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Design observations for interagency collaboration
... SSCs sometimes emerge in unexpected and unplanned forms because of stricter, mandated/legislated dependencies between SSC and the corporate entity (Borman & Ulbrich, 2011). Adoption of shared services is a complex network activity, typically without a single governing entity (Fedorowicz et al., 2014). ...
... The SSC and its member companies and units create agreements concerning performance, measuring criteria such as response time, service availability, and helpdesk support (Janssen & Joha, 2008 Evaluation criteria and processes are externally mandated (Grant et al., 2007, Fedorowicz et al., 2014. ...
... Well-formulated service contracts exist between the SSC and the corporate/government entity (Wagenaar, 2006, Fedorowicz et al., 2014. ...
Shared service providers typically host routine and administrative business processes as a way to standardize company practices and increase efficiency. In the public sector, however, its application to functions critical to an organization"s central mission is moving shared services out of the "back-office." This research employs and extends Bergeron"s (2003) framework to case analysis of two public safety networks within the United States, and prompts the addition of two new characteristics for public sector shared services, Public Policy and Type of Service. In this sector, we find that legislative controls, i.e. policy, manage information and communications technology (ICT) investment to meet efficiency and especially effectiveness goals, while mission criticality serves to trump cost considerations. Recommendations resulting from this research should lead to improvements in the cost and performance of public-sector shared services and their role in ICT-supported, mission-critical, shared services.
... Collaboration for Gasco [18] has a close relationship with interoperability, co-production and social innovation and, therefore, the design, provision and evaluation of public services that generate public value. Some authors [16,47] fully associate collaboration with the co-design of public policies and collective action. On the other hand, Lee and Kwak [36] establish collaboration as a higher level of maturation of OG, above transparency and participation, involving increased interaction between government agencies and civil society. ...
... Mainly, platforms such as Wikipedia show the potential of co-production. For its part, the government has also made platforms to intercommunicate between areas and sectors [16,37,47,54]. Thus, interoperability, coproduction, horizontality within the social media and online social networks have collaborative features, but are not always applied in this way by the governments that use them. ...
Open government is definitely not a new concept. For almost a decade, countries around the world have been implementing open government initiatives as a way to increase transparency, improved accountability, fight corruption, or foster economic development. However, there is still no consensus about the constitutive dimensions of open government and how they are perceived by public managers in different contexts. Based on a systematic literature review and a survey administered to Spanish local governments, this paper discusses the concept of Open Government (OG) and its dimensions. According to our results, public managers working on OG initiatives perceive OG through three different lenses: a) democratic values of co-responsibility, b) technological innovation, and c) availability and access to information. This new categorization of OG perspectives provides a valuable contribution to the scientific debate about what OG is and how this new public management strategy is perceived by local government managers.
... This noted, there is a small but steady stream of academic research on ICT in criminal justice, policing and public safety (e.g., Chan, 2001;Dunworth, 2005;Manning, 2003). Very little of this literature focuses on PSN (exceptions include Gillespie, 2005;Williams and Fedorowicz, 2012;Fedorowicz et al., 2014;Jacobson, 2016). This literature emphasizes the need to plan for, effectively manage, and provide ICT-based services and access to data (and increasingly mobile access). ...
... Given the renewed interest to see more cross-boundary collaboration (i.e., across both organizational and jurisdictional boundaries) in the public sector, scholars have begun to turn their attention to providing guidance on how to develop and manage such digitally enabled collaborations (e.g., Fountain, 2013Fountain, , 2015Fedorowicz et al., 2014) and encourage collaborative arrangements to managing shared resources (see also Dawes et al., 2004;Bryson et al., 2014;Yang and Wu, 2015). This literature emphasizes the importance of creating mechanisms to involve the many stakeholders of a cross-boundary collaboration in decisionmaking. ...
We focus on networked arrangements of digital resources that are shared among otherwise independent units to advance conceptual and empirical insights about their governance. We are motivated by the simple observation that, increasingly, independent organizations are engaging in shared activities, often relying on purpose-built digital infrastructures to support this move to inter-dependence. To advance current conceptualizations of networked governance, we draw on data from 42 public safety networks and use fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis. We do so because fsQCA allows us to account for the realities of inter-dependence among the concepts and variables we consider and to illuminate the multiple viable governance patterns that are possible. The results show the importance of network-level governance competencies to manage stakeholders and information infrastructure to achieve high effectiveness of PSN. Analysis makes clear that there exist five configurations of PSN governance practices that enable high levels of network governance effectiveness. Common to all these configurations are the network-level competence in managing both stakeholders and the digital infrastructure, suggesting these are necessary (but not sufficient) network-level governance competencies. Building from the analysis, we advance the role of specific network-level governance competencies, and the current conceptualization of network governance more broadly.
... Examples of the new wave of technological contributions to the open government phenomena are growing in its importance. On the one hand, governments have put in operation platforms to intercommunicate between policy areas and sectors [4] [5]. Autonomous social media platforms like GovLoop (EE.UU. ...
... Collaboration is the third sub-area in the OG policy field. Some authors [5][11] [13], have pointed out that collaboration has to do with interoperability, co-production or social innovation and, therefore, the design, provision and evaluation of public services that generate public value. Lee and Kwak [12] suggested a concept of collaboration as the highest level of evolution of OG initiatives, over transparency and participation, as it involves an increased interaction between governmental agencies and the civil society. ...
The role of the concept Open Government (OG) has been key promoting transparency, participation and collaboration in public administration worldwide. At the same time, it is now the moment to generate data that allow us to understand the measures adopted. Diverse research suggests that OG contributes to creating better conditions for political and social dialogue, normative frameworks to be translated into laws and regulations, organizational change in public administrations, as well as the creation of software, applications and useful processes for citizens. At the same time, it is unclear the scope of concept or its relationship with other areas of public policy (like transparency, participation, e-government, social media, open data, etc.). This paper presents a research about the Open Government (OG) phenomena in Spanish municipalities over 50,000 inhabitants (146 municipalities), using a questionnaire. Particularly the research objective of this study is looking at the perceptions of city managers responsible of OG policies in order to understand more about this emergent public policy in the local layer of government. In order to achieve this purpose, the following research question has been raised: What is the perception of those who manage OG about this concept? The results are consistent with a notion of OG associated to terms like transparency or access to information, and less to collaboration, co-production, technologies or electronic government.
... It involves a process of participation and deliberation of issues for the purpose of decision-making (Chun and Cho 2012). Collaboration refers to the codesign of public policies and collection action (Fedorowicz et al. 2014). It also includes interoperability, coproduction, and social innovation (Gascó-Hernández 2014). ...
Definitions Open government is a multilateral, political, and social process, which includes in particular transparent , collaborative, and participatory action by government and administration (Wirtz and Birkmeyer 2015). The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) understands open government as a culture of gover-nance that promotes the doctrines of transparency, integrity, accountability, and participation in support of democratic practices and inclusive growth (OECD 2017a). Moreover, open government is a new system of exercising government, seizing potential opportunities provided by information and communication technologies to transform the traditional way to government information and services. Open government is widely understood as the leverag-ing of information technologies to generate par-ticipatory, collaborative dialogue between policymakers and citizens (Evans and Campos (2013). Abu-Shanab (2015) also refers open government as a direction of e-government where more information is exchanged between governments and their citizens and businesses in a transparent, participative, accountable, and col-laborative mode. It is not merely a one-way, but rather a two-way matter that requires not only the involvement of governmental actors, but also the participation of societal actors, especially citizens (Wirtz and Birkmeyer 2015). Finally, open government is a new wave of governance system that is built upon the pillars of transparency, participation , and collaboration for improving governmental and administrative performance and developing democratic practices by using citi-zens' knowledge and expertise, with the supports of new technologies and innovations.
... Prior studies have found that overlapping functionality among systems can be confusing for end users and lead to decreased usage of any one of the systems (e.g., Fedorowicz et al., 2014). This is also a problem during software purchase: overlapping offerings cause confusion among clients as they create difficulty in understanding the vendor's core offerings and even difficulty identifying the appropriate application or feature for specific functionality (Staub et al., 2021). ...
In this research, we study how non-frugal organizational IT practices can affect employee well-being in completing managerial tasks. Building on the conservation of resource theory, we will examine a three-way interaction effect of the redundancy of required skills, required resources, and obtained results on technology-driven stressors. Data was collected from 357 managers to analyze the proposed three-way interaction effect for techno-overload, techno-complexity, techno- invasion, techno-insecurity, and techno-uncertainty. This article highlights the importance of being frugal – that is, acknowledging and diminishing redundancy among ICT assets and usage within organizations - for reducing technostress among employees.
... According to Orlikowski (1992), technological development comes through the dialectical interaction between agents and structures (norms, rules), embedded within a larger ecosystem, or institutional context (DeSanctis & Poole, 1994). However, for the most part, literature that focuses on the implementation of digitalisation projects either examines this outside its wider context(see Kapoor et al., 2021) or examines how individuals, leaders and humans interact with the technology itself (DeSanctis & Poole, 1994;Fedorowicz et al., 2014). In doing so, they ignore what DeSanctis and Poole (1994, 128) call the 'organisational environment', an aspect also noted in Dawes Pardo and Cresswell (2004) 'holistic approach' to studying digitalisation projects and recently found in the empirical study by Criado and de Zarate-Alcarazo (2022). ...
Large-scale government digitalisation projects require collaborative approaches for their successful development and implementation. To shed light on these collaboration dynamics, the interplay between two integral parts of collaborative projects: the project rules, procedures, and structures (collectively known as institutional design) and the leaders managing these projects is studied. In doing so, the paper provides empirically grounded insights into the management of collaborative government digitalisation projects. Taking an institutional perspective, and the strategic-relational (SRA) approach, we examine the extent to which institutional design constraints leadership behaviours, and under what conditions leaders begin to adjust and/or challenge these design features adding to the knowledge of managing digitalisation of government. To this end, we present a five-country case study of national digitalisation projects across Europe. Our results show that while clear institutional design features such as established rules, project structures, and standard operating procedures are essential at the initial stages of the projects, leaders' skills in understanding and tailoring these features are critical to handle project-related problems and moving forwards towards implementation. This underscores the importance of examining projects taking an SRA approach and the need to understand leadership behaviour in the context of the structures in which it is embedded.
... Gil-Garcia, Guler, Pardo, & Burke, 2019;Gil-Garcia & Sayogo, 2016), interorganizational and inter-agency collaboration (e.g. Chen & Lee, 2017;Chen, Hu, Tseng, Juang, & Chang, 2019;Picazo-Vela, Luna, Gil-Garcia, & Luna-Reyes, 2022;Picazo-Vela, Gutierrez-Martinez, Duhamel, Luna, & Luna-Reyes, 2018;Fedorowicz et al., 2014;Williams & Fedorowicz, 2012), and integrated services to the citizen (e.g. Liu & Zheng, 2018;Nam & Pardo, 2014). ...
Inter-agency collaboration is increasingly important for digital government. Using collaborative governance frameworks and comparative case study of three cases of digital government in the Mexican states of Mexico, Puebla, and Yucatan, we extend current understanding of key determinants of effective inter-agency collaborations in digital government settings. In particular, our research question is as follows: how do leadership, governance, technology, and collaborative capacity and competencies contribute to effective collaboration? Our results indicate that all four components are important, but in different ways. Laws and regulations appear to play an important role supporting governance of the inter-agency networks in our three cases. In addition, multi-level leadership, formal governance, implementation flexibility, the role of technology as a social actor in itself, and trust building based on expertise seem to be particularly salient.
... Mainly, platforms such as Wikipedia show the potential of co-production. For its part, the government has also made platforms to intercommunicate between areas and sectors (Scholl et al 2012;Linders, 2012;Fedorowicz et al 2014. Panagiotopoulos 2014. ...
According to the contributions of several authors, the Open Government (OG) concept is maturing and moving toward its consolidation as a new field of multidisciplinary knowledge with its own dynamics. However, little is known about how it is developing that path, if it is really generating its own characteristics and what is its scope in terms of the creation of an academic community. This article makes a systematic review or meta-evaluation of the literature on OG for 5 years (2011 to 2015) of the three magazines most recognized for their production and quality of content in the theme: Government Information Quarterly, Information Polity and eJournal of eDemocracy and Open Government. This article analyzes a total universe composed of 189 articles, classified into different categories that try to answer three research questions: How is the OG analyzed? (Study Design, Research Techniques, Methodological Approach) Where is the OG analyzed? (University Departments, Host Country of the Universities and Institutions, Level of Government, Analyzed Country/Areas) What are the most analyzed topics and the most prominent concepts in the study of OG? (Main Topic, Keywords). Article data reveal the key features of OG analysis: still little quantitative and explicative-correlational studies, very focused on the countries of the Anglo-American area, and with very diverse interests ranging from open data, e-government to social media to co-production. In addition, with the latter, it can be confirmed to what extent a scientific community has been created around the OG as well as establishing some conclusions on the development of OG in the coming years.
... Examples of the new wave of technological contributions to the open government phenomena are growing in its importance. On the one hand, government have put in operation platforms to intercommunicate between policy areas and sectors (Scholl et al 2012;Linders, 2012;Fedorowicz, Sawyer, Williams, Markus, Tyworth & Schrier, 2014;Panagiotopoulos, Bigdeli, & Sams, 2014) Autonomous social media platforms like GovLoop (EE.UU. and Canada) and NovaGob (Latin American countries and Spain) also show the potential for public managers to innovate and exchange data, information, and knowledge beyond the traditional administrative silos (Criado , 2016;Criado, Rojas-Martín & Villordre, 2016;Whitmore, 2015). ...
At this point, the role of the concept Open Government (OG) has been key promoting transparency, participation and collaboration in public administration worldwide. This article presents research about the open government (OG) phenomena in Spanish municipalities over 50,000 inhabitants (146 municipalities), using a questionnaire. Particularly, the research objective of this article is looking at the perceptions of city managers responsible for OG policies in order to understand more about this emergent public policy in the local layer of government. The results are consistent with a notion of OG associated to terms like transparency or access to information, and less to collaboration, coproduction, of technologies or electronic government. In addition, the results confirm the intention of city managers to promote transparency or access to information with OG policies, while other possible outcomes (collaboration, managerial improvements or reduction of management costs) are less popular. Finally, the implementation of OG policies remains in its initial stages, whereas they are much expanded in strategic plans or units/departments at the local level of government in Spain.
... As an example, four essential components of cross-boundary information sharing developed by Gil-Garcia [27] consists of an organised setting between the infrastructure, shared and standardised data, and trusted social network. Another example, principles in implementing the IOS proposed by Fedorowicz et al. [28] were also highlighting the need of IOS arrangement which encompasses organisational and technological issues. ...
Governments and companies exchange various kinds of data. The methods to exchange data are evolving and becoming more and more advanced, supported by the rapid development of information and communication technology (ICT). Although some research has been carried out on the adoption of ICT-based information sharing, there is still very little understanding of enablers for information sharing arrangements between private and public organisations. Developing an information sharing arrangement often requires complex interactions among parties resulting in negotiated arrangements. This paper aims to derive factors of information sharing arrangements by assessing the importance of factors in shaping information sharing from public and private organisations perspectives. Factors found in previous studies were analysed using the Best-Worst method by collecting experts’ opinions. While private sector’s expert was much focussed on the Perceived Benefits, the public sector’s experts considered Trust, Investment, Perceived Costs and Relationship as the most important factors in shaping the information sharing arrangement between public and private organisations. Identifying which factors are crucial in shaping information sharing arrangements can help in reducing potential conflicts during planning, implementation and usage, and bringing benefits to all stakeholders.
... Such systems can have different technical arrangements, including electronic storage, electronic interface, service bus, electronic gateway and service platform (Yang et al., 2014). IOSs are implemented in various domains, such as financial reporting (Bharosa et al., 2011, Dunne et al., 2013, supply chain management (Liang, 2015, Klievink, 2015 and public safety networks (Williams et al., 2009, Fedorowicz et al., 2014. ...
Various types of inter-organisational systems (IOSs) are emerging to facilitate information exchange between companies and governments. These systems are developed in constellations of stakeholders who impose different and even opposing requirements on the information sharing arrangements. Yet which determinants shape the selected information sharing arrangement is not clear. The present research investigated such determinants through a review of IOS implementation literature and an in-depth case study. The literature review resulted in a list of determinants that were categorised using the Technological, Organisational and Environmental (TOE) framework. These determinants were analysed in detail for the Standard Business Reporting implementation in the Netherlands. The findings suggest that an information sharing arrangement should be conceptualised by both its architecture and its governance, as they are mutually dependent. In the case study, trust, power, the involvement of major public organisations, compatibility and interoperability were found to be the main determinants influencing the shaping of the information sharing arrangement.
... Also platforms have been made by governments to intercommunicate between areas and sectors (Scholl, Kubicek, Cimander and Klischewski, 2012;Linders, 2012). Likewise through smartphones citizens can have access to social networks to cooperate with governments and promote a relational dimension (Fedorowicz, Sawyer, Williams, Markus, Tyworth, and Schrier, 2014;Panagiotopoulos, Bigdeli, and Sams, 2014). Thus, interoperability, co-production and mainstreaming within the social media and online social networks have collaborative features, but these are not always implemented in this way by governments that use them. ...
Open Government (OG) is maturing and moving toward its consolidation as a new paradigm in public administration. However, little is known about how it has being developed that way. This article examines the literature about OG from 2011 to 2014 in three leading journals for the production and the quality of content: "eJournal of eDemocracy and Open Government", "Government Information Quarterly" and "Information Polity". With a total sample of 136 articles, which were considered and classified into various categories, so, an attempt is made to answer three research questions: How is OG analyzed? Where is OG analyzed? What pillars are mainly analyzed, and which concepts highlighted are outstanding in the study of the OG? The analysis puts emphasis on three prominent pillars: transparency, participation, collaboration. The data show the development and some characteristics of OG in recent years.
... The advancement of information and communication technology (ICT) have changed the way organizations interact with each other. The availability of inter-organizational systems (IOS) facilitating information sharing has grown significantly, for example for financial reporting (Bharosa et al., 2011, Dunne et al., 2013, supply chain management (Liang, 2015, Klievink, 2015 and public safety network (Williams et al., 2009, Fedorowicz et al., 2014. ...
There are different types of inter-organizational systems emerging that facilitates the increasing information exchange between companies and governments. Often these arrangements are developed in constellations of stakeholders having different interests and posing a variety of requirements on the information sharing arrangements. Yet which factors are dominant in shaping the information sharing arrangement is not clear. The aim of this research described in this paper is to understand which factors influence the selection of system arrangements. Inter-organizational system implementation literature was reviewed and resulting in a list of factors. The Technological, Organizational and Environmental (TOE) framework was used to categorize these factors. Finally, using interviews with experts, this study attempted to identify the most important factors influencing the type of information sharing arrangements, these include organizational readiness, management support and system governance.
... Government Information Quarterly xxx (2016) xxx-xxx Uncited references Blau, 1963Fedorowicz et al., 2014Sridharan and Simatupang, 2013Yang and Maxwell, 2011Yeung et al., 2009 ...
The business models of media corporations and organisations have undergone a pronounced transition that has resulted in significant change in the last decade, shifting from a model based on advertising revenue and printed copy circulation to a subscription-based model. As this article shows, legacy media is currently experimenting with ‘various mixes of paywalls.’ Among the models that media companies are switching to is the subscription economy model, i.e. the practice of charging audiences for access to online content which, until recently, was unlocked and/or freely available. Incidentally, the collapse of the ‘advertiser model,’ together
with the consequences of the global recession, has brought about significant economic uncertainty for traditional media, pushing it to seek new business strategies for sustainable journalism, while also triggering a reflection on the overall future of media. The aim of this article is to delineate and present the actual changes in the media landscape in relation to subscription economy based on a literature review. Thus, we conducted a systematic literature review including terms as follows: ‘subscription economy,’ ‘digital media,’ ‘theory of decision’ and ‘motivation theory,’ which yielded 145 results of relevant scientific and research articles published in
the last 15 years. The main findings revealed that the media landscape is changing rapidly, in particular in terms of the new digital tools being developed and implemented, and accordingly there is rapid growth in the ‘non-conventional’ competition to the conventional media, new generations’ needs and their behaviour, and the urgent need for various new business models.
Open Government (OG) is an increasingly used term in public administrations. Public sector managers seem to be interested in modernizing their public management models and find OG strategies a means to respond to increasing citizen demands for transparency, participation, and collaboration in public affairs. Specifically, the broad scope of this term seems to have produced an assortment of what public managers understand as OG. This research is a comparative analysis of the perception that exists in the local governments of two countries: Mexico and Spain. Our research questions are: (1) How do OG managers understand this concept? (2) What is the perception of those who manage OG regarding the level of development in their organization? And (3) What are the realities of OG implementation in local public administrations? This article reports the results of a survey to city councils in Mexico and Spain, in order to compare the perception of OG. The survey’s descriptive results are complemented with an Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), allowing us to define public managers’ perspectives in both countries and compare them. Results indicate that there are some points of agreement between both countries, such as the relevance of transparency and citizen participation as pillars of OG. However, there are also discrepancies, not only in the progress of implementation, but also regarding the general perceptions about what OG is, and its scope.
Focusing on inter-organizational information sharing in criminal justice, it is found that, while poor project management
leads to unsuccessful inter-organizational information sharing, a recipe for success is more demanding as it requires
both compatible technologies and good project management implemented either by means of a top-down approach
of strategic alignment or an emergent approach of bottom-up alignment. Though unplanned, the latter approach may
lead to mistakes that are more correctable than the large mistakes stemming from top-down, deliberate planning. The
study is an analysis of context-mechanism-outcome configurations of inter-organizational information sharing activities
within criminal justice systems and demonstrates the causal asymmetry between positive and negative cases. Theoretical,
methodological, and practical implications are discussed by highlighting the causal role of different types of governance
structure in a crisp set configurational fashion.
This paper investigates whether design research in e-government should be conducted in some special way compared with standard models for design research. It reviews literature in e-government and design research in order to generate an answer to this research question. The result of this review affirms that the policy character of e-government should determine the way that such design research is conducted. A tentative e-government design research model, consisting of different activities is formulated. This model consists of the following activities: theorizing, policy analysis, workpractice analysis, co-design and co-evaluation of IT artifact and workpractice. Three specific e-government design research principles are formulated: The policy principle, the co-design principle and the theorizing principle. One important result from this paper is the formulation of the concept of the policy-ingrained artifact as an important empirical outcome from e-government design research. A design research case study on social welfare allowances has been used for the generation as well as the validation of the proposed e-government design research model.
In advocating an effective interorganizational emergency response networks, we introduce a webometric approach as a critical lens to better understand the challenges facing government organizations during a catastrophic event by comparing two interorganizational information networks derived from respectively content analysis and network approach, which collects data derived from government reports and press releases. This research presents the critical finding from a webometric approach, a lack of interorganizational risk communication was related to other elements of incident management, which implies that sufficient information flow between agencies is necessary for notifying agencies, mobilizing emergency facilities, and planning specific emergency responses, especially during a short-term emergency response to the 2012 Gumi chemical spill, South Korea. Also, the findings highlight that a nationally centralized and segmented emergency response system cannot respond fully to accident-triggered crises, particularly in developing countries. This study provides new insights into the way in which emergency management research based on the webometric perspective can capture interorganizational relationships in the context of catastrophic events.
Public sector organizations increasingly form interorganizational networks that rely on technology to achieve what they cannot achieve independently. The governance of these public sector networks is complex due to the nature of interorganizational relationships and technology. This paper aims to increase our understanding of network governance by exploring the evolution of governance over the 40+ year lifespan of a public sector network. The historical case study is based on the technology affordance and organizational actualization concepts applied to three critical incidents in the history of a public safety network. The incidents provide evidence that technology and governance do interact, that timing matters and that future research is needed to understand more fully how and why network governance evolves and the implications of governance evolution on network performance. © 2015 Institute of Information Management, University of St. Gallen
In this article we offer visual depictions and analysis of contextual factors relative to the presence of public safety networks (PSNs) in the United States (US). A PSN combines shared technological infrastructures for supporting information sharing, computing interoperability and interagency interactions involving policing, criminal justice, and emergency response. The broad research objective is to explain the formation of PSNs based upon factors derived from rational choice and institutional theories. To do so we develop maps to represent our data analysis. This analysis suggests that our approach is promising for generating insights about PSNs and, by extension, about other types of inter-organizational collaborations focusing on using information and communication technologies to enable information-sharing.
Through this paper we advance insights regarding common patterns among information and communication technology ICT architectures ICTA found in United States' public safety networks PSNs. A PSN is an inter-organizational collaboration enabled by ICT to support information sharing and interoperability needs of police and associated public safety organizations. Substantial evidence makes clear the information systems designed and used by PSNs are typically expensive and complex, support multiple public agencies from different organs of government and span different political and geographic boundaries. Better understanding of PSN ICTA patterns could lead to improved designs and possibly improved performance of these and perhaps other forms of multi-agency technology-enabled collaborations. Empirical data from 61 operational PSNs provides the basis for this work. These data were analyzed using fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis fsQCA, an approach ideally suited for detailed analyses across smaller data sets that allows us to assess inter-dependence among variables. Results show that 1 functionally similar configuration patterns of ICTA exist among PSNs and 2 several common architectural patterns are associated with higher levels of PSN performance, but these include a large number of unique successful arrangements.
The field of organization and management studies has a significant and ever increasing published research base, often criticized as fragmented and of limited relevance for practice. A design science approach to management has argued that more room for the development of solution-oriented or prescriptive knowledge would increase its relevance. In this article we discuss prescriptive knowledge cast in the form of design propositions following the so-called 'CIMO-logic', extending previous applications of the design proposition notion. This logic involves a combination of a problematic Context, for which the design proposition suggests a certain Intervention type, to produce, through specified generative Mechanisms, the intended Outcome( s). We discuss how design-oriented research synthesis provides a vehicle for addressing fragmentation and increasing the chances of application. Moreover, we explore how the development of design propositions can result from synthesizing previously published research and illustrate this with the design of high-reliability organizations (HROs).
For the past half-century, the study of organizations has been an active area within sociology. I provide an overview of the emergence of this specialty during the second half of the twentieth century, its relation to the larger field of organiza-tion studies, and the important theoretical advances associated with the adoption of an open system framework during the 1960s. Among the recent trends I describe are changes in our conceptions of organization boundaries, strategies, and controls, and the beginning of a shift from an entity-based to a process-based view of organiza-tion. Evidence of success—the number of sociologists now employed in professional schools—simultaneously raises concerns about the source of future organizational sociologists.
Some of the significant topics included in the special issue on design science research in the MIS Quarterly journal are discussed. It has been stated in the journal that design is fundamental to the information systems discipline. The journal informs that information systems (IS) professionals are engaged in the design and implementation of the information technology concepts, to improve the performance of business organizations. Challenges for design science research in the IS discipline, are to build and evaluate IT concepts that enable managers and IT professionals, to describe organization information processing capabilities and their relationship with present and desired organizations. Another challenge is associated with the need to develop actions that enable them to implement information processing capabilities that move an organization toward desired situations.
What makes organizations so similar? We contend that the engine of rationalization
and bureaucratization has moved from the competitive marketplace to the state and
the professions. Once a set of organizations emerges as a field, a paradox arises:
rational actors make their organizations increasingly similar as they try to
change them. We describe three isomorphic processes--coercive, mimetic, and
normative-leading to this outcome. We then specib hypotheses about the impact of
resource centralization and dependency, goal ambiguity and technical uncertainty,
and professionalization and structuration on isomorphic change. Finally, we suggest
implications for theories of organizations and social change.
The research reported forms a bridge between the case studies reported in the public administration literature and the research on individual elements of electronic access prevalent in the information science literature. It takes a more holistic view, attending to the specifics of users, uses, organizational capacity, data characteristics, and technology, in the context of a complete program in which these components interact. Our research suggests that these interactions are perhaps more important to the design of an effective electronic access program than any of the individual elements.
Government agencies increasingly enter into interorganizational alliances to accomplish common goals. Alliances to create and maintain shared IT infrastructures for communication, coordination, and collaboration among agencies are an especially important phenomenon. This article examines three perspectives on the governance of interorganizational alliances (interpersonal interactions, financial ownership, and legal forms) and evaluates their applicability to interorganizational network infrastructures on the basis of theoretical arguments and the analysis of a single case study. Even combined, the three perspectives do not address the full range of issues involved in the case, because they do not pay sufficient attention to the varied formal and legal arrangements by which interorganizational network infrastructures are governed. The conclusion is that the conceptualization of governance for interorganizational network infrastructures remains problematic and that future theoretical development as well as empirical research is needed to resolve the open questions.
As a part of the National Digital Information Infra structure and Preservation Program (NDIIPP), the Library of Congress sponsored a series of collaborative workshops betwe en April and May 2005 to help state governments identify the ir needs and priorities for digital preservation. During the se workshops, state and territory representatives show ed strong interest in fostering partnership efforts and colla borative strategies toward preserving state government digit al information. Based on the findings of the workshops and previous efforts on digital preservation, this pape r discusses the challenges and opportunities regarding interorganizational collaboration and community bui lding for digital preservation of state government informatio n.
The building of public safety network (PSN) infrastructures for the purposes of facilitating communication, sharing of information, and collaboration among first responders has been identified as a key policy goal in the aftermath of events such as the September 11th terrorist attacks and Hurricane Katrina. Early analysis of professional and academic literature in conjunction with prior empirical research indicates that there is a great variety in the types of systems being developed under the rubric of "public safety network," as well as the services these systems deliver. As part of an ongoing National Science Foundation-sponsored project, we have developed a taxonomy of PSNs to bring conceptual clarity to our research and to the domain at large, which we present in this poster.
Governments are increasingly using collaborative, cross-boundary strategies to face complex social problems. Many of these cross-boundary initiatives have at their core the use, and in many cases, the sharing of information and communication technologies. In fact, government managers and researchers alike are now recognizing the value and great opportunities offered by cross-boundary information sharing, in particular. Current research has identified important factors that affect these cross-boundary information sharing initiatives. Governance structures are among those factors found to be important in cross-boundary information sharing. However, there is little research about the determinants of an effective governance structure in these multi-organizational settings. Based on semi- structured interviews with participants in four state and local government criminal justice initiatives, this paper systematically identifies the determinants of governance structures for cross-boundary information sharing initiatives. By doing so, this study contributes to theory, but also supports the development of more specific guidelines for public managers and other individuals involved in cross- boundary information sharing.
'The book benefits from the contributions of the variety and experiences of its authors that provide depth, insight, rigorous argument and research. Also contributing to the effectiveness of the book are the organization of the text and the clarity of its structure. . . I would highly recommend this book for both those who study the management of information systems, and for practitioners, who advise on and make decisions about information systems. The setting of the book in theory and the application of theoretical concepts in the cases, provide knowledge for study and practice as well as a teaching/learning methodology that supports the development of expertise.' - Anna-May Edwards-Henry, International Journal of Education and Development using ICT.
Many formal organizational structures arise as reflections of rationalized institutional rules. The elaboration of such rules in modern states and societies accounts in part for the expansion and increased complexity of formal organizational structures. Institutional rules function as myths which organizations incorporate, gaining legitimacy, resources, stability, and enhanced survival prospects. Organizations whose structures become isomorphic with the myths of the institutional environment-in contrast with those primarily structured by the demands of technical production and exchange-decrease internal coordination and control in order to maintain legitimacy. Structures are decoupled from each other and from ongoing activities. In place of coordination, inspection, and evaluation, a logic of confidence and good faith is employed.
The benefits and costs usually ascribed to federalism are benefits and costs of decentralization; they are, therefore, present
in unitary states that are in fact all decentralized. The benefits and costs specific to federalism pertain to ownership rights
in constitutional powers. Federalism is superior to confederalism and unitarianism because the ownership rights peculiar to
that system of government are such that they ensure the perdurance of competition when one or more competitors are unsuccessful.
They do so because under federalism, powers cannot be repossessed unilaterally. Ownership rights have to be enforced; as a
consequence, there are also costs that are specific to federalism.
Narrative is especially relevant to the analysis of organizational processes because people do not simply tell stories-they enact them. Narrative data have surface features that are useful for description, but explanatory process theories must be based on deeper structures that are not directly observable. To address this problem and to facilitate better process theory, in this article I use concepts from narrative theory to create a framework for analyzing structural features in narrative data.
Humans did not discover fire—they designed it. Design is not defined by software programs, blueprints, or font choice. When we create new things—technologies, organizations, processes, systems, environments, ways of thinking—we engage in design. With this expansive view of design as their premise, in The Design Way, Harold Nelson and Erik Stolterman make the case for design as its own culture of inquiry and action. They offer not a recipe for design practice or theorizing but a formulation of design culture’s fundamental core of ideas. These ideas—which form “the design way”—are applicable to an infinite variety of design domains, from such traditional fields as architecture and graphic design to such nontraditional design areas as organizational, educational, interaction, and health care design.
Nelson and Stolterman present design culture in terms of foundations (first principles), fundamentals (core concepts), and metaphysics, and then discuss these issues from both learner’s and practitioner’s perspectives. The text of this second edition is accompanied by new detailed images, “schemas” that visualize, conceptualize, and structure the authors’ understanding of design inquiry. This text itself has been revised and expanded throughout, in part in response to reader feedback.
Two paradigms characterize much of the research in the Information Systems discipline: behavioral science and design science. The behavioral-science paradigm seeks to develop and verify theories that explain or predict human or organizational behavior. The design-science paradigm seeks to extend the boundaries of human and organizational capabilities by creating new and innovative artifacts. Both paradigms are foundational to the IS discipline, positioned as it is at the confluence of people, organizations, and technology. Our objective is to describe the performance of design-science research in Information Systems via a concise conceptual framework and clear guidelines for understanding, executing, and evaluating the research. In the design-science paradigm, knowledge and understanding of a problem domain and its solution are achieved in the building and application of the designed artifact. Three recent exemplars in the research literature are used to demonstrate the application of these guidelines. We conclude with an analysis of the challenges of performing high-quality design-science research in the context of the broader IS community.
Argues that the formal structure of many organizations in post-industrial society dramatically reflect the myths of their institutional environment instead of the demands of their work activities. The authors review prevailing theories of the origins of formal structures and the main problem which those theories confront -- namely, that their assumption that successful coordination and control of activity are responsible for the rise of modern formal organization is not substantiated by empirical evidence. Rather, there is a great gap between the formal structure and the informal practices that govern actual work activities. The authors present an alternative source for formal structures by suggesting that myths embedded in the institutional environment help to explain the adoption of formal structures. Earlier sources understood bureaucratization as emanating from the rationalization of the workplace. Nevertheless, the observation that some formal practices are not followed in favor of other unofficial ones indicates that not all formal structures advance efficiency as a rationalized system would require. Therefore another source of legitimacy is required. This is found in conforming the organization's structure to that of the powerful myths that institutionalized products, services, techniques, policies, and programs become. (CAR)
Information sharing is considered an important approach to increasing organizational efficiency and performance. With advances in information and communication technology, sharing information across organizations has become more feasible. In the public sector, government agencies are also aware of the importance of information sharing for addressing policy issues such as anti-terrorism and public health. However, information sharing can be a complex task. Identifying factors that influence information sharing is critical. In the literature, research in information sharing focuses on the interpersonal, intra-organizational, and inter-organizational levels. This paper reviews the current information-sharing research, discusses the factors affecting information sharing at the three levels, and provides summative frameworks. These frameworks provide a means to discover future research opportunities, and a systematic way for practitioners to identify key factors involved in successful information sharing.
In an era of devolution, collaboration between state and local institutions could be an effective tool for state governments to capitalize on local knowledge and respect local autonomy, while maintaining consistent standards and enforcement. However, the benefits to local agencies are less clear. Local agency personnel may have goals that diverge from their state counterparts and significant constraints on their resources, forcing them to consider the opportunity costs of collaboration. This article examines the determinants of subnational vertical collaboration in two settings: nested institutions with parallel missions and institutions with separate, but overlapping, missions. Augmenting an original survey of local public health departments in Wisconsin with data from other sources, we simultaneously estimate models predicting local cooperation with state agencies within and across issue boundaries. Our analysis indicates that management techniques, particularly performance evaluations that are tied to collaborative efforts, are the strongest determinant of collaboration across levels of government We also find that political context facilitates vertical collaboration across nonnested institutions. Within nested institutions, local agencies are more likely to work with their state counterpart if they lack the capacity to act alone.
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Digital government research often centers on information technology artifacts designed for the purpose of improving access to or processes within government. Because of the centricity of the technology artifact, much of this research builds upon theories and prescriptions adapted from the information systems discipline. In information systems, the study of artifact design has benefitted from the adoption of the rigor and generalizability enabled by design science research. The purpose of this paper was to provide an overview of design science principles guiding the construction of technological artifacts, which we use to examine a decade of digital government research articles that fall into the design science camp. We assess these articles, using the guidelines of Hevner, March, and Park (2004) for conducting and presenting design science research; we identify common strengths and gaps; we recommend how digital government researchers may benefit from applying a grounded view of design to expand the generalizability of their work; and finally, we conclude the paper with a discussion of ways to open up the narrow focus of design science to a broader understanding of the impact of external factors, such as the environment and organizational milieu, on the complex setting most digital government innovation inhabits.
As a part of the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (NDIIPP), the Library of Congress (LC), partnering with the Center for Technology in Government (CTG), launched an effort in 2005 to integrate state governmental entities into the national network to preserve born-digital information that is both significant and at risk of loss. The main theme that emerged from the efforts of LC, CTG, and the state and federal digital preservation community was the importance of partnership efforts and collaborative strategies for the preservation of state government digital information. Based on the findings of the initiative, this paper discusses challenges and opportunities regarding interorganizational collaboration and community building for digital preservation of state government information. Following the community of practice framework, it is recommended that a “state government digital information preservation community” be developed to facilitate collaboration across agencies and knowledge professionals in state governments.
It is increasingly important for government agencies to collaborate across jurisdictional and functional boundaries. Interorganizational systems supporting interagency collaboration must accommodate a wide range of factors from the external environment and participating organizations as part of their design and operation. This paper presents the findings from a case study of CapWIN, a collaborative network created to enable first responders to share information across jurisdictional and functional boundaries as they work together during emergencies and other critical events. The study examines how aspects of the external environment and the agency context impeded or facilitated the CapWIN collaborative network and the interorganizational system (IOS) that supports it. We identify factors affecting information sharing and collaborative processes, and describe how these factors interact to enable and constrain an IOS. The paper concludes with suggestions for further research on the interplay of environmental, organizational, and technical aspects of interagency collaboration networks as they evolve over time.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to focus on Public Safety Networks (PSNs) created and used in the USA at the state level. Empirical analysis describes the formation and use of extant state‐level PSNs, based upon factors representing rational choice and institutional theories.
Design/methodology/approach
Contextual data representing 160 different characteristics and descriptors of state‐level attributes produces two factors that evidence an underlying structure consistent with rational choice and institutional theories. Using these factors as predictors, the authors employ multiple regression analysis to explain differences in size and maturity among state public‐safety collaborations. The size and maturity indicators come from extensive survey data collected in phone interviews with senior personnel at 80 PSNs.
Findings
Consistent with rational choice theory, higher needs and resources predict larger PSN size. Contrary to expectations, institutionalization rather than a culture of innovation is associated with PSN maturity, and suggests that maturity brings positive benefits, such as more experience, better operational routines and increased organizational competence.
Research limitations/implications
This study moves beyond the usual case study approach to empirically investigate theoretical explanations for state‐level collaboration characteristics.
Originality/value
The authors' research investigates the social and environmental backdrop against which PSNs are implemented, to improve understanding of the state‐specific settings in which PSNs currently reside and develop. Given the financial and human resources involved in PSN creation and implementation, their initiators would benefit from a better understanding of governmental settings linked to PSN success. Identification of potential success or risk factors advances understanding of the underlying dynamics of interagency collaboration efforts.
Scientific interest in human beings’ ability and propensity to construe reality through narrative constructions has increased since the 1970s. Although narrative processes have been addressed in the organizational literature, little research attention has yet been given to the role and function of narratives in organizational efforts to develop, implement, and apply information technology. An analytic approach drawn from Mishler (1986b) for the analysis of project history narratives found in research interviews is described. Three project history narratives collected during a field study of systems development are analyzed using this approach. Differences in sensemaking and interpretation revealed in the analysis of each informant’s story and comparison of the analysis of multiple stories are discussed. Insights that narrative analysis may provide into the social cognitive worlds of participants in IS development and its applications in IS research are then considered.
Actors, Social Action, and Systems - PART ONE: SOCIAL RULE SYSTEM THEORY Social Rule System Theory The Organization of Social Action and Social Forms Actors, Rule Systems, and Social Structure Rule Systems, Organization of Society, and Social Power Consensus and Conflict in Social Life Grammers of Social Institutions and the Structuring of Spheres of Social Action The Structuration of Markets and Other Distributional Regimes - PART TWO: MARKETS AND COLLECTIVE BARGAINING SYSTEMS Market Organization and Performance Properties Collective Bargaining Regimes and Their Transformation Multiple Rule Systems Formal and Informal Social Organization - PART THREE: BUREAUCRACY AND FORMAL ORGANIZATIONS Local Public Administration as an Arena of Conflicting Rule Systems Hydro-Power Administration in a Changing World Industrialism, Environmentalism, and Center-Periphery Struggle in Norway Technology and Technique, Social Action, and Rule Systems - PART FOUR: EXPERTISE, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIAL ORGANIZATION A Modern Oracle and Politics Studies in Energy Forecasting Science and Practical Action The Study of Competing Logics Conclusion Principles of Social Organization in the Structuration of Modern Western Societies
The governance of natural resources used by many individuals in common is an issue of increasing concern to policy analysts. Both state control and privatization of resources have been advocated, but neither the state nor the market have been uniformly successful in solving common pool resource problems. After critiquing the foundations of policy analysis as applied to natural resources, Elinor Ostrom here provides a unique body of empirical data to explore conditions under which common pool resource problems have been satisfactorily or unsatisfactorily solved. Dr Ostrom uses institutional analysis to explore different ways - both successful and unsuccessful - of governing the commons. In contrast to the proposition of the 'tragedy of the commons' argument, common pool problems sometimes are solved by voluntary organizations rather than by a coercive state. Among the cases considered are communal tenure in meadows and forests, irrigation communities and other water rights, and fisheries.
The Cement of Society: A Study of Social Order. By Jon Elster. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1989. 311p. $44.50 cloth, $15.95 paper. Solomonic Judgements: Studies in the Limitations of Rationality. By Jon Elster. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1989. 232p. $12.95 paper. Political Choice and Social Structure: An Analysis of Actors, Interests, and Rationality. By Barry Hindess. Brookfield, VT: Edward Elgar, 1989. 216p. $42.95. The Common Good: Citizenship, Morality, and Self-Interest. By Bill Jordan. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1989. 190p. $49.95 cloth, $16.95 paper. Rediscovering Institutions: The Organizational Basis of Politics. By James G. March and Johan P. Olsen. New York: Free Press. 227p. $24.95. Nested Games: Rational Choice in Comparative Politics. By George Tsebelis. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989. 274p. $28.00. Elinor Ostrom is Co-Director of Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis, and Professor of Political Science, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405. © 1991, American Political Science Association. All rights reserved.
Digital technology has changed the way we interact with everything from the games we play to the tools we use at work. Designers of digital technology products no longer regard their job as designing a physical object--beautiful or utilitarian--but as designing our interactions with it. In Designing Interactions, award-winning designer Bill Moggridge introduces us to forty influential designers who have shaped our interaction with technology. Moggridge, designer of the first laptop computer (the GRiD Compass, 1981) and a founder of the design firm IDEO, tells us these stories from an industry insider's viewpoint, tracing the evolution of ideas from inspiration to outcome. The innovators he interviews--including Will Wright, creator of The Sims, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the founders of Google, and Doug Engelbart, Bill Atkinson, and others involved in the invention and development of the mouse and the desktop--have been instrumental in making a difference in the design of interactions. Their stories chart the history of entrepreneurial design development for technology.
Providing a complete portal to the world of case study research, the Fourth Edition of Robert K. Yin's bestselling text Case Study Research offers comprehensive coverage of the design and use of the case study method as a valid research tool. This thoroughly revised text now covers more than 50 case studies (approximately 25% new), gives fresh attention to quantitative analyses, discusses more fully the use of mixed methods research designs, and includes new methodological insights. The book's coverage of case study research and how it is applied in practice gives readers access to exemplary case studies drawn from a wide variety of academic and applied fields.Key Features of the Fourth Edition Highlights each specific research feature through 44 boxed vignettes that feature previously published case studies Provides methodological insights to show the similarities between case studies and other social science methods Suggests a three-stage approach to help readers define the initial questions they will consider in their own case study research Covers new material on human subjects protection, the role of Institutional Review Boards, and the interplay between obtaining IRB approval and the final development of the case study protocol and conduct of a pilot case Includes an overall graphic of the entire case study research process at the beginning of the book, then highlights the steps in the process through graphics that appear at the outset of all the chapters that follow Offers in-text learning aids including 'tips' that pose key questions and answers at the beginning of each chapter, practical exercises, endnotes, and a new cross-referencing tableCase Study Research, Fourth Edition is ideal for courses in departments of Education, Business and Management, Nursing and Public Health, Public Administration, Anthropology, Sociology, and Political Science.
Electronic government has been defined as the use of information and communication technologies in government settings. However, it is neither a homogeneous nor a static phenomenon. Recent empirical studies have identified two important dynamics in e-government evolution. First, e-government in general has evolved from its initial presence on the Internet to more transactional and integrated applications. Second, at the aggregate level and as a general trend, national governments have started adding technological and organizational sophistication and state and local governments have followed. Based on the study of systems of rules, this paper argues that these two dynamics in the evolution of e-government are, at least in part, the result of pressures from public managers attempting to solve problems and from citizens, businesses, and other stakeholders, attempting to control the actions of public managers. Both forces, related to performance and accountability, respectively, have promoted change in the systems of rules governing the design, implementation, and use of e-government initiatives. Specifically, they have generated a cycle that continually increases technological and organizational sophistication in e-government initiatives and have also promoted the episodic and evolving adoption of similar features across levels of government. These two related evolutionary dynamics and the characterization of e-government as systems of rules and standards have some important policy implications, which are briefly discussed at the end of the paper.
This paper examines and extends the theory of information systems success in the context of large-scale disaster management (DM) for public safety. In the recent past, various evaluation reports on DM efforts have concluded that information quality and system quality are major hurdles for efficient and effective multi-agency DM and are critical antecedents for information systems (IS) success. In contrast to the wealth of literature on IS success in profit-oriented business environments, research regarding drivers of public sector IS success is scarce. This research develops and empirically tests a model that explains IS usage intention as a reflective measure of IS success in the public sector DM domain. In this paper, the effects of the expected value of IS for the entire group of collaborating DM agencies, task support, user satisfaction, and three specific information/service quality dimensions on usage intention are examined. Data was collected from emergency responders using a questionnaire survey method during multi-agency, cross-national DM exercises at the Dutch–German border. The results of the data analysis revealed that expected group value is a key determinant of intention to use in the public sector DM domain. The data analysis also showed that perceived task support only has an indirect effect, through user satisfaction, on the usage intention. These findings imply that previously suggested IS success models for business environments are likely to fall short in their explanatory power and applicability for highly volatile complex disaster environments that require immediate coordinated responses from a large number of organizations. Possible directions for future research are also discussed along with other findings and implications.
In this paper we provide project highlights of our ongoing case study of am integrated criminal justice system (San Diego, California's Automated Regional Justice Information System or ARJIS). We develop this case to be used in a comparative analysis of other, similar, systems. Our focus is on better understanding and theorizing on complex web of relationships among work, the structure and governance of social institutions, and technological architectures. Our intent is to further principles of socio-technical design regarding computerization (an aspect of social informatics). Our work to date leads us to a set of concepts we are calling organic development. Organic development reflects a strategic use of top-down and bottom-up design principles, demands strategic leadership, and open design principles.
In this paper we lay out interim findings and speculate on the implications for practice and theory of integrated criminal justice systems in law enforcement. In doing this we theorize on public sector information systems and their uses of information and communication technologies as engaging in what we call "organic development." To develop our theorizing on organic development, we draw on a field study of the San Diego, California area's Automated Regional Justice Information System (ARJIS). We develop organic development as drawing on both top-down and bottom up approaches to engaging the technologies, technological infrastructures, governance principles, and work practices that, together, are an integrated system.