Enabling the Effective Involvement of Multiple Users: Methods and Tools for Collaborative Software Engineering

Dean, Douglas L.; Lee, James; Pendergast, Mark; Hickey, Ann M.; Nunamaker, Jay F.

doi:10.1080/07421222.1997.11518180

Cited by 60 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 17 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Some of the knowledge of the project's problem domain can be highly tacit, "sticky," and deeply embedded in the idiosyncratic internal practices of the client fi rm [20,69]. For example, blueprints, formulas, internal business processes, and idiosyncratic routines are often diffi cult to articulate-or low in specifi ability-because of their tacit and embedded nature.…”

Section: Requirements Knowledge Specifi Abilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

A Comparison of Transaction Cost, Agency, and Knowledge-Based Predictors of IT Outsourcing Decisions: A U.S.-Japan Cross-Cultural Field Study

Tiwana

Bush

2007

Journal of Management Information Systems

140

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

As outsourcing evolves into a competitive necessity, managers must increasingly contend with the decision about which software development projects to outsource. Although a variety of theories have been invoked to study the initial outsourcing decision, much of this work has relied in isolation on one theoretical perspective. Therefore, the relative importance ascribed by managers to the factors from these theories is poorly understood. The majority of this work also masks interesting insights into outsourcing decisions by focusing on the information technology (IT) function rather than individual projects as the unit of analysis, where many of these decisions occur. In contrast, prior research at the project level has focused on predicting development performance in the postoutsourcing-decision phases of projects.The objective of this study is to examine the relative importance that IT managers ascribe to various factors from three complementary theories-transaction cost economics, agency theory, and knowledge-based theory-as they simultaneously consider them in their project outsourcing decisions. A secondary objective is to assess the cross-cultural robustness (United States versus Japan in this study) of such models in predicting project-level IT outsourcing decisions. We develop and test a multitheoretic model using data on 1,008 project-level decisions collected from 33 Japanese and 53 U.S. managers. Overall, our results provide novel insights into the 260 TIWANA AND BUSH relative importance that managers ascribe to the factors from these three theories, their complementarities and occasional contradictions, and offer new insights into the differences among U.S. and Japanese IT managers. Implications for theory and practice are also discussed.KEY WORDS AND PHRASES: agency theory, conjoint study, IT sourcing, Japanese software, knowledge-based theory, knowledge management, outsourcing, subcontracting, transaction cost economics, vendor selection.A chal l enging but important decision that contemporary information technology (IT) managers face is the decision about whether to outsource or internalize applications development projects. IT project outsourcing is defi ned as an interfi rm contractual arrangement in which an external software development organization (hereinafter "vendor") custom develops a software application for a client fi rm [48]. Although outsourcing is increasingly viewed as a competitive necessity, it is nevertheless a risky-and often irreversible-decision [32,50]. The stakes in such decisions are high considering that only one in six internal IT projects is successful (i.e., on schedule, within budget, and fulfi lls its intended goals), yet the annual IT outsourcing spending in the United States alone is approaching $50 billion [32]. It is therefore vital to understand how managers charged with outsourcing decision making actually arrive at those decisions.A review of the past two decades of literature reveals two overarching themes in IT outsourcing studies: (1) studies that...

show abstract

Section: Requirements Knowledge Specifi Abilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

A Comparison of Transaction Cost, Agency, and Knowledge-Based Predictors of IT Outsourcing Decisions: A U.S.-Japan Cross-Cultural Field Study

Tiwana

Bush

2007

Journal of Management Information Systems

140

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Facilitation has been theorized to be critical to GSS success [6,13]. Process facilitation has been shown to have a positive effect on meeting processes [34].…”

Section: Technologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, conflicts may be lost in the volume of electronic text produced in GSS/JAD sessions. Further, the textual nature of general purpose GSS make systematic assessment of completeness and consistency nearly impossible [13]. Therefore, structures for model definitions, including definitions of elements and their relationships, must be included in an smGSS.…”

Section: Technologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Structured modeling group support systems: a product design theory

Walsh

Dickey

2004

Information & Management

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…It can also facilitate the production of radical ideas [39]. Finally, groupware can enable the use of larger groups so participants at all levels can be included [11,35].…”

Section: Groupware-supported Bprmentioning

confidence: 99%

Breaking the rules: success and failure in groupware-supported business process reengineering

Dennis¹,

Carte²,

Kelly³

2003

Decision Support Systems

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In the information economy, businesses are changing more often and more rapidly than ever before. The lessons learned from a decade of business process reengineering (BPR) research may provide insights to researchers and managers trying to understand and successfully navigate these changes. This paper examines the successes and failures of groupware-supported BPR processes in four organizations. Two were successful and two were failures. Groupware allowed certain tasks to be performed faster, added structure to the BPR process and facilitated participation by more people. The key difference between the successful and the unsuccessful cases was when and how senior management was involved. D

show abstract

Enabling the Effective Involvement of Multiple Users: Methods and Tools for Collaborative Software Engineering

Cited by 60 publications

References 17 publications

A Comparison of Transaction Cost, Agency, and Knowledge-Based Predictors of IT Outsourcing Decisions: A U.S.-Japan Cross-Cultural Field Study

A Comparison of Transaction Cost, Agency, and Knowledge-Based Predictors of IT Outsourcing Decisions: A U.S.-Japan Cross-Cultural Field Study

Structured modeling group support systems: a product design theory

Breaking the rules: success and failure in groupware-supported business process reengineering

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About