CAUSAL EXPLANATION IN THE COORDINATING PROCESS: A CRITICAL REALIST CASE STUDY OF FEDERATED IT GOVERNANCE STRUCTURES.

Author List: Williams, Clay K.; Karahanna, Elena;
MIS Quarterly, 2013, Volume 37, Issue 3, Page 933-A8.
Large, multi-unit organizations are continually challenged to balance demands for centralization of information technology that lead to cost and service efficiencies through standardization while providing flexibility at the local unit level in order to meet unique business, customer, and service needs. This has led many organizations to adopt hybrid federated information technology governance (ITG) structures to find this balance. This approach to ITG establishes demand for various means to coordinate effectively across the organization to achieve the desired benefits. Past research has focused on the efficacy of various coordination mechanisms (e.g., steering committees, task forces) to coordinate activities related to information technology. However, we lack insights as to how and why these various coordination approaches help organizations achieve desired coordinated outcomes. This research specifically identifies coordinating as a process. Adopting the philosophy of critical realism, we conducted a longitudinal, comparative case study of two coordinating efforts in a federated ITG structure. Through a multifaceted approach to scientific logic employing deductive, inductive, and retroductive elements, we explicate two causal mechanisms, consensus making and unit aligning, which help to explain the coordinating process and the coordination outcomes observed in these efforts. We additionally elaborate the operation of the mechanisms through the typology of macro-micro-macro influences. Further, we demonstrate the value of the causal mechanisms to understanding the coordinating process by highlighting the complementarity in insights relative to the theories of power and politics and of rational choice. The study contributes to our understanding of coordinating as a process and of governance in federated IT organizations. Importantly, our study illustrates the value of applying critical realism to develop causal explanations and generate insights about a phenomenon.
Keywords: case study; causal mechanisms; coordinating process; Critical realism; federated IT governance; unit-aligning mechanism
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#163 0.204 critical realism theory case study context affordances activity causal key identifies evolutionary history generative paper events lead mechanisms evolution change
#256 0.133 coordination mechanisms work contingencies boundaries temporal coordinating vertical associated activities different coordinate suggests dispersed coordinated horizontal relative demand spatial hours
#76 0.108 governance relational mechanisms bpo rights process coordination outsourcing contractual arrangements technology benefits view informal business formal exchange hybrid complementarity flexibility
#116 0.094 research study influence effects literature theoretical use understanding theory using impact behavior insights examine influences mechanisms specifically context perspective findings
#282 0.087 power perspective process study rational political perspectives politics theoretical longitudinal case social rationality formation construction shows multiple instead understanding fact
#159 0.083 systems information objectives organization organizational development variety needs need efforts technical organizations developing suggest given effective designing lack help recent
#68 0.062 business units study unit executives functional managers technology linkage need areas information long-term operations plans mission large understand knowledge current
#80 0.052 organizations new information technology develop environment challenges core competencies management environmental technologies development emerging opportunities levels based change business technical