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An Explanatory Study on the Co-evolutionary Mechanisms of Business IT Alignment
Abstract
Business IT Alignment is considered an enduring topic in academic and practitioners’ literature. The interest in the subject is justified by the link, demonstrated by several studies, between alignment and corporate performances. However, alignment research has not yet been translated into practices, theoretically demonstrated in literature and applied to companies. The interpretation of alignment as a function of independent factors and the underestimation of the complex nature of alignment process are considered key barriers in alignment achievement. The present study is based on a multi-case study analysis carried out in two companies that implemented alignment processes. We conceptualise alignment as a co-evolution process and derive four mechanisms and three types of parameters and explain their role in alignment implementation. The contribution is theoretical, since we analyse and describe mechanisms and factors that govern alignment, and for the practitioners, since knowledge of these mechanisms is precondition for an effective alignment implementation.
... The specific conditions characterizing EMR in hospitals are exemplary of complex conditions where co-evolutionary approaches to alignment capabilities are argued to be useful (Amarilli et al., 2017;Benbya and McKelvey, 2006). While some traditional approaches to alignment view the concept as an end-state (Chan and Reich, 2007), this relatively new approach involves multi-level effects, multi-directional causalities, non-linearity and feedback loops, with a focus on the "[. . ...
... An organization's ability to maintain the coherence between their information systems, goals, processes, data, infrastructure, roles and functions, through architectural practices such as the definition and application of architectural principles or standards, while monitoring relevance and topicality of these architectural practices, in line with frequencies of strategic and operational changes (Rolland et al., 2015;Schilling et al., 2017;Vessey and Ward, 2013;Walraven et al., 2021;Weeger and Ulrich, 2016) Operational alignment competency An organization's ability to collaboratively use IT solutions effectively in daily operations and implement and optimize IT solutions in operational settings in line with end-users' needs, while monitoring and leveraging improvement possibilities during IT usage, implementations and operations. (Allen et al., 2013;Amarilli et al., 2017;Burton-Jones and Gallivan, 2007;Goh et al., 2011;Lyytinen and Newman, 2008;Vidgen and Wang, 2009;Walraven et al., 2021) Peppard and Ward (2004), who define organizational capabilities as "[. . .] the strategic application of competencies [. . ...
... Additionally, Walraven et al. (2020) describe facilitators of efficacious co-evolutionary stakeholder interactions toward alignment during EMR implementations based on the literature on effective alignment (e.g. Amarilli et al., 2017;Zhang et al., 2019) and efficacious dynamics in complex organizations (e.g. Burt, 1992;Grant, 2003;McKelvey, 2001) and applied in an empirical EMR setting. ...
Purpose
Advanced Electronic Medical Records (EMR) provide many potential benefits to hospitals. However, because of their broad scope, many stakeholders deal with the EMR and a continuous effort has to be made to keep up with internal and external change. Therefore, hospitals need to deliberately shape their organizational competencies considering the pursuit of alignment, i.e. making sure that the EMR remains optimally aligned with strategies, goals and needs of the hospital and its stakeholders. This paper aims to investigate the evolutionary paths of these alignment competencies and their drivers, from a theoretical perspective of co-evolutionary information systems alignment (COISA).
Design/methodology/approach
This paper reports on a longitudinal multiple case study of three Dutch hospitals which each recently implemented an advanced EMR system. The authors conducted 35 in-depth interviews in 2 phases (before and after go-live of the EMR), and studied documentation related to the EMR implementations.
Findings
The findings show that each hospital's COISA capability shows a different evolutionary path. However, two of the three case hospitals ended up coordinating part of their COISA capability to an ecosystem level, i.e. they incorporated other hospitals using the same EMR system to coordinate their alignment efforts, either from an operational perspective, or in terms of orchestration and strategy. The found evolutionary paths' key drivers include “stakeholder initiative”, “accumulating experience”, “driving events” and “emerging issues”.
Originality/value
The findings help healthcare practitioners to deliberately shape their organization's COISA capability in pursuit of EMR alignment. Furthermore, the authors add to the knowledge base on co-evolutionary approaches to alignment through the longitudinal approach.
... Several scholars that study alignment from co-evolutionary perspectives have embraced this principle in conceptual papers [4], [16]. Other studies demonstrate initial empirical evidence for these ideas in qualitative works [17], [18]. However, no large-scale quantitative empirical studies have been undertaken to further strengthen the claim that organizations whose alignment-related stakeholder interactions reflect CAS characteristics, nor, as an implication, have COISA-based instruments for practitioners been developed to steer applying IT in turbulent environments. ...
... The manifestation of co-evolutionary interactions between IS stakeholders within the aforementioned alignment processes on its own is not sufficient for an organization's alignment processes to effectively maintain a certain level of alignment, as shown in several works on this topic [4], [7], [17], [19]. Specifically, certain facilitators are necessary to ensure stakeholders effectively interact in their pursuit of alignment, in other words, to ensure stakeholders indeed continuously maintain a common interpretation and implementation of what it means to apply IT in an appropriate and timely way. ...
... As discussed in the theoretical framework, in earlier studies, COISA has been conceptualized in terms of continuously exercised alignment processes, characterized by coevolutionary interactions between IS stakeholders within and between those alignment processes, enabled by certain facilitators. Some later empirical works on COISA clarify which facilitators are necessary to ensure efficacious co-evolutionary interactions between IS stakeholders in these processes, i.e., co-evolutionary interactions that move toward improved alignment among IS stakeholders and not away from it [7], [17], [19]. ...
Co-evolutionary approaches to business-IT alignment, such as Co-evolutionary information systems alignment (COISA), have gained attention from scholars and practitioners over the last decade. COISA is an organizational capability defined as continuously exercised alignment competencies, characterized by co-evolutionary interactions between heterogeneous IS stakeholders, in pursuit of a common interpretation and implementation of what it means to apply IT in an appropriate and timely way. In spite of some conceptual and empirical work on COISA, a validated operationalization for empirical measurements for science and practice is not available in the extant literature. We developed a measurement scale through acknowledged procedures, entailing a multivariate structural model consisting of specific facilitators leading to effective alignment competencies. To the best of our knowledge, we are the first to propose such a scale.
... Built upon this theoretical perspective, COISA is a relatively new approach to understanding and pursuing business-IT alignment (Amarilli et al., 2016;Zhang, Chen, Lyytinen, et al., 2019a). The work by Walraven et al. (2018) builds upon the insights of earlier co-evolutionary alignment studies (Amarilli et al., 2016(Amarilli et al., , 2017Benbya and McKelvey, 2006). This particular study identifies five different COISA processes in a structured literature review on alignment studies with a CAS perspective. ...
... The findings of this extensive literature search show that several authors have done relevant research in this particular area. For example, Amarilli et al. (2017) identify factors influencing co-evolutionary alignment mechanisms, including (1) triggers, (2) dynamic actors, (3) controlling parameters, and (4) enablers. These come from traditional BITA studies, not necessarily taking a co-evolutionary alignment perspective or focussing on complex conditions. ...
... In this proposition, the idea of weak-tie bridges, quite literally bridging two heterogeneous (groups of) actors (Burt, 2009) is underlined as important in creating efficacious interactions. In the context of COISA, this directly relates to the importance of dynamic actors (Amarilli et al., 2017). Indeed, all described types of dynamic actors in this study have in common that they bridge the gap between business and IT. ...
Co-evolutionary IS-alignment (COISA) is a relatively new approach to understanding business-IT align-ment (BITA) in complex environments. It is defined as continuously exercised alignment processes, characterized by co-evolutionary interactions between different IS stakeholders, in pursuit of a common interpretation and implementation of what it means to apply IT in an appropriate and timely way, in harmony with strategies, goals, and needs. This concept is well applicable in hospitals, given their many different stakeholders and quickly changing environments. For example, although hospitals heavily in-vest in advanced Electronic Medical Records (EMR), it remains unclear how EMR should align with the strategies, goals, and needs of hospitals and its stakeholders. Earlier work has shown that COISA may be a useful lens in revealing the manifestation of stakeholder interactions behind alignment during EMR implementations. However, it is insufficient only to assess the manifestation of COISA interactions, as this is no guarantee that these interactions are effective in pursuing alignment. Our study reveals facilitators of efficacious COISA interactions during EMR implementations, using theoretical insights on BITA, COISA and efficacious dynamics in complex organizations and empirical insights from a sin-gle case study and three focus groups. Our findings reconcile and complement existing knowledge, spe-cifically for EMR implementations.
... A stream of research that seems promising in this matter addresses the alignment problem from a coevolutionary IS-alignment (COISA) perspective (Benbya and McKelvey, 2006, Allen and Varga, 2006, Amarilli, van Vliet and Van den Hooff, 2017, Amarilli, van Vliet and Van den Hooff, 2016 COISA implies that alignment is a continuous process including two-way interactions between business, IT and external parties and between strategic and operational alignment processes. Therefore, COISA may provide a holistic understanding of interrelations between different stakeholder groups and strategic and operational alignment processes. ...
... To proceed, we first need to outline our conceptualisation of COISA in this current study. COISA research generally presents complexity-based conceptualisations of alignment, which are especially suitable for organisations facing highly turbulent environments and complex internal structures (Benbya and McKelvey, 2006, Allen and Varga, 2006, Amarilli, van Vliet and Van den Hooff, 2017, Amarilli, van Vliet and Van den Hooff, 2016. As explained in the introduction, COISA theories emphasise that alignment is a continuous process including two-way interactions between business, IT and external parties and between strategic and operational alignment processes. ...
... We identified three existing articles that do address both strategic and operational COISA, i.e., our model , Benbya and McKelvey (2006), and Amarilli, van Vliet and Van den Hooff (2017). Benbya and McKelvey (2006) distinguish different three levels of alignment, i.e., individual alignment, operational alignment, and strategic alignment. ...
Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) are repositories of electronic medical histories of patients, main-tained over time. Hospital operations and EMRs typically become interdependent, due to the inclusion of medical workflow- and administrative process support as core functionalities. Hence, it is profoundly challenging to effectively enable complex, multi-stakeholder clinical processes, enhance patient care, and align EMRs with hospital strategies, goals, and needs. In this study, we build upon co-evolutionary IS-alignment (COISA) theories and argue that current approaches to business-IT alignment in hospitals should be reconceptualised, particularly regarding modern EMR implementations. In this effort, we respond to the call for more empirical research on business-IT co-evolution. We unfold how COISA manifests during EMR implementations using a multiple case study method. This method allows us to get a rich understanding of the complex social phenomena that emerge during EMR implementations. Outcomes show that COISA manifests in all three cases, involving different stakeholder groups, but in different localities and intensities. These findings suggest that COISA is a suitable framework to de-scribe and understand EMR implementations and that different configurations of interaction patterns can lead to comparable results. This understanding enables EMR practitioners to more effectively iden-tify improvement areas in dealing with internal and external complexity.
... For example, a circular co-evolutionary model provided by Peppard [33] represents the key components in the process of BITC. Amarilli has developed a coevolutionary model which embodies the controlling parameters, enablers, and dynamic actors of BITC [34]. Perrard [14] explores the feedback relationships of various influencing factors of co-evolution through a systems dynamics model. ...
... "Conceptual" and "Theoretical" frameworks are frequently introduced in the literature. A tremendous gap is determined between academic and practical research [13] [34]. To motivate the future practical research in BITC implementation, we will mainly explore the research gaps in this aspect. ...
... Understanding the positive or negative relationships of them is beneficial to balance their applications in practice. Besides, the principles should be tested in real cases [15] [34]. Traditional alignment mechanisms are not suitable for the BITC case [34]. ...
... This adaptation process determines the capacity of the company to match the requirements posed by the competitive environment or needed to implement corporate strategy. Alignment is therefore conceptualized as the coevolution process of a complex system [52]. Despite the potential of the complex interpretation of alignment, most literature has been more focused on justifying the applicability of complexity science to alignment rather than on developing a complexity based theory that explains how alignment is pursued in companies and transformed into performances [17]. ...
... In an attempt to integrate the different dimensions of alignment and overcome the limitations of a partial view of alignment, a stream of the alignment literature exploited complexity science as a lens of investigation [14][15] [54]. A complexity science based interpretation of alignment draws on the idea that a company is a socio-technical system where different components at different levels of analysis interact and determine the matching between the organization and the external competitive environment [31] [52]. Pressures posed by the competitive environment trigger changes in the company, that in response impacts on and has the power to change the competitive environment [32]. ...
... Cooperation in the context of co-evolution can happen where resources adequately exist for both parties or are created by their interaction [RT14,Mu02,JD17]. Based on our findings, competition was observed as a rivalry of competencies, resources, profits, market shares, quality, service, rights, knowledge, partnerships, and IT [KL99,Mc99,AC16,AVH17]. Some scholars argued that co-evolutionary processes could combine the configurations of both competition and cooperation [PYH18,HGB18,Li10]. ...
... For the co-evolution of SMEs and their respective ecosystems and environments, Dehbokry and Chew [DC15] suggested a reference architecture that incorporated different views covering strategy, capabilities, and knowledge alongside contingencies with other institutions and the macro environment. Another mechanism used to strengthen the coevolution was managerial actions, including exclusive agreements for ecosystem members, who legally govern the collaboration and co-evolution of the organizations [AVH17]. Holgersson et al. [HGB18] found that, in the context of an intellectual property strategy, mechanisms for supporting co-evolution included the coordination of workinggroup networks, cross-licensing agreements for technology accessibility across organizational boundaries, and technical standardization as a governance tool [VW09]. ...
The innovative use of digital technologies has led to a disruption of well-established business models in many industries. To prevent from being disrupted, organizations must transform. However, studies about digital transformation have primarily focused on intra-organizational dynamics, including processes, structures, and business models. Digital transformation, however, substantially changes inter-organizational behavior, sometimes the entire ecosystem. To examine this phenomenon, we draw on co-evolution theory, which states that changes occur among all interacting organizations, permitting transformations to be driven by both direct interactions and ecosystem feedbacks. Thus, goal of this paper is to provide a structured overview of literature about the co-evolution of ecosystems in management, organizational science, and IS literature. Following the six properties of co-evolution, we develop a framework for the co-evolution in ecosystems, comprising 23 configurations, based on the analysis of 44 articles. Ultimately, we suggest avenues for future research.
... However, these scholars did not explicitly specify the business processes where these dynamics manifest in practice. Moreover, CAS-inspired case studies of alignment (e.g., Amarilli et al. (2017), Montealegre et al. (2014)) naturally study one or more business processes in practice as their unit(s) of analysis to understand the phenomenon of alignment. However, none of these studies explicitly identifies these processes as alignment processes or takes a holistic account of all processes that play a role in COISA. ...
... Vessey and Ward (2013) address in their conceptual paper among others how to manage IS development projects in co-evolutionary contexts, providing further theoretical support for these projects to show co-evolution. Furthermore, Amarilli et al. (2017) illustrate co-evolutionary dynamics taking place within IT implementations, by doing a multi-ple case study. Additionally, Grisot et al. (2014) describe in their case study how the project initiated by a small team from a hospital's IT department went by in defining requirements, taking a learning approach while implementing the system. ...
Many studies have investigated the effects of information technology (IT) in achieving organizational performance. However, despite substantial IT investments, organizations often fail to improve organizational performance using IT. This failure could be the result of a lack of Business-IT alignment. Recently , scholars and practitioners have adopted a complexity science approach to better address the many interwoven IT, organizational and environmental turbulence challenges. These efforts resulted in the emergence of the complexity-based concept of co-evolutionary IS/IT-alignment (COISA). COISA involves "the series of coevolutionary moves that makes IT aligned over time." However, the notion of COISA remains conceptual, and further operationalization in preparation for more empirical evidence seems appropriate. Therefore, this study aims to provide further clarification on the conceptualization of COISA in turbulent environments. We conducted a structured literature review using a theoretical foundation of Complex Adaptive Systems theory. In this effort, we developed a COISA model composed of five continuous alignment processes characterized by co-evolutionary moves toward alignment , situated in two organizational contexts. This model provides a basis for further empirical research on COISA.
... One of the directions developed in this area is business -IT alignment, which hires various concepts to bring systematization into the management procedures. The approaches include conceptual joining of businessprocess management and IT management [14], co-evolutionary approaches [2], complex adaptive systems [17], etc. Still, the investigations in this area are mainly focused on planning and management from strategic, operational, social points of view. ...
The paper presents an ongoing research project aimed towards the development of an approach to modeling of information spreading in complex organizations during providing service to customers and performing domain-specific business processes (BP). The approach is based on the idea of information spreading modeling and includes the view of this process in three main levels (physical, informational, and technical). The multi-layer view enables the integration and automation of obtained models in order to resolve domain-specific tasks of BP understanding, optimization, and extension. Two domain-specific case studies from healthcare and HR-management were considered within the approach proposing a way to resolve existing problems.
... As long ago as 2002, Lin and Sun were suggesting that 'When an IT system is viewed as a part of the business organisation, and both the IT and business systems are designed in the same time, the gap between them can be minimised ' (2002, p.251). In the context of smart work systems, the idea is now receiving recognition that dynamic co-evolution of socio-technical elements is needed (Kahle et al. 2017;Amarilli et al. 2017). A contemporary socio-technical approach is therefore required to support an on-going journey towards smarter working and living. ...
Technological advances have made possible industrial and commercial applications of artificial intelligence, virtual reality and highly integrated manufacturing systems. It has also freed business activity from a focus on place, as both work activities and markets have been able to harness information and communication technologies in order to operate remotely. As a result, researchers have highlighted a phenomenon of ‘smart’ working. Some have pointed to a fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0) in which ‘smart’ factories use robotics to achieve high performance. There is now a suggestion of progress towards Industry 5.0, in which technological and social systems work in harmony to deliver personalised mass customization of products and services. This paper examines these developments from the perspective of unique, individual understandings of work roles and sustainability, posing the questions ‘Smart’ from whose point of view? Do smart systems promote sustainable organizations? How should design of smart systems be approached? It suggests that contemporary socio-technical systems approaches to organizational analysis are the best way to support harnessing of smart technologies in organizations.
... It is suggested, therefore, that a concept of alignment between separate organizational sub-systems is not a useful construct. The idea is now receiving recognition that dynamic co-evolution of socio-technical elements is more relevant [33] [34]. A contemporary socio-technical approach is therefore required to support an on-going journey towards excellence. ...
The advantages put forward for so-called Smart working may sound very appealing. However, it is unlikely that all stakeholder groups involved will benefit to the same extent, if at all. Many initiatives that seem to be aimed at development of Smart work systems can be seen to be flawed, since they are suggested to support empowerment but are expressed in terms of pre-defined ‘best practice’. This inherent paradox leads to consideration of ways in which innovation could occur that would lead to genuinely Smart systems, harnessing Smart technologies and empowering engaged actors to co-create meaningful practice in pursuit of professional excellence. An open, socio-technical systems approach is suggested to be the way forward.
KeywordsOpen systemsSocio-technical systemsSmart workingHuman-centred design
... In the latter, co-evolutionary theory has been applied in different research studies. The majority of studies use this theoretical perspective to examine alignment between information systems and organizations [2,7,65], their strategies [46], and their cultures or the relationship between information system personnel and information technology [44]. Other contexts include digital ecosystems [64], platforms [62], and IS development [41]. ...
The work world is set to undergo major changes thanks to advancements in automation and artificial intelligence and is beginning to promote new forms of collaboration. The transition from a technology-supporting environment to a collaborative environment in which people and technology work together to achieve their goals requires a fundamental change in the way we design, build, and ultimately deploy information systems. Most work on information system design focuses on the effective augmentation of humans. However, little is known about constructing a sustainable mutually beneficial collaboration between human and machine. To better understand this relationship, we perform a case study drawing on ethnographic evidence collected during a multi-year design science research project with a major service provider for unit load device management in the air cargo industry that resulted in an artifact for human-machine collaboration (HMC). Our study takes a closer look at the co-evolution that emerges from the collaboration between human and artificial agents over time, in which both parties influence each other, the underlying tasks, and their environment. Our analysis reveals three facets of symbiotic co-evolution: agents' evolution, activity evolution, and structural evolution. The findings contribute to the HMC knowledge base and have implications for future HMC design initiatives.
... It is suggested, therefore, that a concept of alignment between separate organizational sub-systems is not a useful construct. The idea is now receiving recognition that dynamic co-evolution of socio-technical elements is more relevant [33] [34]. A contemporary socio-technical approach is therefore required to support an on-going journey towards excellence. ...
The advantages put forward for so-called Smart working may sound very appealing. However, it is unlikely that all stakeholder groups involved will benefit to the same extent, if at all. Many initiatives that seem to be aimed at development of Smart work systems can be seen to be flawed, since they are suggested to support empowerment but are expressed in terms of pre-defined ‘best practice’. This inherent paradox leads to consideration of ways in which innovation could occur that would lead to genuinely Smart systems, harnessing Smart technologies and empowering engaged actors to co-create meaningful practice in pursuit of professional excellence. An open, socio-technical systems approach is suggested to be the way forward.
Keywords: open systems; sociotechnical systems; Smart working; human-centred design.
Business-IT alignment (BITA) has been recognised as an essential but challenging endeavour for researchers and practitioners. In fact, BITA has become even more challenging when organisations articulate and implement the necessary changes-strategic, tactical and operational planning, and structural and cultural adaptations-for a successful digital transformation. To reveal BITA's and the related factors that are important for digital transformation, a systematic literature review of studies published between the years 2016 and 2020 were conducted. The results confirm that BITA improves the value derived from IT and digital technologies, enables organisational agility, and the integration of new digital technologies. Moreover, the study has identified the organisational and managerial factors that are BITA related and are essential for digital transformation-organisational structure, organisational culture, external domain alignment , and leadership skills. Finally, the study provides a future research agenda as well as the implications for research and practice.
Work plays a critical role for people, organizations, industries as well as for the society as a whole. In our digital era, as in the past, the attention on the work setting is significant. However, as seen previously in this book, new features emerge that require a deeper focus to better understand the state of art of the new work setting model.KeywordsSmart workingTheoretical frameworkOrganizational change
Environmental factors significantly affect the dynamic strategic alignment of information systems (IS) in coping with a rapidly changing environment, especially for state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in emerging economies. By examining the case study of a medium-sized Chinese state-owned real estate company, this research aims to investigate what environmental factors affect SOEs’ strategic alignment. The thematic analysis method was used to analyse semi-structured interviews with staffs at all levels of the organisation and relevant strategy documents. The research develops a holistic model to illustrate the influencing factors from SOEs’ internal (i.e., organisational structure, culture and resources) and external environments (i.e., politics, economy, technology and national culture) while highlighting the overall influences from the nature of SOEs. It identifies that organisational resources, whose easy access is enabled by SOEs’ state-owned character, significantly reduce the need for strategic alignment to gain competitive advantage in the short term. In addition, SOEs’ inherent attributes of organisational structure and culture impede the social and structural integration between business and IT. Managerial implications are suggested with a particular emphasis on internal factors, such as developing IS/IT from organisational resources and cultivating the perception of the importance of IS. The paper also points to the importance of implementing government authorities’ policies and instructions about IS strategy.
Alignment is pivotal to a firm’s success. Strategists and decision-makers continuously lament the difficulty of alignment in practice. In light of COVID-19, it is imperative for organisations to understand alignment in the wake of crises and transformation. In this study, we utilise a hermeneutic literature review to explore the role of information systems alignment within and across organisations. The results indicate future research should explore the concurrent impacts of the alignment triad (strategy, structure, and surroundings) on IS alignment and IS alignment should be explored in the context of pluralistic organisations, through emerging structures such as networks and ecosystems. We present a conceptual framework and recommendations for future research to enable organisations to be responsive to dynamic environments.
Dentre as aplicações tecnológicas que tratam o grande volume de informações para tomada de decisão, destaca-se o uso do Business Intelligence (BI), o qual permite a identificação de padrões de comportamento e ocorrências de eventos que agregam valor e conhecimento para as empresas. Entretanto, para que o BI possa proporcionar tais benefícios, o alinhamento entre a Tecnologia da Informação (TI) e o negócio é fundamental para o sucesso da implantação dessa ferramenta. Neste contexto, o presente estudo tem por objetivo apresentar a implantação do sistema BI em uma concessionária de veículos no interior de Minas Gerais a partir do diagnóstico do nível de alinhamento entre a TI e o negócio. Como metodologia foi realizada uma pesquisa descritiva, aplicada com abordagem mista. Para o diagnóstico do nível de alinhamento foi utilizada a metodologia de Lima (2008) por meio de questionários. Nas etapas posteriores da implantação do BI na organização foi utilizada a metodologia de Bezerra e Siebra (2015). Os resultados do estudo demonstram que a aplicação do modelo de diagnóstico do nível de alinhamento entre a TI e o negócio possibilitou a identificação de oportunidades de melhoria que promoveu a implantação do BI, cuja contribuição é a evidenciação de um caso de sua implantação em empresas do ramo de concessionárias de veículos do interior de Minas Gerais.
This paper provides theoretical and practical implications for the application of agent-based models (ABMs) to address the issue of coevolutionary business-IS alignment. The implications stem from the following arguments: (a) the alignment issue can be modelled by an ABM to describe the features of complex adaptive systems (CAS); (b) the coevolutionary principles of business and IS alignment stipulate individual behaviours and guide organisational order; (c) ABM development and experimentation offer guidance to better explain how organisations control the alignment trajectory with coevolutionary principles. To extend the extant coevolutionary research on alignment, this paper develops an ABM for a hierarchical organisational structure and validates three coevolutionary principles.
The issue of business and IT alignment (BITA) persists a top concern of researchers and practitioners alike. BITA has not been achieved yet due to dynamic changes in environments and organizations. This paper argues that the misalignment analysis of business and IT, which involves continuously misalignment detection, correction, and prevention, is effective to deal with the dynamics in BITA. The extant research largely pertains to misalignment detection stage. We take one step further and mainly discuss misalignment correction in this paper. A misalignment correction framework is proposed. Within this framework, we especially analyze the cause and effect relationships of the multiple misalignment symptoms proposed by Ori. This framework is beneficial for conducting root-cause analysis and introducing effective mechanisms in the process of BITA.
Studies for over 30 years have consistently indicated that enterprise-level Business-Information Technology (IT) alignment is a pervasive problem. While significant progress has been made to understand alignment, research on IT alignment is still plagued by several problems. First, most alignment models approach alignment as a static relationship in contrast to analyzing the scope and variance of activities through which the alignment is (or can be) attained. Second, most alignment models are not founded on strong theoretical foundations. Third, because of their static view, these models do not guide how organizations can improve alignment. This study addresses these weaknesses using a capability-based lens. It formulates and operationalizes a formative construct rooted in the theory of dynamic capabilities and defines the scope and nature of activities that contribute to alignment. The construct identifies six dimensions promoting alignment: (1) IT-Business Communications ; (2) Use of Value Analytics; (3) Approaches to Collaborative Governance; (4) Nature of the affiliation/partnership; (5) Scope of IT initiatives; and (6) Development of IT Skills. The construct measures are validated in terms of their dimensionality, item pool sampling, and the nomological and predictive validity. The research uses Partial Least Squares (PLS) to statistically validate the construct using a dataset covering over 3000 global participants including nearly 400 Fortune 1000 companies. All construct dimensions contribute significantly to the level of alignment and the construct shows strong nomological and predictive validity by demonstrating a statistically significant impact on firm performance. Scholars can leverage this research to explore additional activity-based constructs of IT-business alignment.
Although there is extensive literature on IT/IS-business alignment, we argue that the topic’s current research trajectory is limited given the concept’s predominantly static focus to date. While the process perspective on alignment is a promising avenue to study the phenomenon’s dynamic nature, we still know little about what it is that organizational actors actually do, on a day-to-day basis, to align IS and related concerns with business imperatives. In order to address this lack of understanding regarding the practices of aligning, we argue for research that goes beyond abstract macro analysis of alignment processes to that which considers the actual micro practices of aligning. An analysis of the extant literature on the topic leads to the identification and classification of aligning activities that are being undertaken in practice. We argue that this review and critical appraisal of the IT/business alignment field has the potential for substantive and insightful contributions to our understanding of alignment as it is enacted – in practice. Arising from the review, we discuss important new research themes that are to be addressed if research on alignment is to be demonstrably relevant.
All research streams can trace their lineage to an initial paper or series of papers. The information systems (IS) field – despite its relative youthfulness – can point to examples of seminal research by Davis (1989) on technology acceptance or Brynjolfsson and Hitt (1996) on information technology (IT) payoffs as the foundation of whole new areas of research. After almost a quarter century and 3200 citations (as of October 2014), many researchers would also include work by Henderson and Venkatraman (1993) – first published in the IBM Systems Journal under the heading, ‘Strategic Alignment: Leveraging Information Technology for Transforming Organizations’ – on the list of seminal and transformative IS publications.
This article presents the major findings from the Society for Information Manage-ment’s (SIM) 2014 IT Trends Study. Organizations continue to invest in IT to improve operations, reduce costs, and enable business strategies. IT budgets, hiring, and sala-ries are modestly increasing, and IT executives are cautiously optimistic that this trend will continue into next year. Overall, the Study finds that IT is becoming more strategic and business focused. As organizations become more digitized, their focus is shifting away from tactical and operational IT issues like efficiency, service delivery, and cost reduction to more strategic and organizational priorities like business agil-ity, innovation, the velocity of change in the organization, IT time-to-market, and the value of IT to the business. These trends are confirmed by a corresponding shift in how CIOs are spending their time, how their performance is measured, and the skills that are most important to their success.
Despite enduring economic uncertainties, we get a sense of watchful optimism from the Society for Information Management’s (SIM) 2013 IT Trends Study. This article presents the major findings based on responses from senior IT leaders in 484 U.S.-based organizations, including their top IT management issues and concerns, their largest/most significant IT investments, IT budget and staffing trends, and both CIO role and IT organization characteristics. practices regarding budgets, hiring, salaries, and performance measurement. Comparisons are provided to SIM survey results in prior years. In addition, senior IT leaders’ personally most “worrisome” IT issues and investments are also reported for the first time this year.
Business organizations have become heavily dependent on information technology (IT) services. The process of alignment is defined as the mutual synchronization of business goals and IT services. However, achieving mature alignment between business and IT is difficult due to the rapid changes in the business and IT environments. This article provides a systematic review of studies on the alignment of business and IT. The research articles reviewed are based on topics of alignment, the definition of alignment, history, alignment challenges, phases of alignment, alignment measurement approaches, the importance of alignment in business industries, how software engineering helps in better alignment, and the role of the business environment in aligning business with IT. It aims to present a thorough understanding of business-IT alignment and to provide a list of future research directions regarding alignment. To perform the systematic review, we used the guidelines developed by Kitchenham for reviewing the available research papers relevant to our topic.
Complex adaptive systems (CAS) theory characterizes the role of emergence in the world of frequent and continuous change. In the context of information systems (IS) CAS can help conceptualize the phenomenon of IS emergence. In this domain agile development methods were introduced to address speed and the problems of change in IS development. The paper provides a review of agile development practices and their interpretation from a CAS perspective. It is concluded that IS emergence can be realized by engaging development teams through agile practices that are found to support CAS concepts. It is also found that some CAS principles have not been fully realized in current agile methods highlighting possible areas of improvement. Based on this analysis a detailed framework is derived to outline emergence mechanisms in IS development in general. The framework as grounded in CAS theory provides cornerstone elements towards a generic IS emergence theory we refer to as Complex Adaptive Information Systems (CAIS).
Although business executives remain skeptical about the extent of payoffs from investment in information technology (IT), strategic alignment or the alignment of information systems strategy with business strategy continues to be ranked as one of the most important issues facing corporations. In this paper, we report on the results of a process-level study to investigate the relationship between strategic alignment and IT payoffs. An analysis of survey data from 63 firms finds a positive and significant relationship between strategic alignment and IT payoffs, a relationship that holds for all firms, irrespective of their strategic intent or goals for IT. However, in exploring minor differences in strategic alignment between firms with different goals for IT, we uncovered evidence of an alignment paradox. This paradox shows that while strategic alignment can lead to increased payoffs from IT, this relationship is only valid up to a certainpoint beyond which, paradoxically, further increases in strategic alignment appear to lead to lower IT payoffs. Finally, we offer some suggestions for why this paradox might exist, specifically around issues of environmental uncertainty, industry clock-speed, and the need for organizational flexibility.
rganizational fields undergo upheavals. Shifting industry boundaries, new network forms, emerging sectors, and volatile ecosystems have become the stuff of everyday organizational life. Curiously, profound changes of this sort receive scant attention in organization theory and research. Researchers acknowledge field-wide flux, emergence, convergence and collapse, but sidestep direct investigations of the causes and dynamic processes, leaving these efforts to political scientists and institutional economists. We attribute this neglect to our field's philosophical, theoretical, and methodological fealty to the precepts of equilibrium and linearity. We argue that ingrained assumptions and habituated methodologies dissuade organizational scientists from grappling with problems to which these ideas and tools do not apply. Nevertheless, equilibrium and linearity are assumptions of social theory, not facts of social life. Drawing on four empirical studies of organizational fields in flux, we suggest new intellectual perspectives and methodological heuristics that may facilitate investigation of fields that are far from equilibrium. We urge our colleagues to transcend the general linear model, and embrace ideas like field structuration, complex adaptive systems, self-organizing networks, and autocatalytic feedback. We recommend conducting natural histories of organizational fields, and paying especially close attention to turning points when fields are away from equilibrium and discontinuous changes are afoot.
In studying strategic information systems (IS) alignment, it is important to examine the associated processes over time rather than viewing alignment as an isolated event. This article focuses on how organizations undergo a series of interdependent changes in business strategy and IS strategy in order to increase the alignment between them. Based primarily on detailed case studies of changes over long time-periods in three organizations, the research suggests that this process of adaptation and change, which allows alignment to occur, is more complex than previously believed. While efforts to achieve alignment between IS and the business do sometimes produce alignment, they often go astray. There are three such potentially problematic trajectories—excessive transformation, paradoxical decisions, and uncertain turnarounds. This article identifies some factors explaining why organizations might pursue these problematic trajectories and offers some suggestions for avoiding them.
This article identifies the major enablers and inhibitors in the achievement of business-Information Technology (IT) alignment. Alignment involves the activities that management performs to achieve cohesive goals across the IT and functional (e.g., finance, marketing, manufacturing) organizations. Therefore, alignment addresses both how IT is in harmony with the business, and how the business should or could be in harmony with IT. IT requires strong support from senior management, good working relationships, strong leadership, appropriate prioritization, trust, and effective communication, as well as a thorough understanding of the business environment. This article develops a methodology that leverages the most important enablers and inhibitors to business-IT alignment.
This article reports how quantitative and qualitative methods were combined in a longitudinal multidisciplinary study of interrelationships between perceptions of work and a computer information system. The article describes the problems and contributions stemming from different research perspectives and methodological approaches. It illustrates four methodological points: (1) the value of combining qualitative and quantitative methods; (2) the need for context-specific measures of job characteristics rather than exclusive reliance on standard context-independent instruments; (3) the importance of process measures when evaluating information systems; and (4) the need to explore the necessary relationships between a computer system and the perceptions of its users, rather than unidirectional assessment of computer system impacts on users or of users characteristics on computer system implementation. Despite the normative nature of these points, the most important conclusion is the desirability for a variety of approaches to studying information systems. No one approach to information systems research can provide the richness that information systems, as a discipline, needs for further advancement.
Business IT alignment has been a top concern for academics and corporate managers for over 30 years. Despite a rich literature, it is still far from been an achieved objective in companies. Leveraging on the similarities between Information and Complex Systems, researchers have recently adopted a new perspective to study Information Systems and their alignment with business. The present study is based on an extensive literature review that spans three domains of research: Information Systems, Complexity Science, and Organization Science. The paper proposes to contribute to the study and implementation of alignment by presenting a classification framework for the different alignment approaches exploiting methods derived from Complexity Science. Four types of approaches to alignment are identified and for each of them the potential contribution to alignment dimensions is discussed.
- This paper describes the process of inducting theory using case studies from specifying the research questions to reaching closure. Some features of the process, such as problem definition and construct validation, are similar to hypothesis-testing research. Others, such as within-case analysis and replication logic, are unique to the inductive, case-oriented process. Overall, the process described here is highly iterative and tightly linked to data. This research approach is especially appropriate in new topic areas. The resultant theory is often novel, testable, and empirically valid. Finally, framebreaking insights, the tests of good theory (e.g., parsimony, logical coherence), and convincing grounding in the evidence are the key criteria for evaluating this type of research.
The article focuses on the development of a theory. A discussion is presented about steps involved in developing a theory, such as seeing which factors logically should be considered as part of the explanation of the social or individual phenomena of interest. The authors assert that authors developing theories are considering these factors, they should err in favor of including too many factors, recognizing that over time their ideas will be refined. The article presents information about the importance of sensitivity to the competing virtues of parsimony and comprehensiveness.
Information technology has come to play a crucial role in the support, sustainability and growth of organisations. In order to accomplish good value for the organisation, IT projects need to be in connection with the business side of the organisation. The process of managing and improving this connection is Business-IT alignment. Organisations that have successfully aligned their business and IT outperform organisations that do not, for example by maximising the return on IT investments and an improved competitive position. However, selecting and prioritizing IT projects present a challenge to IT managers. For a number of years already, Business-IT alignment is regarded by IT executives as one of their key issues. Much research has been carried out on Business-IT alignment. This has resulted in different models of alignment factors, different approaches to measure and communicate alignment in enterprises. The objective of this paper is to develop a conceptual basis for alignment measurement on the basis of the existing models. This paper will present the development of a conceptual Business-IT model of five alignment factor categories. These categories are: Intention and Support, Working Relationship, Shared Domain Knowledge, IT Projects and Planning, and IT Performance. The conceptual model has been made operational by identifying measures and measurement scales. To validate the alignment factor measurement model a case study has been carried out at five organisations operating in the financial sector in The Netherlands. The final objective is to improve the communication in enterprises between business and IT professionals on alignment and subsequently the selection and prioritization of IT projects.
While the importance of IT-business alignment is rarely questioned, strong theoretical development of alignment's nomological network has not been developed or tested. This has generated a debate on why tighter alignment may or may not lead to higher levels of firm performance. To further understand the alignment-performance relationship, we used meta-analytic structural equation modeling techniques to probe the inter-relationships found in 78 independent datasets drawn from the literature. We find intellectual alignment influences operational alignment, identify a more nuanced understanding of the performance constructs, and offer insight into how governance structure and social alignment influence intellectual and operational alignment.
Our research addresses one of the most vexing issues in IS, that of how IS alignment occurs. Even more vexing, and largely unaddressed, is the issue of sustainable IS alignment. We address sustainable IS alignment as a dynamic, multi-faceted, and non-deterministic process based on the complexity theory worldview. The complexity theory worldview conceives of organizations and IS as complex adaptive systems (CAS) that co-evolve over time. Sustainable IS alignment results when an organization's complex adaptive IS adapt to remain in alignment with the constantly-changing (that is, evolving) organization's goals. Our co-evolutionary theory of IS alignment links bottom-up, emergent processes that foster adaptivity with top-down, formal organizational processes essential to established organizations. We illustrate the theory by applying it to the co-evolution and therefore adaptation of enterprise architectures and IS development projects. Our research on the role of co-evolution in sustainable IS alignment contributes to IS research in general and to prior research on IS alignment in particular, and has implications for achieving sustainable IS alignment. We believe that portraying organizations and their IS as complex adaptive systems that co-evolve provides both research and practice with a way to move forward in their endeavors to realize the potential benefits from using IS to enable businesses.
The alignment of business and IT has been a persistent topic of discussion in the past decades. As information systems have evolved from an administrative support function to an integral part of business fabric, the classic "internal" perspective adopted by the bulk of alignment research falls short in accounting for the dynamic business network context and continuous evolution with the environment. The information systems planning and strategy discourse should transcend the notion of "alignment" and bring out the strategy-shaping role of IT. This paper presents a classification of business-IT alignment approaches vis-á-vis respective schools of thought in strategic management. Both disciplines are seen to co-evolve with the increasingly complex "strategic context". The approach is meant to help contextualize extant and future work in terms of underlying assumptions and thereby make more conscious statements about the practical applicability of research topics, methods and results in varying contexts. As relatively simple, static and mechanistic conceptualizations of strategy and business-IT alignment render inadequate, concepts such as dynamic capabilities, co-evolution and organizational ambidexterity represent a more adaptive and more encompassing approach to make sense of the increasingly complex strategic context.
Researchers and practitioners alike have taken note of the potential value of an organization's IT infrastructure. IT infrastructure expenditures account for over 58 percent of an organization's IT budget and the percentage is growing at 11 percent a year. Some even have called IT infrastructure the new competitive weapon and see it as being crucial in developing a sustained competitive advantage. Unique characteristics of an IT infrastructure determine the value of that infrastructure to an organization. One characteristic, IT infrastructure flexibility, has captured the attention of researchers and practitioners. In fact, in most recent surveys featuring issues of most importance to IT executives, the development of a flexible and responsive IT infrastructure and related topics are always at or near the top of the responses. Although the importance of IT infrastructure flexibility has been established, the development of a valid, reliable instrument to measure this construct has not been reported in th e literature. The purpose of this paper is to better define the IT infrastructure flexibility construct and to develop a valid, reliable measurement instrument for this construct. In addition to the definition and operationalization of the IT infrastructure flexibility construct, this study explores the instrument's predictive validity with possible antecedent and consequent variables.
There are still many organizations that face difficulties in achieving business/IT alignment. Prior research has focused on the positive impact of alignment on overall business performance, while the barriers in achieving business/IT alignment were largely unexplored, especially in regards to the social dimension that refers to the people involved in alignment. Therefore this research is focusing on identifying and investigating the barriers that inhibit achieving social dimension of business/IT alignment in large organizations. A case study is conducted in one of the largest Swedish companies. The data is collected through seven semi-structured interviews, field-notes and the use of company’s documents that were thematically analyzed. The research presents a unique case of 19 business/IT alignment barriers of social dimension that have been limited so far and which contribute to the business/IT alignment field. The main findings showed that low understanding of counterpart’s environment; poor communication; unclear specifications; limited cooperation and lack of mutual commitment and support inhibits the achievement of alignment between business and IT domains on the social dimension. The results could support the researchers to further elaborate frameworks on how to mitigate social barriers in order to achieve a better business/IT alignment. Besides, the discussed barriers can be of practical use for other organizations trying to achieve business/IT alignment with a focus on the social dimension.
The alignment of business and information technology (IT) strategies is an important and enduring theoretical challenge for the information systems discipline, remaining a top issue in practice over the past 20 years. Multi-business organizations (MBOs) present a particular alignment challenge because business strategies are developed at the corporate level, within individual strategic business units and across the corporate investment cycle. In contrast, the extant literature implicitly assumes that IT strategy is aligned with a single business strategy at a single point in time. This paper draws on resource-based theory and path dependence to model functional, structural, and temporal IT strategic alignment in MBOs. Drawing on Makadok’s theory of profit, we show how each form of alignment creates value through the three strategic drivers of competence, governance, and flexibility, respectively. We illustrate the model with examples from a case study on the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. We also explore the model’s implications for existing IT alignment models, providing alternative theoretical explanations for how IT alignment creates value.
How can firms improve the degree of social alignment between their business and IT units?
Many years of research have shown the importance of business-IT alignment and its various
facets, yet research on the efficacy of IT governance mechanisms to improve business-IT
alignment is scarce. In this paper, we develop a model of social alignment at the operational
level that considers the degree of social capital between an organization’s business and IT
units, IT personnel’s business understanding, and a set of formal and informal IT governance
mechanisms that drive the creation of social alignment and business value. Using survey
data from 132 US banks, we show that social alignment is driven to varying degrees by a
broad variety of IT governance mechanisms ranging from top management support and IT
representation on the executive board to joint IT planning and IS training, regular meeting
cycles, and liaison units. Our research contributes substantially to the practical demand on
business-IT alignment research for an effective toolkit of IT governance mechanisms.
Research examining the relationship between IT–business strategic alignment (hereafter referred to as alignment) and firm performance (hereafter referred to as performance) has produced apparently conflicting findings (i.e., an alignment paradox). To examine the alignment paradox, we conducted a meta-analysis that probed the interrelationships between alignment, performance, and context constructs. We found the alignment dimensions (intellectual, operational, and cross-domain) demonstrate unique relationships with the different performance types (financial performance, productivity, and customer benefit) and with many of the other constructs in alignment’s nomological network. All mean corrected correlations between dimensions of alignment and dependent variables were positive and most of the credibility interval values in these analyses were also positive. Overall, the evidence gathered from the extant literature suggests there is not much of an alignment paradox. This study contributes to the literature by clarifying the relationships between alignment and performance outcomes and offering insight into sources of inconsistencies in alignment research. By doing so, this paper lays a foundation for more consistent treatment of alignment in future IT research.
Top management has been concerned with IT-business strategic alignment (hereafter referred to as alignment) for the past 30 years. Consequently, alignment researchers have developed many models to explain how alignment generates value for firms. However, these models use inconsistent definitions and measures of alignment, which has led to conflicting results and has potentially inhibited the progress of research on this critical topic. This paper emphasizes the importance of demarcating the six alignment types that are sometimes confused in the literature into a single, unified model. It also reports on the development of definitions and measures of these six types of alignment including alignment between IT and business strategies (i.e., intellectual alignment), between IT and business infrastructures and processes (i.e., operational alignment), and across these two domains such that strategies are linked with infrastructures and processes (i.e., four types of cross-domain alignment). Analyzing survey data collected from 140 Chief Information Officers, we found each measure possesses desirable psychometric properties. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.
It is widely acknowledged that IT and business resources need to be well aligned to achieve organizational goals. Yet, year after year, chief information officers (CIOs) still name business-IT alignment a key challenge for IT executives. While alignment research has matured, we still lack a sound theoretical foundation for alignment. Transcending the predominantly strategic executive level focus, we develop a model of 'operational alignment' and IT business value that combines a social perspective of IT and business linkage with a view of interaction between business and IT at non-strategic levels, such as in daily business operations involving regular staff. Drawing on social capital theory to explain how alignment affects organizational performance, we examine why common suggestions like "communicate more" are insufficient to strengthen alignment and disclose how social capital between IT and business units drives alignment and ultimately IT business value.
Empirical data from 136 firms confirms the profound impact of operational business-IT alignment, composed of social capital and business understanding of IT, on IT flexibility, IT utilization, and organizational performance. The results show that social capital theory is a useful theoretical foundation for understanding how business IT alignment works. The findings suggest that operational alignment is at least as important as strategic alignment for IT service quality, that managers need to focus on operational aspects of alignment beyond communication by fostering knowledge, trust and respect, and that IT utilization and flexibility are appropriate intermediate goals for business-IT alignment governance.
Several prior articles have emphasized the importance of alignment between business and information system (IS) strategies, and between business and IS structures. Seeking to advance our understanding of alignment, we examine the dynamics of changes in alignment through strategy/structure interactions in the business and IS domains. More specifically, we address the following question: In what ways does alignment evolve over time?
Changes in the strategic IS management profile (which includes business strategy, IS strategy, business structure, and IS structure) over time are examined using a punctuated equilibrium model, involving long periods of relative stability, or evolutionary change, interrupted by short periods of quick and extensive, or revolutionary, change. Case studies of changes in business and IS strategies and structure over long time periods in three organizations suggest that the punctuated equilibrium model provides a valuable perspective for viewing these dynamics.
The cases suggest that a pattern of alignment may continue over a long period, because either the level of alignment is high or the managers do not recognize the low alignment as a problem. Revolutions, involving changes in most or all dimensions of the strategic IS management profile, interrupt the evolutionary changes. However, organizations hesitate to make such revolutionary changes in strategic IS management profiles. Complete revolutions apparently require a combination of strong triggers. Finally, post-revolution adjustments to one dimension of the strategic IS management profile seem to follow revolutionary changes.
Planning for the information systems in an organization generally has not been closely related to the overall strategic planning processes through which the organization prepares for its future. An MIS strategic planning process is conceptualized and illustrated as one which links the organization's "strategy set" to an MIS "strategy set."
The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the current discourse in the Strategic Information Systems (SIS) domain about the future and identity of SIS. We draw on Nelson’s theorisation of the co-evolution of Physical and Social Technologies to redefine the SIS domain as a Complex Adaptive System (CAS) for the co-evolution of ICT and organisational capabilities and business models to create social and economic value. We conduct a meta-analysis of the domain based on a longitudinal review of SIS research over 33 years, and contrary to contemporaneous SIS literature which suggests that a paradigm shift may be necessary to address the increased turbulence, uncertainty and dynamism in the emerging competitive landscape, we find that the SIS research domain has the requisite adaptive capacity to evolve gracefully to address the challenges of the emerging networked competitive landscape. Drawing on complexity science and network theory we identify four priorities for the development of the domain for the future: conceptualisation of the SIS Domain as a CAS for the co-evolution of Physical and Social Technologies; the adoption of the network paradigm; access to a science of networks; and adoption of Complexity Science as an articulation device within SIS and across disciplines.
The alignment of IS plans with business plans is not an easy task and knowing which are the critical areas to manage will certainly enhance the success of such efforts. Although there is a large amount of research on critical success factors (CSFs), past studies usually examine CSFs of specific systems implementation (e.g., MRP) and total quality management (TQM). Relatively few studies exist on the CSFs related to aligning IS plans with business plans. This paper presents the results of an empirical study of IS executives on the relative importance of various CSFs for aligning IS plans with business plans. The results indicate that top management commitment to the strategic use of IT, IS management knowledge about business, and top management confidence in the IS department are the top three CSFs. Implications of the results are discussed.
For many years practitioners and academics have tried to answer the question of how to strategically align the objectives of information technology (IT) and business and their delivery. A strategic alignment model (SAM) has been developed and improved over the years. This model was originally developed in the 1980s when the business environment was more stable. However, owing to major market changes SAM no longer provides companies with the much-needed answers. The alignment concept is about a sequential development of strategies and a sequential operationalisation. Unfortunately, now that reliance on IT has increased to the level where a lack of IT agility and responsiveness can create a competitive disadvantage, the sequential model is too slow. This article promotes a notion of fusion. Today’s chief information officers are increasingly becoming company strategists who help their chief executive officer colleagues to steer companies. Business and IT strategies have to be developed simultaneously and implemented simultaneously. The conclusions of this article are based on practitioner views and experiences.
The strategic use of information technology (I/T) is now and has been a fundamental issue for every business. In essence, I/T can alter the basic nature of an industry. The effective and efficient utilization of information technology requires the alignment of the I/T strategies with the business strategies, something that was not done successfully in the past with traditional approaches. New methods and approaches are now available. Thes trategic alignment framework applies the Strategic Alignment Model to reflect the view that business success depends on the linkage of business strategy, information technology strategy, organizational infrastructure and processes, and I/T infrastructure and processes. In this paper, we look at why it may not be sufficient to work on any one of these areas in isolation or to only harmonize business strategy and information technology. One reason is that, often, too much attention is placed on technology, rather than business, management, and organizational issues. The objective is to build an organizational structure and set of business processes that reflect the interdependence of enterprise strategy and information technology capabilities. The attention paid to the linkage of information technology to the enterprise can significantly affect the competitiveness and efficiency of the business. The essential issue is how information technology can enable the achievement of competitive and strategic advantage for the enterprise.
An abstract is not available.
It is cleaaar that eventhough information technology (I/T) has evolved form its traditional orientation of administrative support toward a more strategic role within an organization, there is still a glaring lack of fundamental frameworks within which to understand the potential of I/T for tomorrow's organizations. In this paper, we develop a model for conceptualizing and directing the emerging area of strategic management of information technology. This model, termed the Strategic Allgnment Model, is defined in terms of four fundamental domains of strategic choice: business strategy, information technology strategy, organlzational infrastructure and processes, and information technology Infrastuvture and processes--each with its own underlying dimenslons. We illustrate the power of this model in terms of two fundamental characteristics fo strategic management: strategic fit (the interrelationships between external and internal components) and functional Integration (integration between business and functional domains). More specifically, we derive foru perspectives for gulding management practice in this Important area.
In this article I describe and compare ct number of alternative generic strategies for the analysis of process data, looking at the consequences of these strategies for emerging theories. I evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the strategies in terms of their capacity to generate theory that is accurate, parsimonious, general, and useful and suggest that method and theory are inextricably intertwined, that multiple strategies are often advisable, and that no analysis strategy will produce theory without an uncodifiable creative leap, however small. Finally, I argue that there is room in the organizational research literature for more openness within the academic community toward a variety of forms of coupling between theory and data.