Technology Articles Blog
Software Engineering is and will be the backbone and driving force behind the technological advancements that we enjoy and that will lead us to greater realms of information and knowledge management. Its good for us to refresh our basics and foundations. Software Engineering is a discipline which was conceptualized, developed and is constantly reviewed for…
This is a core question that we need to ask when we talk about SOA (Service oriented architecture). SOA connects enterprise components within and outside by easy integration, coordination and loosely coupled processes that can be coupled easily. The main theme that comes up when the number of interacting components increases is the complex messaging…
The core concept behind Service oriented Architecture (SOA) is that it is focused on enabling design and implementation of business process as individual service components (in the form of software) which is loosely coupled and easily discoverable so that inter and intra business processes can interoperate easily and businesses can adapt to changes very quickly….
Product requirements need to be treated with suspicion as if they really needed for the essential capability for a product release. Always prioritize product requirements and keep the bare minimum and most needed requirements on the top of the product backlog with fine-grained description of the requirements which could be easily implemented using any development…
Agile software development methodology is suitable for time-boxed iterative system development scenarios. The software product is released as various versions or releases, typically in time-boxes of a month. Agile development assumes and welcomes delays and late requirements or scope changes even during development/testing phase! Agile software development might not be suitable for all software development…
While reengineering a business enterprise, we create a process based organization structure for the enterprise to avoid the inefficiencies and time wasting business process cycles as in a functions based organization. ie – the business process information systems and the enterprise wide information infrastructure are integrated in such a way that the people of various functions…
The three basic approaches to reengineering are as follows – 1. STREAMLIING 2. INTEGRATING 3. TRANSFORMING 1. Streamlining – Streamlining approach to reengineering the business offers a basic, segmented, quick-fix methodology for reengineering. It cleans up and treats symptoms but doesn’t necessarily transform a process nor find a cure for a bad process. It doesn’t…
Strategic Alignment of IT Resources Grocery Industry Kathleen Chan, Deepesh Joseph, Raymond Jones, Paul Walleck Introduction To investigate how and why grocery companies are aligning their information and communication resources (ICT?s) (hardware, software, networks, databases, service offerings, processes, and portal layers) around a focal strategy. Grocery Industry Introduction • NAICS 445110: Supermarkets and Other Grocery…
There is great effect of privacy / individual rights on true e-Government implementations. As always, the core goals of e-Governance initiatives are to bring about openness and transparency in governance. In many different ways global governments strive to be transparent and thus be more approachable and open in its dealings with citizens. Individual rights such as…
Based on my reflection on E-Governance reference materials and experience, I am concluding that e-government initiatives cannot be truly transformational unless the socio-political environment is favorable and open-minded to bring about highly participatory democracy with high level of citizen involvement through innovative technology usage. Two forces are in play that hinders transformation – narrow mindedness…
This is an interesting and very scholastic topic to share and discuss. The basic question being raised is – Are e-government initiatives capable to bring about transformation within the ecosystem (citizens, government agencies and all public administration setup) that it functions and serves? To answer the question, we really need to define what ‘transformation’ are…
Blogging has its relevance in supporting electronic government only if it is accepted within that localized setup and is strictly monitored and controlled by the inherent information systems. Now let us see how blogging would support electronic government initiatives in such a localized setup (Homburg V., 2008). The pre-requisite in using blogging as a part…
This reading materials as listed in the Bibliography, sets the stage for deeply analyzing the origins of the most long lasting government setup of the world and how does one appreciate Lincoln’s far reaching vision of – ‘a government of the people, by the people, for the people’ – as related to various points of…
The educational system should revise the curriculum according to the current technology demands in the society and to build creativity of students. I think the engineering schools in US are already doing it. If not, it is sad and the management should take necessary actions to consult the industry and experts to see what subjects…
The lesson learned should be lack of effective direction and control in implementing the plan. I remember from IST 601 that we should control technology, reverse should not happen. As wise users of technology, we should devise clear plans as how technology will be used, especially when it is to be used by kids. If…
Though Information Technology (IT) is seen as a core enabler of business continuity and competence, it is not always viewed so. I was impressed by a research paper in MIS quarterly by Michelle L. Kaarst Brown. Her research study (Kaarst-Brown M.L ) done in the referenced paper finds that the state of assumptions about IT could be…
This article is based on a research paper that I reviewed recently as included in the reference section. The focus of this article is to draw the importance of cultural influences on global strategic positioning of any company/industry. Through his research oriented paper, author Tay H. K. has done a good job in analyzing the current and…
“Competing commitment and how to overcome it” – A review of work done by Kegan R. and Lahey L. L. Overcoming employee resistance has been and is one of the main issues that every manager face in his day-to-day functions. Whether it is Information systems department or customer service department or marketing or production or…
All organizations strive for excellence. The Theory of Business (TOB) of any company is considered the deciding factor, which determines the degree of excellence and ultimately defines the fundamental assumptions that the business is built on. The main thought process that leads to a well-defined TOB is an organization’s own experience and its openness to…
Force field analysis is a tool used for analyzing the supporting and opposing forces behind a change process. Managers use it to identify the stakeholders who support or oppose the proposed change, analyze the forces or motivating factors behind each supporting or opposing behavior and then take action so as to reduce the opposing forces….
Technology cycles and innovation are two useful phenomena that can be used to explain how competitive advantage of companies can be maintained over time. Technology cycle can be defined as the period of time between the birth or introduction of a new technology and when it is replaced by a newer and substantially better technology….
Process Management has its relevance when managers begin to conceptualize business activities as interdependent processes instead of functions and tasks. The basic requirement towards effective process management is IT enabled business process automation, usually an outcome of a reengineering task. For the processes to accomplish the set goals, we need to set various standards of…
Equity theory states that a person is motivated when he perceives that he is treated fairly. He usually picks a colleague who works with him, as the “referent”. He tries to equate his outcome (pay, status, job-title, job assignment) over input (education, training, intelligence, experience, number of hours worked) ratio to that of referent’s and…
Two major types of diversities is notable in an organizational setting, which every IT manager should take into consideration – Surface level diversity are those differences that are easily noticeable such as age, gender, ethnicity/race, culture, language, disability etc. Surface level diversity is easy to be measured and managers/recruiters can fall into the wrong practice…
Working in teams does not always ensure positive results. Two possible disadvantages are large number of employees quitting the job and “Social Loafing”. Teams require extensive learning of standard team policies and work procedures and adherence to specific individual responsibilities. This might lead to excessive team pressure when much is expected from each team member….
Managing diverse workforce is a crucial skill for a manager since there exists both surface level (demographic, cultural and language) and deep level (personal differences in attitudes, values, beliefs and personality) diversity among an organization’s workforce. A diverse workforce has various advantages attached to it such as cost benefits by saving dollars spent on expensive…
Employee resistance due to cynicism will be a major factor in any organizational change process. The negative affectivity (NA) (Wanous et. al, Jun 2000 ) and fear factors (psychological and desire based) are the reasons for this kind of resistance. My organization recently went through a major change process where the development team migrated from…
The Wanous study (as in referred article) brings out the importance of considering negativity of employees during an organizational change and find remedies for it. Its core focus is on cynicism, defining it as “pessimistic outlook for successful change and placing blame on the managers and union leaders who are responsible for the change” (Wanous…
Motivation is a very important psychological driving force that every individual require to complete an effort. An effort well done, leads to better performance and due satisfaction of one’s unfulfilled need. As we see from Maslow’s need hierarchy, this unfulfilled need belongs to various categories from physical (lower order) to mental (higher order) (William C.,…
This review of a chapter from a famous management book reflects on a sample business case when a company which was moving towards bankruptcy was offered a fundreaising deal which might help her to to be saved. Read along the review as how we could apply ethical intensity and social responsibility to attach points to…
Separation of Stores and Online Operations for Barnes and Nobles: Was this a good idea?? What was its intent and did it work?? The case study of Barnes and Noble would show that they split their operations into existing traditional and online bookstore, during Spring 1997. As the history states, the intent was two fold…
Price cuts are market strategies that companies introduce when they enter into competition. Barnes and Noble’s and Amazon.com’s case was no different. As seen from the case study, Barnes and Noble introduced deep discounts of 30% on hard-covers and 20% on paperbacks, same as that of Amazon.com, to pose direct threat to online sales. Responding…