Medium-sized IT Research Articles

Redefining the Future of Work: A Mediation Model Enabling Workplace Transformation for Medium-Sized IT Product Companies of South India

Redefining the Future of Work: A Mediation Model Enabling Workplace Transformation for Medium-Sized IT Product Companies of South India

Strategic conceptualization and operationalization of digital orientation to support organizational TQM performance

A digital orientation in TQM performance brings about numerous advantages, including data-driven decision-making, enhanced efficiency, flexibility, improved customer experience, continuous improvement, effective communication, competitive advantage, and stimulated innovation. This research focuses on bridging the knowledge gap by exploring the connection between organizational TQM performance and the antecedents of digital orientation, considering the lack of empirical research in this domain. Using data gathered from surveys of 310 small to medium-sized IT companies in India, the study evaluates a novel conceptual framework through structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis employing the partial least squares (PLS) technique. The results underscore the importance for businesses to seize the opportunity presented by digital technologies and the ongoing trend of digitalization in their industries. This involves committing to adopting these technologies, taking into account their maturity and intensity, and enhancing digital capabilities to foster resourcefulness and creativity, thereby improving organizational TQM performance. By providing a deeper understanding of pertinent antecedents of digital orientation and how they should be strategically deployed within organizations, this research contributes to the body of knowledge on organizational TQM performance and digital-oriented solutions. The findings reveal a positive impact of digital maturity, digital intensity, and digital ecosystem transformation on organizational TQM performance. Additionally, it is demonstrated that the relationship between organizational TQM performance and digital capability is mediated by digital ecosystem transformation.

A Performance Evaluation Method for Employees in Small and Medium-Sized IT Enterprises Based on Multiple Indicators

In recent years, research on performance evaluation of IT enterprises has become a hot topic worthy of attention. In some countries, IT enterprises have become essential in driving economic development. However, there are significant differences in personnel management, performance evaluation, and other aspects among listed IT enterprises, large IT enterprises, and small and medium-sized IT enterprises, making it difficult to standardize performance evaluation for different types of enterprises. Especially for small and medium-sized IT enterprises, there are still specific problems in performance evaluation due to the unique characteristics of the enterprise. The primary manifestation is that standardized evaluation indicators cannot be fully applicable to small and medium-sized IT enterprises, making it challenging to conduct dynamic evaluations based on the characteristics of the enterprise. This article is based on the research and analysis data of performance evaluation management for small and medium-sized IT enterprises in a particular region of China. It proposes a multi-indicator-oriented performance evaluation system for small and medium-sized IT enterprises and offers corresponding guarantee measures.

Exploring the Role of Shared Leadership on Job Performance in IT Industries: Testing the Moderated Mediation Model

Shared leadership, unlike the traditional perspective, is characterized by the fact that organizational members constitute the source of its leadership. In fact, there is a lack of research on how shared leadership improves performance among small- and medium-sized enterprises in China. In particular, in the Chinese organizational context with a strong collectivist culture, sharing and cooperation among organizational members can have a great positive impact on the sustainability of small- and medium-sized enterprises. Therefore, this study focused on shared leadership on job performance, unlike traditional leadership. According to the research background, it showed the need for research on the link between shared leadership and job performance and presented the moderated mediation effect of self-efficacy in the Chinese organizational context. In order to verify our purpose, a survey was conducted with 320 employees from small- and medium-sized IT enterprises in China. The results indicated that shared leadership positively influenced job performance via psychological stability. Additionally, the moderated mediation effect of self-efficacy was significant. Based on these results, this study suggested ways to improve job performance, verified related research models, and presented future research directions for job performance enhancement. Overall, this research contributed to expanding the research field of shared leadership via its role and influence in various industrial fields.

Work-related stressors and coping behaviors among leaders in small and medium-sized IT and technological services enterprises

BackgroundOccupational health interventions for leaders are underrepresented in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). When creating and developing effective occupational health interventions, identification of the specific needs of the target group is regarded as an essential step before planning an intervention. Therefore, the aim of this study was (1) to examine the subjectively experienced work-related stressors of leaders in small and medium-sized IT and technological services enterprises, (2) to explore coping behaviors leaders use to deal with the experienced work-related stressors, (3) to investigate resources supporting the coping process and (4) to identify potentially self-perceived consequences resulting from the experienced stressors.MethodsTen semi-structured interviews with leaders in small and medium-sized IT and technological services enterprises were conducted. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed with content-structuring qualitative content analysis in accordance to Kuckartz.ResultsLeaders in small and medium-sized IT and technological services enterprises experience various stressors caused by work organization as well as industry-related stressors and other work-related stressors. To address the experienced stressors, leaders apply problem focused coping behaviors (e.g. performing changes on structural and personal level), emotional focused coping behaviors (e.g. balancing activities, cognitive restructuring) as well as the utilization of social support. Helpful resources for the coping process include organizational, social and personal resources. As a result of the experienced work-related stressors, interviewees stated to experience different health impairments, negative effects on work quality as well as neglect of leisure activities and lack of time for family and friends.ConclusionThe identified experienced work-related stressors, applied coping behaviors, utilized resources and emerging consequences underpin the urgent need for the development and performance of health-oriented leadership interventions for leaders in small and medium- sized IT and technological services. The results of this study can be used when designing a target-oriented intervention for the examined target group.

How shifting to cloud services changes employees' skills at small and medium-sized IT service providers: Perspectives from IT managers in Germany and Austria

How shifting to cloud services changes employees' skills at small and medium-sized IT service providers: Perspectives from IT managers in Germany and Austria

Software process improvement initiative in medium size IT organization: a case study

IT organizations are striving to develop software solutions that meet customer needs as well as their business goals. Software organization scontinuously improve their software development practices for faster time-to-market and better software quality. The success factors to conduct process improvement initiatives are documented in the literature, but their effect and existences differ from one place to another. Hence, as the culture and organizational behavior in developing software varies across the world, it becomes interesting to report and discuss local experiences in differentregions. The experience gained in this empirical study differs from that gained in the previous work in the sense that it was the organization that initiated this initiative and this ensures the top management commitment in conducting the process improvement initiative. We have used CMMI continuous representation and SCAMPI Class C appraisal method to conduct the appraisal. In this empirical study, most of the success factors are met toconduct the process improvement initiative, including: Staff involvement and high staff morale. Several process pitfalls have been identified; an interesting one is that adopting powerful case tools is not enough to control the development process if they are not fully used.

The research-practice gap as a pragmatic knowledge boundary

Existing discourse on the research-practice gap underplays the role of practitioners and assumes that the existence of the gap is due primarily to deficiencies in theory. This conceptual paper problematizes this assumption and explores in practice why practitioners have not been able to harness and apply insights from organisation theory (OT) and information systems (IS) research . Drawing on the concept of knowledge boundaries, several key arguments are made. Firstly, a pragmatic knowledge boundary divides academics and practitioners. Secondly, the novelty of OT and IS research at this knowledge boundary hinders practitioners' ability to constructively assess it, which results in contradictions and discourages its application in practice. Finally, when academics and practitioners collaborate to promote deeper engagement, and when effective boundary-spanning objects are used, there are signs that the research-practice gap can be overcome. These arguments are illustrated through a case-study of employees in a medium-sized IT consulting company.

Typical functionality, application and deployment specifics of knowledge management systems in IT companies

The work is focused on features of knowledge storage and its reuse in companies whose activities are related to software development. The concepts of knowledge, knowledge management and knowledge management systems from the standpoint of their usage in an IT company are given. It is determined that organizational knowledge is divided into explicit, which can be presented in the form of a letter, instructions, reference book, etc., and implicit, which exists only in an employee's mind directly and cannot be easily extracted. The main goal of knowledge management is formed, which is the organization of processes of creation, storage, acquisition, transfer and application of knowledge. The main strategies of knowledge are described, including the creation of knowledge, storage and retrieval of knowledge, transfer and exchange of knowledge, application of knowledge, examples of their use in software development. The characteristics of the knowledge management system is given as an information system that is designed to improve the efficiency of knowledge management of the organization. This system allows to solve problems related to the variety of software projects in which the IT company is involved. The main structural components and functions of knowledge management systems are identified, which include search tools, content and interaction management tools, data storage tools and mining tools, as well as group and artificial intelligence tools. The features of the usage and implementation of knowledge management systems at the work of small and medium-sized IT companies on the example of the Academy Smart Ltd are analyzed. The emerging issues of implementation of the system and success factors are considered. The features of the knowledge management process in Academy Smart Ltd is given, conclusions about efficiency of this organization are made, according to what the directions of the further researches are formed.

DEVELOPMENT OF ELECTRONIC COMMERCE IN UKRAINE AND IN THE WORLD

The purpose of this work is the appropriate use of technology in the life of every business entity, organization, and financial institution. With the growth of technology, the question of their appropriate use has arisen. The state is the key factor of influence and the main body that regulates the activities of innovation and information. The development of the IT sector is the key to sustainable financial development of the country, which contributes to the inflow of finance to the country. When informatizing society, the main attention is paid to a set of measures aimed at ensuring the full use of reliable, comprehensive and timely knowledge in all human activities. Information technology in the financial sector is a kind of mechanism that provides the whole process of efficient and operational work. After all, the process of economic formation acquires a new meaning. It becomes more productive and more coordinated. In modern conditions, information technologies that provide optimization of activities, integration and communication with the external environment are becoming more widespread and used in today's dynamic market. Over the past 3 years, the IT sector has become one of the important sectors for the export of services in Ukraine. In 2019, it brought in more than 5 billion USD in exports per year. An increase in the share of exports leads to an increase in the share of GDP, so the development of the IT sector should be a priority for sustainable financial development of the country. Namely, facilitating means the introduction of small and medium-sized IT enterprises. Creating competitive software for finance and accounting, namely EPR and CRM systems, facilitates the management of human resources, assets, supplies, and production of the final product. The world market leaders are such representatives as: Oracle, Salesforce, SAP, QuickBooks, 1C etc. Important areas of using IT technologies are also facilitating the exchange of information in the process of working on projects, accelerating document flow, improving planning efficiency, implementation of general business and marketing strategy, finance, HR-strategy, simplification of brand promotion, interaction with target audience , strengthening control over financial costs, etc. In addition, these systems help to set tasks, deadlines, results. The paper covers the assessment of the general state of development of e-commerce in Ukraine. The main criteria for the development of information technology are: information services, computer and telecommunications services. The dynamics of foreign trade in these types is highlighted and the most important consumer countries that use the services of Ukrainian specialists in the labor market are studied.

An Approach to Software Maintenance: A Case Study in Small and Medium-Sized Businesses IT Organizations

Software maintenance is the task of modifying a running product previously delivered to the client, in order to correct defects, improve performance or adapt it to the environment. This task is a crucial activity for enterprises. Without it, existing systems would become rapidly out-of-date and inefficient. The purpose of this paper is to present a software maintenance approach used in small and medium-sized business (SMB) organizations in Brazil. Currently, these organizations represent 95.5% of the software companies in the country. The approach presented here indicates how SMB IT companies have improved their software maintenance processes. Multiple case studies were performed to validate this approach. The outcomes showed that strategies associated with managing users’ knowledge and development/maintenance teams are relevant to increase the maintenance process effectiveness. This approach involves three aspects: users’ knowledge management, maintenance team knowledge and the management and maintenance process. This improvement includes reducing time and also minimizing the number of tickets. The response time for tickets resolution to the end user has been reduced. In addition, IT organizations have minimized the effects associated with both staff and client turnovers.

Measuring IT security, compliance and data governance within small and medium-sized IT enterprises

Like many other industries, small and medium IT enterprises (IT SMEs) find themselves challenged by globalization and digital transformation. This paper highlights the implications and challenges for IT SMEs in the area of IT security, compliance, and data governance. It describes the secure and compliant integration of IT products and services of IT SMEs in order to enhance their relative competitive position against global players of the IT industry. The paper presents an approach that entails competence areas for IT security, compliance, and data governance and shows a web-based tool for surveying and measuring areas in order to derive actual readiness of IT SMEs in these areas. The paper concludes with an outlook on the expected findings and planned further developments of the approach and tool.

IT-КЛАСТЕРИ В УКРАЇНІ: ЕКОНОМІЧНИЙ ПОТЕНЦІАЛ

Як організаційна форма економічних відносин кластери відіграють ключову роль у проектах розвитку регіонів України. У загальній структурі національних кластерів традиційно переважають промислові, аграрні, туристичні, логістичні та торговельні кластери. Проте така їх структура є реальним індикатором технологічної багатоукладності української економіки на рівні стриманого розвитку. Водночас високотехнологічні IT-кластери різної організаційної конфігурації стають гарантами своєчасної інноваційної модернізації та сталого економічного зростання.В Україні практично відсутні програми розвитку інформаційних технологій на рівні регіонів, що значно обмежує доступ IT-кластерів до необхідних ресурсів, зокрема фінансового, інтелектуального та соціального капіталу. Особливо гостро дана проблематика відчувається в рамках бюджетної децентралізації, коли, з огляду на економічну і соціальну неспроможність регіонів до власного самовідтворення, втрачається пріоритетність розвитку IT-кластерів і високотехнологічних галузей у цілому.У процесі дослідження було отримано такі результати та висновки: зміни фінансово-економічного характеру предметно належать до макроекономічного рівня й мають бути визначені в загальнодержавній політиці розвитку кластеризації. Необхідно активно впроваджувати бюджетну децентралізацію, що дозволить посилити фінансову участь органів місцевого самоврядування в розвитку інфраструктурних проектів ІТ-кластерів; послабити податковий тиск на малі й середні ІТ-компанії за рахунок надання податкового інвестиційного кредиту, що передбачає відстрочення сплати податку на прибуток на визначений строк; розробити систему гарантій для ІТ-компаній, які беруть участь у проектах суспільного значення, зокрема при залученні зовнішніх кредитів для створення нових інфраструктурних об’єктів, використання механізму «реального мита» для відшкодування вартості інвестицій.

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Investment in Human Capital in E-Business Enterprise in the Context of Sustainability

The enterprises operating in the e-business area represent an example of a sustainable entrepreneurship. These enterprises belong to those for which the people are the most valuable assets. Human capital management (HCM) represents a modern concept of people management that is based on the business strategy. Via measurement and assessment of the effectiveness of the utilization of human capital and effectiveness of investment in its development, this concept leads to the increase of performance and competitiveness of the enterprise within the context of sustainability. As part of the questionnaire survey, we found that enterprises in Slovakia have little use of the HCM concept. Despite the fact that they consider investing in education or training as the main form of investment in human capital, they do not evaluate the effectiveness of this investment in practice. By analyzing foreign studies, we have found that e-business enterprises consider IT education to be very important for their performance, competitiveness, and sustainability. The aim of the article is to explain the nature of HCM and to propose an approach to assess the effectiveness of investment in education as a part of the HCM process. Implementation of the approach was implemented in a fast-growing medium-sized IT and e-business enterprise where education is mainly implemented in the IT field. We also used an internal enterprise data analysis. The proposed example of HCM implementation in the part of evaluating the effectiveness of investment in education and the article can serve as a theoretical and practical aid to human resources managers in implementing the HCM concept.

IT중소기업 구성원의 무형식 학습 활동과 적응수행의 관계에서 학습민첩성의 조절 효과

IT중소기업 구성원의 무형식 학습 활동과 적응수행의 관계에서 학습민첩성의 조절 효과

Trust as catalyst for the organizational performance. A focus on a medium-size IT Romanian company

Abstract In an environment where the shift from knowledge to social economy forces the company to identify a new sustainable approach to attire, motivate and retain employees, partners and shareholders, social capital and its elements seem to be the key. The focus of the article is to prove the contribution that trust, in its entirety, as primary component of the social capital, has on the organizational performance of the company. The centric piece of the paper is based on a quantitative research conducted in a medium size IT company and it is designed to support the hypotheses per which a high level of trust will positively influence the overall business results. Regardless if it’s societal trust, market trust, relationship trust or selftrust, the respondents are requested to assess its multiple dimensions as these are translated into the company’s principles and values, the leaders’ strategy to improve the life of the shareholders, the company’s brands and their impact on the consumers, the relationship between individual and his/her peers and managers, as well as the individual’s aspirational behavior to be a trusted colleague/employee. Analyzing the results of the questionnaire, trust as core element of the social capital appears to be a main factor that drives the competitive advantage, designed to boost the employees’ energy, increase the sustainability for the company, irreversibly gain the confidence of stakeholders and eventually act a catalyst for the individual and organizational performance. The in-progress results of this paper represent significant key findings that trigger a more advance research, at a larger scale, by evaluating other companies, with similar employees’ profile to confirm the magnitude of this influence and convince the business leaders to continue supporting the creation and leverage of social capital in general and strive to generate, build and maintain trust as a must have asset.

ThoughtWorks (A): Targeting and Positioning Basics for a Services Firm

ThoughtWorks, a medium-size IT systems integrator, was growing quickly but identified "lack of clear positioning around which to build a brand" as the biggest impediment to continued growth. The company had identified features that it believed differentiated it from its competitors and was considering alternative segments to target. Asks readers to choose a target and develop a positioning statement for that target as well as identify the assumptions underlying the recommended positioning strategy and suggest how market research could help establish the validity of those assumptions.

From Products and Service to IT solutions: Nine Principles for Managing IT Solutions

Many organizations have transformed their business models from offering single products or service to providing IT solutions. IT solutions comprise hardware, software, and service components and are designed to solve a specific customer problem. Transforming to the IT solution business model, however, is often underestimated as it entails various challenges and risks: First, IT solution providers need to prepare for future customer engagements by building up or integrating personnel resources as well as platforms bundling software and hardware components. Second, IT solutions are highly customer-specific and providers need to interact with the customer during the entire solution lifecycle, including the design and operation of the IT solution. Third, the IT solution business model presents new risks such as operation, integration, and customer risks for providers. Building on a multiple case study with a medium-sized IT solution provider, we derive nine principles for managing IT solutions from a provider's perspective. The nine principles should be useful for CIOs and strategy-decision makers transforming their organization to IT solution providers.

Transforming from service providers to solution providers: implications for provider-customer relationships and customer-induced solution innovation

There is a rich body of literature investigating the integration of customers into innovation processes. The various strands of this literature converge on the notion that integrating customers creates access to use-related knowledge that is needed to better target future customers. In a similar vein, solution selling has emerged as a means to provide solutions that fulfil customers' demands as an alternative to selling products and services to an unknown, anonymous customer. Here, most research adopts a producer-centric view. Yet, little research exists that: 1) combines customer integration and solution selling; 2) considers service companies. Thus, the authors' aim was to investigate whether and how a transformation from being a service provider to being a solution provider influences the provider's relationship with the customer, affects customer-induced service and solution innovation, and shapes the provider's absorptive capacity. The authors employ a case study design and investigate a German medium-sized IT consulting firm. The main result is the identification of testable propositions stemming from expert interviews and additional company data. At the end of the article, the authors discuss theoretical and managerial implications.

Relationship among Organization-Public Relationships, External Reputation and Job Satisfaction of Workers in Small and Medium-sized IT Enterprises

Relationship among Organization-Public Relationships, External Reputation and Job Satisfaction of Workers in Small and Medium-sized IT Enterprises