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MIS 648 Lecture 11 1
MIS 648 Presentation Notes: Lecture 11
The Challenges of Developing Systems Internationally
MIS 648 Lecture 11 2
AGENDA
Introduction to the lecture Goal of the Lecture Challenges of International IT
Development Strategies for IT Development
MIS 648 Lecture 11 3
Basic Ideas
Developing global systems is risky There are solutions, but costly Managing global development teams is
risky Designing and operating global systems
are risky ventures Certain kinds of systems (ERP mostly)
are likely candidates with their own problems
MIS 648 Lecture 11 4
Basic Ideas
Developing global IS is difficult Strategies are needed to lower risk
(which is significant) Most of what we have to choose from is
modeled on existing development strategies
The basic domains of choice are core vs. periphery, custom vs. package and internal vs. external.
MIS 648 Lecture 11 5
Basic Ideas -2
Selection of strategy depends on four sets of characteristics:
Organizational System Core/Periphery match IS Department
What else other than the
weather could have an influence anyway?
MIS 648 Lecture 11 6
Global IS Development Strategies
Development with a multinational design team (MDT)
Parallel development (PD)Central development (CD)Core vs. local development (CL)Best-in-Firm Software adoption (BIF)Outsourced custom development (OD)Unmodified package software acquisition (UP)Modified package software acquisition (MP)*
* -- in practice all acquired packages are modified to some extent
MIS 648 Lecture 11 7
Why This List?
These eight “strategies” actually overlap significantly and do not include all possible “strategies”
Classification scheme is arbitrary, but useful Primary tensions affect strategic position of
organization Coherence of team and alignment with co. goals
are primary quality and cost factors
In fact, organizations evolve through these strategies over time anyway.
MIS 648 Lecture 11 8
Evolution of Global IT Development
Later, elements at the periphery
develop their own needs and
systems: PD
Later, the core and periphery compromise on
services implemented: CL
In the early corporate stages, all development
is handled centrally: CD
Next, the firm either
adopts best-in-
firm (BIF) or puts
together a multinational design
teamWhich is really just
another way of exercising core
control
MIS 648 Lecture 11 9
Evolution…ct’d Central development first; countered by Peripheral parallel development;
compromised by Core vs. local development; then negotiated
through either Best-in-firmor multinational design team But solution might best be brokered through
an outside outsourcer or by buying modifiable packages
MIS 648 Lecture 11 10
Categorizing and Selecting GIS Development Strategies
Domestic vs. International Team
Package vs. Custom ApproachInternal customizationExternal customization
Org’l CharacteristicsAttitudes, constraintsstructure
System CharacteristicsCommonality, size, technology appl’n type,criticality
HQ/Subs. DiffsTechnical, requmts,culture IS Dept. Char’stics
Maturity, staff skills
Global IS Development StrategiesSee previous list IS Success
Schedule, budget, user
Source: Akmanilgil&Palvia, “Strategies for Global Information Systems Development: A Critical Analysis”, 2002
MIS 648 Lecture 11 11
Risk Assessment
Risk = Σ (risk factors)
Risk Factor = Probability of harmful event *
Probability that event will cause harm *
Cost of harm.
Hurricane in South
Florida
Hurricane will destroy
our data center
Cost to us if data center is destroyed
MIS 648 Lecture 11 12
Risk Assessment
Risk Factor = Probability of harmful event *
Probability that event will cause harm *
Cost of harm.
Our exposure this year to this particular risk factor is the product of 0.5, 0.03 and $1,000,000, which is
$15,000. Hence we should spend up to $15,000 to counter or reduce this risk.
Note: These numbers and values are not static and may change abruptly or over time. All estimates are controversial and subject to debate.
Probability of
destructive hurricane in any year=0.5
Probability of our data
center being destroyed by hurricane =
0.03Cost to us if data center is destroyed = $1,000,000
MIS 648 Lecture 11 13
McFarlan’s Risk Analysis
Risk is due to three factors: Size of project, technology gap and project definition stability.
Global projects are all “large” Global projects are all subject to strong technology
strains thus increasing “gap” Global projects are generally fluid and have multiple
parties and interests and are subject to many stresses
Thus global project risk is always “High”.
MIS 648 Lecture 11 14
So What to Do?
If Risk is High, we need to counter one or all of the three risk factors:
P(harmful events) – managed via planning
P(harm from harmful events) – managed via toughening,skilling, control
Recovery costs – managed by contingency planning, redundancy, control
McFarlan describes these along two dimensions: integration and formalization
Know what might happen and its
causes
Take action to prevent harm from event or failure to
react appropriately
Have plans in place to repair
damage, recover operations
MIS 648 Lecture 11 15
Management Solutions (á la McFarlan)
Integration (implicit structure) Internal: team meetings, professional
leadership, mutual familiarity External: user leadership, user
communication and direction
Formalization (explicit structure) Planning: Formal planning methods Control: Status reviews, change
management, organizational learning
MIS 648 Lecture 11 16
Architectural Solutions: Global Software Teams
One implementation is to create global software teams that work using technology as an intermediary for collaboration.
These are a form of virtual teamwork Barkhi, Amiri and James investigated
factors that lead to successful virtual teams, teams without social presence
MIS 648 Lecture 11 17
The challenges
Coordination problems Free Riding Process losses Dysfunctions such as role overload, role
ambiguity and low individual commitment Trust is important to persuade individuals to
participate in risky activities where they see forces beyond their control (or rather can’t see forces and thus believe them to be beyond their control)
IT culture has characteristics that both enhance and
disable trust-building traits and
activities
MIS 648 Lecture 11 18
The Nature of Software Development
Unstructured Non-routine, individualistic, modularized Intangible Highly “equivocal” (confusing, multiple
meanings) Negotiated rather than blended
individual work
MIS 648 Lecture 11 19
The Nature of Communication Channels
Media Richness Theory (Daft & Lengel) Defined on the basis of feedback cues,
language variety and personal focus Rich channels reduce confusion Non-routine tasks require richness Unstructured tasks require flexible, agile
channel use, with high information content Intangibility requires richness of expression
MIS 648 Lecture 11 20
Hence…
P1 Software development team participants are more likely to collaborate with co-located members than remote members
P2 Software development team participants are more likely to break communication links with remote members than with co-located members.
MIS 648 Lecture 11 21
Coordination Needs
Coordination is critical in software development; otherwise there can be inconsistency due to divergence, causality violation and intention violation.
Coordination can be mechanistic (formal, centralized, controling) or organic (informal, decentralized, cooperative)
Thus CMC environment poses consistency challenges
Work executed at different sites is
likely to have different a lot of
variety
Lack of understanding what is causing what based on
messages.
Lack of understanding of what is intended based on what is
noticed.
MIS 648 Lecture 11 22
Hence…
P3 Software development team participants perceived more difficulty in coordinating their activities with remote members than co-located members.
MIS 648 Lecture 11 23
Life-Cycle Effects
Groups go through forming, storming, norming and performing stages.
Consensus is important for productivity Early and latest stages require rich
channels for the negotiation, without which there can be individualistic, un-trusting behavior.
MIS 648 Lecture 11 24
Group Life CycleG
roup
Eff
ectiv
enes
s
Time, Investment
Forming
Storming
Performing
Norming
Putting the group together, learning
about function
Adjusting to one another’s styles, determining diff’s
Developing agreed rules for process to
meet goals
Actually getting business done
effectively
MIS 648 Lecture 11 25
Hence…
P4 Participants are more likely to shift blame to their remote members than co-located members.
P5 But participants who work effectively with their remote members become satisfied with the work process
No surprise here!
Even less surprise
here!
MIS 648 Lecture 11 26
The Research
Teams of four students from two universities developed database applications and manuals (N=82; number of groups was unreported)
Groups either worked only F2F or F2F+remotely.
Research was “interpretive” and “qualitative”.
MIS 648 Lecture 11 27
“Results”
P1: supported by comments P2: supported by comments P3: supported by comments P4: supported by comments P5: supported by comments Additional insights: An intense need for
quick response, high-quality information, and valuable information.
MIS 648 Lecture 11 28
Recommendations
Use F2F early and late in the project Modularize, provide rapid feedback to prevent
dropping communication In addition, develop team leaders, structure
teams well, populate intelligently with knowledge of social norms and standards.
Undepersonalize through small teams, some F2F contact, be aware of social context.