Browsing by Author "Rossi, Matti, professor"

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    Enhancing ICT supported distributed learning through action design research
    (Aalto University, 2012) Saarinen, Lauri; Tieto- ja palvelutalouden laitos; Department of Information and Service Economy; Kauppakorkeakoulu; School of Business; Rossi, Matti, professor
    Development of information and communication technology (ICT) enables novel ways for interaction in addition to diminishing boundaries of time and place in teaching and learning. In a distributed learning approach online technologies are blended with campus-based in person activities. In higher education, keeping up with the change creates interests and concerns, which the organization has to attend to in order to employ learning technologies productively in line with its strategic goals. The purpose of this study is to present and analyze the researcher’s efforts of making ICT enhanced distributed learning understandable and commensurable to different stakeholders within Helsinki School of Economics. During the research an artifact was built. The artifact is an intervention tool, which may be used on several levels of planning and consultation. The artifact’s core consists of a course website template and a minimalist instructional design process attached to it. The core is surrounded by features of organizational management, quality improvement, in addition to internal and external constraints of the organization. The research question in this study is "How to orchestrate ICT enhanced distributed learning?" The artifact building and organizational intervention were evaluated with data analysis, questionnaires, interviews and reflection. The chosen research methodology, action design research, results in emergent design principles from an artifact centered organizational intervention. Four design principles - contextualization, concordance, collaboration, and commitment - emerged during the building of the artifact. They are intended to be used along with the artifact within another similar organizational development context. During the design process (1996-2010), which included the research process, the volumes of online activities within the organization increased. The change did not include many qualitative changes; especially online interaction has not visibly increased. We employ online services mainly to deliver learning material. Therefore, we do not benefit from the online services’ inbuilt characteristics of flexible information sharing, connectedness, and collaboration. Current use of online activities in teaching and learning reflects existing culture and practices. ICT can be a catalyst to cultural change to show new ways of interaction within an organization. If any change is to be expected, it is likely to be gradual and may take considerable time. Nevertheless, new generations always reconstruct their learning environment. I always prefer to believe the best of everybody, it saves so much trouble. - Rudyard Kipling.
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    Essays on management of complex information systems development projects
    (Helsinki School of Economics, 2008) Nurmi, Antti; Kauppakorkeakoulu; School of Business; Rossi, Matti, professor
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    The interaction between an enterprise system and a knowledge-intensive project organization : a case study of project staffing
    (Aalto University, 2012) Mattila, Merja; Tieto- ja palvelutalouden laitos; Kauppakorkeakoulu; School of Business; Rossi, Matti, professor
    Knowledge-intensive project organizations compete in an increasingly dense global web of customers and suppliers. In this global web, organizations seek new ways to deliver projects and services more efficiently. One way to increase efficiency is restructuring in order to become more customer oriented through flattening organizational structure and distributing work across the globe. This kind of decentralized organization relies heavily on distributed teams and several IT tools, such as global Enterprise Systems (ES, and their primary form Enterprise Resource Planning, ERP) and different collaboration devices. In this dissertation I take an exploratory approach on the interaction between a knowledgeintensive project organization and an enterprise system. In the case study I follow how a large project organization transforms from a silo organization into a more integrated matrix model. This case study extends over a period of two and a half years. During the same period, the company implements new ES functionalities in order to support its strategic change relating to a new operating model. I demonstrate the interaction between the ES and the organization by using a part of the new operating model, a project staffing process, as an example of organizational processes that are supported by new enterprise system functionalities. The project staffing process exploits traditional HR data such as competence catalogues and employees’ workload data to optimize resource use. By applying grounded theory I investigate research questions that emerged from the empirical data. Despite the growing literature regarding the interplay between the enterprise system and organization, this complex interaction is not thoroughly understood. I employ theories and models relating to neo-institutional theory, organizational change, sociomateriality, human and machine agencies, affordances, loose coupling, system usage, boundary objects and boundary spanning. In the four research papers forming the body of this thesis I provide new perspectives on the interplay between the enterprise system and knowledge-intensive project organization in managing resources in project business. The main contribution of my study is that the knowledge-intensive project organization sets special challenges for the assimilation and use of new ES functionalities. Particularly, the complexity of the company’s professional services and projects creates different managerial implications and organizational responses within the company. In addition, the new HR-related ES functionalities set some specific challenges for the system assimilation and use in the knowledge-intensive project organization.
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    Management of open-ended user feedback in the continuous development of information systems and e-services
    (Aalto University, 2011) Merisalo-Rantanen, Hilkka; Johtamisen ja kansainvälisen liiketoiminnan laitos; Department of Management and International Business; Kauppakorkeakoulu; School of Business; Rossi, Matti, professor
    Information systems are increasingly web-based and part of web-portals and ERP-systems that users see as a single service. Business processes and information systems are intertwined and constantly co-evolve. Systems and e-services affect many stakeholders and vast numbers of users, including consumers. Their needs, expectations, and desires are versatile, even conflicting, and change over time. Therefore, ongoing user involvement in systems development is important for providing sufficient service quality. Yet, it is very challenging for the service provider to directly reach or control users and other stakeholders. The utilization of open-ended user feedback provides a solution for ongoing user involvement. Open-ended feedback includes complaints, but also opinions and new ideas and tackles both business and organizational issues in addition to the system under consideration. However, the unstructured nature of open-ended feedback makes it difficult for such feedback to be analyzed and utilized. Often, no formal structure exists for forwarding feedback into the planning, development, and decision making processes. The objective of this qualitative research is to understand the management and utilization of open-ended user feedback in continuous information system and e-service development. Interpretive case study approach and action research are applied in five cases that represent various industries, types of information systems and e-services, and development situations. Methods and practices for the management and utilization of open-ended user feedback are developed. First, e-collaboration processes are developed for gathering open-ended feedback from users and other stakeholders at operational and strategic levels. Second, a model for feedback management is developed for gathering, analyzing, and disseminating open-ended feedback throughout the organization and all levels of planning. Finally, an e-service development model is constructed for integrating feedback management, information systems development, and new service development, thus enabling feedback utilization in those processes. The developed processes and models cover the whole feedback lifecycle from idea conception to utilization. The e-service development model integrates idea generation, information system, and new service development processes. The results enable continuous user involvement through open-ended feedback throughout the system lifecycle and at all levels of planning. They are useful for both academia and practitioners in their undertakings to implement, improve, and integrate practices for feedback management and continuous information system and e-service development.
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    Not accidental revolutionaries : essays on open source software production and organizational change
    (Aalto University, 2011) Lindman, Juho; Tieto- ja palvelutalouden laitos; Kauppakorkeakoulu; School of Business; Rossi, Matti, professor
    Open Source Software research has established that OSS technology (tools and practices) holds untapped potential. Based on a systematic literature review and a research engagement over a three-year period of data gathering, my dissertation describes how organizations leverage OSS practices to produce software. Leveraging OSS can be divided into two processes: 1) inbounding (moving public assets inside a company) and 2) outbounding(publishing) OSS. I outline the structural consequences these changes in software production entail and provoke. My research question is: What is the relation between local renegotiation of the term OSS and the organizational change provoked by OSS technology? I chose a qualitative approach to examine the case companies, informed by OSS research and institutional theory. The bulk of the data emerges from the industrial ITEA-COSI project, which focused on software commodification. I aim to provide a narrative of how the term OSS travels from the writings of enthusiasts to the daily work practices of software producing organizations. The findings underline the importance of local renegotiation of the term OSS. This renegotiation provokes structural changes in 1) the organizations that adopt OSS technology, but more widely also in 2) the industries these companies operate in. The main contribution of this research thesis, reported in four essays, is directed at two audiences: first, at academics, to promote the idea that OSS in organizations should be researched in a sensitivized manner. This requires moving away from too simplistic institutional contexts and ”the OSS business model”. Second, it is directed at practitioners, to reduce uncertainty about the adoption of OSS technology and to help build a capacity to accept, search for, motivate and reward contribution.
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    Towards approximate reasoning on new software product company success potential estimation : a design science based fuzzy logic expert system
    (Helsinki School of Economics, 2008) Relander, Sami; Kauppakorkeakoulu; School of Business; Rossi, Matti, professor