Papers
Diagnosing and Redesigning a Health(y) Organisation: an Action Research Study
Co-authored with Marcus Laumann and Roland Holten
The problem of linking and coordinating different subunits of an organisation is a central part of management. One prerequisite is to design the communication within the organisation in an effective way. Based on an action research study carried out at a site of a logistics service company, this paper sketches how organisations can be analysed and redesigned by using cybernetic thinking, and shows how organisational problems have been identified and solved for this company. By applying the concept of variety as a measure for complexity, the usefulness of the concept for the analysis of organisations and information systems is explored. We combine the Viable System Model with a conceptual modelling approach from Information Systems Research and show how the analysis and design of information and communication channels has successfully been carried out. Building on Language Critique, we propose theoretical implications of this approach.
Managing Virtual Communities – A Case Study of a Viable System
Co-authored with Christoph Feddersen
Virtual communities play an important part in enabling people with common interests to interact with each other. Current research mostly focuses on the aspects of social interaction, usability and success factors for virtual communities. In this paper, we focus on the management of virtual communities. Within a case study, we examine the development of a management team of a non-commercial virtual community of interest. We match our findings with the Viable System Model, generate and test hypotheses based on this model and draw conclusions. Data from the case study are used to illustrate the theories and to demonstrate principles for community management derived from the application of the Viable System Model.
A Model for Understanding Success of Virtual Community Management Teams
Co-authored with Christoph Feddersen
Virtual communities enable people with common interests to interact with each other. Until today, research has mostly focused on the aspects of social interaction, usability and success factors for virtual communities. But due to the link between effective coordination of management teams and success of virtual communities, virtual community management becomes of great importance for both research and practice. Therefore, the imperative of this research is to develop an understanding of what drives management teams of successful virtual communities. Drawing on existing literature, we identify relevant theories and use a previous exploratory case study in order to provide a theoretical explanation of the variables and factors that affect the success of virtual community management teams. Furthermore, we provide first suggestions for measurement instruments in order to subsequently test our proposed model using empirical, quantitative methods.
On the Role of Conceptual Models in Information Systems Research - From Engineering to Research
Co-authored with Roland Holten
Conceptual modelling deals with the process of building or interpreting a conceptual model. Stakeholders use the resulting model to reason and communicate about a domain in order to improve their common understanding of it. From this perspective, conceptual modelling and conceptual models are subjects for information systems research. In this paper, we argue that this engineering-driven view on conceptual models is only one possible perspective for information systems research. Based on language critique, we show how conceptual models can be used not as a subject of but as an important and useful instrument for information systems research. Conceptual models help to structure and formalize the interpretation of a subjective understanding in a domain of focus. We propose a research approach which is based on three roles that the researcher adopts and show how conceptual models are a useful source of knowledge and an instrument for interpretation respectively. We combine our view with an existing framework for information systems research and reinterpret existing research as matching to our approach.
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Measuring the Complexity of Information Systems and Organizations - Insights from an Action Case
Co-authored with Roland Holten
As organizations increasingly depend on information technology for their operation, complexity of information systems becomes an important issue for management in the context of organizational engineering. This paper shows how the combination of cybernetics with conceptual modelling contributes to the measurement of complexity for the analysis and design of information systems and organizations. Based on the discussion of a language-based approach, we show how conceptual modelling as an instrument for organizational analysis can significantly contribute to organizational engineering if used in combination with an established theory for control and communication. Within an action case study in an information technology controlling setting, we apply the concept of variety as a measure for complexity in combination with conceptual modelling and explore its usefulness for the diagnosis and redesign of a controlling and reporting system.
Combining Cybernetics and Conceptual Modeling – The Concept of Variety in Organizational Engineering
Co-authored with Roland Holten
Organizational engineering addresses various aspects of changing organizations in order to create and keep the alignment between business and information technology (IT). In this paper, we show how the combination of cybernetic theories with conceptual modeling contributes to the analysis and design of information systems and organizations. Based on the discussion of a language-driven understanding of information systems as socio-technical systems, we show how conceptual models can significantly contribute to organizational engineering if used in combination with the concept of variety, an established theory from cybernetics. Within an IT controlling case, we show how our approach can be applied to the diagnosis of an IT controlling and reporting system in the German subsidiary of a large European bank.
Designing IC Structures by Variety Engineering
Co-authored with Marcus Laumann and Roland Holten
Value creation increasingly relies on the bundling of physical products and services from different providers in networks such as supply chains. The complexity that arises from this cooperation is of utmost importance for management since the provision of an undisturbed flow of information affects the performance of the whole network. In this paper we develop a method for the analysis and design of information and communication structures. Building on the Design Science Research Framework and using an exemplary case, we show how coordination complexity can be analyzed and measured. The results are combined with theoretical concepts from management cybernetics and create the foundation for the constructed method.
Organizational Impact on Project Management in Financial Data Warehousing: A Case Study
Co-authored with Marc Räkers
Today s financial industry is fundamentally based on information technology. Most companies, especially banks, run data warehouses to achieve an integrated view on their whole business. These financial data warehouses have to cope with very different kinds of information provided by each business unit. As banking product portfolios are subject to frequent changes and warehouse requirements are enhanced permanently due to supervisory guidelines and internal reporting needs, data warehouse projects have to master various challenges over time. In order to obtain resilience, the organizational structure of data warehouse projects has to be aligned to team members roles, skills and required communication channels. We describe how communication problems can be identified by using the Viable System Model and examine how communication between project stakeholders influenced a project in an exemplary case study. We illustrate that the management of financial data warehouse projects has to deal with complex problems of knowledge transfer due to a gap of mutual understanding between project members from business and IT departments.
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Analysing Information Flows for Controlling Activities within Supply Chains - An arvato (Bertelsmann) Business Case
Co-authored with Marcus Laumann
Supply Chain Management (SCM) deals with the management of flows of goods, information and funds within and between supply chain partners in order to satisfy consumer needs in the most efficient way (Chopra & Meindl 2007, Christopher 1998). Along a supply chain, various decisions have to be made continuously, from the simple choice, which customer order to be processed next, to the serious question, whether to select a new supplier or to cancel an existing one (Fleischmann & Meyr 2003). All of these decisions are supported by the provision of relevant information. Therefore, the efficiency of a supply chain is strongly influenced by the accurate setup of information flows for decision support. Supply Chain Controlling (SCC) supports SCM by providing the right information at the right time to the right manager for rational decision making. However, there is hardly any methodology available in order to analyze and redesign information flows for controlling activities in supply chains in a structured way. Based on a business case - a pharmaceutical cold chain - managed by arvato, we show how the informational and organizational situation along a supply chain can be assessed by applying a theory originally grounded in cybernetics.
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Communication in Organizations: The Heart of Information Systems
Co-authored with Roland Holten
We propose a theory characterizing information systems (IS) as language communities which use and develop domain-specific languages for communication. Our theory is anchored in Language Critique, a branch of philosophy of language. In developing our theory, we draw on Systems Theory and Cybernetics as a theoretical framework. "Organization" of a system is directly related to communication of its sub-systems. "Big systems" are self-organizing and the control of this ability is disseminated throughout the system itself. Therefore, the influence on changes of the system from its outside is limited. Operations intended to change an organization are restricted to indirect approaches. The creation of domain-specific languages by the system itself leads to advantageous communication costs compared to colloquial communication at the price of set-up costs for language communities. Furthermore, we demonstrate how our theoretical constructs help to describe and predict the behavior of IS. Finally, we discuss implications of our theory for further research and IS in general.
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