Social interactions of information systems development teams: a performance perspective

Abstract

We report results from a longitudinal study of information systems development (ISD) teams. We use data drawn from 60 ISD teams at 22 sites of 15 Fortune 500 organizations to explore variations in performance relative to these teams' social interactions. To do this, we characterize ISD as a form of new product development and focus on team-level social interactions with external stakeholders. Drawing on cluster analysis, we identify five patterns of team-level social interactions and the relationships of these patterns to a suite of objective and subjective measures of ISD performance. Analysis leads us to report three findings. First, data indicate that no one of the five identified patterns maximizes all performance measures. Second, data make clear that the most common approach to ISD is the least effective relative to our suite of performance measures. Third, data from this study show that early indications of ISD project success do not predict actual outcomes. These findings suggest two issues for research and practice. First, these findings indicate that varying patterns of social interactions lead to differences in ISD team performance. Second, the findings illustrate that singular measures of ISD performance are an oversimplification and that multiple measures of ISD performance are unlikely to agree.

Language Quality in Requirements Development: Tracing Communication in the Process of Information Systems Development

“…Few studies have actually investigated knowledge transfer, communication, and building of shared understanding (for example. Guiñan and Scudder, 1989;Newman and Robey, 1992;Tan, 1994;Sawyer and Guiñan, 1998;Watts Sussman and Guiñan, 1999;Levina, 2005;Boh et al, 2007;Espinosa et al, 2007;Pikkarainen et al, 2008;Sawyer et al, 2010). There is a recognized need 'for theory and studies about social behavior and processes of communication, negotiation, and learning' (Kautz et al, 2007: 235).…”

“…The ISD process 'has received relatively little research attention in prior literature' (Siau et al, 2010: 88), and only a few researchers have examined social interactions in detail (for example. Guiñan and Scudder, 1989;Newman and Robey, 1992;Sawyer and Guiñan, 1998;Watts Sussman and Guiñan, 1999;Sawyer et al, 2010). Our primary goal with this article is to contribute a novel perspective that begins to open the 'black box' (Siau et al, 2010: 92) of the ISD process, and to examine the building of consensus and shared understanding of requirements through social 199 interactions.…”

Social complexity and team cohesion in multiparty information systems development projects

“…In particular, social complexity can emerge during the conduct of ISD due to underlying tensions between the diverse positions, goals, interests, and values of individuals and groups (Lim, Sia, & Yeow, 2011;Sawyer et al, 2010). For instance, depending on the inherent social factors at play, the interests and goals of one individual can be very different to those of other individuals within the group setting (Avgerou & McGrath, 2007).…”

“…Extant literature has described ISD as an inherently political process, one that is shaped by complex social interactions between individuals (Avgerou & McGrath, 2007;Hekkala & Urquhart, 2013;Sawyer, Guinan, & Cooprider, 2010). In particular, social complexity can emerge during the conduct of ISD due to underlying tensions between the diverse positions, goals, interests, and values of individuals and groups (Lim, Sia, & Yeow, 2011;Sawyer et al, 2010).…”

Iot-Enabled Knowledge Sharing-Based Collaborative Software Maintenance Design Approach

“…Because of the need to work together to explore software design concepts, the software development teams, business users, and technical specialists (the stakeholders) must be capable of discovering effective ways to share knowledge 15 . The software design process could be plagued by quality issues 16 , so Shahla et al 17 presented a competing model of knowledge sharing that helps promote knowledge-sharing in software development teams to proactively mitigate the inadvertent introduction of quality problems during the design process.…”