Organization Systems and Technology Track

Track Chair

Topics in Organizational Systems and Technology

This minitrack is for submissions that may not fit easily in other areas of Organizational Systems and Technology track.

Minitrack Chair

Community Informatics

We take a wide view of community informatics so as to include relevance to developing as well as developed countries and rural as well as urban communities. As such CI is a technology strategy or discipline which links economic and social development efforts at the community level with emerging opportunities in such areas as electronic commerce, community and civic networks and telecentres, electronic democracy and on-line participation, self-help and virtual health communities, advocacy, cultural enhancement and others. We welcome papers that contain original ideas and examples of practical application and implementation of information technology in CI contexts.

Minitrack Chairs:

Creativity in Information Systems

Description: Given that an organization's ability to nurture creativity can directly affect its competitive potential, this Minitrack offers a forum to discuss ways organizations and systems can enhance creative performance. All research techniques including theoretical reviews, experiments, field studies, surveys, and case analyses are desired. Topics of particular interest are categorized below according to the “4P” framework of creativity. However, the list should only be used as a conceptual guide. Additional topics relevant to creativity in information systems are welcomed.

Topics:

Minitrack Chair

Data Warehousing

Description: Data warehousing has become one of the most important developments in the information systems field. The Palo Alto Management Group predicts that the data warehousing market will grow to a $113.5 billion market in 2002, including the sales of systems, software, services, and in-house expenditures. This is not surprising considering that for the past few years, surveys of CIOs have found data warehousing, Year 2000, and electronic commerce to be at the top of their strategic initiatives. This minitrack includes all aspects of data warehousing, whether it be extracting, cleaning, and aggregating data from source systems; maintaining the data on appropriate data stores (e.g., relational, multi-dimensional databases); and accessing the data through various applications. It also includes managerial and technical issues associated with data warehousing.

Topics: 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 Applications:

• Data warehousing and the Web
• Data warehousing and enterprise resource planning (ERP)
• Customer Relationship Management
• E-commerce
• 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

Economics and Electronic Commerce

Minitrack Chairs

ERP System Issues and Answers

Description: In the new millennium, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems are becoming a major technology that a large number of firms have implemented. According to AMR Research Inc. over half of all software license and maintenance revenues can be attributed to this class of software product. This is the second year that this mini-track has been offered to explore the issues related to ERP systems.

Topics: Topics of special interest include the following:

• Implementation issues and concerns
• Comparison of different ERP systems
• Cost/Benefit analysis of ERP systems in adopting organizations
• Support issues (both initial start-up and on-going)
• Personnel training and retention issues
• Relationship of ERP systems to other systems such as E-commerce and Knowledge Management systems

Other topics related to ERP systems may also be considered. If there is doubt about the appropriateness of your topic, please contact one of the mini-track co-chairs. Note: Dr. Corbitt will be on sabbatical leave until late August, 2000 and will not be readily available before this time. During this time, send all correspondence to Dr. Mensching.

Minitrack Chairs

Information Systems in Global Business

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

1. New forms of organisation and electronic commerce on a global scale. In particular we are interested in papers discussing emerging forms of networked and virtual organizations, business to business and business to consumer innoviations, 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Global IS management. Operating on a global scale introduces new questions regarding the management of Information Systems. For example, 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.
5. Industry analyses. We will welcome papers covering the development related to the above mentioned themes (e.g. based on scenario planning approaches) in specific industries, like the financial industry.

This 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

Knowledge/Technology Transfer and Adoption

Description: Knowledge management is comprised of knowledge generation, transfer, accumulation, adoption, and diffusion. Technology transfer (TT) is defined as the adoption of knowledge. We combine these fields of research and management in the mini-track of Knowledge/Technology Transfer (K/TT) and Adoption while focusing on the movement of knowledge/technology via some type of channel (analogue or digital): person-to-person, group-to-group, organization-to-organization.

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.

Topics: The call for papers 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 organization
• 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 Chairs

Moving the Organization to Convergent Technologies: e-Business and Wireless

Description: The following topics around the strategic uses of convergent technologies clearly dictate the need for organizational readiness. e-Business models, strategic partnership alliances, technology-focused solutions, staffing, and methodologies are all part of an evolving organizational model needed to capitalize on fast moving information technologies. Emerging technologies are rolling in as "waves" and it is important to predict new technology waves as well as to anticipate organizational changes around the advantageous opportunities created by these waves.

Topics: Papers are encouraged that address the following topics among others:

• e-Business model
• Key e-business technologies
• Partnerships in the e-business space
• e-Builder methodologies
• e-Business functionality
• Organizational staff for the e-business space
• Managing investment value
• Corporate infrastructure/technology integration
• e-Business marketing initiatives
• Implications of Broadband access
• TV as an interactive platform
• Palm and Cell phone as e-commerce platforms
• Implications for multi-platform e-commerce
• Industry convergence

Minitrack Chairs

Professional Ethics in Information Systems

Description: In this proposal, we seek to solicit papers from a wide spectrum of disciplines where professional ethics in information systems are relevant. This will permit us both to present a minitrack that covers a number of sub-topic areas and in addition to assess the state of interest in the field, i.e. the extent to which one or another of the sub-topics generates more interest among researchers.

Topics: Relevant research areas include (but are not limited to) professional ethics as it applies to:

• Academic dishonesty (e.g. data fabrication, plagiarism, etc.)
• Adherence to confidentiality agreements
• Codes of conduct and practice
• Consideration of the effects on IS practice of possible future technical developments
• Cross-cultural analyses
• Data protection and privacy
• Electronic commerce - trust, security, (mis)representation, fraud
• Electronic monitoring of employees
• Government and policy concerns
• Handling of human subjects
• Healthcare
• Impartiality in data analysis and professional consulting
• Intellectual property rights (software piracy; data (including audio/video) piracy)
• Internet use, abuse and its impacts (including: virus/worm creation/distribution; spam email and mail bombs; web page and hyperlink copyright)
• Misrepresentation in digital media (doctoring of photos, videos and the like)
• Professional accountability
• Systems design/requirements engineering
• Teaching of ethics in IS

At the same time, this minitrack focuses primarily on ethical rather than legal issues, and so papers that focus exclusively on legal aspects of IS are unlikely to be accepted for the conference.

Minitrack Chairs:

Project Management

Description: Papers are invited for the Minitrack on Project Management, providing a forum for exchanging findings on emerging tools and techniques for managing effectively in technology-based team environments. The focus is on the management of technology-based projects through their people and team organizations.

Topics: The following topics are typical suggestions within this area of emphasis:

• 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

Research Methods and Approaches in Studying Organizational Systems and Technology

Description: Organizational systems and new information technologies continue to affect organizations in a number of ways and have opened a myriad of challenges for academics in particular as to how to understand the effect of these technologies on organizations and for practitioners in general attempting to meet organizational needs. Studies have emerged in the last few years that use a number of research approaches and investigate a number of issues but have yielded mixed results. 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 research 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 for example:

1. Approaches to 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. New research methods and approaches that enable the study of emerging or very dynamic fields of interest, such as e-business, virtual teamwork, (wireless) telecommunications, or global work arrangements.

Papers are invited that address these salient issues, generate discussion and debate with respect to systems in organizations, across geographical and cultural domains and inter-organizational relationships or a combination of the above.

Topics: Specific topics include, but are not limited to:

1. Methodologies for researching organizational systems such as:
   • Positivist (e.g. surveys, laboratory experiments)
   • Interpretivist (e.g. grounded theory studies, phenomenological studies, ethnographies)
   • Critical theory (e.g. critical action research, critical ethnography)
   • Combinations of the above?
2. Experiences with particular research methods and approaches informing and guiding future research into organizational systems and technologies, e.g. addressing issues such as:
   • Designing, conducting, and reporting on studies within a particular research tradition.
   • Standards of quality, validity, and verification.
   • Automated support for particular research methods and techniques.
   • Ethical issues surrounding particular research methods and techniques.
3. Formulating multi-disciplinary views/approaches and combining methodological approaches, tools and techniques in research into organizational systems, e.g. combining qualitative and quantitative approaches, triangulation.

4. 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

Minitrack Chairs

Strategic and Competitive Information Systems

Description: We encourage the submission of papers on any topic relating to strategic and competitive information systems, especially in  the emerging areas of e-commerce and e-business. The following areas are suggestive of the range of topics that are considered suitable:

• 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 and firm performance
• Competitive strategy in e-commerce and e-business settings
• Economic analyses of strategic and competitive information systems, or topics within the general area of the economics of information and information systems
• Implications of IT 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
• Organizational strategy for emerging and enabling technologies

Please submit proposals and papers as Microsoft Word .doc files or in Adobe Acrobat .pdf format via email to the mini-track co-chairs.

Minitrack Chairs

Technology Management: Doing Business in the Knowledge Based Economy

Description: The purpose of this mini-track is to stimulate applications of systems sciences to the management of technology (MoT) by providing a forum for the exchange of new research findings and concepts related to MoT and the creation of value. The scope includes both systems for managing technology (cases and models of success, the identification of critical success factors in MoT) and the social and psychological factors, models, and processes of organizational change and technology implementation throughout the value chain. The unifying theme is that of managing technology strategically so that an organization creates value for its stakeholders and learns from its implementation of technologies, particularly information technologies.

The mini-track has two major components:

1. The transition from value chains to value-creating networks. This mini-track focuses on the techniques and processes for managing technologies in such networks.
2. 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.

Topics: In order to cover the full cycle for technology management we explicitly ask for papers covering each of the following phases of the cycle:

• Planning for the use of technology
• Implementing the use of technology and the organizational changes that are enabled or necessitated by it. Under this heading special attention could be paid to control frameworks like CMM, ITIL or COSO or COBIT .
• Evaluation of the outcomes of technology management as a start for a new management cycle.

Minitrack Chairs

Trends in Outsourcing of Information Systems

Description: Outsourcing is maintaining its presence on the top list of preoccupations for current managers. New companies, traditionally in other fields of IT, are entering the arena. SAP, Oracle and Compaq are examples of theses companies entering the field of outsourcing. They propose different types of alliances, facilitating the adoption of ERP (enterprise resource planning) software. This is one of the fast growing sides of outsourcing. Reports on market evaluation indicate that growth will be uninterrupted for the next three years.

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. These new trends were the main interest of the papers presented in the Y2000; edition of the minitrack.

Topics: 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