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Article
Publication date: 6 November 2017

Kevin K. Jones, Richard L. Baskerville, Ram S. Sriram and Balasubramaniam Ramesh

The purpose of this study is to show how the presence of change caused a shift in the roles and responsibilities of the internal audit function (IAF).

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to show how the presence of change caused a shift in the roles and responsibilities of the internal audit function (IAF).

Design/methodology/approach

The methodological design/approach was constructed by combining specific aspects of widely known management accounting and organizational change frameworks. The theoretical premise was based on the old institutional economics component of institutional theory. As such, this study used the case study method to examine and analyze the impact of this change in eight specific organizations using the new two-tiered organizational change framework.

Findings

This new framework analyzes the multidimensional facets of organizational change in the IAF. From the findings, it was observed that the change can be evolutionary, episodic, continuous and/or teleological, and people, organisms and organizations that are subject to it will react or respond to that change in a myriad of ways.

Practical implications

Moreover, the implications of change can be environmental, socioeconomic and political.

Originality/value

This study makes an intellectual contribution by introducing a new two-tiered organizational change framework to explain the IAF’s response to the environmental change factor of regulation.

Details

Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change, vol. 13 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1832-5912

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 30 March 2020

Kim Stephens and Richard L. Baskerville

Physical social cues can influence the buyer and seller in business-to-business (B2B) marketing. The current behavioural model does not account for the role of implicit bias. The…

Abstract

Purpose

Physical social cues can influence the buyer and seller in business-to-business (B2B) marketing. The current behavioural model does not account for the role of implicit bias. The purpose of this paper is to present that relationship and introduce a process model to weaken implicit bias through training with the employment of transformational conversation.

Design/methodology/approach

With social cues as the predecessor to inferences, there is the potential for implicit bias to derail relationship building in a B2B context. The author’s qualitative field study offers guidance for businesses to make informed decisions about implicit bias training.

Findings

The study findings show that an interactive workshop following a process model with the addition of transformational conversation can weaken implicit bias.

Research limitations/implications

The research was conducted with a small cohort of information technology professionals. More research should be done specifically with sellers and buyers in various industries over a longer period of time with periodic follow-up on sales performance and relationship building.

Practical implications

Minority groups had a combined buying power of $3.9tn in 2018. For sellers to succeed, they have to be able to modulate the implicit biases that interfere with good sales relationships.

Originality/value

This paper introduces implicit bias as a moderator into the conceptual framework of the behavioural response to social cues in the B2B context and offers a model of implicit bias training using a process model with transformational conversation.

Details

Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, vol. 35 no. 10
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0885-8624

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 March 1997

Richard L. Baskerville

Action researchers contend that a complex social process can be studied best by introducing changes into that process and observing the effects of these changes. The approach used…

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Abstract

Action researchers contend that a complex social process can be studied best by introducing changes into that process and observing the effects of these changes. The approach used by organizational consultants must also introduce change, but in this case, the theoretical development and the rigorous empirical foundation are prerequisite elements of the activity. Participative case studies are a common scientific report proceeding from consulting projects. This paper discusses the contrasts between the action research method, consulting, and participative case studies. Ethical problems arise when action research is knowingly or unknowingly conflated with consultation practices, since this combination makes the usual set of action research dilemmas even more problematic. An improved understanding of the action research‐consulting contrasts aids in distinguishing the contributions of participative case studies to the information systems literature.

Details

Journal of Systems and Information Technology, vol. 1 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1328-7265

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 28 February 2005

Bernd Carsten Stahl

E‐Teaching as the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in education is of growing importance for educational theory and practice. Many universities and other…

Abstract

E‐Teaching as the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in education is of growing importance for educational theory and practice. Many universities and other higher education institutions use ICT to support teaching. However, there are contradicting opinions about the value and outcome of e‐teaching. This paper starts with a review of the literature on e‐teaching and uses this as a basis for distilling success factors for e‐teaching. It then discusses the case study of an e‐voting system used for giving student feedback and marking student presentations. The case study is critically discussed in the light of the success factors developed earlier. The conclusion is that e‐teaching, in order to be successful, should be embedded in the organisational and individual teaching philosophy.

Details

Interactive Technology and Smart Education, vol. 2 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1741-5659

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 October 1913

IT is not a bad idea for every librarian—when time can be found for such relaxations—to undertake a mental and professional stock‐taking. Once every few years is sufficient;…

Abstract

IT is not a bad idea for every librarian—when time can be found for such relaxations—to undertake a mental and professional stock‐taking. Once every few years is sufficient; indeed, it is inadvisable to indulge too frequently in such introspective searchings, as it is easy to engender pessimism instead of the needful healthy discontent. What is the position of librarianship to‐day, in general and in particular, as compared with the position a few years ago? What advancement really has been made? What work really has been done? What effect have my own efforts had upon the work in general? These are the questions that every earnest library worker is bound to ask himself at times if he is not to develop into an optimistic or pessimistic nuisance. They are necessary to the preservation of a just mental balance.

Details

New Library World, vol. 16 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0307-4803

Article
Publication date: 1 March 1989

Richard Ring

Towards the middle of The Name of the Rose Adso of Melk realizes that “not infrequently books speak of books.… In the light of this reflection, the library seemed all the more…

Abstract

Towards the middle of The Name of the Rose Adso of Melk realizes that “not infrequently books speak of books.… In the light of this reflection, the library seemed all the more disturbing to me. It was then the place of a long, centuries‐old murmuring, an imperceptible dialogue between one parchment and another, a living thing, a receptacle of powers not to be ruled by a human mind, a treasure of secrets emanated by many minds, surviving the death of those who had produced them or had been their conveyors.” With these thoughts in mind Adso asks his mentor William of Baskerville “what is the use of hiding books, if from the books not hidden you can arrive at the concealed ones?” William replies that “over the centuries it is no use at all. In a space of years or days it has some use.…” To which Adso, dumbfounded, asks “and is a library, then, an instrument not for distributing truth but for delaying its appearance?”

Details

Collection Building, vol. 9 no. 3/4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0160-4953

Article
Publication date: 5 June 2017

Jan Pries-Heje and Richard Baskerville

The purpose of this paper is to use translation theory to develop a framework (called FTRA) that explains how companies adopt agile methods in a discourse of fragmentation and…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to use translation theory to develop a framework (called FTRA) that explains how companies adopt agile methods in a discourse of fragmentation and articulation.

Design/methodology/approach

A qualitative multiple case study of six firms using the Scrum agile methodology. Data were collected using mixed methods and analyzed using three progressive coding cycles and analytic induction.

Findings

In practice, people translate agile methods for local settings by choosing fragments of the method and continuously re-articulating them according to the exact needs of the time and place. The authors coded the fragments as technological rules that share relationships within a framework spanning two dimensions: static-dynamic and actor-artifact.

Research limitations/implications

For consistency, the six cases intentionally represent one instance of agile methodology (Scrum). This limits the confidence that the framework is suitable for other kinds of methodologies.

Practical implications

The FTRA framework and the technological rules are promising for use in practice as a prescriptive or even normative frame for governing methodology adaptation.

Social implications

Framing agile adaption with translation theory surfaces how the discourse between translocal (global) and local practice yields the social construction of agile methods. This result contrasts the more functionalist engineering perspective and privileges changeability over performance.

Originality/value

The use of translation theory and the FTRA framework to explain how agile adaptation (in particular Scrum) emerges continuously in a process where method fragments are articulated and re-articulated to momentarily suit the local setting. Complete agility that rapidly and elegantly changes its own environment must, as a concomitant, rapidly and elegantly change itself. This understanding also elaborates translation theory by explaining how the articulation and re-articulation of ideas embody the means by which ideas travel in practice.

Details

Information Technology & People, vol. 30 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-3845

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 April 2018

Vidyasagar Potdar, Sujata Joshi, Rahul Harish, Richard Baskerville and Pornpit Wongthongtham

The purpose of this paper is to develop and empirically test a process model (comprising of seven dimensions), for identifying online customer engagement patterns leading to…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop and empirically test a process model (comprising of seven dimensions), for identifying online customer engagement patterns leading to recommendation. These seven dimensions are communication, interaction, experience, satisfaction, continued involvement, bonding, and recommendation.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors used a non-participant form of netnography for analyzing 849 comments from Australian banks Facebook pages. High levels of inter-coder reliability strengthen the study’s empirical validity and ensure minimum researcher bias and maximum reliability and replicability.

Findings

The authors identified 22 unique pattern of customer engagement, out of which nine patterns resulted in recommendation/advocacy. Engagement pattern communication-interaction-recommendation was the fastest route to recommendation, observed in nine instances (or 2 percent). In comparison, C-I-E-S-CI-B-R was the longest route to recommendation observed in ninety-six instances (or 18 percent). Of the eight patterns that resulted in recommendation, five patterns (or 62.5 percent) showed bonding happening before recommendation.

Research limitations/implications

The authors limited the data collection to Facebook pages of major banks in Australia. The authors did not assess customer demography and did not share the findings with the banks.

Practical implications

The findings will guide e-marketers on how to best engage with customers to enhance brand loyalty and continuously be in touch with their clients.

Originality/value

Most models are conceptual and assume that customers typically journey through all the stages in the model. The work is interesting because the empirical study found that customers travel in multiple different ways through this process. It is significant because it changes the way the authors understand patterns of online customer engagement.

Book part
Publication date: 18 December 2007

Birgitta Bergvall-Kåreborn, Marita Holst and Anna Ståhlbröst

We present a new approach that shifts the leverage point of information systems development from problem orientation to opportunity development. Our approach, entitled FormIT…

Abstract

We present a new approach that shifts the leverage point of information systems development from problem orientation to opportunity development. Our approach, entitled FormIT, employs a careful focus on enhanced user involvement, concentrating on users as human beings, and attention to users’ needs as opposed to system requirements. As theoretical and methodological foundations, we build on the 4-D cycle model of Appreciative Inquiry and current research on needfinding. Our field experience demonstrates that FormIT shifts the systems development process from being reactive to being proactive, and in turn, enables a smoother implementation of inevitable change, particularly radical change. Moreover, FormIT stimulates the generation of rich local knowledge and helps reveal deep insights into the development process and the overall organization.

Details

Designing Information and Organizations with a Positive Lens
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84950-398-3

Book part
Publication date: 15 October 2020

Elizabeth H. Gorman and Fiona M. Kay

In elite professional firms, minorities are actively recruited but struggle to move upward. The authors argue that initiatives aimed at general skill development can have…

Abstract

In elite professional firms, minorities are actively recruited but struggle to move upward. The authors argue that initiatives aimed at general skill development can have unintended consequences for firm diversity. Specifically, the authors contend that approaches that win partner support through motivational significance and interpretive clarity provide a more effective avenue to skill development for minorities, who have less access than White peers to informal developmental opportunities. The authors also argue that a longer “partnership track,” which imposes a time limit on skill development, will benefit minority professionals. Using data on 601 offices of large US law firms in 1996 and 2005, the authors investigate the effects of five developmental initiatives and partnership track length on the representation of African-Americans, Latinxs, and Asian-Americans among partners. Observed effects are consistent with expectations, but patterns vary across racial-ethnic groups.

Details

Professional Work: Knowledge, Power and Social Inequalities
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80043-210-9

Keywords

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