---------- Forwarded Message ---------- Subject: CFP - IEEE TEM : Cultural Issues and IT Management Date: Fri, 8 Jun 2001 12:04:02 +0800 From: Robert Davison isrobert@IS.CITYU.EDU.HK To: ISWORLD@LISTSERV.HEANET.IE

This is the third call for papers for a special issue of the IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management on Cultural Issues and IT Management.

The deadline for submission is Sept 30th, 2001, but the co-editors encourage early submission and submission of abstracts for guidance to content, etc.

The prominent role of computer-based information systems and modern telecommunications in the recent success of the United States economy has further heightened the global interest in information technologies (IT). Managers all over the world are seeking to improve business performance through IT application. Unfortunately, many organisations have invested in IT without achieving any tangible benefits. A common problem is that their efforts are inconsistent with the prevailing (societal and organisational) culture and/or they fail to build a culture to support change. Despite an emerging consensus that context does matter, IT specialists still tend to seek universal formulae for successful practice, while ignoring or downplaying the messiness of human factors in different environments.

However, as IT provides growing levels of interactivity and networking, we are becoming more conscious of not only the world as a whole, but also the cultural differences that exist across societies. There is a growing realization that it is difficult to transfer and assimilate an IT application into a different societal culture. The limited research to date on the impact of cultural issues on IT management has tended to compare and contrast phenomena in two or three organisations or countries and then attribute the differences to "culture". Seldom have researchers searched beneath the surface in an attempt to understand the reasons for the differences that have been observed. As a result, our current understanding of how and why specific cultural attributes affect the planning and implementation of IT-enabled business process change efforts remains very limited. Technology and engineering managers have been left to cope with cultural issues without being able to draw on empirically-tested prescriptions or the experiences (successful or otherwise) of others.

This special issue seeks to advance our empirical and theoretical knowledge of the cultural issues that arise from and affect IT management by soliciting papers that address this topic. This is to be accomplished by bringing together a series of empirical and conceptual papers that probe the "hows" and "whys" of these issues. Research that addresses critical IT planning and implementation issues in terms of cultural factors will also be encouraged.

To be specific, we are calling for:

            1)      Strategy and Policy Issues papers that

authoritatively discuss the progress to date and the future directions for research on how culture influences or shapes IT management; 2) Research Articles that present the results of ongoing or completed research on the focal topic or consider applications of or management approaches to IT that have encountered, overcome or been defeated by cultural issues; 3) Technical Management Notes that pose critical implementation problems or discuss experiences using published results; and 4) Focus on Practice papers that describe significant application issues or report on successful or unsuccessful applications of IT management prescriptions or theories in different cultural contexts.

Papers submitted to this special issue will be reviewed in accordance with the Transactions editorial policy. Submissions may be electronic, in which case a Word file attached to an email message is preferred. Please ensure that the file(s) are virus free. Hard copy submissions should include five copies and should be submitted to either of the two co-editors. Submission of an abstract well before the deadline is encouraged to confirm the appropriateness of content, etc.

An electronic copy of this call for papers may be found at: http://www.is.cityu.edu.hk/people/academicstaff/rd/rd-tem01.htm

Robert Davison Dept of Information Systems City University of Hong Kong isrobert@cityu.edu.hk

Maris Martinsons Dept of Management City University of Hong Kong mgmaris@cityu.edu.hk

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| The Communications of AIS and The Journal of AIS are electronic | publications sponsored by the Association for Information Systems | JAIS: http://jais.aisnet.org/ - CAIS: http://cais.aisnet.org/ |----------------------- ISWorld Net Footer ------------------------ | Need help with ISWorld? -> http://isds.bus.lsu.edu/cvoc/isworld/ | If you can't find an answer contact isworld_manager@cornell.edu |___________________________________________________________________

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