Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is penetrating organizations at an accelerating rate. This trend is challenging the existing IT governance structures, because RPA usually is acquired and implemented by local business units, outside the control of the IT function. Consequently, how to organize and govern RPA initiatives is a topical issue. The recommendations from prior research are unclear, and there is a call for more research on this area. In this paper, we report from a study on RPA usage in three firms. In particular, we investigate the organizational consequences of having local business units manage the RPA initiatives. We make use of lightweight IT research as our analytical lens, contributing to research by unveiling the consequences and considerations of decentralized management of RPA.
Numerous established firms are undergoing digital transformations. To manage a digital transformation (DT), companies should develop DT capabilities. One important prerequisite for DT capabilities is DT competence -a bundle of employee skills, knowledge, and expertise necessary for a successful DT. However, research on which competences are essential for a DT is limited, as is research on how established firms can obtain these competences. Based on a longitudinal case study, this paper provides insight into which competences were identified as important for the DT at an established firm in the Norwegian energy sector, and how these competences were obtained. The paper also presents a conceptual model, to better understand and study the concept of DT competence as a prerequisite for DT capabilities.
Continuous development extends the agile approach and focuses on bringing valuable services to users with the aim of achieving a continuous flow of learning and development in short cycles. The objective of this work is to theorize the idea of continuous development in the context of digital infrastructure evolution and explore the organizational interactions underlying continuous development. By drawing on literature on digital infrastructure theory and continuous development as it has emerged as an idea from the DevOps thinking expanded from agile, we outline main characteristics of continuous development and propose a theoretical definition of continuous development in organizational contexts. Then, in answering our research question “which patterns of interactions can be identified in the continuous development of digital infrastructures?”, we conducted a longitudinal case study at a Norwegian grid company and explored how a specific digital infrastructure evolved through continuous development. We identified generic interaction patterns with two cycles of sense-giving and sense-making between organizational actors, enabling the continuous development of the digital infrastructure. Our findings and model of interaction patterns offer a nuanced perspective on both digital infrastructure evolution and established views of sense-making and sense-giving mechanisms, as well as new ways to think about digitalization in incumbent firms.
The concept of affordances has become central in information systems literature. However, existing perspectives fall short in providing details on the relational aspect of affordances, which can influence actors' perception of them. To increase granularity and specificity in this regard, researchers have suggested that it be supplemented with other concepts or theories. In this article, we argue that the Heideggerian concepts of 'familiarity' and 'referential total-
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