Mobile Edition
Print
Get the Mag
Weekly UpdatesABSTRACT
Deployment research reveals that firms apply either one or both of two major deployment strategies: contingency and standardization. This paper is one of two related papers investigating the application of both of these strategies in Jordanian firms. It is dedicated to analyzing the application of the contingency deployment strategy. The standardization strategy is the subject of a separate paper.
The contingency strategy was analyzed through a set of four major variables each of which has its own sub variables. The four variables are: participation, implementation, attitudes, and competency.
The aim of this paper is not to establish relations. It rather aims at exploring the extent to which the contingency approach to IT deployment is employed within the study population. Therefore, it provides valuable insights into the IT deployment scenery in the Middle East, a region where the IT deployment learning curve is still very steep and where this concept is still largely unexplored.
Keywords: Contingency deployment strategy, participation, IT implementation, attitudes, and competency.
INTRODUCTION
In their efforts to introduce IT into operations, firms usually apply either one or both of two major deployment strategies: contingency and standardization. This paper is one of two related papers investigating the application of both of these strategies in Jordanian firms. It is dedicated, though, to analyzing only the application of the contingency deployment strategy. The standardization strategy is the subject of a separate paper.
The contingency strategy was analyzed through a set of four major variables each of which has its own sub variables. The four variables are: participation, implementation, attitudes, and competency. The sub variables are numerous (21 variables); they are discussed in the sections that follow.
The aim of this paper is not to establish relations between the various variables related to IT deployment but to exploring the extent to which the contingency approach to IT deployment is employed within the study population. Therefore it provides valuable insights into the IT deployment scenery in the Middle East, a region where the IT deployment learning curve is still very steep and where this concept is still largely unexplored.
A social survey design was employed to carry out this study. The data used for the analysis was gathered through an extensive survey of IT applications in Jordanian manufacturing/export firms. S00 questionnaires were sent to sample individuals. The questionnaire was first pilot-tested in Ireland and then administered in Jordan. The response rate was 54 percent with only two of the returned completed questionnaires judged unusable.
DEPLOYMENT STRATEGIES
There are two major deployment strategies that firms resort to when deploying new IT applications: contingency and standardization.
The Contingency Strategy
This approach assumes that since firms have different sets of circumstances as a result of operating in different environments, they will apply different deployment practices, not only by their own choice but also as dictated by their surroundings (Moyo, 1996). To illustrate, a start-up firm that is composed of a few friends or a group of entrepreneurs will have different information needs than a well-established firm and, therefore, the methods for accessing and sharing the required information could also be different. Thus, this approach assumes that the IT deployment practices that suit one firm will not be easily adoptable by another. Each firm will have to apply different methods for implementing the diffusion decision. As a result, very few similar diffusion practices will exist among firms.
The Standardized (Technical) IT Deployment Strategy
This approach assumes that since most of organizational information needs are transmitted and/or processed through some sort of electronic data interchange mechanism (Prahalad and Gary, 1990) and, since the operational requirements for those mechanisms are very much standardized, firms will apply similar deployment practices regardless of their circumstances (Orlikowski, 1992).
Contingency vs. Technical
The contingency approach seems to overlook the fact that similar technologies require a minimum set of similar conditions in order to be operable (Fink, 1998). The absence of these will lead to either an incomplete installation, unfulfilled potential, extra costs or less contribution to performance (Gopalakrish and Mawlkar, 1995). Despite the fact that firms are different, the technologies they employ are not different to the same extent.
The technical approach holds exactly the opposite and states that differences among firms are not substantial enough to make a difference and, consequently, what should be taken into consideration is the technical aspects of deployment, thus overlooking the unique set of circumstances that constitute the firm's environment. For example, the level of skills available to an organization will limit the degree of sophistication in the IT solutions sought. A higher degree of sophistication will require more investment in terms of time, money, and training skills. Some or all of these might not be easily acquired.
The contingency approach, which revolves around the firm's conditions, will result in few similar practices in the case of high environmental uncertainty, due to the many unique dimensions that the firm must consider when implementing its diffusion strategy. However, in the case of low environmental uncertainty, the expected result of the contingency approach is, by definition, many similar deployment practices among different firms. This is due to the similarities in the environments in which the deployment was implemented.
Since the environments in which firms operate are not a major concern of the technical approach, a greater number of similar practices will exist, and the few differences that might appear could be explained by the variations of the manufacturing technologies employed by the different manufacturers. In this approach, the degree of environmental uncertainty is not supposed to affect the deployment in any noticeable manner.
As the literature demonstrates, organizations today operate in highly dynamic environments that make the conditions surrounding each firm almost unique to that firm (Korpela, 1996). This seems to suggest that the contingency approach is more appropriate and, thus, there will be few similar deployment practices, as most of these will be specific to each firm and, as a result, have a low degree of adaptability by other firms. However, this does not necessarily need to be true. The degree of standardization of the ITs' mediums is astonishingly high, as the world is dominated by very few innovation and manufacturing gums who make it very difficult for competing technologies, other than their own, to enter the market. This makes it imperative for most other IT solution providers to play by the same roles if they want to give their business a chance. The effect of standardization softens or balances the impact of environmental uncertainty, and the result is expected to be a mix of both approaches when implementing deployment strategies. How much of that mix is due to technicalities and how much is attributed to contingencies is not an easy figure to determine. It is not possible to say that 40 percent of the practices are similar because of the similarities in technologies employed and the rest is explained by the environmental conditions of the firm. The percentage is expected to vary among different studies, different firms, and different time periods. However, in effective deployment it is assumed that there will always be a substantial percentage of each.
The Components of the Contingency (Non-Technical) IT Deployment Strategy
Four major factors were used to evaluate the importance of the non-technical variables to the success of the deployment initiative. Analyzing the respondents' answers, the four factors ranked as follows:
1. Attitudes
2. Implementation
3. Competency
4. Participation
The three highest-ranking single technical variables across all the four categories were: top management support, access to software structure, and training provided to users, while the three single technical variables that ranked lowest were: external user participation, outsourcing, and recruiting new workers.
Those results are represented in Figure 1.
A. Participation
This dimension relates to analyzing the importance of having different parties participate in the IT decision-making process. As is the case with many other organizational decisions, participation could prove to be very helpful in making an informed IT decision. If the time budgeted to the implementation project is flexible and no serious security restrictions are imposed, participation could be aggressively sought because it will assist in analyzing the various dimensions of the implementation process. Participants will share their experiences, ideas, and opinions about how to achieve a better implementation. However, if time is limited and security is of special importance due to the nature of the project, participation will need to be restricted to a minimum, both internally and externally. Only those who are vital to the project's success should be allowed in. Because each stage has its own characteristics and those who were required at one stage might not be required at the next, each implementation stage should be evaluated separately in terms of granting or withdrawing access rights. Also, decisions on who gets on board and who gets off will need to be taken.
[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]
Internal participation was highly valued in the Jordanian organizations while external participation ranked as the lowest single variable in all of the non-technical variables. This can be attributed to the following:
FEED