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A case study of morphogenetic change in long-term offshoring
Abstract
This paper applies a morphogenetic change framework to the case study of a financial information services provider's relationships with offshore IT application vendors over a six year period, in order to discover the underlying causal mechanisms. The analysis finds the progression to have consisted of a sequence of three major organizational changes, where each change was characterized by a morphogenetic cycle of three phases – Structural and Cultural Conditioning, Socio-Cultural Interactions, and Structural and Cultural Elaboration. In the first phase of each change cycle, structural and cultural outcomes of antecedent cycles conditioned the context as perceived by managerial actors. In the second phase, these conditioning factors interacted with the organization's prevailing socio-cultural dynamics to influence managerial decisions and to effect change. Finally, in the third phase, the emergent consequences of their decisions further altered the structural and cultural landscape, thus conditioning the context for the subsequent change cycle. While the specific organizational mechanisms activated varied from one cycle to the next, the overall analysis collectively revealed the company's quest for more effective vendor relationships. It was seen to have struggled with inconsistencies in its view of a captive vendor's role in the first cycle, and a lack of standard processes with multiple vendors in the second cycle, before establishing closer, comprehensive, successful relationships with two vendors in the third cycle. These findings serve to validate the utility of the morphogenetic analytical framework in uncovering change factors unique to specific offshoring contexts.
... If a researcher is explicit about the temporality of structures and agency, that researcher will be better supported in acknowledging the interplay of entities as the case unfolds. Mirani (2013) shows, how the concept of morphogenesis can support the research process through a case study of how an organization's offshore vendor relationships transformed over time. Mirani presents the study as three temporally different organizational change cycles occurring as the organization develops their relationships with overseas vendors. ...
... Rather, when applying detailed critical realist methodology, researchers can stand on safe ground when arguing that the explanatory value of research findings (as elaborated in Potential 3) can extend beyond the single case setting. This is explicated by Mirani (2013), who did a longitudinal study of the organizational mechanisms that can affect the relationship between an organization and multiple IT vendors. Mirani argues that the nature of the organizational mechanisms explored can vary from context to context (localized) but nevertheless always add to the 'how' aspect of the phenomenon under study (generalized). ...
... Thereforewhile long-term offshoring will unfold differently in different contextsunderstanding the phenomenon in depth can provide insights that can help managers precipitate certain events by the intentional management of organizational mechanisms (if such mechanisms renders themselves manageable). Mirani (2013) underlines the fact that inferences about the powers or potential of the central entities of a system derived through empirical observation … may be legitimately extended to events beyond those directly observed. Critical realists hold that the over-arching purpose of all studies of a given system is to refine these inferences on many levels over time, bringing them ever closer to its objective reality, with the understanding that this reality will never be completely captured. ...
There is a lack of research explicitly demonstrating the potential of applying critical realism in qualitative empirical Management and Organization Studies (MOS). If scholars are to obtain the explanatory value that can be developed through detailed applications of critical realism, the existing gap between the philosophical foundation, methodological recipes and hands-on practices of applied critical realism must be bridged. Through a literature review and analysis of existing applications of critical realism in MOS studies, this paper presents five particular potentials of applying critical realism. The five potentials each address significant aspects of critical realism that, when explicitly applied in a research process, can contribute to the understanding of management and organizations. Following the analysis, we discuss what characterizes a detailed application and how this can add to the future of critical realism in MOS studies.
... Phase 3 is characterized by either reproduction or transformation and can be seen as both an ending of one cycle and the start of a new cycle (T4 ). As Mirani (2013) puts it, performed action may transform the very system that predates and influences it, or, alternatively, reinforce and consolidate its premises. The former serves to accomplish morphogenetic change while the latter perpetuates morphostatis [sic], i.e., a continuation of the existing context and dynamics. ...
Frequent calls for sport for development (SFD) to be reoriented toward transformative social change reflect the extent that policies and programs have instead focused on individualized forms of personal development. However, SFD research has yet to substantially address fundamental ontological assumptions and underlying conceptualizations of transformative social change. To addresses this gap, this article considers how Margaret Archer’s Morphogenetic Approach can help explain how transformative social change might occur through SFD activities. Three conceptual contributions are brought into focus: (a) assuming a realist social ontology; (b) making distinctions between structure, culture, and agency; and (c) identifying social change as happening across three temporal phases. The authors conclude by identifying potential benefits and implications of applying the Morphogenetic Approach to consider the potential for SFD to contribute to social change.
... The data reported in this study comprise roughly 50% of a broader research initiative undertaken to investigate both the antecedents and consequences of the offshoring decision reported here. While the antecedents of that decision are the focus of this particular paper, its consequences have been reported elsewhere (Mirani, 2013). Data were gathered by conducting detailed, recorded interviews with managers who had participated in the company's offshoring decision and/or had close knowledge of its intricacies. ...
This article applies structuration theory and institutional theory to analyze the organizational dynamics behind a financial services company’s decision to initiate information technology services offshoring. The analysis finds the decision to have been an emergent one, crystallizing from interactions between upper management’s actions and an evolving structural context. Further, their actions were driven more by a legitimation-oriented desire to adhere to various institutional norms rather than purely rational considerations. These findings of isomorphism question the notion that offshoring decisions result from straightforward objectives such as cost savings or quality enhancement. Particularly under uncertainty, they may be subtly shaped by institutional influences in antecedent contexts. The implication is that the planning, execution, and evaluation of offshored projects must take into account the dynamic imperatives embedded in these contexts, and not be anchored solely to static expressions of short-term or long-term objectives.
The tenets of critical and social realism are well supported in the literature. However, researchers following a realist paradigm have concerns about the lack of methodical guidance for qualitative interviewing, despite their affirmation about the importance of in-depth interviews. A conducted review of empirical realist literature provides evidence of an absence of guidance and commonality regarding interview planning practices. To overcome this absence, this paper composes a guiding framework to assist researchers to phrase more appropriate interview questions in realist research. The steps are founded on critical and social realist concepts while guided by methodological realist principles. Its contribution aims to not only improve the practice of realist inquiry methods but also to introduce more research transparency. A more transparent method for interview questions can lead to increased validity and afford replicability of mechanism-based theories resulting from empirical realist research.
Events happen within the organizational world not by chance but for reasons. It is surely the task of management research to try to explain why these events occur. This requires us to understand the nature of causality but, in general, this is seldom discussed in the management or IS literature. The standard, positivist view underlying statistical analysis is the Humean one of constant conjunctions of events leading to universal laws. Against this, many constructivists find the whole idea of external causality implausible. In this paper we explore a third alternative that is developing strongly within the philosophy of science, social theory and critical realism – the mechanisms view. This proposes that events are generated through the interaction of specific mechanisms endowed with causal powers that may or may not be triggered, and may or may not be countervailed. In particular, the paper develops some of the fundamental concepts such as the nature of events, emergent properties, the difference between properties and powers, casual interactions between levels, absences as causes, event causality and generative causality, and abstracting causal regularities. The paper concludes by illustrating these ideas with a series of empirical case studies.
IT outsourcing is an area that is developing rapidly, requiring a solid relationship between customers and suppliers. Kern and Willcocks (2001) have argued that relationships in IT outsourcing have received little attention in conceptual and empirical research. Yet all researchers emphasize the importance of the relationship between client and supplier as being critical. A relationship is defined as “a long-term commitment, a sense of mutual cooperation, shared risk and benefits, and other qualities consistent with concepts and theories of participatory decision making” (Henderson 1990, 8). While IT outsourcing relationships have been addressed in the literature (Klepper 1994, 1995; McFarlan and Nolan 1995; Willcocks and Kern 2001), only a few researchers have researched the relationship between client and supplier and most of them have been inconclusive (Kern and Willcocks 2002, 4). Empirical research by Lacity and Willcocks (2000a) has shown that a number of client organizations encountered severe problems. These problems can be observed in six areas: strategy, cost, management, operations, contracts, and technology. In four of these areas, strategy, management, operations, and technology, suppliers are causing problems due to insufficient skills in business and IT. Many problems and challenges in outsourcing arrangements are related to the IT supplier capabilities.
Thus far, relatively few studies on the supplier side of Information Technology (IT) outsourcing arrangements have been based on empirical quantitative research. Previous research identified a recurring supplier problem, a lack of sustainability in IT performance. The literature revealed that a supplier's capabilities and organisational structure affect the supplier performance. We hypothesise that realising a fit between the necessary sourcing capabilities and organisational structure on the IT supplier side will result in a sustainable sourcing performance. We executed a survey research among employees involved in sourcing activities of three different IT outsourcing suppliers (N = 135). The results from our analysis provide evidence that these constructs can be used to analyse differences between the three types of service suppliers. Results indicate that suppliers who focus on establishing a fit are more willing or able to monitor if they achieve a sustainable performance.
Historical perspectives are only timidly entering the world of IS research compared to historical research in management or organization studies. If major IS outlets have already published history-oriented papers, the number of historical papers - although increasing - remains low. We carried out a thematic analysis of all papers on History and IS published between 1972 and 2009 indexed on ABI and papers indexed in Google ScholarTM for the same period. We used a typology developed by theorists Usdiken and Kieser (2004) who classify historical organisation research into supplementarist, integrationist and reorientationist approaches. We outline their links with the epistemological stances well known in IS research, positivism, interpretivism and critical research; we then focus on their differences and historiographical characteristics. We found that most IS History papers are supplementarist descriptive case studies with limited uses of History. This paper then suggests that IS research could benefit from adopting integrationist and reorientationist historical perspectives and we offer some examples to illustrate how that would contribute to enriching, extending and challenging existing theories.
The paper offers a fresh approach to the analysis of technology in organization through a critique of Orlikowski and Barley's assessment that institutional theory has the potential to bridge the social and material facets of organizational change when greater emphasis is placed on the materiality of technology. Through analysis of a major information and communication technologies outsourcing contract between UK Inland Revenue and Electronic Data Services, the authors follow institutional theory in problematizing studies in which technology is treated as a material cause or independent variable. But the approach commended by Orlikowski and Barley, they argue, is flawed by its unproblematized assumption of a separation between the physical and social aspects of technology. Drawing on the thinking of Laclau and Mouffe, the authors advocate an alternative framework that unsettles the commonsense, naturalized differentiation of the materiality of technology and the discursive field through which it is articulated and given meaning.
This paper builds upon a series of studies that have identified the comparatively low uptake of ICT amongst EMBs (Ram and Smallbone, 1999; Foley and Ram 2002; Allinson et al., 2004). Existing studies have only tentatively considered the causal factors for this lower adoption rate in comparison to non-EMBs. Within the context of a pilot study, aiming to understand ICT adoption amongst EMBs, an action research approach is adopted as a means of influencing, evaluating and underpinning ICT adoption (Beckinsale and Ram, 2006). The approach is methodologically distinctive in its utilization of action research with a critical realist approach as a means of policy evaluation; this is conducive to ‘policy learning’, and the understanding of causal mechanisms in the EMBs. Actors involved in the implementation were interviewed, as well as the business owners themselves. Another distinguishing feature is the application of Yap et al.’s (1992) schema to identify causal mechanisms, to examine actions and experiences and to understand the impact on the EMBs studied. The findings highlight the complex interaction and relationships of internal and external factors in shaping approaches to ICT implementation. Factors such as size, strategy and business age are germane but so too, albeit to a lesser degree, are cultural influences such as involvement in co-ethnic networks. Significantly, changes to particular causal mechanisms such as business support altered adoption and implementation of ICT. Distinct issues for Chinese and Asian-owned business and potentially more broadly EMBs are identified providing a framework for other EMBs.
Purpose
– Within an IT outsourcing relationship, transition represents a critical and complex phase that starts immediately after contract signing. Transition involves handing over outsourced activities from client firm to service provider firm and accompanies a new way of operating. The purpose of this paper is to determine and detail factors influencing the performance of transition phase within global IT outsourcing relationships.
Design/methodology/approach
– In this paper, the authors present a framework for transition performance that includes four factors: transition planning, knowledge transfer, transition governance and retained organization. This framework is tested and enriched by utilizing a single, in‐depth case study involving over 25 interviews with a global offshore IT outsourcing engagement.
Findings
– It was found that knowledge transfer and transition governance are more critical factors than transition planning and retained organization for transition performance. This was due mainly to two reasons: the critical challenges faced, within the scope of these factors, had higher potential to disrupt transition; and both these factors and their related issues required a significant joint and coordinated effort from client and service provider firms, thereby, making implementation challenging for transition.
Originality/value
– Practitioners have suggested that over two‐thirds of failed outsourcing relationships are due to transition‐related challenges. This paper represents one of the first in‐depth studies that provides insights from a real‐life global outsourcing engagement, which contributes to and complements existing literature on IT outsourcing by providing a greater understanding of transition. Furthermore, it provides practitioners with insights and best practices that can be used to guide transitions in real‐life engagements.
Many issues are under debate as to the philosophical nature of OR/MS: is it science or technology? Is it natural or social science? Can it be realist as well as being interpretivist? There are also many debates within the philosophy of science itself. This paper proposes that a particular account of the philosophy of science, known as critical realism, is especially suitable as an underpinning of OR/MS. The structure of the argument of this paper is to outline the main positions within the philosophy of science and highlight their problems, especially from the point of view of OR/MS; then to introduce critical realism and to show how it addresses these problems and how it is particularly appropriate for OR/MS; and finally to illustrate this by considering examples of various practical OR methods.
W hile various theories have been proposed to explain how technology leads to organizational change, in general they have focused either on the technology and ignored the influence of human agency, or on social interaction and ignored the technology. In this paper, we propose a new theory of technology-mediated organizational change that bridges these two extremes. Using grounded theory methodology, we conducted a three-year study of an enterprise system implementation. From the data collected, we identified embeddedness as central to the process of change. When embedded in technology, organizational elements such as routines and roles acquire a material aspect, in addition to the ostensive and performative aspects identified by Feldman and Pentland (2003). Our new theory employs the lens of critical realism because in our view, common constructivist perspectives such as structuration theory or actor network theory have limited our understanding of technology as a mediator of organizational change. Using a critical realist perspective, our theory explains the process of change as a three-stage cycle in which the ostensive, performative, and material aspects of organizational elements interact differently in each stage.
We developed a model of the adoption of business process outsourcing (BPO) based on risk–benefit analysis. The model was tested in the German banking industry in four areas of transaction processing. Our results showed that, in general, perceived BPO benefits have a substantially stronger impact on intention to increase the level of BPO than perceived risks. However, the experience that banks have with the BPO process, [whether already decided on BPO (Pro), still in the pre-decision phase (Neutral), or opted against BPO (Contra)], moderated the impact of factors affecting the perceived risks and benefits of BPO. Banks that opted for BPO were mostly driven by a desire to focus on their core business while considering financial risks. Banks in the neutral position had the most balanced view of risks and benefits, mainly financial and performance ones, and also focusing on the core business and increased business process performance. Those banks that decided against BPO mostly focused on benefits while the perceived risks were mostly formed by strategic and performance risks rather than financial ones. The results point out the path dependencies of the BPO decision.
Critical social research in information systems has been gaining prominence for some time and is increasingly viewed as a valid research approach. One problem with the critical tradition is a lack of empirical research. A contributing factor to this gap in the literature is the lack of agreement on what constitutes appropriate methodologies for critical research. The present paper contributes to this debate by exploring the role that focus group research can play in the critical approach. This paper outlines the main characteristics of critical research with an emphasis on its emancipatory faculties. It then reviews the focus group method from the perspective of critical approach and provides a critical account of two research projects that used focus groups as a method of data collection. The paper presents the argument that focus groups, if designed and executed in light of a critical approach, can contribute to the emancipation of researchers and respondents. This argument is built upon the critical theories of the two most influential theorists in critical social information systems research, namely Jürgen Habermas and Michel Foucault. Critically oriented focus groups have the potential to improve communication and move real discourses closer to Habermas's ideal speech situation. At the same time, they can contribute to challenging the prevailing orthodoxy and thereby overcome established regimes of truth in the Foucauldian tradition. The paper ends by developing a set of guiding questions that provide a means for researchers to ensure that the emancipatory potential of focus group research can be achieved.
Gerardine DeSanctis and Marshall Scott Poole made an important contribution to the study of IT uses and effects with their insightful concepts of “structural features” and “spirit.” Unlike their concept of “appropriation,” which has found broad acceptance in the IS community, the concepts of structural features and spirit have not been widely used. Published concerns that the concepts are not consistent with basic assumptions in Giddens’ structuration theory, on which the concepts were based, could account for their neglect. However, concepts like structural features and spirit are indispensable for any program of research that attempts to show how IT artifacts can, together with other influences, contribute to the consequences of IT use. Addressing the criticisms that have been leveled against these concepts is, therefore, important. In this paper we unpack DeSanctis and Poole’s concepts and propose redefining them as three new concepts: technical objects, functional affordances, and symbolic expressions. We believe this reconceptualization addresses several concerns about the original concepts, while retaining the core insights of DeSanctis and Poole’s innovative analysis.
Offshore provision of IS/IT related services has been growing rapidly in recent years and seems firmly set to continue. This trend is fueled by the many advantages of offshore service procurement; however, there are dangers in this practice. Furthermore, offshoring requires adaptation of the IS function and IS management. This, in turn suggests the need for modifications of IS curricula in order to prepare graduates for the new environment. The advantages of offshoring are those of outsourcing in general – cost saving and allowing the organization to focus on its core activities. The main dangers include loss of possibly-important business skills and reliance on remote suppliers who face risks that are unfamiliar to the client firm. The loss of jobs due to offshoring also introduces political considerations. Offshore IS activities are generally the responsibility of an organization’s CIO. This management responsibility requires awareness of cultural and legal differences and of risks associated with offshoring and outsourcing in general. Offshoring has an effect on job opportunities for graduates of information systems programs. The number of some jobs will shrink, but new positions with new responsibilities are likely to emerge. Training of students in the U.S. and other countries in the developed world to function in an environment of offshored operations will introduce new IS roles and skills and require the adaptations of IS curricula.
This article relates Archer's morphogenetic approach, derived from the philosophical tradition of critical realism, to the use of information and communication technology in organizations. Three gains are seen to accrue from this approach: greater clarity about the material properties of technology, links to broader structural conditions arising from the conceptualization of the relationship between agency and structure, and the potential to explore the importance of reflexivity in contemporary organizations, especially in conditions of the widespread use of information and communication technology. The importance of disaggregating the artifacts of this technology into levels and features is stressed to enable analysis to explore the specific impacts of particular combinations. This is developed through a discussion of data warehousing in connection with the attention being given to the importance of analytics in organizational strategies. Key features are in wider aspects of the cultural and structural context, demonstrating the fruitfulness of a morphogenetic approach.
Critical social research in information systems has been gaining prominence for some time and is increasingly viewed as a valid research approach. One problem with the critical tradition is a lack of empirical research. A contributing factor to this gap in the literature is the lack of agreement on what constitutes appropriate methodologies for critical research. The present paper contributes to this debate by exploring the role that focus group research can play in the critical approach. This paper outlines the main characteristics of critical research with an emphasis on its emancipatory faculties. It then reviews the focus group method from the perspective of critical approach and provides a critical account of two research projects that used focus groups as a method of data collection. The paper presents the argument that focus groups, if designed and executed in light of a critical approach, can contribute to the emancipation of researchers and respondents. This argument is built upon the critical theories of the two most influential theorists in critical social information systems research, namely Jürgen Habermas and Michel Foucault. Critically oriented focus groups have the potential to improve communication and move real discourses closer to Habermas's ideal speech situation. At the same time, they can contribute to challenging the prevailing orthodoxy and thereby overcome established regimes of truth in the Foucauldian tradition. The paper ends by developing a set of guiding questions that provide a means for researchers to ensure that the emancipatory potential of focus group research can be achieved.
In order to explore scientific writing in Information Systems (IS) journals, we adopt a combination of historical and rhetorical approaches. We first investigate the history of universities, business schools, learned societies and scientific articles. This perspective allows us to capture the legacy of scientific writing standards, which emerged in the 18th and 19th centuries. Then, we focus on two leading IS journals (EJIS and MISQ). An historical analysis of both outlets is carried out, based on data related to their creation, evolution of editorial statements, and key epistemological and methodological aspects. We also focus on argumentative strategies found in a sample of 436 abstracts from both journals. Three main logical anchorages (sometimes combined) are identified, and related to three argumentative strategies: 'deepening of knowledge', 'solving an enigma' and 'addressing a practical managerial issue'. We relate these writing norms to historical imprints of management and business studies, in particular: enigmafocused rhetorics, interest in institutionalized literature, neglect for managerially grounded rhetoric and lack of reflexivity in scientific writing. We explain this relation as a quest for academic legitimacy. Lastly, some suggestions are offered to address the discrepancies between these writing norms and more recent epistemological and theoretical stances adopted by IS researchers.
This paper suggests how interpretivist, socio-critical and positivist approaches in information systems (IS) research might be integrated. Heinz Klein's approach to IS was a significant advance on earlier ones, bringing together a number of issues discussed in interpretivist and socio-critical circles, with philosophical groundings. He believed IS research would benefit from integration of interpretivist and socio-critical approaches, but found no philosophical grounding for this. Interpretivism's reluctance to consider normativity might be a ‘Trojan horse’ that undermines integration. This paper employs Dooyeweerd's philosophy to expose and expel the Trojan horse and sketch how a philosophically grounded integration of interpretivist, socio-critical and even positivist approaches might proceed.
Design science research is an essential part of IS research since the field should not only try to understand how the world
is, but also how to change it. We argue that the aim of IS design science research should be to develop practical knowledge
not only for the design of novel information technology (IT), but also for IS governance and management. Whereas at least
some methodological support exists for researchers engaged in IT-centric design science research, limited support is available
for researchers who want to develop design knowledge and theory for IS governance and management. To overcome this shortcoming,
we suggest a socio-technical IS design science research approach. The approach has four main activities: (1) identifying problem
situations and desired outcomes, (2) reviewing extant theories, knowledge and data, (3) proposing/refining design theory and
knowledge, and (4) testing design theory and knowledge. The applicability and usefulness of the proposed approach is shown
by means of a design science research project concerning IS integration management in the context of mergers and acquisitions.
To date, most research on information technology (IT) outsourcing concludes that firms decide to outsource IT services because they believe that outside vendors possess production cost advan- tages. Yet it is not clear whether vendors can pro- vide production cost advantages, particularly to large firms who may be able to replicate vendors' production cost advantages in-house. Mixed out- sourcing success in the past decade calls for a closer examination of the IT outsourcing vendor's value proposition. While the client's sourcing decisions and the client-vendor relationship have been examined in IT outsourcing literature, the vendor's perspective has hardly been explored. In this paper, we conduct a close examination of vendor strategy and practices in one long-term successful applications management outsourcing engagement. Our analysis indicates that the vendor's efficiency was based on the economic benefits derived from the ability to develop a complementary set of core competencies. This ability, in turn, was based on the centralization of decision rights from a variety and multitude of IT projects controlled by the vendor. The vendor was enticed to share the value with the client through formal and informal relationship manage- ment structures. We use the economic concept of
The offshoring of information systems (IS) work has seen phenomenal growth in the past 5 or more years. This has resulted in IS professionals, interacting with workers from vastly different cultural backgrounds, in order to deliver IS project and support services. This cultural ‘barrier’ has been highlighted in the IS literature as a key challenge for offshoring; however, the attention given to research in the field has in the main been restricted to surveys or interviews, often reliant on reductionist national culture models. Within the fields of linguistics and anthropology, the ethnographic research technique of conversation analysis (CA) has been successfully applied to cross-cultural communications. However, there have been no concerted research efforts to apply CA to IS research in general and to IS offshoring in particular. Our research aims to address that gap by analysing naturally occurring recordings of telephone conferences between offshore vendor staff in India and UK/US employees of a major pharmaceutical company. The research has identified and analysed two important phenomena observed within these communications. Firstly, evidence of asymmetries of participation across cultural divides has been documented, and analysed for underlying causes, such as different attitudes to hierarchy and a lack of shared understanding of expected responses. Secondly, differences in the rhetorical organisation of conversation by participants have also been observed and clearly documented within transcribed specimens of these conversations. These phenomena led to seven findings that are aimed to stimulate further research. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, this paper demonstrates how the methodological approach of CA can be applied to IS offshoring research, producing key insights into culturally loaded conversations with clear applications for practice. We hope that this evidence of the potential of CA in IS research will inspire IS researchers to use the approach in other domains as well as in further work in offshoring situations.Journal of Information Technology (2008) 23, 249–268. doi:10.1057/jit.2008.16
In this article, we review aspects relating to the attractiveness of India for information technology offshore - outsourcing. Our starting point is that, indeed, India will remain competitive in the short-medium term. However, more importantly, we move on to argue that country attractiveness is becoming a less important issue. We consider an alternative approach to analyze country attractive in which the client's strategic intent behind going offshore and the vendor's global dispersedness and its local knowledge define the attractiveness of the firm's offshoring strategy.
This article seeks to address the dearth of practical examples of research in the area by proposing that critical realism be adopted as the underlying research philosophy for enterprise systems evaluation. We address some of the implications of adopting such an approach by discussing the evaluation and implementation of a number of automated performance measurement systems (APMS). Such systems are a recent evolution within the context of enterprise information systems. They collect operational data from integrated systems to generate values for key performance indicators, which are delivered directly to senior management. The creation and delivery of these data are fully automated, precluding manual intervention by middle or line management. Whilst these systems appear to be a logical progression in the exploitation of the available rich, real-time data, the statistics for APMS projects are disappointing. An understanding of the reasons is elusive and little researched. We describe how critical realism can provide a useful "underlabourer" for such research, by "clearing the ground a little ... removing some of the rubbish that lies in the way of knowledge" (Locke, 1894, p. 14). The implications of such an underlabouring role are investigated. Whilst the research is still underway, the article indicates how a critical realist foundation is assisting the research process.
This paper addresses an untapped, though important, type of information technology (IT) personnel turnover: IT entrepreneurship. We develop a comprehensive model to understand the factors and processes that influence turnover behaviour for prospective (nascent) IT entrepreneurs. To do this, we review three streams of research: first, the unfolding model of voluntary turnover that specifies six stages in a process model of employee turnover; second, the entrepreneurship literature (focusing on differences between nascent entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs), and third, attributes of the IT personnel and IT industry. We use Image Theory as the glue to merge these streams of research together. We do so by proposing two new constructs- readiness to quit (to start a business) (RTQ) and necessary configuration to quit (NCQ), which we incorporate into a conceptual framework describing how specific dimensions of RTQ change over time, either gradually or suddenly, in response to specific events. Based on Image Theory, we describe the process by which nascent entrepreneurs conduct a compatibility test to assess the fit between their current RTQ and the set of NCQs. If there is a fit, then the nascent entrepreneur is ready to quit his or her current job. We illustrate our model using a sample vignette involving a former IT employee who became an entrepreneur, and we provide suggestions for researchers and practitioners, based on our model and the constructs that we introduce. Although we develop our model in the context of IT turnover and entrepreneurship, RTQ and NCQ, as well as the conceptual framework, can also be applied to other types of voluntary IT turnover (e.g., accepting a position in another company).
Recent studies have shown a substantial growth in the global IT outsourcing market. The literature discusses an extensive range of various IT outsourcing models. This study introduces a cross onshore and offshore outsourcing model. It discusses relationship issues between the vendor and its offshoring centre. The research reveals that global IT enterprise models face serious relationship issues. These issues are cultural differences, communication, economic conditions in the offshoring country, harsh contract penalties, lack of client support, lack of client's domain knowledge, unrealistic timeframes and the cost saving objectives of the model. The research uses a qualitative research methodology based on multiple case studies.
The changing economic and labor conditions have motivated firms to outsource professional services activities to skilled personnel in less expensive labor markets. This offshoring phenomenon is studied from a political, economic, technological and strategic perspective. Next, an analytical model is developed for achieving strategic advantage from offshoring based on global partnerships. The model studies the impact of offshoring with respect to the complexity and strategic nature of the tasks and presents a decision strategy for obtaining value through offshoring of increasingly complex tasks. The result is an integrated “24-hour knowledge factory” that is based on a sustainable global model rather than a short term fiscal model. This 24-hour paradigm embodies the shift-style workforce that evolved for the manufacturing sector during the Industrial Revolution and relies on a set of critical success factors in the current environment. A case example is provided from IBM to illustrate these underlying critical success factors. Purchase this article to continue reading all 23 pages >
This article seeks to address the dearth of practical examples of research in the area by proposing that critical realism be adopted as the underlying research philosophy for enterprise systems evaluation. We address some of the implications of adopting such an approach by discussing the evaluation and implementation of a number of automated performance measurement systems (APMS). Such systems are a recent evolution within the context of enterprise information systems. They collect operational data from integrated systems to generate values for key performance indicators, which are delivered directly to senior management. The creation and delivery of these data are fully automated, precluding manual intervention by middle or line management. Whilst these systems appear to be a logical progression in the exploitation of the available rich, real-time data, the statistics for APMS projects are disappointing. An understanding of the reasons is elusive and little researched. We describe how critical realism can provide a useful “underlabourer” for such research, by “clearing the ground a little ... removing some of the rubbish that lies in the way of knowledge” (Locke, 1894, p. 14). The implications of such an underlabouring role are investigated. Whilst the research is still underway, the article indicates how a critical realist foundation is assisting the research process.
The overall purpose of the book is to discuss IT outsourcing and its management in the strategic context of changing business models. Competitive pressures in the global economy, together with the developments of information technology, force companies to rethink their position in the market place. Where companies are forced to deliver world class performance in business processes that do not belong to their core and where IT reduces transaction costs, strategic sourcing will take the place of single make-or-buy decisions. This book presents a blend of research and practical examples.
Purpose
– This paper is based on a portion of the research undertaken as part of the author's doctorate study and aims to look at change and its management in the context of the offshore outsourcing of IT services.
Design/methodology/approach
– Two longitudinal case studies were conducted in a large multinational. The study looks at the scenario mainly from the viewpoint of the onshore IT front‐line staff; some high level managers were also included. Offshore staff did not form part of the research.
Findings
– Change and its management form an important aspect of the process of offshore outsourcing of IT services; observing this aspect from the new service development point of view gives an in‐depth picture of the issues involved. A pictorial representation of this process has been presented in this research.
Originality/value
– This paper looks at change and its management from the perspective of the offshore outsourcing of IT services in terms of new service development – previous studies have not focused on this area in this context.
It is argued that recent research in the information systems field has tended to either emphasise the structural/collective dimension or the agency/individual dimension, not both. Structuration theory is a more recent attempt to address both agency and structure, however there are a number of issues with the use of structuration theory in information systems research, not the least of which is its lack of recognition of the temporal and longitudinal nature of information systems development. A relatively new philosophy, critical realism, provides the potential for a new approach to social investigations in its provision of an ontology for the analytical separation of structure and agency. The philosophy is introduced and its implications for sociological investigation are discussed.
Purpose
Although risks and client‐vendor relationships in IT outsourcing have been studied in prior research, there is a paucity of studies providing insights on the mitigation of client risks through the relationship. This research aims to focus on mitigation of the ex post risks of firms engaged in offshore software development (OSD). Client risks due to service provider behavior are identified first. Further, this work seeks to identify relationship variables that could reduce the impact of determinants of risk on a risk category.
Design/methodology/approach
This research followed a multiple case study method aiming to build insights and directions that would facilitate further research. The paper's goal of sampling was to choose cases which were likely to extend the emergent theory pertaining to risks and their mitigation through relationships.
Findings
Findings from this study show that shirking, loss of control over information assets, and service provider lock‐in are the three categories of ex post risks. A relationship management strategy ensuring reasonable profits to the vendor could mitigate shirking risk. Trustworthiness of vendors established through credibility and benevolence in prior engagements could mitigate the risk of loss of control over information assets. Further, dependence balancing through a multi‐vendor offshoring strategy and joint investments in relationship‐specific assets could mitigate the risk of service provider lock‐in.
Practical implications
The findings from this research provide useful insights in vendor selection and management process.
Originality/value
This paper adds to the growing body of literature in offshore IT outsourcing and makes two significant contributions: identification and categorization of risks due to vendor behavior and their determinants in OSD; and understanding the role of relationship dimension in mitigating such risks in OSD.
Actor-network theory (ANT) has achieved a measure of pop- ularity in the analysis of information systems. This paper looks at ANT from the perspective of the social realism of Margaret Archer. It argues that the main issue with ANT from a realist perspective is its adoption of a 'flat' ontology, particularly with regard to human beings. It explores the value of incorporating concepts from ANT into a social realist approach, but argues that the latter offers a more productive way of approaching information systems. Key words. actor-network theory; agency and struc- ture; critical realism; information systems 'In matters of grave importance, style, not sincerity, is the vital thing.' (Gwendolen, in The Importance of Being Earnest (Wilde, 1986: 301)) This is written from the marcherlands, the debatable territory between information systems and organizational studies. Actually, that might be to stretch the historical analogy a little too far. For the border lands between England and its neighbours Wales and Scotland were charac- terized for much of the period up to the 17th century by incessant feuding. In our debatable territory, by contrast, the opposing hordes tend to march straight past each other and not lock horns directly. A pertinent example for the discussion that follows is contained in the treatments of the impact of information technology (IT) in the British National Health Service. Both Bloomfield (1995) and Checkland and Holwell (1998) have a focus on the initiative known as Resource Management, but neither
Purpose – In offering a critical account of knowledge management in a small- and medium-sized enterprise this paper aims to theorise the creation and sharing of knowledge from a relational perspective. Design/methodology/approach – Drawing on the findings of an in-depth longitudinal study of a knowledge transfer partnership (KTP) the paper assesses the role and impact of exogenous change events on the innovation process. Findings – The case indicates that knowledge management constitutes an ongoing process of social engagement when the unfolding social context presents actors with greater and/or fewer opportunities for critical reflection and strategic choice. Failure to adopt knowledge often relates to the way exogenous change events disrupt how actors connect with their social context and as such are able to manage knowledge and uncertainty. Research limitations/implications – Based on a single case study this research provides insights that are context specific. In this respect, future work should involve a broader assessment of the changing social context of innovation and knowledge management. Originality/value – This critical account of knowledge management is in contrast to mainstream and positivist accounts found in the literature.
Purpose
– The philosophical position known as critical realism is briefly introduced, and some of its central features are used to connect the philosophy and the realist social theory to some current library and information science (LIS) models of information behaviour.
Design/methodology/approach
– The paper uses a literature‐based analysis of the critical realism concepts of a stratified social reality, the importance of contextualisation, and the relation between structure and agency. These features are discussed in relation to various models of information‐seeking behaviour, but also to the “interpretative” approach to information as meaning which can only be achieved through discourses in a human community.
Findings
– The critical realism perspective could lay a fruitful foundation for an interdisciplinary research field like LIS, and its user studies in particular, concerned with many levels of information creation, seeking, use and processing. It is the task of the LIS researcher to explain the mechanisms that influence the information seeking, not only on an empirical level, by observing the user and his/her discourse community, but also by revealing possible underlying causes and relations.
Originality/value
– An awareness of the fact that social and cultural structures exist independent of one's knowledge of them has implications on how many central problems in the LIS field are regarded and studied.
Purpose
This paper aims to take an institutional approach to the analysis of organisational‐level challenges of information systems (IS) innovation in public organisations. It seeks to answer the question: how can the challenges of IS innovation in public organisations, presented by the interactions between IT and public bureaucracy, be explained and addressed?
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is an empirical study approached with an interpretive philosophy that influenced the gathering of qualitative evidence.
Findings
The analysis reveals the institutional tensions between the low‐entrepreneurial ethos of public organisations and the efficiency principle of information technology (IT).
Practical implications
Public bureaucracy should be adjusted by de‐institutionalising its variable characteristics such as standardised and centralised employee roles and information. Information technology should be adjusted by restraining commitments to and expectations in public organisations.
Originality/value
The paper argues that the primary principle of IS innovation should be institutional adjustments of public bureaucracy and information technology. It informs e‐government policy makers to think primarily about the institutional relations between IT and public bureaucracy.
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate and gain knowledge into the reasons why a UK-based wholesaling company outsourced its information technology and call centre services, and what security measures were put in place to protect the sensitive information they hold in and transmit via their information system to prevent misuse of sensitive information, and to highlight any challenges the company faced connected with offshore outsourcing. Design/methodology/approach – The research in this paper is exploratory and draws on prior research following a company's journey of outsourcing its network security and contact/call centre services to two offshore Indian companies, and subsequently discusses the issues surrounding maintaining the security and control of the systems. Findings – The paper shows that offshore outsourcing of security management and contact/call centre services can be managed and organised successfully. Research limitations/implications – The one case study limits the findings – they may not be generalisable. Originality/value – For researchers and academia, the paper adds to the literature on outsourcing and call centre work and may be of interest to companies who are considering offshore outsourcing.
People are inescapably shaped by the culture in which they live, while culture itself is made and remade by people. Human beings in their daily lives feel a genuine freedom of thought and belief, yet this is unavoidably constrained by cultural limitations--such as those imposed by the language spoken, the knowledge developed and the information available at any time. In this book, Margaret Archer provides an analysis of the nature and stringency of cultural constraints, and the conditions and degrees of cultural freedom, and offers a radical new explanation of the tension between them. She suggests that the "problem of culture and agency" directly parallels the "problem of structure and agency," and that both problems can be solved by using the same analytical framework. She therefore paves the way toward the theoretical unification of the structural and cultural fields.
This article investigates the differences across and the need to consider both the client and vendor perspective in evaluating international sourcing (offshoring) success and highlights the need for incorporating relational factors into the success assessment rather than focusing solely on financial or operational outcomes (e.g., projects delivered on time, within budgeted costs). We take an expanded view of project success (using relational/process dimensions) and provide insight into how client and vendor firms evaluate success differently across relational dimensions and how relational factors play a key role in achieving success. Based on the findings, propositions are presented to guide future offshoring success research.
In today’s globalized economy, firms often consider offshoring when confronted by rising costs and fierce competition. One mode of offshoring has continued to grow despite the current global economic turmoil: the captive center. Captive centers are offshore subsidiaries or branch offices that provide the parent company with services, usually in the form of back-office activities. In Offshoring Strategies, Ilan Oshri examines the evolution of the captive center. He identifies basic captive center models, examines the captive center strategies pursued by Fortune Global 250 firms, describes current captive center trends, and offers detailed individual case studies that illustrate each model. His analysis highlights the strategic paths available to firms that want to maximize the returns offered by captive centers. Oshri outlines six models for captive centers that range from the basic wholly owned branch office to hybrids and joint ventures and identifies evolutionary paths along which the basic model develops. He analyzes firms’ strategies during initial set-up, then tracks the changes as strategies evolve to meet different business needs. The case studies, all based on the Fortune Global 250, include the development of a basic captive unit into a complex hybrid structure; the evolution of a captive center into a shared service center offering services to other international firms; the divestment of a captive center to a private equity firm; and the migration of a captive center to a location where costs were lower.
In our review, we coded 73 empirical findings from 31 journal articles that applied Transaction Cost Economics (TCE) to study Information Technology Outsourcing (ITO). As Karimi-Alaghehband et al. (2011) note correctly, the empirical results of TCE tests in the context of ITO are mixed. We found that only 49% of the empirical ITO findings supported TCE logic. We found only slightly better support for TCE when it is used as a normative theory (54%) than when it is used as a predictive theory (47%). The main difference between Karimi-Alaghehband et al.’s (2011) contribution and our contribution to the debate focuses upon what to do next. Karimi-Alaghehband et al. (2011) argue that ITO researchers need to apply TCE more faithfully. We argue that we are asking too much of TCE—the ITO phenomenon is more complex than can be accommodated by TCE. We argue that ITO research has matured to the point that we should be building our own endogenous ITO theory. We offer observations and insights on what such a theory might entail. In moving ITO research forward, we first critique TCE assumptions and provide alternative assumptions that seem to fit ITO observations well. We draw on our review of 741 ITO empirical findings (Lacity et al., 2010) to provide a detailed theoretical framework to advance further study that suggests the most promising constructs to use in an endogenous ITO theory.
In this paper, we present an economic learning model that helps to formalize the complex relationships among an offshoring firm’s knowledge levels, production costs, and coordination costs. Specifically, we model a domestic firm’s use of a selective offshore strategy (i.e., offshoring only a portion of its information technology activities) to exploit, through IT investments or contractual provisions, the foreign vendor’s large, scale-driven repository of production knowledge. We illustrate the conditions under which knowledge transfers during offshoring may reduce a domestic firm’s in-house production costs, leading to total cost savings in both the short term and the long term. Alternatively, when knowledge transfers are not sufficiently large, some short-lived offshoring projects may generate substantial cost savings to the domestic firm; however, long-lived offshoring projects may cause a disruption in the knowledge supply chain, resulting in substantial losses in the later stages of the project. A firm that fails to realize the costs associated with such a disruption soon enough in the project life may find itself locked into a disadvantageous offshoring agreement without any recourse. However, a domestic firm may be able to overcome a disruption in its knowledge supply chain by exploiting the learning-by-doing production knowledge generated by the foreign vendor’s economies of scale. The managerial implications derived from our learning model may help guide firms as they consider the impacts of offshore contracts and knowledge management investments on firm knowledge, production costs, and coordination costs.
In this paper we focus on the neglected role of anxiety and psychological security in organizational life, specifically in the context of the organization and development of offshoring relationships that extend across time and geography. In contrast with much of the literature on offshoring (and inter-organizational relationships more generally), which tends to take a very conventional rational decision-making perspective on the phenomenon in question, we emphasize the less tangible, emotional dimensions. In particular, we are concerned with understanding the processes by which clients, who have little or no previous experience of offshoring, may develop and sustain adequate levels of psychological security to enable them to bracket risk and productively engage in such unfamiliar and alien work arrangements. To this end, we draw on Anthony Giddens' distinctive, non-cognitivist conception of trust, supplemented by other important contributions in the area, to explore the processes by which a sense of psychological security and stability is achieved in the face of the quotidian anxieties provoked by engagement in these contemporary modes of global organizing. Our synthesized theoretical framework is developed and illustrated in the context of an ongoing, in-depth, longitudinal study of the evolution of an Ireland–India information systems offshoring relationship. By tracing the dynamics of this relationship over an 18-month period, we examine the practices (or ‘relationship work’) through which trust is produced, and suggest that different mechanisms can be discerned at different (albeit overlapping) stages of the relationship. In the earlier phase, the emphasis is on the role played by care and attentiveness in producing a sense of trust in the qualities of the supplier. As the relationship develops, however, the emphasis shifts to the production of a stable collaborative order. Here, we focus on the micro-political dynamics of such processes and draw attention to three important tactical interventions (brokerage, signaling, and the ‘third man’). We conclude by arguing that the sense of trust that was carefully cultivated in the earlier phase of the relationship provided a crucial foundation, which not only facilitated the subsequent development of a stable collaborative order but, most noticeably, helped contain a serious crisis that beset the project in December 2006.Journal of Information Technology (2008) 23, 232–248. doi:10.1057/jit.2008.15
The concept of offshoring of professional services first gained attention slightly over 25 years ago. At that time, US companies began to realize the cost-advantage of getting their computer software developed in India and other countries. The concept gained momentum with the advent of Internet and the availability of inexpensive communication technologies. Unrelated events, such as the need to address the Y2K problem, in a time-bound manner, further increased the use of computer personnel based in faraway places. Studies conducted by professional organizations, such as ACM, IEEE, and NSPE, focus on the cost and labor aspects of offshoring and its direct impact on employment opportunities in the countries involved. This paper broadens this perspective by emphasizing that the key drivers for offshoring will be strategic, not economic, over time. A formal mathematical model is presented to highlight the new trend. Further, instead of a binary model in which the work is performed in the country of the sponsoring organization or a different country, we will gradually see a new work paradigm in which the work is performed in a sequence in factories located in multiple continents of the world. Such 24-Hour Knowledge Factories can leverage factors beyond cost savings. One can employ professionals in multiple parts of the world, perform tasks at all times of the day, and bring new products and services quicker to the market. Just as the advent of multiple shifts allowed machines to be utilized round the clock leading to the benefits of the Industrial Revolution, the creation of new globally distributed workforces and global partnerships can lead to major strategic advantages for companies and countries alike.
A formal conceptualization of the original concept of system and related concepts-from the original systems approach movement-can facilitate the understanding of information systems IS. This paper develops a critique integrative of the main IS research paradigms and frameworks reported in the IS literature using a systems approach. The effort seeks to reduce or dissolve some current research conflicts on the foci and the underlying paradigms of the IS discipline.