Intranet Implementation Research Articles

Exploring the intranet as a change agent: On the sociomaterial entanglement of intranet technology, internal branding and everyday work


 Internal and corporate branding have become prevalent strategies in the field of human resource management. They aim to promote employee commitment and identification with the company through its brand. However, scholars in critical management studies have highlighted the exercise of normative control through these measures. Using the example of an intranet implementation in the context of a company merger in the telecommunications industry, the article examines the branding strategies on the intranet and, furthermore, shows how it prompts employees to constantly reflect on and evaluate the different types of content and related work practices on the intranet. As becomes apparent, in the way the branding content competes with other, to employees more relevant information on the intranet, it is constantly being devaluated. In this manner, the intranet becomes an ambivalent carrier of branding practices, effectively resulting in employees undermining management’s call to identify with the new company brand through the intranet. Nevertheless, the article highlights the ability of employees to overlook irrelevant content as a positive quality of the intranet. It argues for a greater understanding of everyday work in addition to a further integration of employees into change management projects. 

Viability of Intranets for Sustainable Architectural Education in Nigeria: A Case Study of the Federal University of Technology, Akure

The on-going migration from traditional manual drafting to the use of CAD software for design studios has made the introduction of e-studios in Nigerian schools of Architecture more practicable. The gradual implementation of e-administration in Nigerian universities and the recent significant investment in networking infrastructure is creating an environment that can support the integration of virtual teaching, learning, administration and socialization platforms in our campuses. While such integration is commonplace in world-class universities, even seamlessly encompassing off-campus students, no Nigerian school of architecture has been able to fully overcome the financial, technological, infrastructural, personnel, and attitudinal constraints. Yet, reliable and secure access to data and network resources by all staff and students is essential for active collaboration and teamwork in today’s highly competitive learning environments. This report documents the design concept, specifications and implementation of a viable intranet for sustainable architectural education in Nigeria using the Federal University of Technology, Akure as a case study. The conceptualization of the proposed intranet covers unique identification and categorization as well as secure authentication of staff, students, computers, devices and resources; contents and format of e-libraries; management of academic and administrative records; and e-learning resources including course materials, lecture notes, tutorials and training videos. Other aspects covered include socialization and collaboration, file and printer sharing, device and location independent access, interface consistency through mobile user profiles and promotion of self-proliferation through crowd sourcing. The paper details the specifications for the hardware, software and security model used in the pilot project. The phasing, current implementation status, challenges faced and the way forward are discussed. The success of the project was evident in enhanced collaboration, reliability and currency of information, cost effectiveness, higher efficiency and transparency. Recommendations include enhancement of technical support, enlightenment campaigns and training, and more robust safeguards and failovers to increase reliability. Keywords : Architectural Education, E-library, E-learning, E-studio, Intranet

Social Collaboration: Overcoming Inhibitions with Communication

Abstract Employee empowerment is at least as important as a high level of usability for the acceptance and successful implementation of a new Intranet or social collaboration platforms – especially in view of the media skepticism in middle management and among middle-aged executives. Strategic communication is the key to driving cultural change in companies and successfully introducing new forms of collaboration.

Design and Implementation of Smart Home Intranet Based on ZigBee

The study has design and implementation of smart home intranet based on ZigBee. As the continuous development of Internet of Things (IOT), life intelligent gradually. Therefore, designed of home intranet become the inevitable trend of development. Therefore, the study is going to talk about an Intelligent Monitoring System based on ZigBee which was designed by the author. The system uses a low-power-cost CC 2430 processor as central controller, present a home gateway of wireless access scheme base on ZigBee wireless network. The touch screen interface allows the ZigBee technology to achieve wireless monitoring of home device. Such as light, temperature, humidity, fire alarm, curtain, smart socket and so on. At the end of the study it will give out the techniques and implementation of the original system.

The Amplification-Reduction Structure of Technology

Information technology has long been recognised as a cause of social change. Recent developments in information technologies (IT), such as internet, intranet, and extranet, have stimulated considerable interest in how they will impact business organizations. Studies have largely examined the role that IT plays in improving information efficiency and synergies, in promoting collaboration and information sharing both inside and across organizations and in facilitating the transition to new forms of organizing. Most such studies take a technology-centric or human-centric approach. Whereas the former view reifies technology, assuming that its effects are predictable, stable, and performing as intended and designed across time, the latter minimizes IT to the point it becomes infinitely and flexibly interpreted. However, IT media are only significant to the extent that they do not only involve changes in and novel ways of communicating, but most importantly they change the meaning of what it is to communicate and the social and cultural frame that situates communication in unpredictable ways. Taking a communicational approach to organization, the present paper uses Jakobson’s 1960 semiotic model and ideas from Ihde (1990) to show how the implementation of intranets and email systems has amplifying and reducing effects on the interactions among members of a community. Finally, some implications for the theory of implementation of new technologies are drawn out.

Organizational and Social Factors in the Adoption of Intranet 2.0: A Case Study

This article presents a case study of the intranet implementation and adoption process of a SharePoint intranet at a small academic library and investigates why the many Web 2.0 tools of the library intranet are currently underused. Staff interviews showed that common goals for an intranet, such as information dissemination, knowledge sharing, communication, and collaboration, are not necessarily easier to achieve when an intranet is equipped with Web 2.0 functionalities. The same level of thorough planning and organizational efforts required to make an intranet succeed before Web 2.0 is still necessary to realize the promise of Intranet 2.0.

Intranet Redesign and Change Management: Perspectives on Usability

As intranet implementations of enabling structures for internal electronic business communication increases, research is needed to provide an insight into the factors affecting a successful intranet design (Tang 2000). Using a case study involving a large multinational IT organisation, this paper studies changes made to the user interface design of a large multinational organisation’s intranet and examines how that intranet’s usability has been affected by these changes from both the managerial and employee end-user perspectives. The paper presents both a background on intranet design, its links to the design of web-based systems, and intranet-focussed usability issues.

Factors affecting the usage of intranet: A confirmatory study

The extent of intranet implementation and use within individual organizations has significant implications for organizational performance. Previous studies on technology adoption in the workplace suggest that acceptance behavior is influenced by a variety of antecedent factors including individual differences, social influences, beliefs, attitudes, and situational influences. This study reports on an investigation of extended TAM (Technology Acceptance Model) using external factors and subjective norm influencing usage of intranet within organizations. The external factors affecting the perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and usage of intranet include technical support, Web experience, task equivocality, and task interdependence. The subjective norm is the mediating variable and external variables indirectly affect usage of intranet indirectly through their effects on subjective norm. Based on a survey of 333 intranet users from 10 major Korean companies, this study uses a structural equation model to test the research model. The results indicate that usage of intranet is influenced by technical support, Web experience, task equivocality, and perceived ease of use. Technical support and Web experience influences the perceived ease of use. Technical support, task equivocality, and task interdependence have positive effects on the subjective norm. Usage of intranet which is a dependent variable in this model, is influenced by technical support, Web experience task interdependence, and perceived ease of use.

E-Government and Bureaucracy: Toward a Better Understanding of Intranet Implementation and Its Effect on Red Tape

This article examines the interaction between bureaucratic red tape and intranet usage in state human service agencies. We propose a sociotechnical model for the relationship between intranet usage and bureaucratic red tape that takes into account the complexities of causal linkages including bidirectional causal relationships and a range of internal and external influences. This model is tested with data from the National Administrative Studies Project, Phase II. While we are not able to corroborate the “demand pull” hypothesis advanced by Bretschneider and colleagues, we do find support for its corollary (the “technology push” hypothesis) indicating that intranet usage is associated with reduction in red tape. This finding on the salutary effect of intranet usage holds for both a global measure of red tape and a more specific procurement red tape measure. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of our findings.

Philosophy of technology in organizations: a foundation for intranets

Intranets appeared in the mid-1990s and were perceived as the answer to the need for the integration of existing Information Systems into organisations. Despite the fact that there has been extensive research regarding implementation, development processes, policies standardisation vs. creativity and so forth, the potentiality of Intranets has not been fully exploited. Intranets offer many advantages in the form of working networks that support and enable empowered employees to participate in the development of the organisation, to enable the measurement of essential functions and to monitor undesired conditions and find suitable functions that support daily work. The research approach in this thesis has alternated between analysis empirical studies, and design. Current literature, research findings in the form of articles, etc., are analysed, an empirical study of five organisations is conducted and finally a design of possible functions is accomplished. In the analysis of the state-of-the-art, current research can be grouped into four topics partly overlapping each other; questions concerning informatics, organisation theory, knowledge management, and design. Urgent issues for further research are identified as mainly belonging to the topics informatics and organisation theory; management and strategy, empowerment, further development processes, use, and roles. Findings from a study of five Swedish organisations show a need for identifying the philosophy of technology in the organisations in order to make an organisation’s view of technology common throughout the organisation. Furthermore, functions supporting daily work are lacking to a high degree. Further lacks and demands are identified, as well as potential functions and new possibilities. In the next section, the Philosophy of Technology is related to an Intranet. The discussion is based on a model which consists of the concepts Conception, Use, Technology, and Policy. Making the Philosophy of Technology common in organisations is connected to the empowerment of employees and is a guarantor, along with the influence of the VSM on the design, for the impact on and participation in the processes of an organisation. The next part deals with possible advantages of combining the cybernetic model, the Viable System Model, by Stafford Beer, and an Intranet. It is found that the VSM can support the design of Intranets according to essential functions such as Early Warning Systems connected to production units and levels that are to be made aware of undesired conditions in the organisation. Furthermore, functions for amplifying and attenuating information – both between parts of the organisation and between the organisation and the environment – are to be designed. Further examples of functions supporting the organisation, in order to make it viable, are given. The main contribution of the thesis is the identification of core functions in an Intranet as establishing functions for supervision (Early Warning Systems), attenuating and amplifying information between the organisation and the environment and between subparts in the organisation. Furthermore, the interface is to be designed so the underlying technology is “visible:” Where are the different parts of the Intranet located physically? Who delivers information to the different parts? Who uses the functions? Who is responsible? The transparency of the interface makes the philosophy of technology visible throughout the organisation; the concepts are the same, the actual use is the same as the intended use, and policy is active and well known and finally, the possibilities and the limitations with/inherent to an Intranet are known among the users. Finally, examples of further research are given – both as regards the implementation of Intranets based on the VSM design and as regards making the interface transparent.

Intranet-based internal communication: routines, knowledge transfer and learning strategies

This papers explores a case of intranet implementation in an Italian company, analysing routines, repertoires of knowledge and the ways the Intranet changes (or reinforces) them. Workgroups' expectations and skills affected interpretations of the intranet, along with organisational history and innovation strategies. While the company management considered this technology as leading to a new strategy in internal communication, the workgroups' interpretations were more oriented to integrate it into different communicational repertoires, both integrative and substitutive of previous practice. New and old media interact with each other, contributing to emergence and erosion of temporary communities of practice.

A Taxonomy of Intranet Implementation Strategies

The mid-1990s marked the widespread adoption of intranets by organizations to facilitate communication between geographically dispersed organizational units. Since then the knowledge barriers to adoption have been lowered by the emergence of advanced development tools and later the availability of ready-made “intranet-in-a-box” packages as well as an elevation of the general awareness and knowledge of Internet/intranet technologies among users. Based on an explorative study of intranet implementations in nine Danish and two South African organizations, this article presents a taxonomy of four archetypes of intranet implementation processes. The dimensions of the framework are sourcing (in-house vs. outsourced implementation) and technology (development tools or packaged intranet products). Using the taxonomy, we classify the strategic choices of the case organizations and make recommendations for organizations using or producing intranet technology products.

Key Roles in Intranet Implementation: The Conquest and the Aftermath

Intranet technology has been rapidly adopted by many organizations. From being a largely unknown technology prior to the mid-1990s, numerous organizations today have implemented or are currently implementing intranets. The intranet implementation processes of three large organizations in two countries were studied over a period of 5 years. In particular, the paper investigates the role players who spearheaded the intranet implementations in these organizations. Five interrelated roles during the intranet implementation process are identified: the technology champion, organizational sponsor, intranet coordinator, intranet developer and content provider. In the light of the nature of intranet technology, each respective role is analysed in terms of its significance, key challenges and interrelationships during the implementation process. The paper further examines the dynamics of these roles in the aftermath of implementation as the technology becomes embedded in routine organizational activity.

The impact of information and communications technology on managerial practices: the use of codes of conduct

Abstract The widespread adoption of advanced information and communications technology (ICT) is generally regarded as a powerful driver for undermining bureaucratic management. ICT‐enabled organizations are often associated with flattened organizational structures, decentralization of resources and activities, teamwork and the empowerment of employees. Those lines of argument are questioned with reference to knowledge management, security, the development and implementation of intranets and intranets and the findings of surveys carried out over a period of 3 years on the use of codes of conduct governing the use of ICT by employees in a wide range of organizations. Evidence is presented that the increasing use of Internet technology has not been accompanied by the expected move away from bureaucratic management but rather by increasing employee regulation and discipline, motivated largely by management concerns about the security and efficient operation of information systems. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Implementing corporate intranets: lessons learned from two high‐tech firms

Intranets are perhaps the hottest applications in the field of telecommunications today. The rapid growth of this application belies the fact that it has received little systematic study present in the academic literature. Presents two separate cases of corporate intranets that have been recently implemented. The focus of this report is to characterize the intranet implementations vis‐à‐vis the traditional systems development process. In so doing, an attempt is made to highlight the potential pitfalls through the lessons learned. As a starting‐point in the systematic study of intranets, a better definition is also introduced and a framework that captures and more accurately describes the wide variety of potential intranets.

Intraorganizational communication with intranets

Intranets have been used to unify geographically dispersed work forces. They have been used to empower employees around the world (especially telecommuters and salespeople on the road) through a communication tool supporting collaboration, interaction, and real-time sharing of corporate information across functional boundaries and organizational levels. This form of distributed information infrastructure may even enable some corporate managers to redefine their computing strategies and organizational control to better address competitive business environments. Most studies of intranet performance have been conceptual or anecdotal; none has sought to collect empirical data from intranet implementers and synthesize their experience in order to guide other organizations to plan, control, implement, and evaluate intranets. That’s why I participated in “Intranet Impact and Effectiveness,” a study of the 500 largest organizations in Hong Kong, targeting five goals: investigate the reasons for intranet adoption; explore the extent intranets support intraorganizational communications; identify the problems and benefits associated with intranet implementation; evaluate the effect of organization size on intranet use; and analyze the effect of intranets on overall organizational performance, team collaboration, and business process reengineering (see the sidebar “How the Study Was Done”). Intranet adoption and diffusion. In today’s dynamic business environment, decisions about adopting technological innovations are influenced by the expectation that they will streamline a business process and improve overall organizational performance. In particular, organizations facing keen market competition have compelling incentives to evaluate innovative technologies to help them maintain or enhance their competitiveness. Intranet The technical performance and business contribution of intranet applications has proved to many organizations worldwide that intranet technology is a costeffective and efficient approach to supporting corporate distributed computing strategies [3]. Increasingly, all kinds of organizations are taking advantage of intranets to disseminate corporate documents, forms, news, policies, phone directories, product specifications, and pricing information. In addition to using the technology to integrate individual, group, departmental, and corporate communications, business managers are exploring intranets to enhance their organizations’ business strategies.

Sharing knowledge through intranets: a study of organizational culture and intranet implementation

Explores factors affecting the implementation of intranets, which are the technology upon which many knowledge management (KM) systems are built. Because intranets facilitate the sharing of employee knowledge, many believe that organizational culture influences intranet implementation. The results of this study found that intranet implementation is facilitated by a culture that emphasizes an atmosphere of trust and concern for other people (ethical culture), flexibility and innovation (developmental culture), and policies, procedures and information management (hierarchical culture). Management should ensure that the proper values are in place to optimize intranet implementation and to facilitate knowledge sharing.

Corporate Intranet Implementation: Managing Emergent Technologies and Organizational Practices

This paper examines the adoption and development of intranets in large business organizations. The authors demonstrate that intranet technology introduces a host of new managerial and technical challenges and requires new approaches to IS development. Evidence from two European corporations indicates that the traditional division of labor and definition of work roles in IS development breaks down. The distinction between developers and users becomes increasingly blurred and new organizational roles and structures associated with intranets are emerging. However, ready-made organizational models for implementing and managing intranets do not exist and the two organizations in this study have followed two different approaches. One organization favors a "planned change" approach, emphasizing management control and careful planning. The other organization prefers an "improvisational" approach, emphasizing experimentation, innovation and local initiative.

Intranet-Organisation

Behind an increasing number of internet-users there is a growing amount of existing intranets. Concentrated on the technological field of this structure many companies neglect the organizational dimension of intranets. The following article is intended to assist decision-makers and project managers in finding their way to realize content management with durable effectiveness. On that occasion it will be evident that the implementation of economical efficient intranets is based upon the consideration of business processes. Realizing content management offers a valuable basis for higher level intranet-using like content workflow and network-based knowledge management.

Managing the crises in intranet implementation: a stage model

AbstractIn the seventies, Nolan was the first to address the need for a descriptive stage theory concerning the planning, organizing and controlling activities associated with managing the organizational computer resource. The arrival of newer technologies, such as those based on the Internet, calls for fresh approaches in terms of their implementation and management. Intranet technology, which is based on Internet technology, differs from other types of IT in terms of its characteristics, use and implementation. We propose a four‐stage model for intranet implementation and management. Each stage is portrayed by seven general characteristics. We propose that, in order to ensure intranet institutionalization, three existential crises must be overcome. First, if a sponsor does not nurture the intranet, it cannot evolve beyond its experimental beginnings. Second, if a critical mass of both users and content cannot be reached simultaneously, the intranet will not progress. Finally, if the intranet remains uncontrolled, it will be perceived to be useless, and therefore users will abandon it.