Information technology (IT) implementation continues to be a challenging process for many organizations. The challenge is heightened when systems are changed due to mergers and acquisitions (M&A). The recent focus on IT-service management highlights the importance of having positive relationships between IT-service providers and end-users. In an M&A situation, there is often little history, and thus limited basis for trust in the IT organization, yet systems often need to be changed in these situations. The current study examines the IT-service provider’s relationship with the end-user to ascertain the factors that influence that relationship and ultimately influence end-user attitudes toward the new system. We study a mandated implementation following an acquisition in the banking industry. The results highlight the important and fragile nature of trust in the IT-service provider. In addition, the results demonstrate that there are significant differences in what matters at what time during the implementation process.

Knowledge management (KM) has gained increasing attention since the mid-1990s. A KM strategy involves consciously helping people share and put knowledge into action. However, before an organization can realize the promise of KM, a fundamental question needs to be asked: What performance goal(s) is the organization trying to achieve? In this paper, we develop and offer a framework that provides a holistic view of the performance environment surrounding organizational knowledge work. We illustrate the KM framework using two organizational case studies. Then, based on the KM framework and further insights drawn from our case studies, we offer a series of steps that may guide and assist organizations and practitioners as they undertake KM initiatives. We further demonstrate the applicability of these steps by examining KM initiatives within a global software development company. We conclude with a discussion of implications for organizational practice and directions for future research.

Extensive research supports the notion that usefulness and ease of use are primary drivers of user intentions to adopt new technology. However, this research has been conducted primarily in environments in which adoption was voluntary. When technology use is mandated, as it is in many organizations, we expect that the underlying relationships of traditional technology acceptance models will be different. In this paper, we discuss our current understanding of technology acceptance, as well as the notion of mandated use. We then discuss a field study conducted in the banking industry to examine technology acceptance models in a mandated use environment. The results indicate that there are, in fact, differences in the underlying relationships of technology acceptance models in this mandatory use situation. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications for research and practice.

The rise of the virtual organization in response to global competition and advances in technology has led to the deployment of global virtual teams. Global virtual teams are increasingly commonplace when team members are geographically dispersed and as travel budgets are cut. A global virtual team can be described as a culturally diverse, geographically dispersed, and electronically communicating work group. Virtual teams and the technologies that support them promise the flexibility, responsiveness, lower costs, and improved resource utilization necessary to compete. There is a need for research on how to make virtual teams work effectively when the central medium of the team's process is technology. In this paper, we will explore how cultural tendencies, specifically country-of-origin differences relate to communication styles and how these may influence perceptions of task-technology fit by members of global virtual teams.

The expectation that banks and other service industries will do better through investments in innovative IT applications requires a fundamental understanding that benefits do not stem from technology alone. Innovative IT applications change the way banks conduct their business and, as such, must be viewed as a major organizational change. This study examines how different perspectives of innovative IT influence the implementation process, attitudes toward usage, and perceived benefits in mandatory use situations. Using a case study methodology, we explore these issues in the context of a major IT initiative underway at a multi-bank holding company headquartered in the Midwest.

The authors examine whether one technique for group knowledge elicitation, focus groups, can provide different thoughts and judgments about a problem than individual interviews. The experimental situation was based on the resolution of an ill-structured problem by experienced subjects in a field setting. Videotaped scenarios were used to describe the situation for knowledge acquisition. Ten subjects were used, five for individual interviews and five for the focus groups. It was found that focus groups performed better in generating original responses than individual interviews and that focus groups were at least as good as individual interviews in terms of the quality and acceptability of ideas.>