Subservient to the upper echelon: how information systems managers practice strategic alignment in the public higher education sector

ABSTRACT

This article presents a taxonomy that is grounded in the findings of a Strategy-as-Practice (SaP) study undertaken within the public higher education sector. Two cases, operating under the auspices of Ireland’s Institutes of Technology (IIT), were chosen to explore how the alignment of business and information systems (IS) strategies is practiced by IS managers in the public higher education sector. We applied a methodology within the interpretive paradigm that integrates three research pillars comprising integrative framework for SaP, constructivist grounded theory coding and case research methodology. The taxonomy we develop reveals that the IS manager is a functional manager tasked with reducing costs and gaining efficiencies, while being excluded from direct involvement in the development of IS strategy and prevented from liaising directly with the organization’s principal IS services provider. The IS manager depends largely on being able to successfully lay down some mechanisms and practices in his/her efforts to align business and IS strategies. Our study makes a theoretical, practical and methodological contribution to the strategic alignment body of knowledge.

Notes

¹ Middle-range theory, developed by Robert K. Merton, seeks to balance generality, realism, and precision across the breadth of explanatory factors mobilized, to reach a middle ground between ad hoc explanations of singular cases and “grand”, universal systems theories that explain all features in a stylized way (Meyfroidt et al., 2018). Whereas middle range theory addresses more narrowly defined phenomena and can be used to suggest an intervention, grand theory is broader and provides an overall framework for structuring ideas. Examples of midrange theory include reference groups, social mobility, normalization processes, role conflict and the formation of social norms (Merton, 1949).

² Literal replication means that the cases selected are similar and the predicted results are similar too. Theoretical replication means that the cases are selected based on the assumption that they will produce contradictory results. (Source: Yin, 2014).

³ NVivo is a qualitative data analysis computer software package produced by QSR International. NVivo helps qualitative researchers to organize, analyze and find insights in unstructured or qualitative data like interviews, open-ended survey responses, journal articles, social media and web content, where deep levels of analysis on small or large volumes of data are required. (Source: Wikipedia).

⁴ The word “Gerund” denotes an action verb. To help initial coding stay close to the data, the researcher should try to code with gerunds thus helping to stifle the tendency toward conceptual leaps prior to undertaking analysis (Charmaz, 2014).

⁵ Theoretical coding follows closely the codes already selected during focused coding by specifying relationships between the categories developed during focused coding, and the theory begins to take shape (Seidel & Urquhart, 2013).

⁶ An analytical memo is where we take codes apart to analyze them. Writing analytical memos enabled us to carry out analysis on our ideas about the codes, the data behind the codes, and helped clarify exactly what was taking place in the area under study (Charmaz, 2014).

⁷ Compact is the term used for the agreement between two or more people, organizations, or countries (Source: Cambridge English Dictionary).

⁸ It is the construction or creation of a work from a diverse range of things that happen to be available, or a work constructed using mixed media. (Source: Wikipedia).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

James Holohan

Dr. James Holohan is a lecturer in Business and Information Systems at Limerick Institute of Technology. He previously worked as a director of information systems in the financial services industry. He received his Ph.D. in Information Systems strategy from the University of Dublin, Trinity College, Ireland.  Dr. Holohan's research work is concentrated within the information and business strategy fields, with a particular focus on how managers in public service organizations engage in the practice of aligning business and information systems strategies. He has published in Journal of Information of Technology and presented papers at conferences including  Irish Academy of Management, UKAIS Conference on Information Systems, British Academy of Management and European Academy of Management. E-mail: [email protected]

Mohammad Y. Sarhan

Dr. Mohammad Y. Sarhan is an Assistant Professor of Information System strategy and chair of Management Information Systems Department, Faculty of Economics and Administration at King Abdul-Aziz University. His research interests extend to both information systems and strategy fields, with a specific focus on exploring the interrelationship between these two disciplines. In this vein, Dr. Sarhan is interested in the day-to-day frustrations within typical organizations as practitioners seek to align business and information systems strategies within, and as part of, their situated practices. E-mail: [email protected]