The aestheticization of business processes: Visualizing their Gestalt for collective thinking

2023 | Journal of Information Technology | Citations: 0

Authors: Blattmeier, Monika

Abstract: Business processes, simply defined by Davenport as ‘structures for action’, orga ... Expand

Abstract: Business processes, simply defined by Davenport as ‘structures for action’, organize the creation of value in a company. In addition to being carried out visibly, processes also have an inner dimension which remains hidden in the existing mechanistic metaphor of process management models. Aesthetic business processes draw from systems theory and Gestalt theory in order to uncover this inner dimension. The aim of this phenomenological investigation presented here is to describe the super-summative nature of business processes, in other words, to understand them holistically as a Gestalt. Mechanical Engineering students at a university of applied sciences analyzed business processes at different companies to discover patterns which they then visualized with the process participants at those companies. They used Christopher Alexander’s pattern language as a paradigm to make implicit knowledge buried in those business processes explicit. Using this technique, aesthetic business processes were identified as patterns. The format of the patterns served as a tool for collective thinking and as a form of expression for the Gestalt of aesthetic business processes in their visualization. A pattern language as an overview of the many ways to combine business process patterns has yet to be reconstructed based on this investigation. The shared visualizations highlighted the nature of the business processes and made it possible to see, in a metaphorical way, their significant interactions. Collapse

Topics: business process management sensemaking manufacturing information system covid 19 pandemic

Methods: theory development qualitative interview experiment phenomenological method case study

Theories: gestalt principles of perception general systems theory

Data-Induced Rationality and Unitary Spaces in Interfirm Collaboration

2023 | Organization Science | Citations: 0

Authors: Cepa, Katharina; Schildt, Henri

Abstract: The real-time data transfer between collaborating companies allows them to repre ... Expand

Abstract: The real-time data transfer between collaborating companies allows them to represent and control activities across firm boundaries, providing new ways to organize collaborative efforts. We conducted an inductive multiple case study of five long-term relationships to examine the effects of data-intensive technologies on the organization and management of collaborative relationships in industrial companies. Our analysis shows how the delegation of digital activities into specialized digital units fostered data-driven mindsets and data-driven interactions that jointly formed a holistic data-induced rationality for managing the relationship. Together, the compartmentalization of digital collaboration and the data-induced rationalities turned these units into “unitary spaces,” organizational enclosures where structural tensions and competing demands were temporarily suspended to foster single-minded pursuit of collaborative short-term benefits for the partner company. Funding: The authors are grateful for the financial support from the Academy of Finland [Grant 274536]. Collapse

Topics: digital service interorganizational relationship big data problem solving analytical information system

Methods: qualitative interview computational algorithm theory development multiple case study qualitative coding

Theories: theory of affordance sociotechnical systems theory

Pathways for Digital Transformation: An Organizational Identity Perspective

2023 | International Conference on Information Systems | Citations: 0

Authors: Keilbach, Anna; Hein, Andreas; Krcmar, Helmut

Abstract: In the rapidly evolving digital transformation (DT) landscape, understanding or ... Expand

Abstract: In the rapidly evolving digital transformation (DT) landscape, understanding organizational identity (OI) complexities becomes imperative. Leveraging a comparative analysis of AutoCorp and its spinoff, SoftCorp, this paper unfolds OI tensions in the context of DT. Despite advances in the literature on OI and DT, a gap exists in understanding how conflicting identities within a parent company and its spinoff can impact the organizations and the products they develop. We unearth that the dominant identity in AutoCorp, rooted in traditional manufacturing, creates tensions with the digital service-provider identity in SoftCorp. Additionally, we find that such separation may temporarily relieve internal tensions but introduce new challenges at the organizations' boundaries, affecting the digitized product. Our findings contribute to the theoretical discourse in OI and provide insights for companies undergoing DT. In our ongoing research project, we plan to develop an integrative framework reconciling these diverging identities for optimal digitized product development. Collapse

Topics: business process management change management systems development vehicular automation digital service

Methods: qualitative interview case study qualitative coding cross sectional research personal interview

OFFERING KNOWLEDGE AS A SERVICE - A TAXONOMY OF KNOWLEDGE-INTENSIVE BUSINESS SERVICES

2023 | European Conference On Information Systems | Citations: 0

Authors: Ksouri-Gerwien, Christoph; Ebel, Martin; Bittner, Kendra; Poeppelbuss, Jens

Abstract: Servitization describes the transformation of a manufacturer to a customer-cent ... Expand

Abstract: Servitization describes the transformation of a manufacturer to a customer-centric service and solution provider. Providing customer solutions requires the integration of knowledge from different domains, e.g., engineering, software, and service, and usually also entails that more knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) become part of the manufacturer's overall business model. Against this background, this article investigates how manufacturing and software firms leverage knowledge in KIBS and corresponding business models. We developed a taxonomy that systematizes KIBS along the three metadimensions of value proposition, value creation, and value capture. The application of our taxonomy to exemplary cases from both industries shows different strategies of knowledge usage across these industries. Our findings can support the development of KIBS and help practitioners to understand different ways of utilizing knowledge as a strategic resource. Implications for research point to the need for better understanding the collaboration of multiple actors from a knowledge-based perspective. Collapse

Topics: business model value creation innovation management knowledge sharing website

Methods: case study theory development triangulation qualitative interview design artifact

Theories: knowledge based theory of the firm

The Hidden Potential: Explaining How and Why Late-Entry IT Professionals Move Into The IT Profession

2023 | International Conference on Information Systems | Citations: 0

Authors: Prommegger, Barbara; Joseph, Damien; Krcmar, Helmut

Abstract: To sustain the rapid technological evolution, more than our internal market of ... Expand

Abstract: To sustain the rapid technological evolution, more than our internal market of young IT talent will be required to satisfy the need for IT staff. Integrating skilled non-IT professionals in the IT sector may help combat the IT skills shortage. However, we still lack an understanding of how and why non-IT professionals enter the IT sector late in their careers. We address this research gap by drawing on the careers of 53 successful late-entry IT professionals. By combining the theories of boundaryless and protean careers with the signaling theory, we discuss how we see shifts in the signals of knowledge, skills, and abilities that lower the barriers of the IT profession and explain how signals of behavior and practices act as door openers into IT. Lastly, we introduce four career patterns of lateentry IT professionals and thus shape our understanding of contemporary career development in but also outside of IT. Collapse

Topics: IT workforce IT career IT job IT work agile software development

Methods: qualitative interview qualitative coding personal interview theoretical contribution constant comparative analysis

Theories: signaling theory

Academic Entrepreneurship: Entrepreneurial Advisors and Their Advisees’ Outcomes

2023 | Organization Science | Citations: 0

Authors: Roche, Maria P.

Abstract: The transfer of complex knowledge and skills is difficult, often requiring inten ... Expand

Abstract: The transfer of complex knowledge and skills is difficult, often requiring intensive interaction and extensive periods of coworking between a mentor and mentee, which is particularly true in apprenticeship-like settings and on-the-job training. This paper studies a context that quintessentially describes this type of learning: the academic laboratory. I focus on ways a change in the attention of a principal investigator, moving to entrepreneurship, may influence knowledge transmission and skill development by examining the relationship of this change with their PhD students’ scientific productivity and careers. To do so, I rely on novel restricted-access data encompassing faculty and PhD students in computer sciences, engineering, and the life sciences who were active at an elite U.S. research university from 2001 to 2017. The results suggest a substantial negative association between a professor’s entrepreneurial activity and the short- and long-run publication output of the PhD students they train. Furthermore, I detect a decrease in students’ likelihood of becoming professors themselves but an increase in their likelihood of working for consulting firms on graduation. Finally, I provide evidence suggesting that changes in trainee development are the most feasible drivers of the results rather than changes in trainee research orientation, selection, or life cycle effects. Funding: This work was supported by the National Science Foundation [NSF SciSIP Dissertation Improvement Grant 1933387]. The author thanks the Harvard Business School Division of Research and Faculty Development for further financial support. Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2022.1633. Collapse

Topics: entrepreneurship IT career productivity personality knowledge sharing

Methods: survey lasso regression longitudinal research difference in differences computational algorithm

Antecedents of Non-Ownership Business Model Offerings in the Mechanical Engineering Industry – A Set Theoretic Approach

2023 | International Conference on Business Informatics | Citations: 0

Authors: Scharfe, Philipp

Abstract: The emergence of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) technologies drives the o ... Expand

Abstract: The emergence of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) technologies drives the offering of non-ownership business models (NOBMs) in the mechanical engineering industry. In a NOBM mechanical engineering firms as machine providers maintain machine ownership and sell their customers only the machine use and/or performance. While literature has already discussed the influence of multiple individual contextual antecedents on the decision of mechanical engineering firms whether to offer NOBMs, little is known about the interplay of these antecedents. By drawing on 16 interview-based cases and fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA), we applied a configurational perspective and identified each two configurations of four key contextual antecedents (high digital service capabilities, high machine standardization, high share of large customers, and high market competition) that lead to presence or absence of NOBM offerings by mechanical engineering firms. Moreover, we used our case insights to discuss the interplay of these antecedents within the identified configurations. Collapse

Topics: digital service podcast business model fuzzy logic innovation management

Methods: qualitative interview personal interview fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis qualitative coding theoretical contribution

Theories: fuzzy set theory

It's Time to Smarten Up! - A Framework for Building Smart Service Systems

2023 | Americas Conference on Information Systems | Citations: 0

Authors: Wache, Hendrik

Abstract: Smart service systems are a network of people, technologies, as well as process ... Expand

Abstract: Smart service systems are a network of people, technologies, as well as processes and rely on learning, adaptivity, and decision-making to provide smart services to their users. The complexity of designing smart service systems results in a plethora of potential implementation obstacles, often leading to an overly technical focus and resulting in isolated solutions. There is, therefore, a need for a guideline for companies that helps them facilitate the development of complex smart service systems. To this end, we apply action design research used in a multi-year design study for digital twins in the manufacturing industry. The resulting four-quadrant framework (domain, system design, organization, and ecosystem) can help researchers and companies guide the development of smart service systems or evaluate past progress. The evaluation of the framework shows that there might be dominant quadrants and certain paths in the framework, which we would like to investigate in further research. KeywordsSmart service system, digital twin, industry 4.0, action design research. Collapse

Topics: production management digital twin business model systems development mobile system

Methods: action design research group interview personal interview design principle design science

Employee perspectives on value realization from data within data-driven business models

2022 | Electronic Markets | Citations: 0

Authors: Förster, Matthias; Bansemir, Bastian; Roth, Angela

Abstract: Firms are innovating data-driven business models (DDBMs) to realize value from d ... Expand

Abstract: Firms are innovating data-driven business models (DDBMs) to realize value from data. Yet, making DDBMs work is challenging, and DDBMs often fall short of expected value realization. One reason for this shortfall is that firms do not know how employees, who decisively influence a DDBM’s value realization, view this complex and multi-facetted topic. We think it is necessary to understand the employees’ perspectives, the dimensions that build these perspectives and the characteristics employees are particularly interested in regarding value realization from data. We address this research gap by applying the Q-methodology to examine the perspectives among 70 employees across twelve DDBMs at a German automotive manufacturer. This yields eight perspectives, e.g., data advocacy, data caution or data practical. By exploring these perspectives, we provide a first groundwork on how employees view and appraise value realization from data which adds to the strive for mastering value realization from data within DDBMs. Collapse

Topics: anonymity organizational value innovation management analytical information system data-driven business model

Methods: qualitative interview factor analysis Q methodology qualitative coding archival research

Theories: stakeholder theory

AI invading the workplace: negative emotions towards the organizational use of personal virtual assistants

2022 | Electronic Markets | Citations: 1

Authors: Hornung, Olivia; Smolnik, Stefan

Abstract: Personal virtual assistants (PVAs) based on artificial intelligence are frequent ... Expand

Abstract: Personal virtual assistants (PVAs) based on artificial intelligence are frequently used in private contexts but have yet to find their way into the workplace. Regardless of their potential value for organizations, the relentless implementation of PVAs at the workplace is likely to run into employee resistance. To understand what motivates such resistance, it is necessary to investigate the primary motivators of human behavior, namely emotions. This paper uncovers emotions related to organizational PVA use, primarily focusing on threat emotions. To achieve our goal, we conducted an in-depth qualitative study, collecting data from 45 employees in focus-group discussions and individual interviews. We identified and categorized emotions according to the framework for classifying emotions Beaudry and Pinsonneault (2010) designed. Our results show that loss emotions, such as dissatisfaction and frustration, as well as deterrence emotions, such as fear and worry, constitute valuable cornerstones for the boundaries of organizational PVA use. Collapse

Topics: artificial intelligence privacy telephone video conference

Methods: qualitative interview focus group qualitative coding group interview cross sectional research

Theories: appraisal theory