Empowering Capability for Innovation in IT Organizations
A Confluence of Knowledge for Continual Organizational Learning
Nabil Georges Badr
Business Administration, Grenoble Graduate School of Business, Grenoble, France
Keywords: Knowledge Transfer, Knowledge Acquisition, Technology Innovation Integration, IT Organizational
Learning.
Abstract: In IT based business model innovations, emerging technologies introduce disruption into processes and
organizational capabilities that could be difficult to overcome. IT services organizations must maintain their
IT capabilities of innovation integration in order to exploit it internally and for their customers. Using the
literature on resource based views as a grounding for organizational capabilities, this paper introduces a model
of continual organizational learning that empowers IT organizations for innovation integration. Through in-
depth case studies conducted at IT services companies, this exploratory research identifies mechanisms of
knowledge management are required to transform IT organizations to a lever rather than a barrier to
integrating innovation based on emerging technologies. The study succinctly presents the convergence of
knowledge assets through a cyclic process that empowers IT organization to embrace innovation.
1 INTRODUCTION
Companies are in the process of implementing
emerging technologies in IT (EIT), however, they
have reached varying stages of implementation.
Emerging technologies in IT are technologies such as
cloud, business automation and customer facing
innovations that have the potential to innovate the
way business is conducted translating into increased
value propositions to customers internal and/or
external to the firm.
The disruption introduced by emerging IT into the
existing infrastructure (Dan and Chang Chieh, 2010)
drives change into the IT organization (Tushman and
Anderson, 1986) requiring capabilities that are
required to dynamically adapt through the proficient
collaboration of people, processes and technology
(Mocker and Teubner, 2005). Trials in
operationalizing innovation (i.e. advancing new
technology from the lab to operations) affect the
ability of IT organizations to implement and support
these technologies. Hence, successful innovations
based on IT depend greatly on the combination of the
technology, the organization’s technical expertise,
and the organization’s ability to make effective use of
the new capabilities. In a dynamic competitive
environment, this is a clear challenge for the IT
operation consisting of both tacit (knowledge and
management competence) and explicit elements
(operational procedures and standards) which
translate to business performance metrics that could
be measured and reported by IT practitioners through
service management metrics specifically service
continuity.
Rapid change in EIT causes problems for IT
managers as they try to integrate these technologies
into an existing environment. Inevitably, this is a
drain on the resources that support the technology
deployments (Benamati and Lederer, 2010). The
challenges facing IT organization are hence elevated
to a level at which mechanisms that were effective a
few years ago have to be significantly overhauled.
These challenges are mostly linked to conflicting
priorities, integration issues, the availability of the
knowledge/skills required, and inadequate
infrastructure capabilities. Sometimes
insurmountable these challenges leave the firm
incapable to incorporate emerging information
technologies into their business model. In practitioner
circles, IT organizations are perceived as a hindrance
rather than an enabler to innovation.
The paper treats these challenges in the context of
IT organizations of IT services companies. For these
companies, emerging IT is not just a tool to support
business processes or to enable business model
innovation, but for both. These organizations are
Badr N.
Empowering Capability for Innovation in IT Organizations - A Confluence of Knowledge for Continual Organizational Learning.
DOI: 10.5220/0006482000170028
In Proceedings of the 9th International Joint Conference on Knowledge Discovery, Knowledge Engineering and Knowledge Management (KMIS 2017), pages 17-28
ISBN: 978-989-758-273-8
Copyright
c
2017 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved
often asked to be the internal IT provider for the
internal customers (i.e. employees) and external
solutions and service providers for IT clients (i.e.
customers). What mechanisms of knowledge
management are required to transform IT
organizations to a lever rather than a barrier to
integrating innovation based on emerging
technologies?
2 BACKGROUND
When innovating a business model, IT leadership and
IT organizations, endure multi-dimensional
challenges, especially in IT services companies.
These IT organizations must participate in the success
of their host companies in an effort to lead IT based
innovation, internally and externally. IT
organizations in IT service companies have two
customers: IT is not only a cornerstone for the internal
business model with internal users of the company,
but also the core business in providing customer
facing services (Keel et al, 2007). This puts a burden
on the IT organization stretching its abilities to cover
users’ issues internal and external to the company
context with a persisting conundrum of providing a
reliable service to existing customers or creating new
customer through innovation (Berthon et al, 1999).
For instance, obstacles to knowledge acquisition and
training demands, product procurement dilemmas,
implementation and support prevail (Edwards and
Peppard, 1997).
2.1 Organizational Capability
Largely, IT organizational capabilities have received
a fair share of attention in various context. IS research
on resource based views (RBV) delineates resources
as physical capital (e.g. property, plant, etc.), human
capital (e.g. people, experience, relationships, etc.)
and organizational capital (e.g. organizational
structure and processes, etc.) (Barney, 1991).
Although resources and capabilities may be
considered part of a firm’s total assets, a capability is
the organizational ability to coordinate a set of
resources (human, financial, organizational or data,
etc.) to create a certain outcome (Grant, 1991).
Closer to the technology implementation
function, IT capability was described as the ability to
diffuse or support a wide variety of hardware and
software (Byrd and Turner, 2000); ultimately using
enterprise management systems of IT integration
(Galliers and Leidner, 2014), for knowledge and
workflow management (Mulligan, 2002). On the
other hand, researchers position knowledge as a
“baseline for the serviceability and the
maintainability” of the components and systems
involved in providing IT services in continuity that is
in line with the current and planned business
requirements (Blanchard, 1995). Teece et al. (1997)
define “dynamic capabilities” as “the firm’s ability to
integrate, build, and reconfigure internal and
external competencies to address rapidly changing
environments” (p. 516). The argument is made that
dynamic capabilities are shaped by the coevolution of
these learning mechanisms was expressly made
(Zollo and Winter, 2002).
2.2 Knowledge Transfer as Essential
Organizational Capability
Dynamic capabilities are enabled by knowledge
infrastructures (Easterby-Smith and Prieto, 2008). In
organizational learning contexts, the organization’s
capability to take on the associated learning curve
was related to the organization’s absorptive capacity
(Cohen and Levinthal, 1990). Certain organizations
are able to acquire and assimilate new external
knowledge, but are not able to transform and exploit
it successfully in order to create value from their
absorptive capacity (Kranz et al, 2016). These
capabilities rely fundamentally on the organization’s
absorptive capacity and build on prior development
of its constituent, individual, absorptive capacities
(Lane et al, 2006). Mechanisms associated with the
coordination capabilities (i.e. cross-functional
interfaces, participation, and job rotation) primarily
enhance potential absorptive capacity increasing the
acquisition, assimilation and transformation of new
external knowledge. This component of absorptive
capacity provides organizational units with strategic
advantages (Lai et al, 2016), such as greater
flexibility in reconfiguring resources (Tsai, 2001),
and effective timing of knowledge deployment
(Szulanski and Jensen, 2016). Certainly, a moderating
effect of knowledge complexity on the relationship
between organizational learning capability and
technological innovation implementation was
indicated (Mat and Razak, 2011), and related to
organizational attributes (Forés et Camisón, 2016).
External knowledge transfer was identified as a key
factor in integrating technology (Frank and Ribeiro,
2014) and an antecedent to innovation integration
(Teo and Bhattacherjee, 2014). Outsourcing
activities, often including a strategic partner were
identified to facilitate the knowledge transfer into the
organization (Naghavi and Ottaviano, 2010). Further,
research has posited that organizations acquire
information and transform it into collective
knowledge assets (Legris and Collerette, 2006) often
through the use of knowledge management systems
(KMS) (Alavi and Leidner, 2001) with a strong
dependency on IT leadership communication and
governance practices.
Leadership capabilities in fostering business to IT
communication and governance as well as the
readiness of IT and the level of stakeholder
participation are critical success factors (Rau, 2004).
Handoff and communication best practices between
advance technology groups and operations groups
help drive knowledge diffusion into the
organizational structure (Esteva, et al, 2006).
Nonaka’s broad contribution to the theory of
organizational knowledge creation (Nonaka, 1994)
emphasizes that organizational knowledge is created
through a continuous dialogue and transformation
between tacit and explicit knowledge (Nonaka, et al,
1996). However, such models can be highly
theoretical with empirical shortcomings of
information divergence into inadequate knowledge
creation that may overlook concepts of culture,
context and objectives for this transformation
(Gourlay, 2003). Thus, as it relates to the innovation
capability of IT organizations, a gap can be identified.
Nevertheless, the extant literature lacks
mechanisms by which IT organizations maintain the
level of knowledge and knowledge transfer
capabilities required to confidently integrate
emerging IT in a dynamic environment of rapid
technological change. Theory has not yet addressed
potential obstacles to business model innovation
based on emerging IT integration that may constrain
knowledge acquisition and transfer capabilities of the
IT organization that is involved in integrating
emerging technologies and hinder IT from building
on organizational knowledge.
This paper explores how IT organizations in IT
services companies apply knowledge acquisition
practices to transition themselves to a lever rather
than a barrier to integrating innovation.
3 METHODOLOGY
This exploratory research into practice levers two in-
depth qualitative case studies (Yin, 2009). Case study
methodology has been used to study knowledge
transfer practices in similar contexts (Chugh, 2015;
Rottman, 2008; Lee and Lee, 2000). Research
activities followed a case study protocol (Appendix -
Table 1) conducted in three stages, on location with
IT organizations in a telecom services Company A,
and in an application hosting services Company B,
selected purposefully (Patton, 1990) for this study.
3.1 Site Selection
Company A is a leading internet services provider
and hosting solutions, established in 1995 with 130+
employees. The IT organization is composed of 15
members managing security credentials, moves and
changes of the internal users; planning of new
technology deployment; internal and external
customers. Over a 2.5 year project launched in the
beginning of 2010, Company A implemented a new
business process management application based on
emerging BPM (Business Process Management)
technology to support the operational activities of the
company in delivering these new services and
reporting on the related activities. Leveraging BPM,
Company A adapted the way of doing business and
changed the operational systems, organizational
structures and pricing models, to support the
integration of the new mobile services in the market.
The disruption to the IT organization and the business
organization was substantial. The IT management
team faced a user base resisting change and
reluctance from the IT staff to adopt and adapt the
new application.
Company B’s business, on the other hand, is in
hosting and cloud services, re-established in 2006
with 42 employees in total. 12 employees form the IT
organization in charge of the planning,
implementation and support of the internal
infrastructure with a service desk attending to
escalated customer calls. With a challenge to serve
the internal IT needs and the needs of external
customers, such as onsite support, the IT organization
of Company B was reluctant to use the emerging
cloud technologies even for their internal systems. IT
leadership had to manoeuvre their IT organization to
support a public cloud service. From reallocating
budgets to hiring qualified consultants to supplement
the resources and transition the knowledge, the IT
organization of Company B, in face of this
disruption, had to leverage the company resources
properly and extensive employee training and
knowledge building programs were implemented.
Additionally, in order to support this new service,
Company B needed a service desk and a portal to be
integrated into their application hosting services
support platform in order to provide the customer
required service levels. This presented yet another
disruption and exposed the already burdened IT
organization supporting the customer facing services
to undertake an internal project.
Similarities in the sites selected reinforce the
findings by adding depth into the discovery;
similarities to note are of industry context (Miles et
al., 2000), culture (Kwon, 1990), international
presence (Zmud, 1982), IT organization setting:
centralized management model (Damanpour, 1991)
with a collective decision making (Rogers, 1962).
These sites also present complementarities where by
Company A implemented an internally facing
solution to enable an external service and Company
B deployed a solution that is used by both internal and
external customers. The choice of these sites aimed to
uncover potential cross case observations further
enriching the empirical study. The sites differ in
organization size (Fichman and Kemerer, 1997),
maturity (Kwon 1990; Grover and Goslar, 1993) and
the scope of their project implementation.
3.2 Data Collection and Analysis
Data Collection instruments were developed to
capture input from the activities (Appendix – Table
2). A preparation meeting set the stage for the
activities and helped identify key informants that
could represent a cross section of institutional
knowledge. Discovery workshops followed with data
collection activities that combined interviews and
brainstorming sessions (Hargadon and Sutton, 1997).
Focus group workshops were conducted due to the
nature of the topic that requires stimulation and
interaction (Stewart et al, 2007). These workshops
recorded all the participants’ input while probing for
details; where possible, using illustrative examples to
help establish neutrality in the process (Patton, 1990).
In total data collection involved 15 informants chosen
from the two companies. Saturation interviews were
subsequently conducted with senior managers from
each company. Case summaries and cross-case
comparison were compiled in a tabular summary
(Creswell, 1998), in the form of interview transcripts,
field notes from observations, and relevant exhibits
(e.g. organizational structures, web sites of each
company, company presentations material). The data
analysis investigated the data correlation through a
predefined coding system (Miles and Huberman,
1991) in order to organize the data and provide a
means to introduce the interpretations (Strauss and
Corbin, 1990). A step by step ‘Key Point’ coding
technique (Allan, 2003) was applied to the interview
transcripts (Douglas, 2003), and relevant concepts are
identified. Finally, an open discussion forum was
conducted among all participant at each company
separately in order to deepen the concepts.
This paper is part of a developed study. It focuses
on one Key Concept of Knowledge Acquisition that is
isolated by the coding technique to support the
findings and focus on one significant observation
(Appendix – Table 3). Codes to the seed concept were
grounded in the literature with references to notions
of seeking external knowledge (Pugh and Prusak,
2013), transferring of acquired knowledge (Alavi and
Leidner, 2001; Gatewood, 2009), and internal
diffusion of acquired knowledge (Roberts et al,
2012); then exploiting this knowledge in participation
in decision making (Jansen et al, 2005; Xue et al,
2008) and training (Edwards and Peppard, 1997).
Concepts are allowed to emerge from the coding
technique. The coding results were then shared in a
discussion with the participants is focus group
sessions for validation and additional input.
4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
The case study has revealed that through training of
IT in both technology and in the related business
aspects, IT organizations in the IT services industry
were able to shape their technical and analytical
capability (i.e. analysis of the business requirements,
ROI, business value of technology) and become
enablers of innovation. IT organizations previewed
the business and technical benefits of potential
solutions. This was an opportunity to embed
visionary and forward looking IT solutions into the
firm. The IT Director of Company A explicated that
“This tactic has fuelled the enthusiasm of the IT
organization and raised the confidence of the
business in the IT organization and elevated the value
of the IT organization to the business.” The IT
organization became part of the strategic trend setting
capacity of the organization, which encouraged the
members of the IT organization to embrace the new
deployment. The opportunity to lead internally
reportedly raised the “confidence” of the business in
IT organizational capabilities and encourages the IT
organization to embrace the new technology. IT
became an agent of change, elevating the value of IT
in the organization and innovating the business. The
IT organization was then empowered to drive the next
phases of the implementation of the IT based business
innovation. For instance, the IT team of Company A
was involved in all new systems introductions and the
IT organization, in the case of the BPM
implementation, was able to introduce process
automation initiatives and be a leader in the
company’s business model innovation. IT leadership
managed to “push other concepts that were originally
outside the scope of the current project such as
shopping carts, self-service and collection activities,
integration of handhelds, enabling the POS platforms
and other mobile applications, added the Director of
IT, explaining how such approaches expanded the
innovative aspect of the solution and helped drive a
niche service offering to the market.
4.1 Knowledge Acquisition Practices
Indeed, knowledge acquisition practices were
identified as key enablers to IT organizational
capabilities. Both companies suggested that IT
organizations could be better prepared for the
integration of EIT primarily through Knowledge
Acquisition mechanisms of training, seeking external
knowledge and sharing it internally.
For Company A, the IT organization’s learning
capabilities were enhanced by attending conferences:
an opportunity to network with peers and learn then
disseminate the knowledge internally. “First we send
them to conference. They will then have a chance to
network with peers and learn, gain the confidence
with the technology and come and convey the
knowledge internally” indicated the operations
manager of Company A. The degree of tacit-ness of
newly acquired knowledge necessitated richer
organizational information processing mechanisms.
An integration working group made up of cross
organizational members and representations of IT in
the business led the knowledge transfer in Company
A. Job rotations enhanced knowledge redistribution
among the technical IT team members. In order to
address the architectural implications and learn about
potential system interaction with existing systems
(e.g. Active Directory support), Company A started
architectural review session emphasizing the role of
external consultants in order to insource the required
knowledge.
On the other hand, organizational dynamics of
socialization (the perspective of a group rather than
an individual) practiced by the IT organization
stimulated Company B’s sales team to increase the
organization’s business-IT knowledge. The
participation of IT in the process of decision making
primarily strengthened the realized absorptive
capacity (Jansen et al, 2005) of the IT organization
and elevated the organization’s capability to
strengthen their business-IT knowledge. Company B
conducted research of other implementations in peer
organizations in a form of knowledge networks with
the objective of insourcing the required knowledge.
Thus, external knowledge was sought through the
engagement of consultants and joint R&D activities
with key providers and partners. Testing and R&D
activities enriched the individual skills of the IT
employees. Their accumulated experience increased
the levels of organizational knowledge. “… We setup
R&D efforts with peer organizations, key partners
and suppliers and review and research other
implementations in peer organizations” (Company
B). Learning capability of experimentation (Cohen
and Levinthal, 1990), and interaction with external
environments (Varis and Littunen, 2010) were shown
by research studies to positively associate with the
introduction of novel product innovations in firms.
4.2 Knowledge Transfer Tactics
The transfer of knowledge to internal customers (i.e.
employees of the company) was accomplished
through user training sessions and users’ manuals.
The task for the IT organization was then also to
participate in “educating the customer to increase the
enthusiasm at the customer level”. This helped
Company A overcome users’ resistance to adopting
the new business process management (BPM)
platform and eased the task on the IT organization.
Case management and monitoring tools provided
feedback from the customer into the business
planning to drive alignment of the objectives of the
business. Such tools enabled the IT organization of
Company A to gain visibility into the customer
experience and to measure the service health
(metrics) through related monitoring and reporting
functions. This awareness incentivized the IT
organization to handle the implementation of EIT
with the knowledge of the impacts it had on the
customer.
Collaboration and brainstorming sessions helped
disseminate the acquired knowledge and knowledge
management systems consolidated this knowledge in
to an information base on internal and external
customers. Company B used this convergence of
information to participate in delivering the vision
internally with an enthusiasm to contribute input. The
operations executive of Company B described that
“knowledge transfer tactics between the teams were
applied. They involve the sorting and categorization
of information with knowledge management systems
in order to leave time for the internal functionality
empowering the front lines. Through communication
between these teams, the internal team is aware of the
customer issues. This was fruitful in the ability of IT
to participate in delivering the vision internally with
an excitement, progress and ability to participate
effectively in the input”.
Extending outside the boundaries of the firm, for
Company B, continual training plans empowered the
IT organization to become more effective in
supporting the customer base. Training sessions were
carried in-house. Chosen team members were
assigned and trained on specific technologies. They
attended conferences to stay ahead of the learning
curve and setup labs and databases of training
materials for in-house training activities. In-house
training facilitated the spread of knowledge and
reduced the corresponding knowledge acquisition
costs. Company B involved the employees, as their
internal customers, in the deployment of hosting
projects. The IT organization established biweekly
knowledge sharing sessions with internal customers
(employees) in order to discover the challenges and
help reduce adoption issues.
In addition to the benefits received from
collaboration tools, Company B included knowledge
management systems in their toolset as part of their
knowledge sharing strategy. These knowledge
management and transfer capabilities built on the
organizational knowledge to improve the
operational/functional competences of Company B
by combining the knowledge of the customer facing
technical teams and the internally facing IT
infrastructure teams (Company B).
4.3 Exploiting the Tacit Knowledge of
the Customer
Emerging from the analysis is a concept that depicts
the phenomenon of exploring the tacit knowledge of
the customer. This study shows a potential added
value for IT organizations that collaborate with the
customer of their services, especially in mitigating
risks and improving eventual outcomes (Liu et al,
2013). Company B reported that the IT reluctance
phenomena extending to their customers hindered
their ability to provide their services to these
customers. Learning workshops held with the
customers, increased the awareness of the customer
issues and reduced the customer reluctance to adopt
the technology. To close the loop, IT shared lessons
learned from solving customer issues with the
business as they brought forth recommendation to
drive more business through new products and
services. This stimulated the creativity of the IT team,
as a motivation to start driving the innovative ideas
through to the business strategy. Company B
reportedly focused on enhancing the consultancy
skills of the engineers. The “IT organization was a
consultant to the customer … the IT team scouted for
opportunities at the customers’ base, and feedback is
brought back to the business” clarified the operations
manager. Their exposure as a consultant with the
external customer motivated their creativity as they
started driving the innovative ideas through to the
business strategy. On the operations side, and in close
communication with the customer-facing support
teams, the IT organization was aware of the customer
issues. The IT support team (customer facing) in
Company B meets with the IT infrastructure team
(Internal team) regularly to review the customer
issues, build the knowledge base and solicit the
collaboration of ideas across the technical team
internal and external. Meanwhile, the customer facing
support teams, share the lessons learned from solving
customer issues with the business. This works as a
feedback into the business of the issues facing IT
which may in turn drive a business solution or a new
service.
5 CONCLUSION AND
GUIDANCE FOR PRACTICE
Building upon the theory of organizational
knowledge creation, these findings are reminders of
Nonaka’s model of spiral of organizational
knowledge creation (Nonaka, 1994) through
combining tacit and explicit knowledge into a cyclic
process of organizational knowledge building.
Thus, our study could be considered as an
empirical extension of this theory. Mechanisms for
knowledge acquisition and knowledge transfer
explored maybe framed reciprocally, by the two
dimension of organizational knowledge creation lens:
(1) mechanisms for the acquisition of knowledge that
relate to the type of knowledge (tacit vs. explicit) and
(2) knowledge transfer tactics that depend on level of
social interaction to convert this knowledge into
organizational asset.
5.1 Mechanisms for Knowledge
Acquisition and Transfer
The site selection proved helpful in highlighting the
different mechanisms of knowledge acquisition and
transfer, however analogous, they seem nuanced
relative to project scope.
In the case of Company A, a heightened focus
was clear on building the organizational learning
capabilities that addresses the internal customer needs
as the project’s scope was mostly internal in scope.
Job rotations were instrumental in building a deep
knowledge bench. IT team members attended
conferences and networked with peers to seek
external knowledge, formed cross organizational
integration groups. Resorting to external resource
augmentation in order to insource required new
knowledge, conducting training sessions to transition
knowledge to users and reduce adoption resistance.
Tools deployed were case management and
monitoring that gathered information and converted it
into organizational knowledge.
Company B’s project on the other hand, was
more pervasive in scope. The customer base was
preliminarily external to the firm. The IT organization
had to reach outside the firm’s boundary to seek new
knowledge through the engagement of consultants
and joint R&D activities with key providers and
partners, researching other implementations in peer
organizations in a form of knowledge networks with
the objective of insourcing the required knowledge.
Collaboration and brainstorming sessions among
members of the IT organization the acquired
knowledge and knowledge management systems
consolidated this knowledge in to an information base
on internal and external customers. Continual training
plans empowered the IT organization to become more
effective in supporting the customer base and learning
workshops held with the customers, increased the
awareness of the customer issues and reduced the
customer reluctance to adopt the technology. They
also included knowledge management systems in
their toolset as part of their knowledge sharing
strategy.
5.2 Enabling IT Organization’s
Capability for Innovation
In either case, the empirical statements explicate that
IT organization embrace innovation integration by
reinforcing knowledge acquisition practices through
training, collaborations with key partners and
suppliers, testing and R&D. IT organizations
reportedly gained confidence with emerging
technology integration by capitalizing upon learning
opportunities from peer networks, consultants and
conducting joint R&D activities with key providers
and partners. Acquired knowledge is then shared
internally in cooperation with the business and other
team members through the integration of new ideas
with the use of knowledge management tools,
research and testing practices. Tools for knowledge
management consolidated this knowledge into an
information base on external and external customers.
In both cases, the customer was an integral part of
the knowledge institutionalization process. In one
case (Company A), internal testing and R&D
activities enriched the individual skills of the
employees. The participation of IT in the process of
decision making elevated the organization’s
capability to strengthen their business-IT knowledge
and job rotations enhanced knowledge redistribution
among the technical IT team members. Acquired
knowledge is mutualized in a collaborative approach
with customers. The IT organization learns about the
customer issues (supporting them more effectively)
and about their needs and requirements, which
reinforced the ability of IT to support the vision of the
business. A suggestion that customer collaboration
would likely ease of adoption of the new service
(especially for the internal customer of the IT
organization), and prepare the IT organization for the
potential risk induced by the emerging technologies
to the external customer. Integration working groups
connect with the business to gain insight into the
business requirements from IT and gauge the business
readiness for the IT innovation. Then cooperating
with customers (i.e. internal customer of IT and
external customer of the business and IT) in testing,
planning, and risk assessment, IT organizations could
influence the customer’s readiness for integrating
innovation. Furthermore, collaboration and
brainstorming sessions helped disseminate the
acquired knowledge. Integration working groups
made up of cross organizational members and
representations of IT in the business lead the
knowledge transfer. Integration working groups
connect with the business to gain insight into the
business requirements from IT and gauge the business
readiness for the IT innovation.
5.3 Emphasizing the Confluence of
Knowledge
This study shows that IT organizations must
continually build, adapt, and reconfigure their
competences to succeed in a changing environment
through knowledge acquisition and transfer
mechanisms. These mechanisms underscore the
development of dynamic organizational capabilities
of exploration and exploitation, emphasizing the
confluence of knowledge. Investments are required to
build IT skills and competence, muster key resources,
and formalize key activities. Innovative IT
organizations develop key partnership with suppliers
and peers, and exploit the tacit knowledge of the
customer. IT leadership of confident organizations
drive their organizational capabilities to become
levers for business model innovation. They motivate
their IT organizational learning capabilities, and
reinforce their analytical capabilities. They
demonstrate leadership competence, encourage the
adoption of standards and networking with peers.
Learnings from this study highlight the fact that
the confluence of knowledge from the customer base,
the business, peer organizations, standards and best
practices, has the potential of increasing the
exploratory and exploitative capabilities, raising the
awareness, analytical skills and the confidence of IT
organizations to “integrate new ideas and embrace
emerging technologies”. Knowledge flow between
the exploratory and the exploitative IT teams (Jansen
et al, 2009) converges into a potential for innovation
(Appendix – Fig. 1). This confluence of knowledge
becomes a cyclic process of exploration and
exploitation of knowledge assets in a perpetual
knowledge sharing ecosystem that yields to a
continuous organizational learning with significant
value to organization capability building.
5.4 Limitations and Opportunities for
Further Research
This paper is part of a larger research effort exploring
mechanisms of innovation integration employed by
IT organizations (Badr, 2014; 2015; 2016). The
specific topic of this paper treats those mechanisms
of knowledge management adopted to prepare IT
organizations for innovation integration. Findings of
this study corroborate evidence that tacit knowledge
transfer is often supported by open communication,
peer-trust and unrestricted sharing of knowledge
(Chugh, 2015). Although the research has reached its
aim, some unavoidable limitations can be noted. The
study was conducted in two companies, hence limits
the generalisability of the findings. Limitations
related to case study research the research and other
contexts such as culture and industry can be
recognized (Al-Ammary, 2014).
The indicated limitations of this study could offer
opportunities for follow on research. For instance,
additional field work possibly in the form of wider
focus groups, with chief information officers, IS
professionals and consultants (Rosemann and
Vessey, 2005) would examine the applicability of the
framework in other cultural, organizational and other
contexts, in order to strengthen the practice
implications of the concepts introduced by this study
(Rosemann and Vessey, 2008). Academic researchers
in IT innovation, MIS, organizational dynamic
capabilities and resource based views would find the
opportunity to exploit the findings of this study into
interesting quantitative and qualitative projects.
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APPENDIX
Figure 1: A Confluence of knowledge for continual organizational learning.
IT – Business
Alignment
IT – Customer
Collaboration
IT team is aware of the
customer issues (support)
and requirements
(consulting).
Integration of new ideas &
technology with proper
research & testing practices
(Collaboration and Decision
Making)
IT managers with an
initiative to embrace new
technology (Incentives,
Working environment, )
Ability of IT to participate in
delivering the vision
internally
Acquire Knowledge
Training, Networking with peers, R&D,
external resources, providers &
partners, SMEs, etc.
Share Knowledge
Value
IT Organization
Embraces Emerging
Technology
Increase Confidence
of IT in IT & of
Business Units in IT
Increase Analytical
Skills of IT
Continuous
Continuous
Table 1: Case Study Protocol.
Stage
Activity
Participants (A)
Participants (B)
Preparation
Meeting
Semi-structured (1:1) interview with the primary
contact; Identify and collect secondary data
documents and artefacts; Review company and
IT organizational structure; Identify stakeholders
for the data collection stages
Director of IT
Deputy GM / Operations
Director
Stage 1
“Discovery”
workshop
Conduct the first “discovery” workshop (middle
management); Gather collective knowledge on
the mechanisms that reduce reluctance of the IT
organization to integrate emerging technology
innovations in IT
Director of IT; IT
Admin.; IT Project
Mgr.; MIS Systems
Analyst; IT Systems
Mgr.; MIS / IT Mgr.
Deputy GM / Operations
Dir.; Infrastructure Mgr.
Customer Support Mgr.
Customer Support Sup.
Sr. Sys. Engineer
Stage 2 -
Saturation
Conduct semi-structured interviews ( senior level
management); Collect additional detail on the
role of leadership and seek saturation of the
concepts
General Manager; VP
of Sales
General Manager / Sales
Manager
Develop Case
Reports
Create individual summary of each transcript (reduction process) and combine case response and
individual transcript summaries.
Stage 3 -
Discussion
Conduct the second “Discussion” workshop;
Unstructured discussion and feedback workshop
for member checking and validation
Same as stage 1
Same as stage 1
Table 2: Research Instrument.
Stage
Data Collection Instrument
Preparation
Meeting
PrepQ1: What challenges does the IT organization face when supporting both internal and
external customers? … Any benefits?
PrepQ2: What is the role of IT leadership in reducing the reluctance of your IT organization
to integrate innovation?
PrepQ3: What components of the IT Strategy have you considered in order to reduce the
reluctance of the IT organization (Innovation and operation)?
PrepQ4: Can the IT organization be a lever rather than a barrier to radical innovation based on
EIT? How?
Stage 1 “Discovery”
workshop
Exercise 1: During the business model innovation project, identify obstacles, investments
and mechanisms or processes used to address these obstacles and prepare the organization
for the integration of emerging technologies IT. (Answers prefixed by M for mechanisms
& O for obstacles)
Exercise 2: During the business model innovation project, identify reasons why the IT
organization was reluctant to integrate emerging technologies in IT.
Exercise 3: Identify mechanisms that reduced reluctance of your IT organization to
integrate innovation, consolidate the input from the first exercise to derive deeper feedback.
Concluding Question S1: How can the IT organization be a lever rather than a barrier to
radical innovation based on emerging technologies in IT?
Stage 2 - Saturation
FollowQ1: How do you adopt and institutionalize emerging technologies in IT?
FollowQ2: In the business model innovation project integrating emerging technologies in IT (the
specific project), what issues did you observe in transitioning innovation into operation? In the
project, what were the operational barriers? How did you address them?
FollowQ3: What is the role of IT leadership in reducing the reluctance of your IT Organization
to integrate innovation – in general and relative to this project?
FollowQ4: What components of the IT Strategy have you considered in order to reduce the
reluctance of the IT Organization to integrate Innovation – can you please share a copy of the
strategic plan?
FollowQ5: How were these mechanisms implemented, by whom and what results were seen?
FollowQ6: Can the IT organization be a lever rather than a barrier to radical innovation
based on emerging technologies in IT? How?
Stage 3 - Discussion
Unstructured discussion and feedback workshop for member checking and validation.
Note: This paper is part of a larger outcome of a developed study. For completeness, the instrument above is presented in its
entirety with relevant questions to this paper highlighted in bold.
Table 3: Key codes related to the seed concept of Knowledge acquisition (Partial results related to this seed concept).
Empirical Statements (Parenthetic numbers indicate the frequency of occurrence in the statements
and prefixes indicate a reference to the data collection instrument)
Concept: Knowledge Acquisition
O3.1.B “Acquire new knowledge internally and reduce the reliance on suppliers
O1.2.A “Develop awareness about alternative solutions through research and library searches (2)
PrepQ2.A5: “Learning capabilities, collaboration and internal information exchange through the
training and cross training of technical staff.
M7.1.A “Hired an external consultant to provide workshops for requirements definition and draft an
initial plan to implement these requirements
M3.2.B “Identify key providers and setup joint R&D teams with them
M5.1.B “Setup R&D efforts with peer organizations, key partners and suppliers.
M4.2.B “Review and research other implementations in peer organizations
M3.2.A Started architectural review session emphasizing the role of external consultants in order to
insource the required knowledge
Concept: Knowledge Transfer
O1.5.B “Establish regular (bi-weekly) knowledge sharing sessions”.
O1.4.B “Setup a database of training materials”
O1.3.B “Setup knowledge management systems that may reduce the cost of individual training for
each of the team members and allow for information sharing”
M1.4.A “Perform many user training sessions and develop easy to use users’ manuals
PrepQ2.B5 “Knowledge transfer tactics between the teams … the sorting and categorization of
information with knowledge management systems”…
PrepQ2.A5 “At some opportunities, an extended staff meeting would be necessary to synchronize the
information and normalize it across the IT organization”.
S1.B2 “Share IT knowledge across the IT organization
S1.B4 “The organization shares business decisions with all technical employees
FollowQ6.A7. “… knowledge acquisition is the basis of everything… all means of knowledge
acquisition and sharing should be leveraged.”
M1.1.B “Conduct internal training sessions (train the trainer) and bring the training in-house” (2)
M6.1.B “Training of chosen people assigned to specific technologies”
O5.1.B “Attend conferences to stay ahead of the learning curve”
O1.2.B “Setup labs for the training activities to be carried in-house”
O1.3.A “Training the IT team on technology” (4)
PrepQ2.B5 “provide education and incentive programs related to uptime and resolution time,
PrepQ2.B5… “The teams will undertake in the next few month a training session to update them on
the latest in ITIL from service and support to strategy”
PrepQ2. B5 “First we send them to conference. They will then have a chance to network with peers
and learn, gain the confidence with the technology and come and convey the knowledge internally”.
S1.B3 “Invest in training for products and technologies”
PrepQ2.A5 “With the right analysis – a deep analysis of the potential technology, involving nearly
everyone on the team, while pushing collaboration with experts in building the big picture…”.
PrepQ2.A5 “We need to discuss and consider input from all team members...”
PrepQ2.B5 “In order to keep the IT organization engaged in realizing the objectives, we involved them
in the decisions”
Emerging Concept: Explore the tacit knowledge of the customer
PrepQ1.B5. “The IT support team meets with the IT infrastructure team regularly to review the
customer issues, build the knowledge base and solicit the collaboration of ideas across the technical
team internal and external”.
S1.B6 “Share the lessons learned from solving customer issues with the business. This works as a
feedback into the business of the issues facing IT which may in turn drive a business solution or a new
service”.
FollowQ6.A “we participate in educating customers to increase the enthusiasm at the customer level”
PrepQ4.B “IT organization was a consultant to the customer … the IT team scouted for opportunities
at the customers’ base, and feedback is brought back to the business”