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The Effect of Social Factors on Project Success Within Enterprise-Class System Development

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2010, Doctor of Management, Case Western Reserve University, Weatherhead School of Management.
Over time enterprises have woven together a fabric of processes, information structures, and computer tools to conduct their day-to-day business. Many of the components of this patchwork of systems cannot work together effectively, as the underlying models are incompatible. There is however, a strong business case to be made for ensuring that end-to- end business processes are interoperable, both across the enterprise, and with other enterprises. Qualitative research demonstrates that distinct cultures and non-overlapping knowledge between IS development (ISD) team members impedes system development success. It also identifies Boundary Spanning mechanisms as a significant mitigator. We develop these ideas further by exploring the mechanisms of knowledge sharing in project teams covering overlapping competence, and the presence of knowledge integration mechanisms - acculturation, boundary spanning roles- in how they affect ISD success. We utilize survey data derived from 139 ISD projects in a global US automotive OEM, completed between 2006 and 2009. We show that boundary spanning roles, acculturative processes, and cross-domain knowledge affect in significant ways IS development success. In particular, we demonstrate that facilitative boundary spanning roles - ambassador, coordinator, and scout - moderate the relationship between accumulated IS business domain knowledge and ISD success, and that IS business competence is partially determined by acculturation among IS team members, and the technical competence of the IS team. Teams with low levels of business domain knowledge may be able to mitigate their business knowledge deficit by engaging in boundary spanning behaviors as to enhance the flow of information across the team’s knowledge boundaries.
Kalle Lyytinen, Ph.D. (Advisor)
Nick Berente, Ph.D. (Advisor)

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Fisk, A. G. D. (2010). The Effect of Social Factors on Project Success Within Enterprise-Class System Development [Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=casedm1568731826882852

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Fisk, Alan. The Effect of Social Factors on Project Success Within Enterprise-Class System Development. 2010. Case Western Reserve University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=casedm1568731826882852.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Fisk, Alan. "The Effect of Social Factors on Project Success Within Enterprise-Class System Development." Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University, 2010. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=casedm1568731826882852

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)