Initial Crisis Agent-Response Impact Syndrome (ICARIS)
Along with a long-time colleague of mine, Tobin Hensgen, I have co-authored a paper on informational issues faced by first-responders to crises.

Hensgen, T., Desouza, K.C., and Durland, M. “Initial Crisis Agent-Response Impact Syndrome (ICARIS),” Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 14 (4), 2006, 190-198.

Abstract:
There has been a dramatic shift in attitude among organizations regarding the probabilities of crisis occurring. Once crises were considered the domain of the contingency management team that sought the fastest means to recovery, now the entire organization is compelled to take steps intended to mitigate conditions leading to a crisis. In this paper, the authors consider the organization’s ‘first responders’ i.e., those who become involuntarily placed in the decision making process because they are the first to become aware of the conditions which indicate impending crisis simply because they are ‘on scene.’ As agents of the organization, these persons will make initial decisions well before the implementation of any formal contingency plan and because their decisions will be based on incomplete assumptions, they are likely to be in error. The impact of these initial crisis-agent responses can cause irreparable damage to the organization, to the individuals within the organization, and to the surrounding environment. This tendency toward error is referred to as the initial crisis-agent response impact syndrome: ICARIS. Exercising a program that prepares all employees for the initial decisions that need to be made at the moment of crisis can mitigate problems related to this issue.

Managing Knowledge in Strategic Alliances

The Malaysian Management Review has printed portions of my chapter, managing knowledge in strategic alliances, from my co-authored book – Engaged Knowledge Management (Palgrave, 2005).

Desouza, K.C., and Awazu, Y. “Engaging Knowledge Management in Strategic Alliances – Part 2,” Malaysian Management Magazine, January-March, 42 (1), 2007, 64-69.
Desouza, K.C., and Awazu, Y. “Engaging Knowledge Management in Strategic Alliances – Part 1,” Malaysian Management Magazine, October-December, 41 (4), 2006, 54-59.

I am currently teaching two courses at the Information School of the University of Washington. The graduate course is titled, Management of Information Organizations. Here is the course description:

The management of information organizations (e.g. software organizations, crisis management centers, libraries, consulting organizations, government intelligence and national security centers, etc) represents a critical challenge. Even though most managers take a deterministic approach to management, the current operating and competitive environments can be characterized as emergent, complex, incomplete. Moreover, it is imperative for organizations to operate in an agile manner if they are to compete (or even survive). In this class, we will study the management of information organizations from the perspective of building agility throughout the organization. In order to build agile information organizations, we must account for how organizations are conceptualized, created, and managed. At the completion of the course, students should be able to:
• Describe the characteristics of agile information organizations
• Appreciate the complex nature of information flows in organizations
• Assess organizational readiness for information systems
• Conceptualize agile information systems
• Construct agile information systems
• Manage information systems
• Evaluate the contribution of information systems to business objectives

The undergraduate course is titled, Intellectual Foundations of Informatics. Here is the course description:

This course will examine the concepts of ‘information’ and ‘information systems’. We begin by discussing the concept of information. In particular, we will focus on the following issues: what information is, what the characteristics of information are, how information is different from knowledge, and how to management information. Next, we address the topic of ‘information systems’. Here we will focus on: describing information systems, designing information systems, and managing information systems. In addition, we will survey emerging issues such as the role of ethics in the management of information, knowledge management, government information policy, etc.

More pictures...

I will be giving a talk on Innovation at the Airplane Product Development 2007 Offsite for Boeing (Jan 3-4, 2007). My talk will focus on the common innovation challenges organizations face, and the strategies leading organizations have implemented to overcome these challenges. My talk will draw heavily on my ongoing research projects (Leveraging Ideas into Organizational Innovation; Demystifying the Link between Innovation and Business Value). Other speakers at this event include Joe Sutter (author of 747; Joe led the team of engineers who created the Boeing 747), Horikiri Toshio (CEO, Toyota Engineering Corporation).

Here are some more pictures from the Sealine Resort…

Doha's Shopping Center...The City Center...(a.k.a The Mall)

More Buildings on a Nice Sunny Day

The place I played football - Al Ahli Club...

Local Buildings...Nice Architecture!

The Corniche….Enjoy…Now, Doha has a Skyline…When I was here last there were only two buildings here…

Enjoying a sandwich and a glass of orange juice at my favorite Juice Stall in Doha…Al Anfal…This place is not meant for tourists, but is a common hangout among the locals…

My old School, where I completed Grade I through XII...See, I made the Honor Roll (nice!)...When I went to school we had to run on sand, very hot sand, now the school has a nice track and field...

Starbucks in Doha, Qatar…The last time I was in Doha, I had never heard of this Company…We only drank real Arabic Tea for entertainment…

Taking a break…shooting some pool at the City Center…

I am currently in Doha, Qatar on vacation…I have returned home after 9 years of being away. I will update the Blog with photos and some commentary…

I just returned from spending time at the University of Virginia (UVA). UVA is located in beautiful Charlottesville, Virginia. I got a lot of writing and thinking done during my time at UVA. In addition, I did have time to hang out my with sister and meet some old friends. Here are some pictures…

I will be chairing a panel at the International Conference on Information Systems. This is the second year in a row that I have organized a panel. The panel is titled: SOCIAL ACTIVISM IN IS RESEARCH: MAKING THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE. Panel members are Bob Galliers (Bentley College), Rick Watson (Univ of Georgia), Don McCubbrey (Univ of Denver), Michael Myers (University of Auckland), and Phillip Ein-Dor (Tel Aviv University). Here is a description of the panel:

Information Systems (IS) can play a salient role in the transformation of our societies, especially in less-developed (or under-served) communities. IS can be used to benefit citizens in these societies through improvements in education, government, healthcare, social, and entrepreneurial systems. It would be a mistake to think that under-served communities can develop without optimal deployment of IS, after all advanced societies depended on IS to boost their development. The realization that IS offers potential benefit to improve the livelihood of the less-privileged is not new or recent. However, what is not clear is what should be the role of IS researchers in addressing the needs of the under-served communities?

On a philanthropic level, we might all believe that IS researchers should get involved in addressing the needs of the under-served communities. However, this is not the same as being pragmatic and actually taking required steps to act in a tangible and measurable manner. Hence, the question is raised – is addressing the needs of the under-served communities a lofty ideal or an actionable proposal? It would be irresponsible to leave the issue as a lofty ideal. Hence, we should address the question - how can we transform it from a lofty ideal to an actionable proposal?

The answer lies in the taking steps to transform the structure of our academic community by re-examining the fundamentals – teaching, research, and service. Examining these fundamentals, we should ask how our current goals, incentives, and efforts are addressing the needs of the under-served communities. More specifically, we must look at to what degree we are being cognizant of the needs of under-served communities when we chart our goals, plan our efforts, and devise incentives. Moreover, we must also recognize that studying IS issues in under-served communities can inform and deepen our understanding of contemporary research issues. For example, the IT infrastructures in under-served communities will not resemble those of their counterparts in advanced societies. We should look at how these newer designs (e.g. wireless-based networks, digital libraries, etc) can revolutionize traditional practices in advanced societies. Hence, while IS research that has been conducted in advanced societies can contribute to efforts in the under-served communities, we must also appreciate the reality that IS deployments in under-served communities can in fact inform our current research problems, approaches, and even the practice of IS.

Unless we take steps to transform the current structure of academe to make significant impacts on how we conduct and disseminate research (e.g., appreciating the difficulty of solving messy problems in under-served communities), educate our students (e.g., engaging students in the generation of knowledge that can be consumed by under-served communities), and engage in societal efforts (e.g., rewarding efforts that are geared to building bridges between social organizations such as the U.N. UNESCO, World Bank, and the IS scholarly community), we risk being spectators to the impact of IS in under-served communities rather than directing this effort. This position is not only undesirable, but also will be irresponsible as we would be under-utilizing and mis-using the intellectual resources that have taken considerable effort to develop.

The goal of this panel will be to encourage change in the IS research community via the Association of Information Systems by debating methods for addressing the needs of the under-served communities. Some of the questions that will be discussed include:

1. How do we build IS research programs that make an impact on addressing the needs of the under-served communities?
2. Is use of IS a cause of development, or does the use of IS expand when communities are more developed? Or is it an iterative process: more development leads to greater use of IS, which in turn promotes greater development?
3. How do we deploy our current knowledge resources to better address the needs of the under-served communities?
4. How do we learn from the novelties of IS deployments in under-served communities to help inform research and practice in the advanced societies?
5. How do we engage stakeholders outside our research community to develop fruitful alliances to better achieve the goal of addressing the needs of the under-served communities?
6. How do we educate and equip future researchers (e.g. doctoral students) and practitioners (e.g. graduate and undergraduate students) to be sensitive to the needs of the under-served communities?

I look forward to seeing you at ICIS.

I have a paper accepted at the International Conference on Information Systems to be held in Milwaukee, December 10-13, 2006. The paper is titled, “Post-Adoption Switching Between Technology Substitutes: The Case Of Web Browsers” and is co-authored by Chen Ye, DongBack Seo, Sridhar Papagari, and Sanjeev Jha, all of whm are former doctoral colleagues of mine at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Here is the abtract of the paper:

In this study, we examine factors that influence users’ post-adoption switching between technology products that are near perfect substitutes. The recent introduction of Mozilla Firefox web browser provided an ideal empirical setting for this study. Drawing upon literature on post-adoption user behavior, consumer behavior, and online consumer research, we proposed a research model and validated it using cross-sectional field data collected from 306 users on their decisions to switch from Microsoft Internet Explorer to Mozilla Firefox. Findings suggest that user satisfaction and breadth of use of the incumbent product are negatively associated with switching behavior, and perceived ease of use, relative advantage, and perceived security of the substitute product are positively associated with switching behavior. This study contributes to both research and practice by advancing our understanding of users’ post-adoption behavior in general and their switching behavior on web-related technology products in specific.

Much of the work conducted in organizations occurs as projects. Project-based work is especially popular in the information technology domain. Statistics indicate that between 50% to 80% of IT projects are unsuccessful –– they either fail to deliver on time, overstep budgeted estimates of resources and time, do not meet customer requirements, or fall short of customer expectations. This alarming scenario is hardly surprising –– too many organizations tend to repeat the same mistakes too often, particularly in terms of knowledge transfer and reuse of the information derived from past projects. Some of the primary reasons for project failures are a result of poor knowledge management: lack of effective project estimation and budgeting, poor communication and information sharing practices, inadequate reuse of past experiences and lessons learned, and insufficient understanding of the technology, particularly its limitations. Other typical reasons are lack of consistency in management, lack of formal tracking, and lack of functional user involvement. The end result is overruns in cost and time through restarts or projects routinely abandoned before completion.

Establishing a Project Management Office (PMO) is one strategy that can be used to resolve these persistent problems –– it is a source of centralized integration and a repository of knowledge which can be used to inform more effective and efficient IT project management. A well-implemented PMO can resolve the most challenging project management issues by capturing and transferring knowledge, maximizing the power of cross-functional teams, regulating the demand of integrated technologies, and providing ownership and accountability for key efforts. Moreover, it can fully assess the impact and risk of change and provide projects with guidance on best practices and standards.

While Project Management Offices (PMOs) have become a mainstay in organizations, systematic research has not yet been undertaken to study their intricacies. In a recent project, Roberto Evaristo and I, conducted an exploratory and descriptive case study analysis of PMOs, based on our interviews with senior managers and directors of PMOs in 32 IT organizations. To read our findings please see - SOURCE: Desouza, K.C., and Evaristo, J.R. “Project Management Offices: A Case of Knowledge-based Archetypes,” International Journal of Information Management, Forthcoming.