PhD
Research in Progress This page lists abstracts of PhD research in progress in the Department of Information Systems. For more details please make contact by e-mail.
AFXENTIADIS, Despena d.e.afxentiadis@lse.ac.uk
An Investigation of the Capacity to Assess and Manage Secure IS in Organizations
of an Inherently Risky, Multi-Cultural and Temporary Nature: the Case of the
Athens 2004 Olympic Games
In the contemporary global environment of a 'risk society' organizations and
IS not only exist in an inherently risky economic, socio-political and ecological
environment, but also face challenges of a diverse, multi-cultural, fast-evolving
and temporary world. As such, it is no longer adequate that organizations and
societies are merely examined and described, but rather need to be 'justified'.The
proposed research is an attempt to 'justify' the sense- and decision-making
processes involved in the risk assessment (RA) and risk management (RM) of an
IS that has been implemented and used within an institutionally and culturally
diverse and temporary environment. This research intends to investigate the
dynamics of institutionally diverse risk perceptions, the reasons behind a particular
'regime of truth', explore and justify the 'subjugated risk rationalities',
and the ways in which organizations can 'construct' the sense of safety in an
inherently risky environment.
The researcher approaches the proposed question with the ontological assumption that rationality is historically rooted in institutional life and culture, and with an interest in uncovering the reasons behind conflicting 'instrumental' and 'substantive' rationalities. As such the epistemological orientation of the proposed research is that of an interpretive, longitudinal study that seeks the historical reasoning behind certain perceptions and decisions. The methodological approach suggested is that of contextualism, which is considered particularly relevant is a study of diversity such as this. The case study under examination is that of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games IS and of the organizations (local, national, international and disembedded) involved in determining the IS risk assessment and risk management processes.
The suggested research is aiming to emphasize the need for cross-contextual studies in the IS and risk fields, support a multiple-rationality ontological approach as well as contribute to the inadequately explored risk management field of multi-organizational, temporary IS.
Supervisor: Dr J Backhouse
BAPTISTA, John j.m.baptista@lse.ac.uk
An Organisation Gets the Intranet it Deserves: Institutionalisation and Organisational
Trust in a Bank in the UK
The literature examining the impact of intranets on employee perceptions
and behaviour remains scarce. We contribute to this body of knowledge by investigating
the role of organisational trust in intranet institutionalisation.
This research traces over a 5 year period in a bank in the UK the evolution
of an intranet on its journey towards institutionalisation. The thesis explores
how through time employees become so familiar with using the intranet that
they start taking the medium and the value of its information for granted.
The research investigates how intranet use changes perceptions of both senior
management and other employees. Using Institution-Based Trust Theory for key
constructs, the research analyses the findings and applies these constructs
for data collection during a series of interviews, focus groups and a large
employee survey. A key finding is that employee trust on the intranet and organisational
trust are closely interrelated and the discussion centres on how these findings
may improve understanding of technology adoption in organisations.
Supervisor: Dr J Backhouse
BEN SHAUL,
Ido i.ben-shaul@lse.ac.uk
The Applications of Computers in
the Education of the Hearing Impaired
This research will investigate the use of computerised information systems for
the education of the hearing impaired. It will propose a new approach to computer
aided learning and analyse its application in a number of special schools.
Supervisor: Prof I Angell
BORSOI, Andrea
(Andy) a.borsoi@lse.ac.uk
Italian Tour Operators and the adoption of web-based electronic commerce.
An ethnographic perpective of electronic commerce as a symbolic and cultural
object. My research intends to provide an ethnographic perspective of the adoption
of web-based electronic commerce by Italian tour operators. I will attempt to
reveal the instrumental and symbolic needs that provoked the change from the
traditional configuration of business model and IT systems and will confront
it with the perception of the success/failure as described by the actors. I
will argue that the strategic intents set at the beginning of the process of
adoption are not always met but that they create expectations that lead to peculiar
cultural elaboration. The use of ethnography should help revealing hidden functions
that electronic commerce fulfil, beyond its primary instrumental role. For instance
its ceremonial or mythological values. I hope to gain insight into the symbolic
interpretation of electronic commerce contributing to a better understanding
of the phenomenon that seems to pervade the most recent developments of IT and
business.
Supervisor: Dr C Sørensen
Dimitris BOUCAS d.boucas@lse.ac.uk
The Information Society and the National State in a Globalising World: Policies
and Politics of the Information Society in Greece
The promotion of the information society at a European level can exemplify
crucial issues regarding the pressures facing the national state, its responses
and reactions, as well as its continuing relevance. The proposed research examines
the evolving characteristics and shapes of the ‘Greek model’ of
information society, stressing the dialectic between European (and global) trends
and national particularities, the role of the state in articulating the global
and the national through rhetoric and policy, and the possible transformation
of power arrangements as the information society unfolds.
Focusing on recent e-government initiatives in Greece, the research seeks to identify the aims and ideological frameworks of policies designed at the national level, the ways they have interacted with the social, political, cultural specificities of the Greek context, the actors involved, as well as the impact of policy on governance arrangements in the information society.
Supervisor: Dr J Liebenau
CANHOTO, Ana Isabel
a.i.canhoto@lse.ac.uk
The Social Construction of a Money Laundering Profile: A Semantic Analysis of
Ontological Dependencies and their Implication for Information Systems Design
in Financial Services
This research is an investigation of the extent to which an organization’s
structures and processes impact on the process of communication of meaning.
It uses the specific case of profiling of money laundering behaviour to illustrate
how meaning is constructed and operationalized through the organization.
Profiling is becoming an overarching feature of modern society and acting on flawed profiles can result in disastrous consequences for the individuals being profiled and for the organizations acting on those profiles. The key assumption of money laundering profiling is that the banking behaviour of money laundering criminals is different to that of other individuals. Therefore, it is critical to the institutions that fight this crime to understand how different that behaviour is, and how anomalous behaviour may be recognized. Having identified instances of anomalous behaviour, organizations then need to decide which of those are, indeed, suspicious activities needing further action.
This research contrasts the technical and behavioural aspects of profiling. The development and use of profiles, as an activity that attempts to represent behaviour, will be studied both from a cognitive and from a semiotic perspective: the former to address the mental activity, the later to address the representational one.
Supervisor: Dr J. Backhouse
CORNUT, Francis f.cornut@lse.ac.uk
The Institutionalization of Standardized Software Engineering Practices and
Beliefs at IB Tech: A Case Study
High tech product development projects are obvious, visible arenas for
conflict between the need for innovation and the retention of capability through
standardization. The study examines how the Capability Maturity Model (CMM)
developed by the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) is utilized by a commercial
bank to discursively institutionalize a unique, legitimate software engineering
process across geographically dispersed locations.
This study is informed by a social constructionist ontology and rely on an interpretive epistemological approach. Theoretically, the research draws generously on neo-institutionalism and Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of symbolic violence, which suggests an interpretation of the process whereby shared beliefs solidify through cultural and normative mechanisms rather than by coercive control.
Supervisor: Prof C Avgerou
DEMETIS, Dionisis d.demetis@lse.ac.uk
Anti-Money Laundering (AML) technology at a local level in the Greek Banking
Sector
This research focuses on the domain of AML and more specifically on the
role that AML technology has to play within a banking organization. Banks operate
within complex environments and they are themselves complex and highly dependent.
Banks also face a myriad of directives and in order to demonstrate compliance
they employ several means, one of which is technology relevant to identifying
suspicious financial transactions.
The role of technology within the suspicious transaction reporting system of a bank is critical both for technology itself and for the domain of AML. It constructs and mediates a systemic structural coupling between the domain of money laundering and that of anti-money laundering whilst it is deployed in the bank’s systems. The underlying assumptions through which that technology is appropriated also come into play and, because of the nature of the domain, the ideal of criminality is also constructed. The plethora of emerging descriptions surrounding this context renders this study critical for an in-depth analysis of the application of AML technology to an individual bank.
This research commenced by applying systems theory to the domain of AML but is more recently informed by neo-institutionalism.
Supervisor: Prof I Angell
DESTA, Amare a.desta@lse.ac.uk
Investigating the application and usage of GIS to capture the Indigenous
Knowledge of the Farming Community in Ethiopia
The economic and technical boom after the Second World War in the developed
country led to a strong belief in modern agricultural and environmental resources
management techniques and, as a consequence the indigenous knowledge of the
local community have been neglected. It was assumed that a quick replacement
with modern systems instead of a slow incremental improvement of indigenous
agricultural knowledge was the best strategy for agricultural development.
Scientists and "experts" have tended to regard Indigenous Knowledge, (IK), as methodologically questionable, anecdotal, or at best of localized importance. At the same time, the adoption of science-based innovations and technologies by local people has often been stifled by their perceived incompatibility with traditional value systems and cultural practices.
Even though, this tension between two epistemologies, which has plagued many development research projects, is relevant to the situation in the ground, this research will focus in examining the application of GIS technology and the appropriateness of it for local communities use in my native country Ethiopia.
Furthermore, this research seeks to assess whether the GIS technology can bridge the gap between IK and western science and thus contribute to more equitable and sustainable development.
This will be an MPhil dissertation.
Supervisor: Dr S Smithson
ELALUF-CALDERWOOD, Silvia s.m.elaluf-calderwood@lse.ac.uk
Mobile Work – Mobile Life: Setting Mobile User Boundaries
This research aims to study how geographically distributed workers, such
as taxi drivers, can be enabled to work using mobile technology. The purpose
of the research is to analyze how these workers define their settings, and their
boundaries between their work and home life. It may appear that this type of
worker aims to work everywhere, anytime: an idea highly promoted by the networked
society conceptualization of our world. This perception can be misleading when
trying to understand the experienced interactions between the temporal and spatial
aspects of work. The ideas of relative perception have been a focus of analysis
In social studies. For example, we can make an analogy between the pre-Copernican
conceptions of the world and the worker’s workplace as the centre (Helios)
of the worker’s life; and the post-Copernican conception of the worlds
and the mobile worker rotating in an unknown trajectory over space and time
through the city (executing jobs). Mobile technology is gradually allowing many
workers to perform this type of work; theie work is being moved away from what
has been the conventional office to mobile settings. Where once worktime was
structured in specific slots, working hours are now extended and irregular;
work stability and the relationships between employer and employee are being
undermined by these social changes
For the social researcher there is an observed transition between work that is linear over time and a notion of work as temporary, project based or task based. If we accept that time is socially constructed, then the mobile worker’s life over time reflects the social aspects that are linked intrinsically to the identity of the worker; the social networks at work and at home that he or she belongs to, joins, or just is part of. How strong and weak those social ties are to the worker is reflected in his/her being. This type of worker is perhaps doing work somewhere, sometime when liberated from the constraints of linear time for work and life.
The theoretical framework of this research is based in areas of mobile technology and mobility, sociology of work and social network theory.
Supervisor: Dr C Sørensen
GILLARD, Hazel h.gillard@lse.ac.uk
e-learning in policy and practice: the gender paradox at Cisco academies in
the UK
The scope of the research will encompass an analysis of Cisco's adoption
of the gender issue in the UK, alongside European Union and UK government directives
on e-learning and gender initiatives. It will focus on the way policy is manifest
in practice at the Cisco Networking Academies by conducting fieldwork primarily
among students and instructors. It will also seek to understand how technology
as culture is implicated in the construction of subjective gendered identities.
Paradoxically, the uptake of the academy programme by women in the UK is well behind their Asian, European and Middle Eastern counterparts. This research seeks to further the debate on gender and technology with specific reference to e-learning. The theoretical framework will be phenomenological, with the use of narrative as a means of providing the micro stories for further illuminating the issues on the ground. The research methodology will encompass a pilot study to identify and frame the discourses and emerging issues, and an in-depth case study to research in more detail an identified issue.
Supervisor: Dr N Mitev
HATAMI, Afsoun
a.hatami@lse.ac.uk
Strategic Knowledge Management for Sustainable Competitive Advantage: a Comparative
Analysis of How Leading US and German Enterprises Approach the Knowledge Challenge
To what extent do different management paradigms of US and German top managers
influence their decision-making and approaches to knowledge management in the
context of corporate strategy? The aim of this study is to understand different
perspectives on and attitudes towards the concept of Knowledge Management (KM)
across different cultures at high-performing US and German enterprises, and
how KM practices are reflected in the company's corporate strategy (in relation
to specific strategic issues that influence the competitive direction of the
company) with the purpose to continuously create a more intelligent 'sense and
respond' competitive strategy to thrive in the rapidly changing business environment.
The focus will be on how 'knowledge'
is leveraged during negotiation, decision-making and strategy formulation processes
across different cultures, taking into account the diversity of mental models
and management paradigms that govern the attitudes towards problems and solutions.
KM is treated in the context of corporate strategy and how strategy-makers use
this to serve the bottom line of their business.
Supervisor: Professor R Galliers
HERCHEUI, Magda David m.hercheui@lse.ac.uk
An Institutional Analysis of Rules of Governance and Behaviour in Internet–Mediated
Communities: A Case Study of Brazilian Environmental Education Social Networks
Following a neo-institutionalist theoretical framework, this research aims
to analyze how institutions influence the enactment of rules of governance and
behaviour
in a group of Brazilian Internet-mediated communities in the field of environmental
education, and how these rules are related to community patterns of interaction.
The choice of this topic is related to a larger context: the increasing relevance
of access to information and knowledge; and how the pervasiveness of new Information
and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are related to the enactment of new forms
of social interaction, such as virtual communities. This research has chosen
a group of communities in which the Internet interaction is the main communication
channel. These communities have also been supported mainly by universities and
governmental resources, which facilitates the study of their process of institutionalisation.
Furthermore, contextual aspects were considered in this choice, mainly the increasing
political relevance of social movements and civil society organizations at a
global scale, especially those that are related to environmental and sustainable
development issues. This research follows an interpretive epistemological approach
and applies a qualitative methodology (mainly semi-structured interviews, analyzed
by hermeneutics principles).
Supervisor: Dr J Kallinikos
HERRERA-VARGAS, Antonio t.a.herrera-vargas@lse.ac.uk
The Institutionalisation of Anti-money Laundering Regulations in Banking Organizations:
Implications for Information System Security
Money laundering has exploded in the financial system during the last decades
due to the evolution of information communication technologies (ICTs). In order
to control the money laundering phenomenon, new organizations have emerged at
different levels: international, regional, national, organizational field or
industry sector, and organizational. Such organizations provide with guidelines
and dictate the rules that jurisdictions have to put in place and to which financial
organizations i.e. banking organizations, have to comply with. Hence, it is
important to understand the way in which regulators and banking organizations
interact and shape each other to develop and implement the anti-money laundering
regulations aimed to minimize the risk posted by money laundering activities.
The focus of this research shall be the exploration and analysis of the way that anti-money laundering regulations are institutionalised in the banking sector, to contribute to increase understanding of the socio-organizational issues, dynamics and the implications for Information Systems Security to prevent security breaches posted by money laundering.
The ontology informing this research is that of socio-constructivist viewpoint and an interpretive stance as an epistemological approach. Moreover, this research is informed by neo-institutional theory.
Supervisor: Dr J. Backhouse
HUANG, Minyi
m.huang2@lse.ac.uk
Information System Implementation in Development Administration: A Case Study
in the People's Republic of China
The use of information technologies is considered to have great potential
to improve public administration. Typical objectives of administrative reforms
include increased efficiency, decentralisation, increased transparency and accountability,
improved resource management and marketisation. However, a literature review
has revealed that the reality is problematic, at least in the developing countries.
This research, therefore, investigates the relationship between the objectives
of administrative reform and both information systems and information technology.
An in-depth case study of implementing a computerised payroll system in the public sector has been carried out in a middle-sized city in China. This study will contribute to the understanding of why and how information system is used in administrative reforms in developing and transitional economy countries, and what results have been achieved.
Supervisors: Dr
S Madon and Dr S Smithson
KIETZMANN, Jan j.h.kietzmann@lse.ac.uk
Conceptualising Mobile Communities of Practice
Mobile telephones, PDAs and Blackberry terminals have made fast inroads
into people’s private and organizational pockets. New mobile applications
coupled with improvements of mobile technology and infrastructure keep raising
the bar of information exchange and interpersonal communication opportunities
to new heights.
My research sets out to explore how mobile technology and mobile communication change work practices, particularly with respect to informal and dynamic networks of people within and among organizations. In order to appreciate this new form of organizing work, the conceptualisation of Mobile Communities of Practices is placed in the setting of the modern, bureaucratic organization. The analysis builds on Wenger’s understanding of Communities of Practices but examines people not in co-located or distributed settings but in mobile work environments. It concentrates on ‘traditional’ workers who spend varying proportions of their work-days in co-located settings and away from one another, and who now remain connected through mobile technology. Work patterns include user behaviour that is not visible on the surface but implanted and hidden in work practices that emerge from often unexpected activities within mobile environments. This research addresses this ongoing dialectic between structured and dynamic, formal and informal organizing and between intended and actual work practices.
As a theoretical underpinning I will employ Activity Theory as a recognised conceptual framework for describing the structure, development, and context of computer-supported activities. I feel that particularly Engeström’s Activity Model lends itself to the analysis of mobile work practices due to its theoretical tenets and the model’s practical emphasis on constituents of structure, activity and human agency.
Supervisor: Dr J Kallinikos
KIRAN, GR g.r.kiran@lse.ac.uk
Role of Telecentres in Local Governance: A Case Study of Kerala
Many developing countries have prioritised the use of Information and Communication
technology (ICT) in the light of the argument that ICT offers lower-income countries
the chance to "leapfrog" stages of traditional development through
technological advancements. The bulk of the policy initiatives, hence, continue
to assume a technologically deterministic position according to which enormous
benefits are assumed to flow from the use of ICT. Affirmed recently by the World
Summit on Information Society held in Geneva in December 2003—for example.
in the summit plan of action—one finds a clear statement of the need for
the world’s poor inhabitants to have access to ICTs within their reach.
Such a vision is popularly articulated through telecentres, which have currently
become a phenomenon in international development efforts. Telecentres have generally
been studied and evaluated from the point of view of financial sustainability,
usage, pricing, business models and its impact on specific sectors like education
and health. The importance of understanding telecentres as part of the local
governance network of a region and linked to back-end government reform is gradually
becoming recognised in the academic literature with important implications for
the development of frameworks for evaluating these initiatives. The ongoing
research is a step in this direction. The research focuses on the Akshaya telecentre
project in Kerala, India.
Supervisor: Dr S Madon
KOPANAKI,
Evi e.kopanaki@lse.ac.uk
The Impact of Inter-organizational Information Systems on Organizational Flexibility
The objective of this thesis is to explore the impact of Inter-organizational
Information Systems (IOS) on the flexibility of organizations. Since IOS involve
interaction and co-operation between different organizations, the concept of
flexibility is viewed not only as a characteristic of an individual firm, but
also as a property of the interaction between firms.
This study proposes an interpretive approach to explain the multifaceted concept of flexibility. A synthesized research framework, based on 'Web Models' and 'Soft Systems Thinking' theoretical perspectives enables us to examine flexibility as being embedded in and influenced by the organizational/interorganizational context. In the proposed framework, flexibility is presented not only as the ability of the organization/business network to respond to environmental disturbances, but also as its capability to evolve and to change over time.
An exploratory case study undertaken in a grocery retail-supply chain in Greece forms the basis of our argument. Both our understanding and analysis of the empirical data are based on the proposed framework.
Supervisor: Dr S Smithson
LAPERROUZA,
Marc m.p.laperrouza@lse.ac.uk
China's National Information Infrastructure Policy Evolution
Since the launch of the Open Door Policy in 1978, the People's Republic of China
has engaged in a rapid modernisation process, moving in parallel towards industrialisation
and informatisation, albeit with Chinese characteristics.
Using a contextualist approach, the thesis will address two concerns: the development of China's National Information Infrastructure (NII) and the related policy evolution in light of the country's accession to the World Trade organization (WTO)
Supervisor: Dr J Liebenau
MANN, Harry h.mann@lse.ac.uk
The Relationship between Differing Forms of Capital and the Digital Divide
Information and Communication technologies are seen today by many industrialised
and developing nations as key drivers behind economic and social progression.
With the relationship between the "information society" and "inclusive
society" becoming increasingly close, issues such as the perceived "digital
divide" have come to the forefront of both political and academic discourses
across the globe. This research investigates the digital divide and the interlinked
issues of social exclusion and technology use in the United Kingdom with particular
reference to inner city areas with high levels of social deprivation. Using
Bourdieu's conceptual framework of differing forms of capital; economic, social
and cultural, this study aims to examine the relationship between the interaction
of differing forms of capital in the context of the digital divide.
Supervisor: Dr S Smithson
MANN, Tejinder t.mann@lse.ac.uk
An Evaluation Perspective on Software Acquisition: The case of a Business Intelligence
tool in an ERP Environment Utilizing a Neo-institutional Framework
Information systems (IS) evaluation is among the most contentious of organizational
processes. There are a barrage of complexities surrounding IS evaluations from
inappropriate reliance on managerial evaluation models to the inability to operationalize
interpretivistic evaluation models, just to name a few. However, despite these
deficiencies we see knowledgeable IS practitioners utilizing IS evaluation models
to manage their IS projects, especially when acquiring commercial of the shelf
(COTS) software. The continued use of inappropriate IS evaluation models may
indicate that IS evaluation serves organizational needs, other than rationalized
measurement, like product diffusion and product legitimacy. This research will
explore the idea of analysing IS evaluation as an institutional activity with
embedded biases within the process. The aim will be to examine the role of IS
evaluation as an institutional 'gatekeeper' or 'gate-opener', promoting, through
an 'organizing vision', the widespread proliferation of homogeneous COTS software
products into diverse organizational contexts.
Supervisor: Dr T Cornford
Rajen MADAN r.madan@lse.ac.uk
Understanding the Scientist of the Artificial: the Role of IS Architects in
Large Financial Service organizations
The key challenges of information age organizations are posited as complexity,
uncertainty and high rates of change. This is particularly true of financial
service and professional service organizations that are focused on the information
value chain. The concept of Straight Through Processing (STP) in financial markets
best exemplifies these challenges. A simple functionality, such as ‘one
click’ completion of a securities transaction electronically, can mean
that entire national and international corporate information infrastructures
may need to be traversed, re engineered and harmonised. Set within such an environment
the research aims to: highlight the unique problems and challenges of designing,
managing and supporting IS in large globally dispersed organizations that need
to be manoeuvrable in the face of significant business diversity; and discusses
the related evolving roles of IS management. The main research enquiry is exploratory
and concerned with understanding the relatively recently instituted roles of
IS architects in these organizations. The research draws on the works on design,
organizations, and praxis as informed by Herbert Simon, Donald Schon, Chris
Argyris and Henry Mintzberg. Information systems are regarded as socio-technical
projects and the IS architect is viewed as a social designer who is concerned
with converting actual situations to preferred situations and balancing aesthetics
with functionality, as espoused by Simon, and which is consistent with the initial
findings of the research. The research examines key issues which the social
designer faces having to do with problem representation, inadequacies and unreliability
in the data, constraints on cognitive capacity and attention, and ambiguity
and conflict of goals.
Supervisor: Dr C Sørensen
MEULEMANS, Saskia s.meulemans@lse.ac.uk
Role and Impact of Information and Communication Technologies in Museums
This research is concerned with the role of information and communication technologies
(ICTs) in museums. With more and more museums recognizing the possibilities
of ICTs, there exists a growing need to study the use and effects of these technologies
in museums. The aim of this research is to interpret the role of ICTs and the
actors that contribute to their role over time. The relationship between the
museum as organization, the ICTs and the involvement of key museum people will
be studied. The past and current ICTs activities will be looked into, tracing
possible changes, influences by and effects on the museum. The focus and use
of ICTs are assessed and their relation to the overall focus and objectives
of the museum are being reported. Specific attention will be paid to the role
of key museum people such as the board and the curatorial staff; how they deal
with ICTs and which factors influence their thinking and actions.
The research argues that people involved in decision-making and management most likely shape the role of ICTs. Concepts of actor network theory will guide this research in analysing all the actors, human and non-human that make the role of ICTs. The research uses the case study method to understand these actors. Fieldwork will be conducted in an international recognized art museum. The intention of the research project is to shed a different light on the current debate, focus and also worries around ICTs in the museum world. In addition to this, as the empirical and theoretical analysis builds on literature and concepts from the field of museum studies and information systems, the research hopes to be a valuable contribution to current research in both fields.
Supervisor: Dr S Smithson
MONTIEL, Mauricio m.montiel@lse.ac.uk
A Contextualist Approach for Understanding History, Social Networks, and the
Role of IT in Shaping Interdependencies in Two Airlines
The fast pace of competition has resulted in changes in the way organizations
are structured. Some of the new characteristics of firms are their flexibility
in their organizational structures and the connection of internal networks to
external networks. This creates interdependencies among the different actors
within the same organization and with other organizations. This research aims
to understand the role of IT in the strenghtening or weakening of interdependencies
when the multiple contractual relations of an organization are influenced by
factors embedded in social relations. It will draw on the notions of actors,
networks and context and the role of technology, and it will concentrate specifically
on low cost carriers and network carriers in the airline industry.
A contextualist approach will give the basis to relate the elements that influence the formation or destruction of interdependencies. In addition, Actor Network Theory will help to highlight the role of IT. The empirical work will be conducted in two different airline companies which have different organizational structures. Understanding their different historical backgrounds and structural elements I will try to explain the role of IT when companies are embedded in complex networks.
Supervisor: Dr N Mitev
NAVARRA, Diego D. d.d.navarra@lse.ac.uk
ICTs, Governance and
Development: Understanding Risks and Challenges
As more international organizations, civil society institutions and Non-Government
organizations (NGOs) become involved with national governments in promoting
e-government service delivery, new forms of knowledge sharing and inter-organizational
networks (a new ‘knowledge frontier’) is emerging. These e-government
initiatives are based on a specific set of corollary assumptions about the way
in which Information and Communication Technologies are enacted in social and
organizational contexts and their presumed ability to transform them. Thus,
e-government, as expressed in policy blueprints, is a widely used term to frame
and legitimise institutional, political and administrative reform in countries
in the developed and less developed world.
Considering such e-government initiatives, the focus of my research is the changing nature of relationships between governments, national and international civil society organizations, NGOs, and the private sector. In particular, my research explores emerging governance networks and the way in which relationships between the various parties are formalised by contracts in the implementing of e-government projects for the provision of public services. The research aims to study the impact on economy and society of such new institutional arrangements and their implications for governance in states and private sector organizations.
Supervisor: Dr T Cornford
ORJI, Carl c.d.orji@lse.ac.uk
A Theoretical Investigation into the Dynamics of Strategic Change: A Complexity-Based
Approach
The increased ‘velocity of competition’ within the business
environment has led to the need for a complexity-based approach, which explains
and describes the dynamics of strategic change. This is accelerated by the unvarying
acquisition of knowledge and its applications, which create flux in organizational
boundaries, whilst changing the generic typology of organizations. Hence, the
orthodox approaches to explaining strategic change, which are based on, a linear
and structured process, breaks down in such a highly turbulent business ecosystem.
Accordingly, this dissertation bifurcates the question into an endogenous and exogenous perspective. In the endogenous perspective, the dynamics of strategic change in the organization are analysed as being predicated on the knowledge transmitted and created. This position utilizes Dawkins memetic postulations and game theory as a foundation for a dynamic model of knowledge creation, which attempts to describe the endogenous question, whilst taking a precursory look at its epistemology within information systems and strategic management. Knowledge creation in this context is a consequence of the competition between differing strands of knowledge resulting in oscillating organizational evolutionary stable strategies (ESS).
Thus, in the exogenous perspective, the dynamics of strategic change are analysed by modeling the interaction of organizations competing for survival and success in a strategic technology landscape. In this dissertation, our model of the landscape is a derivative of Kaufmann’s ‘fitness landscape’ metaphor with the height representing the organizational level of profit; the width and length representing the market share. Furthermore, our model continues the ESS theme and takes an exogenous view that sees the interactions of organizations giving rise to new descriptions of organizational forms. This model also extends the Miles and Snow typology of organizations whilst incorporating a Lokta-Volterra predator-prey perspective. In précis, we attempt to demonstrate that the typology (organizational form) on topology (landscape) addresses the question of strategic change and organizational fitness.
Supervisor: Prof I Angell
PAEK Ki Hun k.h.paek@lse.ac.uk
The National Information and Communication Technology Policy Process: The
case of South Korean National Information Infrastructure Policy
National information and communication technology [ICT] policy in developing
countries is highly dependent on economic development and national information
infrastructure [NII] is best nurtured within a national policy framework where
the key responsibility lies with government. However, each developing country's
practical situation varies according to its different contexts, and thereby
the successes of developed countries have been difficult to replicate. The "best
practice" of developed countries does not always bring the same success in developing
countries. This situation is at the core of my research question: what kind
of national ICT policy can developing countries prepare, and in which way should
the policy be pursued? I address the case of South Korean NII policy, where
the context, processes and content of national ICT policy has been a matter
of considerable controversy.
Supervisor: Dr J Liebenau
PANOURGIAS, Niki n.s.panourgias@lse.ac.uk
The Role of ICTs in Establishing Cross-Border Securities Markets Infrastructures
Financial markets depend on complex large-scale back office information systems—referred
to as clearing and settlement systems—for the conclusion of transactions.
As demand for cross-border services in the finance industry increases, ICTs
are seen as providing ways of realising economies of scale and scope. A rapid
proliferation of ICTs that span organizational and geographic boundaries has
resulted. But while geographically dispersed trading on financial markets is
possible, specific historic institutional and technological arrangements found
in post-trade arrangements, especially in the case of securities such as stocks
and shares, mean that such activities are still predominantly nationally organized.
Seeing financial markets as complex shared socio-technical ensembles and focusing on securities settlement, the research seeks to investigate the mutual shaping of the human and material in the transformation of securities settlement arrangements from national to cross border. This is done through the tracing of the interplay between shared practical action and discourse relating to the development of ICTs in on-ongoing initiatives to develop cross-border securities settlement platforms such as the Euroclear Single Settlement Engine.
In addition to illuminating how ICTs might structure financial markets, the research also aims to contribute to debates around conceptualisations of large-scale shared information systems. More specifically, notions such as information infrastructures are addressed and how, in the absence of a centre from which design and control flow, an infrastructure can ‘occur’ through the resolution of tensions between the local and the universal and the accommodation of many diverse practices and cultures in the proposed technological artefact.
Supervisor: Dr J Kallinikos
PICA, Daniele d.n.pica@lse.ac.uk
Contextualizing Mobile Informatics and the Concept of Location:
Implications for Police Organizations
The increasing usage of mobile information technology has drawn attention
to the impact of such technology on society and on work organizations. Many
communication devices are no longer constrained to static work or home environments,
but are likely to be found in almost any physical location and consequently
any social setting. This research explores the novel field of mobile informatics,
which is concerned with the theory of mobile information technology use and
the subsequent design implications. By addressing one of the most fundamental
themes associated with mobile informatics, namely the understanding of location,
the research aims at providing both theoretical and practical contribution to
the field of mobile informatics. This research focuses on the issue of how mobile
devices have reshaped our relation with physical space.
The theoretical underpinnings of the research rely on a ‘neo-classical’ approach to the understanding of information technology to provide a novel view of organizations at work. Theories of interaction, space and time are critically explored to realign the understanding of mobility and mobile informatics to the changing socialization patterns and networks of individuals and groups contextualized in an increasingly global community. The police, as a dynamic group of individuals who increasingly rely on mobile devices, are surveyed in order to study attitudes, actual usage and perception of mobile devices. Ultimately, this research seeks to advance the design requirements of mobile devices and unfold their dialectic with work organizations.
Supervisor: Prof I Angell
SHAIKH, Maha m.i.shaikh@lse.ac.uk
Learning through Version Control Software in Free/Open Source: A 'Realist' ANT
Perspective
This research describes a study of learning within the free/open source
phenomenon [F/OS]. Prior research on F/OS has concentrated on the economics,
motivation and process of F/OS and, though there has been some work on innovation,
learning and the process of learning have not been extensively studied. This
area is interesting because learning in such ‘communities’ is spread
over time and space but most literature on communities and learning relies and
stresses face-to-face interaction to enable learning. This is in some contrast
to how F/OS developers create and learn. My study has concentrated on Linux
kernel developers and an analysis of the discourse between developers carried
out over the mailing list (spanning the last 8 years) was performed using the
theoretical tools of actor network theory,. The research focuses on the dispute
between the kernel developers over whether, and then which, version tool to
adopt to simplify their collaboration; this debate is valuable because it has
the ability to make explicit how, when and why learning occurs and its manifestation
in F/OS development.
Version control software is utilized by software developers to manage communication and coordination. It is collaborative software that eases versioning and patch submission when a number of developers are working on the same problem separated in space and time. Such software provides a unique way to understand how learning occurs in such communities and where this learning is manifested. And, more importantly, version software helps us to understand exactly who or what is doing the learning.
A text-based analysis of the messages in the Linux kernel mailing list reveals certain themes which clarify the reinforcement and constraints of learning including the governance structure of the community and the mode of organizing; the ethical and ideological dispositions of developers and their attitudes towards collective knowledge; and the role of technical merit. The study of these themes leads to insights concerning learning and what affects learning. The theoretical framework of this study is guided by Actor Network theory [ANT] and Science and Technology Studies’ concepts, complemented by Bateson’s ideas on learning.
ANT has evolved over time and this research aims to advance this theory through an understanding of the ontology of ANT. A distinct interpretivist stance is not possible with ANT because the ontology of ANT is more realist than constructivist. ANT is based on the premise that actors, be they human or non-human, create reality in their very act of interaction. This belies the belief that reality is constructed ‘in the mind’ but rather that reality emerges ‘out there’ through actant interaction. ANT has been operationalized in this work through concepts such as ‘circulating references’, ‘centres of calculation’, ‘immutable mobiles’, and ‘boundary objects’. Bateson’s concepts of levels of learning illustrate how learning has a hierarchy and it is how actors tackle situations of paradox, or double-binds, that can lead to a higher level of understanding. The framework of this study is a combination of ANT and Bateson’s work. Bateson’s concepts provide the ability to recognize what is learning but ANT explains how and why learning is negotiated and travels.
Supervisor: Dr T Cornford
SIWCZYK, Miro m.z.siwczyk@lse.ac.uk
Mobile Information and Communication Technologies in Business Consulting
Practice
This research explores the role of mobile technologies in business consulting
firms. The key motivations for undertaking the research lie in the impact of
mobile ICTs on social lives and work patterns, and the dissemination of new
organizational arrangements. I examine the infrastructure and protocols for
wireless networks; existing and emerging mobile devices and applications in
the context of business consultants' work practice. Consultants spend increasingly
more time working outside the physical office and large amount of work is being
carried out at clients’ premises. Additionally, they remain accessible
and perform certain tasks while travelling, being on the move. I intend to find
out whether mobile technologies expand or constrain business consultants' autonomy
and whether mobile technologies delimit or support strategies to control business
consultants.
The theoretical point of departure for this research are the concepts of 'soft bureaucracy' and 'intesional networks'. In my opinion David Courpasson's view of soft bureaucracies draws attention to underlying relations inside contemporary large business consulting organizations where structures of domination seem to be combined with social entrepreneurship. The concept of intensional networks introduced by B. Nardi, S. Whittaker and H. Schwarz provides more insights in the emerging ties in the workplace and beyond. The intensional networks can serve both as resources for individuals (eg. in advancing private careers) and for organizations (eg. in solving company's problems).
The field work is being carried out in Poland and involves consultants from large business consulting practices. The main methods of collecting data are based on interviews, informal meetings and discussions with a number of managers and senior consultants. The data collection is supplemented by inside involvement such as: following particular tasks; participating in project management; as well as recording electronic traces.
Anticipated contributions of this study include: insights into business consultants' perceptions, experiences and expectations towards mobile technologies; and understanding interrelations between organizational governance and the use of mobile technologies in business consulting firms.
Supervisor: Dr C Sørensen
SMITH, Matthew m.l.smith1@lse.ac.uk
Understanding the Impacts of ICT on Human Development: Applying Critical Realism
and the Capabilities Approach
ICT are seen to be centrally implicated in social change in today’s
world. The desire to harness this potential for positive social change is inherent
in all ICT for development projects. It is thus incumbent upon researchers to
improve their understanding of the relationship between ICT and developmental
outcomes to improve current and future practice. This thesis is an attempt to
enhance ICT for development research theory and practice.
The goal is to develop and test a methodology that can understand and explain relationships between the application of ICT and human development that does not resort to either positivistic notions of causality or interpretivist epistemic relativism. This is done in two steps. First, a research framework is constructed based upon two components; Critical Realism as a guiding philosophy of science and Amartya Sen’s Capabilities Approach as a normative theory of social order. Critical Realism offers a response to positivistic universalism and post-positivistic epistemic relativism through a qualified (non-positivist) critical naturalism for the social sciences. This allows for the extension of research in a critical dimension; through the integration of Sen’s Capabilities Approach with ICT for development research that was heretofore problematic. Integral to the development of this framework is an exploration and elaboration of the ontology of both technology and human capabilities vis-à-vis Critical Realism. Second, this framework is being tested and refined through a case study on an E-Government tax-online service implemented in Chile.
Supervisor: Dr S Madon
THATCHER, Sarah s.e.thatcher@lse.ac.uk
Public policy and the social construction of cyberterror: the hunt for the paper
tiger
The social construction of the computer hacker as dangerous criminal or
even terrorist has serious implications for public policy, human rights and
civil liberties. In the current climate of “counter-terrorism at any cost”
grave infringements of civil liberties would seem easily justified in the name
of national security.
It therefore becomes crucial to investigate systematically the foundations for social perceptions of the so-called “cyberterrorist”. The image of the hacker as dangerous criminal or terrorist, so beloved of the press and promoted tirelessly by the deep pockets of the information security industry, is critically misleading in this respect. My study seeks to pick up where others have left off, tracing the image of the computer hacker as it is transformed from “dangerous criminal” to “cyberterrorist”. The study will consider this image as it is presented in the national press, how this affects thinking and policy-making in government and, finally, how it translates into the law of England and Wales.
This is a multi-disciplinary study based on an interpretive epistemology. The theory of moral panic from the reference discipline of sociology is used as a framework for the content analysis of a sample of UK press articles on cyberterrorism. Parliamentary materials are examined separately, using a similar approach.
The expected contributions of this study include: a deeper understanding of the dialectic between national newspaper coverage and public policy on the issue of cyberterrorism; consideration of how a better basis for legislation and regulation might be defined or constructed; and an analysis of how a sociological theory of mass behaviour might be an appropriate tool for the examination of socio-cultural questions relating to information systems.
Supervisor: Dr J Backhouse
TSIAVOS, Prodromos p.tsiavos@lse.ac.uk
The Nature of the Interaction between Copyright Law and Technology
This research is focused on the nature of the interaction between copyright
law and technology. This not just in terms of providing a framework for how
copyright law should deal with issues such as Napster or how technologies should
respond to legal or regulatory frameworks, rather this is an attempt to identify
wider areas of concern. The central question is of what are the mechanics (or
the nature) of the interaction between the concept of copyright and legal systems?
The main hypothesis of our research is that technology and copyright co-develop
in a threefold manner:
(a) The content of the law changes as a result of technological change and the
design of new technologies is alters under the influence of copyright
(b) The copyright enforcement mechanisms are increasingly relying on technological
measures. The latter would make no sense without the support they receive by
the law
(c) The role of the copyright is increasingly changing. It is not anymore just
a revenue protection mechanism. It is supported by marketing, technological
measures and sometimes it is even totally reversed to serve a totally different
purpose. Moreover it is not an issue confined in the copyright regime anymore:
data protection issues are becoming increasingly relevant in all cases of copyright
protection over the internet. The techno-legal landscape is rapidly changing.
In order to test our hypothesis we will employ Actor Network Theory as it allows the actors, both humans and non-humans, to be heard. Actor Network Theory will be used to analyse case studies concerning technologies of dissemination of music and software over the Internet (e.g. streaming, P2P). The approach will allow the issue to be seen as one not confined to the question of how law should deal with technology; it is an issue that re-approaches law as a socio-technical artefact and technology as a regulatory instrument.
Supervisor: Dr E A Whitley
TSENG, Jimmy c.m.tseng@lse.ac.uk
The Institutional Governance of Secure Electronic Transactions
This research started from an interest in explaining technical and institutional
change in the Visa/MasterCard Secure Electronic Transactions (SET) system for
secure credit card payments over the Internet. The SET case is interesting because
it already contains the mechanism to enforce (payment) contracts across multiple
jurisdictions necessary for electronic commerce.
With the use of public key cryptography technologies in SET, a corresponding
set of changes in the institutional arrangements and working practices is inevitable.
The case study shows evidence of changing institutional arrangements (e.g. new
allocation of risk and new incentive schemes), and anticipated changes in working
practices (rather than routines, since working practices is a more flexible
operational concept denoting how participants actually behaved disregarding
the more formal institutions). The aim of the research was to trace the changes
in several areas of SET, in particular:
1. the authentication/authorisation process;
2. the evidence and dispute resolution process; and
3. enforcement and chargeback process in order to compare and contrast the explanations
of technical and institutional change based on the "rational explanation"
of the New Institutional Economics, and the "evolutionary explanation"
of Evolutionary Economics.
The intuitive end target is an argument for the institution as the unit of analysis, that institutions play a coordinating role in technical change (i.e. people use institutions to coordinate amongst themselves concerning a future state), and that the study of changes in working practices could yield insight into the decline of "old institutions" and the development of "new institutions".
Supervisor: Prof I Angell
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TZOURIS, Menelaos m.tzouris@lse.ac.uk
Reconceptualising Organizational Boundaries as Boundaries of Meaning: Implications
of Self-Service Information Systems for Boundary Management in the Direct Banking
Sector
The focal interest of this study is self-service information systems (SSIS).
The defining characteristic of SSIS is that, in addition to the well documented
potential of information systems of facilitating the automation, standardisation,
and simplification of organisational actions, they also bring the potential of
de-layering and of redistributing the organisation’s actions to entities
which are conventionally considered as part of its environment - SSIS in banking
are in general Direct Banking systems; examples are: Automated Teller Machine
(ATM), Interactive Voice Response (IVR)/phone banking, web/mobile banking, and
banks’ portals; all the above contribute towards the redistribution of
a bank’s action to its customers.
We explore and apply Luhmann’s theory of social systems, which assigns an elaborate significance to boundaries by relating both the structures and processes of social systems to their boundary with the environment. Following such an understanding, and conceiving organisations as social systems, we emphasise the importance of SSIS in influencing the process of meaning construction of organisational boundaries within a given institutional platform. In sum, organisational boundaries are perceived as differentiating the organisation from its environment and essentially bounding its functional, behavioural, and communicational aspects. Hence, boundaries are not perimeters, but functional constitutive components of a given organisation.
There is a common assumption that the advent and diffusion of information and communication technology enables a shift in the structure of organisations that is highly influential in re-constructing their boundaries. In contrast to the unproblematised understanding of boundaries as tangible entities, which most of the managerial literature embraces in order to deal with the strictly demarcating ‘place’ of an organisation’s boundary, this study considers a rather neglected issue: the issue of its ‘nature’ which, following Luhmann, we identify as being meaning. Consequently, we emphasise the importance of SSIS as decisive factors in the process of constructing the meaning of organisational boundaries of an organisation. Further, we seek to investigate the remaking of boundaries from the perspective of the organisation’s relationship with its customers: we focus on the organisational side of the consequences that the deployment of SSIS brings to bear on the nature of work and the relationship with customers.
Supervisor: Dr J Kallinikos
Katerina
VOUTSINA k.voutsina@lse.ac.uk
IT Experts in Flexible Forms of Employment
A trend that seems
to characterize current workplace is the decline of standard employment patterns
in favour of more flexible work arrangements. In particular, in knowledge-intensive
sectors of the economy, such as the high technology field, skilled and well
experienced workers tend to operate as independent contractors establishing
differing types of relationships with client firms.
The aim of this research is to address the conditions and problems associated with the emergence of contingent employment forms in the high-skilled IT sector. Examining the everyday practices of IT experts who work as contract-based workers, the research attempts to shed light on the terms and conditions that make the contingent work arrangement beneficial and desirable for both parties (the individual and the organization). Instead of focusing solely on the firm’s perspective, the research is concerned with the way work is done, in order to enhance our understanding about the enactment and sustainability of this relationship in practice.
Supervisor: Dr J Kallinikos
WIGGINS, Anne a.wiggins@lse.ac.uk
The strategic implications of the adoption and implementation of e-business
by SMEs in the UK in light of EU policy initiatives
This research concentrates on the strategic implications of the adoption
and implementation of e-business by small-and-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
in the United Kingdom (UK) in light of European Union (EU) policies initiated
to that end. SMEs find themselves having to operate without role models and
tested business plans within an increasingly complex and competitive environment.
Through in-depth, qualitative case studies this project seeks to answer the
following research questions:
The research will operate within the framework of a distinctive use of theory as a means for addressing this research agenda: Soft Systems Methodology (SSM), in combination with Action Case Research.
Supervisor: Professor R Galliers
YEUNG, Michelle m.c.yeung@lse.ac.uk
The Role of Environmental Contexts in Shaping Information Systems Strategies
in Retail Banks
In the light of the advancement in information technology, there is little
disagreement about the strategic importance of IT. Broadbent and Weill noted
that the financial services area is relatively mature in its information systems
strategy development processes and academic research in this area could provide
further valuable insights. The retail banking sector, with its sheer size and
competitive intensity, is the main focus of this thesis.
A starting point for the analysis of process of strategy formation is the research carried out by Pettigrew of which he terms a contextualist analysis. Although contextualism recognises the importance of multilevel contexts, taking into account not only internal organizational context, but also external sectoral and national contexts, Pettigrew himself acknowledged that a conceptual link between the external environment contexts and the organizational context should be furthered examined and developed. The thesis takes the interpretive sociology stance, and aims to examine how the external environment black box influences actions of organization members as social actors socially construct the meaning conveyed by the external environment. Callon’s actor-network theory and his concept of the techno-economic network of humans and non-humans actors provides a useful way to further understand the complicated process of strategy and this concept could also be used loosely in this case as an analytic tool to illustrate how social actors interact during a strategy formation process.
The objective of this research is to extend Walsham and Waema’s research framework on strategy formation by expanding the external environment context element and to provide with a reasonably convincing analysis in the hope to spur further development of more vigorous research into the relevant areas. This is illustrated by an in-depth case study carried out in Hong Kong, and some general implications are developed in areas such as business and information systems vision; the organization’s interpretation of constraints, threats, opportunities in the environment.
Supervisor: Dr S Smithson
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last updated
4 July, 2008
