Examining the Strategic Alignment and Implementation Success of a KMS: A Subculture-Based Multilevel Analysis

ed subcultural Level Theme 1 Theme 2 Theme 3 Theme 4 themea category ITS A wise top management team Strong belief in the importance of cooperation between all the business units Determination to implement IT-based quality processes Information and communication openness Organizational ITS-VU Endorsing all organization-level initiatives is important Top management team knows very well what is good for the unit IT tools should be fully leveraged for knowledge sharing and transfer Strong positive identification with the top management team Supporting unit Enhancing ITS-OS Culturally unique Strong positive identification with the client organization Top management team regularly interferes Opposition to quality-related best-practice initiatives Opposing unit Countercultural ITS-HU Circumstances dictate actions Adjusting to the assigned business unit is really important Need to be flexible Offer support to the dominant thinking in the current business unit Adapting unit Chameleon Note. The terms “Themes” and “Cultural/subcultural category” used here can be thought of as similar to Van Maanen’s (1983) “first-order concepts” and “second-order concepts.” a We did not create an abstracted theme for the overall organizational culture, given our focus on subcultures. Appendix B. Data Analysis: Themes at the Organization Level Percent informants who mentioned and ITS characteristics discussed the theme Representative quotes Theme 1: A wise top management team 95.23 “They are very knowledgeable and know whats best for the company” “Its not just the experience. I think it’s the wisdom that comes with being in the industry for a long long time” Theme 2: Strong belief in the importance of cooperation between all the business units 92.85 “Everyone knows what is happening around here” “We are a very transparent set-up” Theme 3: Determination to implement ITbased quality processes 85.71 “It is absolutely vital that business units talk to each other if we have to move up the value chain” “This is our mantra: No unit should live in a bubble” Theme 4: Information and communication openness 83.33 “We constantly scan the environment for best practices and strive to implement them internally.” “Given what we do and given our steadfast belief in the power of IT, we will always push through IT initiatives that help us do better things” D ow nl oa de d fr om in fo rm s. or g by [ 15 8. 12 5. 80 .9 1] o n 05 J un e 20 14 , a t 0 8: 12 . Fo r pe rs on al u se o nl y, a ll ri gh ts r es er ve d. Ravishankar, Pan, and Leidner: Examining the Strategic Alignment and Implementation Success of a KMS Information Systems Research 22(1), pp. 39–59, © 2011 INFORMS 57 Appendix C. Data Analysis: Open-Coded Themes Corresponding to ITS-VU ITS-VU characteristics Representative quotes Theme 1: Endorsing all organization-level initiatives is important “We need to show our support each and every time” “Even if it is from a personal career point of view, I think we need to show a great deal of enthusiasm” Theme 2: Top management team knows very well what is good for the unit “They have been in the game so long and they have our interest at heart” “Their actions always make sense in the long run” Theme 3: IT tools should be fully leveraged for knowledge sharing and transfer “With the kind of IT-skills you can find around here, it would be madness not to exploit its potential fully” “IT, IT, IT. This is the key for internal collaboration” Theme 4: Strong positive identification with the top management team “We all look-up to them” “I’d want to be like the CEO. I mean, that’s my aspiration” Appendix D. Data Analysis: Open-Coded Themes Corresponding to ITS-OS ITS-OS characteristics Representative quotes Theme 1: Culturally unique “You must understand that the culture here is very special” “They think they are unique in many ways and when they are dealing with others in the company, this thinking has definitely affected their actions” Theme 2: Strong positive identification with the client organization “It is true. I am emotionally much closer to my client” “Sometimes I wonder if they even realize that ITS pays their salaries and not their client” Theme 3: Top management team regularly interferes “Every now and then someone at the top comes with a bright idea to interfere!” “Why do they always want to know whats going on here?” Theme 4: Opposition to quality-related best-practice initiatives “They keeping pushing these unnecessary initiatives down our throat” “The first instinct here is to say ‘no’ ” Appendix E. Data Analysis: Open-Coded Themes Corresponding to ITS-HU ITS-HU characteristics Representative quotes Theme 1: Circumstances dictate actions “It all depends really” “Which business unit I am in determines many things, if you ask me” Theme 2: Adjusting to the assigned business unit is really important “We have to make adjustments and fit in” “For everybody’s sake we need to settle down quickly and adjust to the business unit’s ways of working” Theme 3: Need to be flexible “Being very rigid is a strict no-no” “I may have followed a completely different coding process in my last project, but I simply cannot harp on it now” Theme 4: Offer support to the dominant thinking in the current business unit “Many of the business units we work in have their own norms and practices and for the time we are there, we religiously follow all of them” “In my current business unit, everybody is dead serious about quality processes and now I find myself totally in agreement with them” D ow nl oa de d fr om in fo rm s. or g by [ 15 8. 12 5. 80 .9 1] o n 05 J un e 20 14 , a t 0 8: 12 . Fo r pe rs on al u se o nl y, a ll ri gh ts r es er ve d. Ravishankar, Pan, and Leidner: Examining the Strategic Alignment and Implementation Success of a KMS 58 Information Systems Research 22(1), pp. 39–59, © 2011 INFORMS