Managing paradoxes in bi‐modal information technology functions: A multi‐case study

Abstract

Leveraging digital technologies is a major concern for companies and has significant implications for their information technology (IT) functions. In many cases, a bi-modal IT function is established: a 'traditional IT' mode focusing on the stability and exploitation of existing IT resources and an 'agile IT' mode focusing on exploring new technologies.Whereas previous research has predominantly taken an organisational-level view of bi-modal IT by treating it as a single, aggregated entity, we provide a micro-foundations perspective on the intricate and paradoxical interrelationships between the two IT modes. Based on a multi-case study with companies from different industries and of varying sizes, we uncover nine core tensions between traditional IT and agile IT as manifestations of five underlying paradoxes. We also identify corresponding management practices to address these tensions and paradoxes. Our study contributes to Information Systems research by disaggregating bi-modal IT and capturing the tensions and their underlying paradoxes at the organisational and individual levels that bi-modal IT entails. By highlighting the intricate interdependencies between the traditional and agile IT modes, we show that bi-modal IT can be messier and more contested than previously anticipated. For practitioners, our study offers an overview of paradoxes and tensions that

Preparing ecosystems for platformization: Insights from multiple case studies

“…This allowed us to create a representative sample of platform companies. We applied purposeful sampling strategies (Palinkas et al, 2015) and selected companies that met three main filter criteria: (1) the company had to be a well‐established player within its business ecosystem who led the platformatization so that the digital natives are excluded; (2) the company belongs to any of several ecosystems that are currently in a parasitic, symbiotic, or reciprocal mode of interaction; (3) the platformatization had to show success in implementation instead of a pilot project so that it can sufficiently inform the research (Toutaoui et al, 2022). After searching on public news and a brief phone interview with the staffs in the five companies, we ascertain the size of the company, time of establishment, its leverage, interaction pattern with ecosystem partners, and their basic ecosystem structure.…”

“…(3) the platformatization had to show success in implementation instead of a pilot project so that it can sufficiently inform the research (Toutaoui et al, 2022).…”

Digital Competencies in Transition: A Reassessment of Digital Competencies in the IT Function of an Automotive Company

“…Eine weitere Dimension dieses Wandels manifestiert sich in den Erwartungen von Unternehmen an die IT-Funktion, indem eine gesteigerte Agilität verlangt wird (Haffke et al 2017;Warner und Wäger 2019). Aufgrund des erheblichen Einflusses dieses Wandels auf die Organisationsstruktur, Kultur und Arbeitsmethoden (Haffke et al 2017;Toutaoui et al 2022) folgen wir einem ganzheitlichen Verständnis der DT, welches neben der Integration und Kombination von Informations-, Datenverarbeitungs-, Kommunikations-und Konnektivitätstechnologien (Vial 2019) auch umfangreiche organisatori-sche Veränderungen wie die skalierte Einführung von agilen Praktiken umfasst (vom Brocke et al 2017;Verhoef et al 2021).…”