Knowledge Sharing within IT Projects

Even though today’s corporations recognize that they need to understand modern project management techniques (Schwalbe, 2002, p2), many researchers continue to provide evidence of poor IT project success. With Kotnour, (2000) finding that project performance is positively associated with project knowledge, a better understanding of how to effectively manage knowledge in IT projects should have considerable practical significance for increasing the chances of project success. Using a combined qualitative/quantitative method of data collection in multiple case studies spanning four continents, and comprising a variety of organizational types, the focus of this current research centered on the question of why individuals working within IT project teams might be motivated towards, or inhibited from, sharing their knowledge and experience in their activities, procedures, and processes. The research concluded with the development of a new theoretical model of knowledge sharing behavior, ‘The Alignment Model of Motivational Focus’. This model suggests that an individual’s propensity to share knowledge and experience is a function of perceived personal benefits and costs associated with the activity, balanced against the individual’s alignment to a group of ‘institutional’ factors. These factors are identified as alignments to the project team, to the organization, and dependent on the circumstances, to either the professional discipline or community of practice, to which the individual belongs.

A comparative analysis of major ERP lifecycle implementation, management and support issues in Queensland Government

This paper reports on a study of ERP lifecycle major issues from the perspectives of individuals with substantial and diverse involvement with SAP Financials in Queensland Government. A survey was conducted of 117 ERP system project participants in five closely related state government agencies. A modified Delphi technique identified, rationalized and weighed perceived major issues in ongoing ERP life cycle implementation, management and support. The five agencies each implemented SAP Financials simultaneously using a common implementation partner. The three survey rounds of the Delphi technique, together with coding and synthesizing procedures, resulted in a set of 10 major issue categories with 38 sub-issues. Relative scores of issue importance are compared across government agencies, roles (client vs implementation partner) and organizational levels (strategic, technical and operational). Study findings confirm the importance of this finer partitioning of the data, and distinctions identified reflect the circumstances of ERP lifecycle implementation, management and support among the stakeholder groups. The study findings should also be of interest to stakeholders who seek to better understand the issues surrounding ERP systems and to better realise the benefits of ERP.

The relationship between Internet use and perceived performance in retail and professional service firms

lnformation technology (IT) and, in particular, the Internet is dramatically impacting on the services sector. This paper specifically investigates the relative impact of several forms of internet use on perceived performance for two groups of service organisations - retail service firms and professlonal health service firms. Using a mailed out self-administered questionnaire, 625 completed questionnaires were obtained and 43 per cent of respondents reported that they used the lternet. Thus the final usable sample in the study comprised 262 respondents. Results showed that the Internet does significantly influence perceived performance in both types of service firms. However,there are differences in the forms of lntemet use between the two service groups and their relative effect on performance. For retail firms, use of transactional function, such as ordering, selling and payment was found to be positively related to increases in perceived performance. In contrast, for professional health service firms, the ability to search for information on products and/or services was found to be positively associated with perceived performance. Finally, theoretical and managerial implications of the findings of this study are discussed.