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No / In this paper, we present the results of a longitudinal case study on information systems (IS) implementation conducted in a community healthcare organization. Using structuration theory as a sensitizing framework, we highlight how the information technology (IT) Management improved their influence through gaining legitimation from other organizational stakeholders, and how the nature of this evolved over time. Our results highlight how an appropriate, sophisticated use of what Giddens refers to as the duality of structure contributed to the consolidation of the IT Manager's credibility and authority. We also report on how the IT Management had most of their actions legitimated as an integral element of their actions. The results also highlight the distributed nature of power, such that even those at the lower end of organizational hierarchy were able to influence the success or failure of IS implementation.

<p>The aim of this thesis is to describe and analyse pupils’ and teachers’ views on pupils’ responsibility for their schoolwork and how this relates to a more comprehensive ideology of school and today’s high modern society. The analysis is inspired by Anthony Giddens’ structuration theory and the concepts of discursive consciousness, practical consciousness, rules, routines and resources.</p><p>At school level pupils’ and teachers’ views of pupils’ responsibility is shown in their practical and discursive consciousness. To capture this consciousness, observations were made during fifteen lessons in school year 9 (15-16 years of age). These lessons - “study times” - were introduced to increase freedom of choice, flexibility and responsibility. Sixty-eight pupils and twenty-two teachers were interviewed. The ideology expressed in pupils’ and teachers’ views on pupils’ responsibility was related to the official school ideology expressed in the national curriculum. Finally, an analysis was carried out inspired by Anthony Giddens’ and Ulrich Beck´s concepts used in their descriptions of the high modern society, individualism and value-relativism.</p><p>The results showed a discursive consensus between teachers and pupils concerning their views pupils’ responsibility for their schoolwork. The meaning of responsibility was taken for granted and implied doing the school tasks and to complete them in time. Both teachers and pupils expressed that many pupils’ have difficulties in taking this responsibility. A discrepancy between the pupils’ discursive and practical consciousness was found.</p><p>Rules and routines were created by the teachers to control the freedom of space offered during the “study times”. The pupils legitimated the teachers’ controlling function but in practice they offer resistance against the demand for responsibility.</p><p>The overall analysis identified three issues that are important for further discussions in research and educational practice. Responsibility and learning: Responsibility was observed as a part of a “culture of doing” separated from learning as such. Also, responsibility was linked to individual work. The freedom offered during the “study times” was used by both pupils, and teachers, to build relationships. This means that relationships were not created through work but rather despite it. Responsibility and the view of the pupils’: In pupils’ and teachers’ view of responsibility pupils were easy going, ruled by lust and/or responsible but not always according to the conditions stipulated by the school. The pupils were offered a freedom to choose but they were also held responsible for the consequences. While they could make the choice not to work, this would influence the evaluation of the achievements, and in reality make it a “non-choice”. The freedom was limited and conditioned. Responsibility as a democratic principle: The connection between responsibility and pupil participation expressed in the national curriculum was not to be found in pupils’ and teachers’ views of responsibility. While the pupils were offered participation in relation to which assignments to choose to work with during the “study times”. They were not invited to shape the rules and the routines for the schoolwork or to have influence on the contents of the work or the working environment. The pupils’ did not ask for more participation, but rather feared it would lead to chaos. The separation between participation and responsibility indicated in the study is suggested to weaken the idea of responsibility as one of the democratic principles.</p><p>In conclusion: The view of pupils’ responsibility for their schoolwork was built upon an individualistic ideology. known from Giddens and Becks description of high modernity. In contrast to their description, however my results show no signs of value-relativism</p>

Strategic information systems security initiatives have seldom been successful. The increasing complexity of the business environment in which organizational security must be operationalized presents challenges. There has also been a problem with understanding the patterns of interactions among stakeholders that lead to instituting such an initiative. The overall aim of this research is to enhance understanding of the issues and concerns in shaping strategic information systems security initiative. To be successful, a proper undertaking of the content, context and process of the formulation and institutionalization of a security initiative is essential. It is also important to align the interconnections between these three key components. In conducting the argument, this dissertation analyzes information systems security initiatives in two large government organizations – Information Technology Agency and Department of Transportation. The research methodology adopts an interpretive approach of inquiry. Findings from the case studies show that the strategic security initiative should be harmonious with the cultural continuity of an organization rather than significantly changing the existing opportunity and constraint structures. The development of security cultural resources like security policy may be used as a tool for propagating a secure view of the social world. For secure organizational transformation, one must consider the organizational security structure, knowledgeability of agents in perceiving secure organizational posture, and global security catalysts (such as establishing trust relations and security related institutional reflexivity). The inquiry indicates that strategic security change would be successful in an organization if developed and implemented in a brief yet quantum leap adopting an emergent security strategy in congruence with organizational security values.

This study focuses on the institutionalization of information security in the banking sector. This study is important to pursue since it explicates the internalization of information security governance and practices and how such internalization develops an organizational resistance towards security breach. The study argues that information security governance and practices become institutionalized through social integration of routines and system integration of relevant technologies. The objective is to develop an understanding of how information security governance and practices in the Indonesian banking sector become institutionalized. Such objective is built on an argument that information security governance and practices become institutionalized through social integration of routines and system integration of relevant technologies. Pursuing this study is necessary to conceptualize the incorporation of security governance and practices as routines, the impact of security breaches on such routines, and the effects of a central governing body on such routines altogether. Accordingly, the concept of institutionalization is developed using Barley and Tolbert’s (1997) combination of institutional theory and structuration theory to explain the internalization of security governance and practices at an organizational level. Scott’s (2008) multilevel institutional processes based on institutional theory is needed to elaborate security governance and practices in an organization-to-organization context. The research design incorporates the interpretive case-study method to capture communicative interactions among respondents. Doing so provides answers to the following research questions: (1) how institutions internalize information security governance and practices, (2) how an external governing body affects the institutionalization of information security governance and practices in institutions, and (3) how security breaches re-institutionalize information security governance and practices in institutions. Several important findings include the habitualized security routines, information stewardship, and institutional relationship in information-security context. This study provides contributions to the body of literature, such as depicting how information security becomes internalized in an organization and the interaction among organizations engaged in implementing information security.

Bakgrund: Personer inom bankverksamhet konfronteras ständigt med behovet av tillförlitliga företagsvärderingar. Det finns inte någon värderingsmodell som är generellt vedertagen. Det finns också alternativa institutioner som utför värdering . Revisorer och deras tjänster är en grupp som bankerna normalt sett har högre förtroende för. Denna studie fokuserar på hur värderingsmodeller används vid värdering och hur resultatet av värderingen används för att bedöma andra omständigheter. Problem: Enligt viss litteratur kan vilka modeller som används, och hur de används, i hög grad bestämmas av den subjektiva bedömningen. Det är inte lika känt att andra faktorer, institutioner som omger subjektet, kan ha en viktig roll vid fastställandet av användningen av modellerna. Därför har vi utvecklat en modell som till stor del illustrerar det här problematiska förhållandet (se Modell 1, s. 5). Problem: Enligt viss litteratur kan vilka modeller som används, och hur de används, i hög grad bestämmas av den subjektiva bedömningen. Det är inte lika känt att andra faktorer, institutioner som omger subjektet, kan ha en viktig roll vid fastställandet av användningen av modellerna. Därför har vi utvecklat en modell som till stor del illustrerar det här problematiska förhållandet (se Modell 1, s. 5). Utifrån problematiken som nämns ovan, har vi följande frågeställningar: 1: Hur går personer inom bankverksamhet och revisorer till väga vid en värdering av ett tillväxtföretag? 2: Vilka likheter och skillnader uppstår de båda institutionerna sinsemellan vid en sådan värdering? 3: Hur motiveras dessa eventuella likheter samt skillnader? Teoretisk referensram: Studien är inspirerad av Giddenss sociologisk teori och begreppet strukturer. Begreppet struktur har tillämpats för att genomföra tolkningar och analysera de institutionella faktorerna kring företagsvärdering. Vidare tillät Giddens struktureringsteori oss att undersöka relationerna mellan subjekt (de som tillämpar värderingsmodeller), objekt (vad som värderades) och institutioner (regler och normer som omger processen för värdering). Giddens struktureringsteori gör att vi kan förstå hur handlingsstrukturer och mer omfattande generella strukturer påverkar subjektets utvärderingsprocess. Berger och Luckmanns socialkonstruktivism ingår också i den teoretiska ramen för att betona hur värderingsprocessen är socialt konstruerad enligt överenskommelser. Dessutom innehåller vår teoretiska ram några värderingsmodeller som har praktisk betydelse. Studiens bidrag: Vår studie visade att: 1: Vi kunde expandera Modell 1, vilket gjorde att vi ytterligare kunde förklara sambanden mellan subjekt, objekt och modell. 2: Syftet styr värderingen. 3: Subjektet påverkas av institutioner som omger den. Dels genom andra individer inom institutionen och dels genom socialt upparbetade system. 4: Modeller väljs av subjektet. Valet i sin tur påverkas av olika strukturer, i detta fallet handlingsstrukturer och generella strukturer. Strukturer kan leda till begränsningar och således medföra att vissa modeller inte tillämpas. 5: Objektets karaktär har stor påverkan på hur värderingen går till. Tillväxtföretag är svårare att värdera med ett större riskmoment. Det leder till att skillnaderna i värderingen av företag de två institutionerna sinsemellan växer. / Program: Civilekonomprogrammet

Denna studie undersöker hur konkurrenter inom den svenska bankbranschen har samarbetat kring en akut och växande säkerhetsrisk kopplad till gemensamt ägda produkter. Med utgång i en sammankoppling av ​coopetition,​ ett begrepp för att beskriva simultan konkurrens och samarbete, och Strong Structuration Theory, en växelverkan mellan struktur och handling, visar studien hur och varför samarbetet har förändrats över tid, vilka motsättningar som existerar och hur aktörerna samarbetar med bedrägerifrågor. Studiens tydliga implikationer är att coopetition utvecklas över tid som respons på den kontextuella omgivningen och strukturella förändringar inom den, att motsättningar inom coopetition inte bara är ett relationellt fenomen mellan två konkurrenter, och att bankbranschen gynnas av tydliga och externa samarbetsformer.

Business Intelligence (BI) handlar huvudsakligen om att samla in, analysera och konvertera data till värdefull information som sedan används av beslutstagare för att vidareutveckla och optimera verksamheten (Negash, 2004). Utvinning av positiva effekter till följd av BI-implementering är dock inte något som organisationer kan eller bör ta för givet. Tidigare forskning påvisar att ett stort antal organisationer upplever svårigheter att utvinna nytta ur BI-initiativ och att satsningar på BI därmed ofta betraktas som ett misslyckande (Chenoweth, Corral &amp; Demirkan, 2006). Baserat på tidigare forskning bedöms frekvensen av misslyckade BI-projekt vidare ligga någonstans kring 50-80% av alla BI-satsningar (Meehaan, 2011; Legodi &amp; Barry, 2010). I dagsläget finns begränsad forskning om faktorer som påverkar BI-implementeringars framgång på grund av att utvecklingen av BI främst drivits av IT- industrin och dess leverantörer (Yeoh &amp; Koronios, 2010). Detta pekar enligt oss på att det finns en diskrepans mellan forskning och praktik. Vår förhoppning är således att vår studie kan fylla denna kunskapslucka genom att presentera nya empiriska insikter kopplat till framgångsfaktorer för implementering av BI hos svenska organisationer, med hjälp av en vetenskaplig förankring. / Business Intelligence (BI) mainly concerns collecting, analyzing and converting data into valuable information that is then used by decision makers to further develop and optimize the business (Negash, 2004). However, the extraction of positive effects as a result of BI implementation is not something organizations can or should take for granted. Previous research shows that a large number of organizations find it difficult to derive benefits from BI initiatives and that investments in BI are often regarded as failures (Chenoweth, Corral &amp; Demirkan, 2006). Furthermore, the frequency of failed BI projects is assessed to be somewhere around 50-80% of all BI initiatives (Meehaan, 2011; Legodi &amp; Barry, 2010). There is currently limited research on factors that affect the success of BI implementations due to the fact that the development of BI has been mainly driven by the IT industry and its suppliers (Yeoh &amp; Koronios, 2010). This leads us to believe that there is a discrepancy between research and practice. Our hope is therefore that we through our study will be able to fill this knowledge gap by presenting new empirical insights linked to success factors for BI implementation in Swedish organizations, using a scientific foundation.

This thesis examines decision making at executive level in Australian private hospitals as a social phenomenon, since individuals draw meaning from their own biographical and social environmental experiences. The researcher interpreted the constructed realities of the factors influencing executives' decisions within the context of private hospitals - a field that is rarely examined through the lens of social research. Using an Interpretivist research paradigm, the researcher conducted semi- structured and in-depth interviews with sixteen executive members who are experts in their field and represent both sectors of the private hospital industry: private for-profit and private not-for-profit. The data generated was transformed into technical accounts using an abductive research strategy and adopting Schütz's notion of first-order and second-order constructs. Using Giddens' Structuration Theory, that stressed the fundamental role of the human agent, the structure and their mutual dependence, the researcher moved beyond the interpretation of individuals' meanings, to incorporate the structure as an entity that can be formed and reformed. The researcher interpreted social actors' constructed meanings of these social phenomena in their work environment to form the elements of a two-dimensional decision making model at organisational level, incorporating the present with the future and the internal with the external factors. On an individual level, three different approaches to decision making were identified, based on whether executives perceived the decision making phenomenon as intuition, as a reasoned process or as an expected outcome. While being from a limited research sample, the findings of this study suggest that the paradox of mission / economic decisions restrained executives in the not-for-profit sector from strengthening their hospitals' financial performance, putting at risk, therefore, their ability to achieve social dividends as a way to proclaim their mission. On the other hand, in the for-profit sector, shareholders' dividends appeared to be a strong catalyst for attaining profit maximisation when making decisions. In both settings, the findings suggest that the role of stakeholder theory is questionable, particularly when executives remained hesitant to involve medical specialists, whom they considered to be major stakeholders and profit generators for private hospitals. This attitude appeared to be constant, despite the changes identified in executives' individual approaches to decision making. However, early signs of shifts towards adopting more commercially and socially accountable decisions were apparent in not-for-p rofit and for-profit sectors respectively. The thesis sets out recommendations to assist executives in managing the different factors that interplay to form executives' decisions. The importance of having a mission in business longevity and the integration, as opposed to alignment, of strategic goals with business operations when making executive decisions in private hospitals was highlighted. The implications for both sectors are described and recommendations for further research are suggested.

This thesis investigates the role of technology-use mediation in supporting the work of global virtual teams. The work is set in the context of a longer term action research programme into collaborative computing and global virtual teams, initiated by Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand and Uppsala University in Sweden. Over the period since 1998, global virtual collaborations involving teams of students from both universities have been conducted annually. This thesis investigates the 2004 collaboration cycle, in which participants from St Louis University Missouri joined the collaboration. This was the first triadic collaboration, and covered Northern, Southern and Western aspects of the globe while traversing three widely divergent time-zones. In spite of the extensive experience in collaboration possessed by the coordinators at all three sites, the results of the global virtual trial were at best mixed. This repeated experience of dissatisfaction in our global virtual collaborations, in spite of the technology being in place has been a primary motivator for this work. Why is global virtual collaboration difficult? What roles and activities are critical? How can we do it better? These are not issues solely to do with the student actors in the global virtual teams, but more to do with the supporting cast, engaged in “activities which involve the shaping of other users activities of [technology] use” (Orlikowski et al., 1995, p.425). Thus came about my interest in exploring the topic of technology-use mediation. This thesis applies a research framework adapted from DeSanctis & Poole’s “Adaptive Structuration Theory” (1994) by the author. Initially applied to “facilitation” in virtual teams “Extended Adaptive Structuration Theory (EAST)” (Clear, 1999a), has undergone further development. The resulting research framework “Technology-use Mediated AST (TUMAST)” is applied here for the first time to investigate technology-use mediation activities performed during the global virtual collaborative trial. A corpus of data based on the email communications of supporting parties to the collaboration is analysed in depth in this study, applying a combination of grounded theoretic and structurational techniques. Thus a very rich and firmly grounded picture of the processes of technology-use mediation is built. This thesis represents the first known in-depth longitudinal study of technology-use mediation in a real global virtual team setting. From this exploratory study some novel theorizations have resulted. Methodologically it demonstrates analysis of technology-use mediation applying the TUMAST framework in a manner that captures the richness and evolution over time of these complex activities. Substantively it proposes a novel theory of “Collaborative Technology Fit (CTF)”. It is hoped that future global virtual team coordinators and researchers may apply the theory in order to map their situation, and diagnose their degree of collaborative alignment on multiple dimensions, thus enabling corrective actions to be taken. While the work arises in a tertiary education context, it reflects the reality of professionals at work in a global virtual team. Its application within other domains remains to be proven, but readings from the literature, and personal experience within global virtual software development teams suggest its wider applicability.