Rapid changes in the competitive environment and increasing customer demands drive the public and private sectors to innovate by continually investing millions of dollars in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) projects. Basically, organisations depend on ICT technology for every part of their business. Companies are not only challenged to apply new technologies to remain competitive, they also need to spread (diffuse), manage and implement technological innovation across extended organisational boundaries. Diffusion, management and implementation of ICT innovation involve a considerable amount of risk and potentially protracted delays of technological projects. As a consequence of high demand for ICT innovation, as well as the risk of failure, a wide range of organisations such as state agencies and banks now employ so-called change agents to diffuse, manage and implement innovation within technological projects. While a large number of academics and practitioners are concerned with change agents who alter organisational culture, structure and processes, relatively little research has been undertaken on the role of ICT change agents in the innovation process. Thus, this professional doctorate study aims to fill that gap by exploring ICT change agents’ project work experiences within state agencies and banks and fuse them with theory. The research is based on case study methodology, including 41 cases within 12 target organisations in Australia and Germany. As a former ICT change agent, the researcher of this Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) study applied mixed research methods, also incorporating her ICT project experiences by using an individual reflection model. From this investigation emerged that change agents’ roles are embedded in components (organisational structure, project stages) and processes (ICT diffusion, informal networks). These findings underpin the model of ICT change agents who perform the multiple linker roles of these components and processes in order to deliver set project outcomes. The model is designed to inform practice by providing guidance for advanced ICT change agents’ training in public and private sector settings. / Doctor of Business Administration
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/266094 |
| Date | January 2008 |
| Creators | Jagodic, Jana |
| Publisher | University of Ballarat |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | Copyright Jana Jagodic |
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