No abstract

Cognition in organizations is a distributed phenomenon, in which individual members of an organization reflect upon their experience, make plans, or take action. Organizational learning or organizational cognition are familiar terms, but it is only the individual persons in an organization who create interpretations and test understandings, as they think and learn in their organizational setting. Coordinated outcomes emerge in organizations when individuals think and act in ways that take others in the organization and their interdependencies into account. We argue that much of the effort to design information technology to support cognition in organizations has not addressed its distributed quality. Such systems have tended to focus either on the individual as an isolated decision maker, or on the group as a producer of a decision or policy statement in common. In distributed cognition, by contrast, the group is a set of autonomous agents who act independently yet recognize that they have interdependencies. To guide the design of information technology, we propose that distributed cognition be viewed as a hermeneutic process of inquiry, emphasizing the importance of individual interpretation and group dialogue. Hermeneutics provides a theory of the interpretive process through which an individual gives meaning to organizational experience. Inquiry systems provide a theory of how a community of inquirers build and test knowledge representations through dialogue. Together, hermeneutics and inquiry systems are used to propose a set of design principles to guide the development of information technology that supports distributed cognition. The design principles we describe in the paper are ownership, easy travel, multiplicity, indeterminacy, emergence and mixed forms. Applications of information technology which embody these design principles would support distributed cognition by assisting individuals in making interpretations of their situation, reflecting on them, and engaging in dialogue about them with others. The objective is to refine their own understanding of the situation and better appreciate the understandings of others, enabling them to better take their interdependencies into account in their individual actions. A project to develop such a system is discussed, along with some implications for research.

Information systems (IS) research has been long concerned with improving task-related performance. The concept of fit is often used to explain how system design can improve performance and overall value. So far, the literature has focused mainly on performance evaluation criteria that are based on measures of task efficiency, accuracy, or productivity. However, nowadays, productivity gain is no longer the single evaluation criterion. In many instances, computer systems are expected to enhance our creativity, reveal opportunities and open new vistas of uncharted frontiers.To address this void, we introduce the concept of generativity in the context of IS design and develop two corresponding design considerations -'generative capacity' that refers to one's ability to produce something ingenious or at least new in a particular context, and 'generative fit' that refers to the extent to which an IT artefact is conducive to evoking and enhancing that generative capacity. We offer an extended view of the concept of fit and realign the prevailing approaches to human-computer interaction design with current leading-edge applications and users' expectations. Our findings guide systems designers who aim to enhance creative work, unstructured syntheses, serendipitous discoveries, and any other form of computer-aided tasks that involve unexplored outcomes or aim to enhance our ability to go boldly where no one has gone before.In this paper, we explore the underpinnings of 'generative capacity' and argue that it should be included in the evaluation of task-related performance. Then, we briefly explore the role of fit in IS research, position 'generative fit' in that context, explain its role and impact on performance, and provide key design considerations that enhance generative fit. Finally, we demonstrate our thesis with an illustrative vignette of good generative fit, and conclude with ideas for further research.In this theory development paper, we offer an extended view of the concept of fit in an attempt to realign the prevailing approaches to human-computer interaction design with current leading edge applications and users' expectations. Specifically, we identify an emerging dimension of task performance relating to creativity and innovativeness and explore how information systems can be fitted to enhance this dimension.It has been argued that fitting the human-computer interface and, more generally, fitting computing services to a user and an underlying computer-aided task enhances the desired outcome and has a positive effect on overall performance (Vessey & Galletta, 1991;Baecker et al., 1995;Goodhue & Thompson, 1995;Zigurs & Buckland, 1998). Although one's performance is theorized in a generalized fashion as related to any kind of a priori objectives associated with an underlying task (Daft, 1991), the literature so far focuses mainly on performance evaluation criteria that are based on measures of task efficiency, accuracy or productivity (Zhang & Na, 2004).This view of performance was sufficient in the early days ...

SummaryUsing questionnaire and interview data, this study attempted to find out whether the organizational loose (participative) and tight (directive) practices are compatible with or contradict each other. Using the theoretical framework of Sagie's (1997) loose-tight leadership approach, our hypotheses concerned the effects of both practices on the employee's work-related attitudes, and the mediating role of two variables, cognitive (information sharing) and motivational (exerting effort), in these effects. Data were analysed using two methodological approaches, quantitative and qualitative. Based on a quantitative analysis of the questionnaires given to 101 professional employees of a textile company, partial support was provided for the study hypotheses. A qualitative analysis of in-depth, semi-structured interviews with all the employees (n ¼ 20) in one of the company divisions led to similar conclusions. Specifically, we found that although the loose and tight practices affected work attitudes, the interviewees attributed more impact to the tight practice. In addition, none of the study variables mediated the loose impact on attitudes, whereas information sharing (but not exerting effort) mediated the influence of tight practice. Finally, the qualitative analysis revealed a deeper insight into the nature of both leader practices and their possible integration in the decision-making processes in organizations.

We review the status of European publishing in high-impact Information System (IS) journals finding that the European publication record is disappointing. We consider popular explanations to this state of affairs and find them neither credible nor useful for improving the European record. We propose several constructive reasons for this including (1) the lack of appreciation of the article genre, (2) weak publishing cultures, (3) inadequate Ph.D. preparation for article publishing, (4) weak reviewing practices, (5) poorer command of research methods, (6) poorer understanding of the reviewing protocols, and (7) institutional shaping of research funding in Europe. We formulate several recommendations to affect these causes at the individual, institutional, journal, and European community level.