(03) Understanding employee competence, operational IS alignment, and organizational agility – An ambidexterity perspective Flashcards
Views on whether business-information systems (IS) alignment enhances or impedes organizational agility vary.
The present study addresses this paradox (alignment-agility paradox) by examining business-IS alignment at a certain stage. What stage?
The present study addresses this paradox by examining business-IS alignment at the strategy implementation
stage, that is, the operational level.
The authors refer to a relationship called: “OISA ambidexterity”, explain what is meant by this.
They draw from ambidexterity theory to conceptualize OISA as an ambidexterity that emphasizes the synergistic value of simultaneously pursuing the competing goals of structural and social alignments at the operational level. We refer to this relationship as “OISA ambidexterity.”
How should IS and business of a firm align at the strategy implementation stage to enhance organizational agility?
What should firms do to develop OISA ambidexterity?
1.
What does structural alignment of OISA focus on?
Structural alignment of OISA focuses on the fit between formal structures and is defined as the extent to which IT infrastructures/ processes support and fit business structure/processes.
What does the social alignment of OISA focus on?
The social alignment of OISA focuses on the fit of informal structures, defined as the alignment of human relationships among employees in business and IT departments.
The authors draw on ambidexterity literature to understand operational IS alignment. State the main point of this literature stream and how it is connected to OISA.
Tushman and O’Reilly argued that managing the trade-offs between two competing goals is a form of ambidexterity.
Ambidextrous firms, which can use both hands, are more competitive than firms who only have one hand by sacrificing
another. Firms can be sufficiently ambidextrous to pursue two competing goals, in terms of reconciling manufacturing efficiency and flexibility.
Structural and social alignments are necessary but difficult to achieve simultaneously due to the competing nature at the
operational level. Firms must balance the tensions between the two. Thus, we refer to the ambidexterity literature to understand operational IS alignment.
Based on ambidexterity literature, when is OISA ambidextrous?
Based on ambidexterity literature, OISA is ambidextrous when it simultaneously pursues:
(1) structural alignment,
denoting a formal structural alignment that IT infrastructures/processes support business structures/processes; and
(2) social alignment,
denoting an informal structural alignment that is a solid IT–business-human relationship.
Both are indispensable for striking a balance between efficiency and flexibility underlying agility. Thus, only firms which excel in both aspects can maximize the value of operational alignment for organizational agility.
The use of comprehensive shared competence at the department (rather than executive) level is appropriate for two reasons.
What are these two reasons?
(1) Shared competence can span across resource boundaries to balance the tension between formal and informal structures when employees not only have internal professional domain competence to understand formal structures/processes and implement them appropriately,
(2) to have the outside domain competence as the communication base
for developing human relationships with outside employees.
This is just a card with the four hypothesis tested within the study. Try to recall them:.
H1. OISA ambidexterity is positively related to organizational agility. (Significant)
H2. The IT competence of business employees is positively related to OISA ambidexterity. (Significant)
H3. The business competence of IT professionals is positively related to OISA ambidexterity. (Significant)
H4. The business competence of IT professionals and the IT competence of business employees have a synergetic
interactive effect on OISA ambidexterity (Significant)
management implications:
(1) Managers should pursue structural and social alignments simultaneously, at least in digitally enabled firms.
(1.1) On the one hand, managers should align IT infrastructures and processes with organizational structure and business processes, thereby responding to business requests faster and more efficiently (structural alignment).
(1.2) On the other hand, business people should focus more on the value of close collaboration between business and IT departments, which is instrumental to flexible adjustment of information systems to business changes (social alignment)
(2) Managers should balance these two kinds of investments (tangible and intangible investment in IT infrastructure), as they have distinct development approaches.
(2.1) Managers should target this investment at building cross-domain competence for training employees to be experts in their own domains.
(2.2) IT professionals should have a comprehensive business knowledge base, such as the knowledge of dynamic business environments and how IT can play a role in responding to such dynamics;
(2.3) Business employees should be excellent IT users that can provide suggestions to IT professionals.
(2.4) Shared domain competence functions as the base for the development of operational IS alignment, including
structural and social alignments.
