Person

• Technology's ability to enhance an individual's creativity including fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration.
• Characteristics of IS personnel that affect their creative performance including curiosity, humor, tolerance for ambiguity, and spontaneity.
• Evaluation of the impacts of perceptual characteristics such as spatial and verbal acuity on creative performance.

• Critical evaluation of the theories concerning how creativity occurs.
• Descriptions and evaluations of popular techniques to support creative performance including brainstorming, pattern switching, and frame breaking.
• Methods and tools to support end-user acceptance of new communication and information technology innovations including ROI, payback and competitive advantage.

• Descriptions and critiques of evaluation methods used to determine the "creativity" of outputs including ideas, products, and services.
• Theoretical discussions and/or case studies of how creative outputs become strategic innovations

• Characteristics of the IS environment that enhance creativity.
• Environmental rewards and constraints that enhance and/or hinder creativity.
• Culture and norms of IS personnel and end-users concerning creativity and innovation.

Minitrack Chairs

Data Warehousing

The minitrack will serve several general data warehousing areas: applications, process, and managerial and technical issues. Each area can address a number of categories, as listed below:

• Data warehousing and the Web
• Data mining
• Decision support systems
• Executive information systems
• Graphical information systems
• End user queries
• OLAP/ROLAP/MOLAP
• Packaged solutions
• Data Warehousing Process
• Data extracting, cleaning, and transforming
• Maintaining data on appropriate data stores (e.g., relational, multi-dimensional databases)
• Meta-data management
• Integration of data warehousing with ERP
• Managerial and Technical Issues
• Benefits and business value from warehousing
• Case studies
• Current practices
• Data Quality
• The role in knowledge management
• Development methodologies
• The economics of data warehousing

Minitrack Chairs (Please submit papers to Barbara Haley)

ERP System Issues and Answers

Even with this phenomenal growth there is little in the academic literature about ERP issues, implementation results, and other topics. Topics or research questions that are of particular interest include the following:

• How does ERP evolve or change the COB curriculum?
• What are the costs and benefits of ERP installations? Have expectations been realized? How do we know?
• What are the true costs of implementing an ERP and how are these costs accounting for in organizations?
• How are ERP systems being adopted by organizations? What changes do organizations go through to get and deploy an ERP? What resulting changes occur after the ERP is implemented? Anticipated or not?
• How do you manage the bolt-on problem? What are the strategies for dealing with bolt-on products? What are the issues aside from version control? How are they addressed?
• How do you keep and hire ERP specialists? How are organizations addressing the shortage of ERP specialists? Are colleges helping with the shortage or not?
• How do you manage the software development process in an ERP implementation? How can the Project management and change management research be applied here? Is this research being applied to this situation?
• What is the real value of hands-on experience with ERPs in college curricula? How do students fair in the job market with hands-on versus those with no hands-on experience?
• What are the differences and similarities between ERP and Knowledge management implementations? Are they more different than alike? (SAP believes that ERPs will become one component in a Knowledge Management system within 2-3 years [SAPPHIRE Sept. 1998].)
• How does a company create "felt need" for change during an ERP implementation? How do users own the change?

• Implementation issues and concerns
• Comparison of different ERP systems
• Costs and Benefits of ERP systems in organizations
• Support (on-going and initial start-up) issues
• Training and retention of qualified staff
• Relationship between ERPs and Knowledge Management systems

Minitrack Chairs (Please submit papers to Gail Corbitt)

IS in Global Business

This minitrack will draw together research on a wide range of problem areas including:

New forms of organisation on a global scale.

In particular we are interested in papers discussing emerging forms of networked and virtual organizations and their consequences for and how they are enabled by Information Technology Infrastructures. For example we encourage studies covering organizational design of global organization and supply chains using information technology and systems; also covering innovative exploitation and business impact of new global technologies such as wireless communications and low-level satellites.

Information Technology infrastructures.

Broad telecommunication (e.g. EDI) and software infrastructures (e.g. SAP, BAAN, Intentia's MOVEX) enable the cooperation between and coordination of business processes on a global scale. We are interested in papers addressing questions of functionality, overall architectures, integration, and implementation of global IT infrastructures.

Business process re-engineering and change management issues connected with the implementation of large-scale systems.

Business Process Redesign and Business Network Redesign are preconditions for reaping the benefits of implementation of new IT infrastructures. We are interested in papers discussing new global forms of intra- and inter organizational networks enabled by IT, like coordination of global project teams and structures, for example in new product design teams, international audit and services, and global banking.

Global IS management.

Operating on a global scale introduces new questions regarding the management of Information Systems.e.g., policies on centralization and decentralization and on standardization have to be reconsidered. Particularly interesting is how in the European market the rise of single European business community will affect existing strategies.

Industry analyses.

We will wellcome papers covering the development related to the above mentioned themes (e.g. based on scenario planning approaches) in specific industries, like the financial industry.

The minitrack invites papers on the themes mentioned above, covering:

• Case and empirical studies of IT in multinational and global firms, focusing on the development and management of the technology;
• Comparative research into common theoretical ideas and international studies into single organisations or market networks.

Minitrack Chairs

Information Technology and Market Structure

Papers are being requested on any topic relating to strategic and competitive information systems. The following areas are suggestive of the range of topics that are considered suitable:

• Market quality, and the productivity of traders and of financial services markets, under conditions of rapid technological innovation
• The competitive balance among competing market centers and the possibility of winning order flow, and gaining competitive advantage through application of IT
• Methods for designing a market structure and implementing the appropriate technologies for organizing trading and price determination
• The new electronic markets of the Internet and electronic commerce
• Information endowment, transparency and profitability; that is, how does information availability affect trading strategies, the balance of power among parties in the trade, and the profitability of these players? What is the future role of brokers and of other intermediaries?
• Globalization of financial markets, including increasing integration of markets and increasing inter-market competition

Minitrack Chairs

Information Technology in Developing Countries

We are also interested in developing, underdeveloped or less privileged communities within otherwise developed countries and their use of IT. We welcome papers that contain original ideas and examples of practical application and implementation of information technology in the contexts we have identified. Although submissions concerning most types of IT implementations are welcome, we especially encourage those on the following specific topics of current interest to developing countries:

Internet usage

• Diffusing access
• Internet Service Provider management issues
• Maximizing the use of limited resources
• Adapting technologies to local conditions

• Spreading telecommunications to rural and remote communities
• Supporting rural economies
• Health care delivery in rural and remote areas
• Distance education for rural learning
• Supporting rural commerce electronically
• Electronic governance for rural communities

• Policy making processes for IT in the developing world
• IT to support policy decision-making
• National policy analyses
• National policy comparisons

• Technology transfer in Development practice
• Sustainability in Development applications
• Measuring the social value of IT
• Understanding the relationship between IT spending and benefits
• Societal implications of IT implementation
• Implementation success/failure factors
• Coping with resistance to change
• Y2K issues for developing countries

• Theory building for IT in Development
• Bibliographic analyses of IT issues in Development
• Research relevance and impacts
• Methodologies for IT research in Development; action research, ethnography, phenomenological and interpretative approaches.

• Issues in teaching computing in developing countries
• Computer literacy for development
• Curriculum development for IT
• Distance learning and remote education
• Organizational capacity building

• Cross-cultural analyses
• Cultural dimensions of IT implementations
• Cultural adaptation to IT
• Cultural barriers to IT diffusion

Minitrack Chairs

Knowledge/Technology Transfer and Adoption

K/TT is becoming a major management focus and involves a range of organizational, informational, and behavioral challenges to getting knowledge (ideas and products) from research to process applications and to the marketplace and other uses in a cost effective and timely manner. As R&D advanced technologies become increasingly complex; as outsourcing R&D becomes increasingly common; as technologies proliferate while product development cycles shrink; as world-class talent and other resources become increasingly scarce; and as the global market place becomes increasingly competitive, the importance of effective, efficient, and timely knowledge/technology transfer and adoption becomes increasingly apparent. It is important for the birth, survival, and growth of small firms and the diversification and competitiveness of mid-sized and large firms in all industry sectors. And it is increasingly important in the public sector.

The minitrack will focus on such topics as:

• Barriers and facilitators to effective and efficient knowledge transfer and application from both theoretical and practical perspectives
• K/TT across industry, government, and academic organizations
• The management of knowledge in new organizational forms such as research consortia
• The global implications of knowledge management and transfer in the digital age
• Key differences between codified (structural capital) and tacit (human capital) knowledge.

Minitrack Chair

Evaluating and Measuring the Effectiveness of Information Systems

Stream A: IS/IT Evaluation

Contributed papers may deal with (but are not limited to):

• Techniques for ex ante and ex post IS Investment Appraisal
• Qualitative and Quantitative Evaluation Techniques
• Technology Management in Organizations
• Capital Budgeting and Financial Appraisal of IS Investments
• Risks of IS Investments
• Cost/Benefit and Risk Considerations/Realizations
• Social/Human Aspects of Decision Making
• IT/IS Performance Measures
• Macro-economic or Industry-wide Assessment of IT
• IS Project Management and Control

Stream B: Managing the Effectiveness of Emerging Technologies

Effectiveness/Impact Measures Under Study:

Workflow, Interorganizational power, IS downsizing, Team effectiveness, Implementation success, System flexibility, Intended utilization, Customer facing value, Creativity, Communication richness, IS restrictiveness, User acceptance, Total quality, Team agreement/convergence, Interoperability, Customer satisfaction, Innovation/diffusion, Change patterns, Reactance theory, Control/resistance, Reengineering, Coordination, Organizational learning, Information flow, Strategic alignment, Normative Influence, System success

Emerging Technologies Under Study:

Data Warehouses, Global information systems, Computer-supported cooperative work, Hypertext, Computer-mediated conferencing, Collaborative learning technology, Groupware, Interorganizational systems, Distributed group support systems, Computer imaging, Electronic commerce, Object-oriented information systems, Telework, Object-oriented information systems, Internet applications, Team support systems, Intelligent organizational systems, Computer modeling and simulation, Advanced authoring systems, Multi-lingual/multi-cultural software, System/dynamic modeling, Enterprise-wide resource planning systems (ERPs)

Research Design Orientation:

Theory building, Construct investigation, Model retest/ reformulation, Model development/testing, Instrument validation, Hypotheses testing

Analysis Tools and Techniques:

Cross-cultural analysis, Case studies, Causal modeling studies, Grounded theory approach, Field studies - survey/interviews, Non-parametric investigations, Experimental design, Literary criticism/content analysis, Ontological mapping, Cognitive fit analysis, Language-action analysis, Analytic deduction/ hermeneutics, Meta analysis/conceptual mapping, Structural equation modeling

Minitrack Chairs

Methods and Approaches In Organizational Systems Research

In particular, the use of multi-disciplinary, multi- methodological approaches associated with an increased awareness of the organizational complexities related to information technologies are gaining momentum. It is valuable for researchers to be able to share and compare experiences with the approaches they use to investigate real world organizational issues. In addressing this need, this minitrack provides a forum for discussion and debate in methods and approaches that may be used to investigate the ways in which organizational systems and technology affects the relations between organizations and in the organizational form itself. Particular issues that may be addressed are as follows:

1. Investigating how organizations emerge, evolve and dissolve over time through the application and use of organizational systems. In particular, how do we research the development of organizational forms that result from the use of information technology?
2. Research approaches which addresses the varying organizational arrangements in which electronic communication systems are used.
3. Methods and alternative approaches for investigating new communication technologies.
4. How work life in the new organizational form may be investigated.

1. Philosophies for researching organizational systems such as:
   • Interpretivist
   • Positivist
   • Critical
   • Combinations of the above?
2. Matching research methodologies to organizational systems that require investigation such as:
   • Organizational forms including network organizations
   • [Inter-]Organizational communication and collaboration
   • Fostering relationships across organizations, geographical and cultural domains
   • Problem solving within organizations
3. Experiences with research methodologies informing and guiding the future application of such methodologies.
4. Formulating multi-disciplinary views/approaches and combining methodological approaches, tools and techniques in research into organizational systems.

Minitrack Chair (Please send all correspondence to Sajda Qureshi)

Project Management

Their work environment seems to be characterized as follows:

Multidisciplinary task integration o Need for innovation o Risks, uncertainties o High skills requirements o Multi-functional work teams o Limited management control o Conflict among technical groups o Changing technologies o Evolving solutions which can't be programmed o Difficulty of estimating resources o Difficulty of measuring project status o Multiple solutions o Changing requirements.

Yet another important fact is the increased application of formal project management to service-oriented projects. Today, many service-oriented projects are as technology-based, capital-intensive, and complex as their manufacturing or RD&E counterparts. They include transportation, communications, finance, advertising, health care, consulting, and education.

These managers often feel that conventional methods of managerial planning, staffing, evaluation, delegation, and control are no longer applicable to their dynamic and often temporary work environment. In addition they have to deal effectively with conflict, change, risks and uncertainty. Knowledge of modern project management provides the foundation for effective role performance in a project-driven business and is often crucial to personal advancement in today's demanding organizational environment.

Formal knowledge and skill sets of project management have becomes critical to effective role performance. Yet, most of the state-of-the-art tools and techniques currently emerge from "best practices" and are disseminated via advanced conferences, workshops and professional literature, rather than traditional university education. Therefore the HICSS Conference will play an important role in sharing advanced knowledge in the field of project management, especially as it relates to the broader field of technology and system science.

Topical Areas of Project Management Minitrack. The topical areas suggested for this minitrack will provides a framework for attracting researchers and practitioners of technology-based project management, and ultimately provide a forum for discussing advanced concepts, tools and techniques for managing project in today's dynamic and challenging business environment. The emphasis will be on best-in-class practices and state-of-the-art concepts and the latest techniques for tracking and controlling projects, compressing the time-to-market cycles, managing innovation under cost and time pressures, managing project teams in decentralized organizations, and dealing with interruptions, risks, conflict and commitment. Specifically, the Project Management Minitrack is designed to attract papers (and audiences) in the following areas:

Managing in multidisciplinary technical team environments

• Leadership issues in technical project management
• Emerging tools and techniques for managing information system projects
• Internet-based project management
• Developing state-of-the-art project organizations
• Knowledge and skill building for project managers.

Minitrack Chair

Strategic And Competitive Information Systems

• Detailed case studies of individual strategic information systems, and their impact on the innovator, their impact on its competitors and customers, and resulting changes in the structure of the industry
• Industry studies on the use of information systems, and the relationship between use of systems and market share, profitability, or other measures of competitive advantage
• Economic analyses of strategic and competitive information systems, or topics within the general area of the economics of information and information systems
• Implications of information technology on the competitive structure of industries, and the implications for strategies available to different firms
• Implications of emerging information technologies for the structure of individual firms, and the relationships among organizations
• Social and public policy implications of rapid innovation in IT
• Managing the risk of large scale implementations, including the special risks of implementing strategic information systems and managing organizational change
• Strategic enabling technologies (e.g., intranets, data warehousing, data mining, middleware, software and hardware standards, among others)

Minitrack Chairs

Technology Management for Doing Business in the Knowledge Based Economy

The mini-track two major components:

• The transition from value chains to value-creating networks. This mini-track focuses on the techniques and processes for managing technologies in such networks.
• Differences in managing technology in SMEs and large enterprises: Small and medium sized enterprises have different needs and develop different systems for managing technology than do large organizations. The mini-track seeks research papers that examine the special needs of the two types of firms.

• Planning and justification
• Implementation
• Use
• Assessment. and analysis of existing practice

Minitrack Chairs

Trends in Outsourcing of Information Services

Recently, a shift in IS managers' concerns has been observed. A few years ago their main questions were around the question: "Should we outsource?". Now, they are asking more and more "What should we outsource?" and "How should we outsource?". Different organizational forms are taking place and different outsourcing profiles can be observed.

The mini-track seeks to attract papers addressing various issues pertaining to outsourcing: organizational forms and alliances, contract management, decision process, impact evaluation, and so on. Case studies, presenting outsourcing arrangements and best practices, surveys, explaining outsourcing patterns or trends in the industry, as well as theoretical papers modeling contract types are welcome.

Minitrack Chairs