. interview executives at top three
organisational levels 6. define findings and
conclusions 7. determine architecture
priorities 8. review information resource
management 9. develop recommendations and action
plan 10. overview of follow-up
activities (Sprague and McNurlin 1993)
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Organisational culture

• Organisational culture (corporate culture)
• the system of shared beliefs and values that
  develops within an organisation and guides the
  behaviour of its members
• Schermerhorn et al (2000,1994)
• Influence on
• the performance of an organisation
• the quality of working life of its members

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Organisational culture

• Three levels of cultural analysis in
  organisations
• observable culture, shared values, common
  assumptions
• observable culture
• - the way we do things here
• - methods the group has developed and imparts to
  new members
• - stories, ceremonies, corporate rituals define
  meanings and roles
• e.g. founding stories, heroic sagas, success
  stories
• convey hidden information, define group
  identity

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Organisational culture

• Shared values
• a dominant and coherent set of values shared by
  a group as a whole links people together, a
  motivational mechanism for members of the
  organisation
• e.g. quality, customer service
• Common assumptions
• taken-for-granted truths that members share as a
  basis of their collective experience
• e.g. background influence of national cultures

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Organisational culture

• Subcultures
• groups of individuals with a unique pattern of
  values and philosophy which are not inconsistent
  with the organisation's dominant values and
  philosophy
• e.g. high performance task teams, special
  project teams
• Counter cultures
• a pattern of values and a philosophy that
  rejects the surrounding culture
• e.g. mergers and acquisitions may produce
  counter cultures

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Role of organisational culture

• develops the consensus necessary to cope with
  changing environments and change
• external adaptation
• core mission and strategy
• goals, objectives, means
• standards, corrective actions
• internal integration
• common language / jargon
• membership criteria
• power and status differentials
• standards for rewards and punishments

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Role of organisational culture

• Cultural rules and roles
• when various types of actions are appropriate
• where individual members stand in the social
  system
• e.g. meetings
• a forum for dialogue and discussion,
• encouragement of new ideas,
• full participation
• OR
• forum for passing out directives and information
  about what is being done,
• new ideas etc. determined beforehand

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Organisational culture

• Elements of strong corporate cultures
• widely-shared philosophy
• concern for individuals
• recognition of "heroes"
• belief in ritual and ceremony
• sense of informal rules and expectations
• networking amongst members
• a competitive advantage

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Organisational culture

• A strong corporate culture
• positive
• strong corporate identity
• enhanced collective commitment
• stable social system
• reduced need for bureaucratic controls
• negative
• a particular view is reinforced
• difficult to change

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Organisational change

• introducing and managing organisational change
• - new information systems
• - new information technology
• for systems development
• - new system development methodologies
• - new system development technologies
• - new system development techniques
• user perspectives
• systems developers as users changing roles and
  technology

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Organisational change

• organisational performance efficiency etc.
• quality of work life
• a change agent
• a person or group taking responsibility for
  changing the existing pattern of behaviour of
  another person or social system
• Schermerhorn et al (1994)
• unplanned change
• planned change

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Organisational change

• organisational targets for change (Kolb et al
  1991)
• the people subsystem
• personnel flow, education
• the authority subsystem
• formal authority relationships, informal
  leadership patterns
• the information subsystem formal, informal
• the task subsystem job satisfaction, technology
• the policy/culture subsystem formal explicit,
  informal implicit
• the environmental subsystem internal physical
  environment, external environment

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Organisational change

• resistance to change
• feedback that can be used constructively by the
  change agent
• why do people resist change?
• - fear of the unknown
• - doubts about future competence
• - comfort with the status quo
• - vested interests threatened
• - surprise factor
• - poor timing
• - lack of resources
• - job security

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Organisational change

• three phases of planned change
• 1. unfreezing
• 2. changing
• 3. refreezing

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Organisational change

• the scope and nature of change
• paradigm shift or incremental change
• level of task and organisational integration
• level of functionality

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Organisational change

• acceptance criteria for changes
• changes must have clear, appropriate benefits
• changes must be compatible with existing values
  and experiences
• changes must not be too complex
• changes should be able to be tried on an
  incremental or experimental basis

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Organisational change

• strategies for gaining support for change
• force - coercion legitimacy, rewards,
  punishment
• rational persuasion expert power, rational
  argument
• shared power trust-based, common vision

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Organisational change

• dealing with resistance to change
• (Schermerhorn et al 1994)
• education and communication
• participation and involvement
• facilitation and support
• negotiation and agreement
• manipulation and co-optation
• explicit and implicit coercion

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Initiating and managing change
SCOUTING
The Process of Planned Change
ENTRY
DIAGNOSIS
PLANNING
ACTION
Kolb et al (1991) p. 593
EVALUATION
INSTITUTIONALISATION
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Initiating and managing change

• scouting
• determine readiness for change, obvious
  obstacles
• entry
• negotiate a "contract" with entry point
  representatives
• diagnosis
• the perceived problem, goals, resources
  available
• planning
• define change objectives, alternative solutions,
  strategies
• action
• implement change activities, resistance,
  monitor
• evaluation
• relate to objectives
• institutionalisation
• complete vs continuous

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References

• Avison, D.E. Fitzgerald, G. (2003).
• Information Systems Development
• Methodologies, Techniques and Tools. (3rd ed),
  McGraw-Hill, London. Chapters 4.2-4.6, 6.6, 15
• Kolb, D.A., Rubin, I.M. and Osland, J. (1995).
  Organisational Behaviour An Experiential
  Approach. (6th ed) Prentice-Hall, Englewood
  Cliffs.
• Schermerhorn, J.R., Hunt, J.G. and Osborn, R.N.
  (2000). Managing Organizational Behavior. (7th
  ed). Wiley, New York.