Scholarly Work - Business
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://scholarworks.montana.edu/handle/1/9306
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Item A Dynamic Theory of Expertise and Occupational Boundaries in New Technology Implementation: Building on Barley's Study of CT Scanning(2004-12) Black, Laura J.; Carlile, Paul R.; Repenning, Nelson P.In this paper, we develop a theory to explain why the implementation of new technologies often disrupts occupational roles in ways that delay the expected benefits. To explore these disruptions, we construct a dynamic model grounded in ethnographic data from Barley's widely cited (1986) study of computed tomography (CT) as implemented in two hospitals. Using modeling, we formalize the recursive relationship between the activity of CT scanning and the types and accumulations of knowledge used by doctors and technologists. We find that a balance of expertise across occupational boundaries in operating the technology creates a pattern in which the benefits of the new technology are likely to be realized most rapidly. By operationalizing the dynamics between knowledge and social action, we specify more clearly the recursive relationship between structuring and structure.Item Knowledge Sharing and Trust in Collaborative Requirements Analysis(2008-11) Luna-Reyes, Luis F.; Black, Laura J.; Cresswell, Anthony M.; Pardo, Theresa A.Many information technology projects fail due to problems in requirements definition. Possible leverage points in improving requirements analysis lie in collaborative processes crossing functional and organizational boundaries, in which stakeholders learn about the problem and together identify possible solution requirements. Establishing trust among parties is critical to collaborative work, particularly in the early stages of information systems projects. However, there are few guidelines on how to establish trust among project participants. This paper draws on empirical work from the Center for Technology in Government facilitating interagency groups and system dynamics to generate a simple model of the role of knowledge sharing in building trust during the requirements analysis phase of a complex information systems project. Analysis of the model suggests that trust can depend on the pace of knowledge sharing among participants. More broadly, this examination offers a closer look at some of the “soft” variable dynamics that play critical roles in project progress.