| Communication Research Integration and Categorization Frameworks |
| | Lundin, John H. | U. of North Carolina, Greensboro | jhlundin@uncg.edu | (336)-334-5666 |
| | Schkade, Lawrence L. | U. of Texas, Arlington | schkade@uta.edu | (817)-272-3502 |
| | This article suggests two frameworks for the integration and categorization of communication research. The first integrates and discusses the three primary communication research domains (individual, organizational and systemic) and their intersections, and provides examples. The second develops a matrix to categorize communication research by combining perspectives with multiple levels of analysis.
In the first, domain integration framework, in addition to the primary domains, there are four areas of intersection. The intersection of individual and organizational domains creates a communication research domain that includes communication tasks and messages. The intersection of individual and systemic domains of communication research yields the interface between the individual and medium. The intersection between organizational and systemic domains produces functional integration between the organizational objectives and structure, and the media infrastructure and pathways. Finally, the intersection of all three primary domains, individual, organizational and systemic, yields the architecture domain, which balances the individual needs and requirements for meaning; the organizational form, objectives and tasks, and the systemic necessity for organizational communication infrastructure and design.
The second, a matrix to categorize communication research, combines four communication research perspectives, and multiple levels of analysis. The intersection of each of the research perspectives and levels of analysis yields an individual cell that has specific properties. Both communication theory and research map to the cells of the matrix. The combination of the communication research domains and categorization frameworks provides a foundation for theory and research description and scope.
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| | Keywords: communication research; integration frameworks; research perspectives |
| Content Factors Influencing Accuracy of Authorship Attributions for Anonymous, Mediated Brainstorming Comments |
| | Hayne, Stephen C. | Arizona State U., West | hayne@asu.edu | (602)-543-6256 |
| | Rice, Ronald E. | Rutgers U., New Brunswick | rrice@scils.rutgers.edu | (732)-932-7381 |
| | Pollard, Carol E. | U. of Colorado, Boulder | pollard@spot.colorado.edu | (303)-492-3937 |
| | This study analyzes the content-based influences on accuracy of attributions about the identity of technically
anonymous comment authors. Immediately after participants in 32 small groups began using a
Group Support System to enter technically anonymous comments about a salient topic during a
brainstorming session, each member was asked to attribute authorship to a sample of the session's
anonymous comments, whose authorship was known to the researchers. GSS participants made
attributions that were very accurate, yet not related to vividness or length of the comments, but were
related to evaluative tone. |
| | Keywords: GSS; anonymity; brainstorming |
| The Reluctance to Report Bad News on Troubled Software Projects: Toward a Theoretical Model |
| | Smith, H. Jeff | Wake Forest U. | Jeff.Smith@mail.mba.wfu.edu | (336) 758-3686 |
| | Keil, Mark | Georgia State U. | mkeil@gsu.edu | (404)-651-3830 |
| | The reported statistics on software projects are bleak: by most accounts at least
one in four projects ends in failure. For some software projects, a particular pattern of
failure has been recently noted in the literature--a tendency of escalating commitment to a
failing course of action. Escalation occurs when decision-makers "throw good money
after bad," continuing to pursue a course of action that is not yielding the desired result.
Anecdotal evidence and at least one recent study of troubled software projects
suggest that escalation can be exacerbated by the reluctance of organizational members to
transmit negative information concerning a project. Thus, while evidence
of a failing course of action may exist in the lower ranks of an organization, this
information sometimes fails to be communicated up the hierarchy or is substantially
distorted in the process. The result is that decision-makers with the authority to change
the direction of the project are unaware of its true status.
By modeling this reluctance to transmit negative information and improving our
understanding of the phenomenon, we believe that prescriptions can eventually be
developed to reduce the incidence of project escalation. In this paper, we examine the
reluctance to transmit negative information and develop a theoretical model that explains
this phenomenon within a software project context. The model we develop draws on
literature from the fields of organizational behavior, business ethics, economics, and
information systems and points the direction for future research aimed at testing specific
hypotheses.
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| | Keywords: whistleblowing; software project management; escalation |
| A Synchronous Innovation Perspective of Software Reusability |
| | Ravichandran, Thiagarajan | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | ravit@rpi.edu | (518) 276 2035 |
| | Information systems departments are being challenged to improve systems delivery performance. Software reuse is a potential strategy to address recurring systems development problems such as high development cost, low programmer productivity and long systems delivery lead time. However, the barriers associated with reuse implementation are significant. A better understanding of the administrative changes that facilitate reuse implementation is required to further research and practice in this area. We conceptualize reusability as a software process innovation that constitutes administrative and technological dimensions. Drawing from the synchronous innovation concepts, four theoretical models of the interrelationships between these dimensions and systems delivery performance are developed. Using the data collected from IS units in 123 Fortune 1000 firms these models are evaluated. The results strongly suggest that administrative innovations intervene in the relationship between technological innovations and systems delivery performance and vice versa. This implies that synergies exists between administrative and technological dimensions of reusability which are more important in explaining variance in systems delivery performance than these dimensions individually. Implications of the study for theory, future research and practice are identified and discussed. |
| | Keywords: Organizational Innovation; Information Systems Management; Systems Development |
| The Impact of Business Process Reengineering on Organizational Controls in an IT-enabled Environment |
| | Sia, Siew Kien | Nanyang Technological U. | asksia@ntu.edu.sg | (65)-790-6219 |
| | Neo, Boon Siong | Nanyang Technological U. | absneo@ntu.edu.sg | (65)-790-5650 |
| | Ang, Soon | Nanyang Technological U. | asang@ntu.edu.sg | 011-65-790-4717 |
| | While the benefits of process integration in business reengineering have been enthusiastically publicized, the impacts on organizational control have received little attention. Existing literature tend to focus on the principles, implementation issues, and the critical success factors for BPR. Research on the control impacts of BPR, if any, is descriptive and often explored only as a small part of a wider research focus. This research is a two-part study that aims to understand the evolution of organizational control consequential to BPR. Based on a grounded, qualitative approach, study 1 surfaced some propositions of the consequential control changes. The qualitative data came from 32 field interviews and other relevant secondary data sources provided by the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore.
These propositions were empirically tested in study 2 through a survey of 179 employees. A repeated measures MANOVA was performed. The research suggests that emergent controls are systematically related to the nature of reengineered processes. The predicted pervasive increases of outcome control and the increase of clan control for knowledge-intensive processes were supported. However, there was little support for the hypothesized reduction in behavior control. Further analysis suggested the "downward inflexibility" of existing controls. New mechanisms were introduced as "add-ons". This observation thus challenges the implicit economic rationality behind traditional control frameworks. |
| | Keywords: Organizational control; Business process reengineering; Work design |