Making Indian cities smart: Framing incongruencies and reconciliation

© 40th International Conference on Information Systems, ICIS 2019. All rights reserved. Smart cities aim to utilize information technologies to improve efficiency and effectiveness of urban infrastructure and service delivery, and to advance the agenda of sustainability. Smart cities typically involve a variety of stakeholders with diverse agendas. In this study, we seek to explore incongruencies in stakeholder perspectives and identify how these are negotiated and reconciled. We examine the evolution of a smart city initiative in Bhubaneswar, an Indian city, over a three-year period, focusing on the divergence of stakeholder perspectives. We draw upon Technological Frames of Reference theory in identifying framing incongruencies present in the city's foundational frames. We understand these through the underlying frameworks of archetypal core constitutive values. We delineate mechanisms used to reconcile the incongruencies through building a shared foundational frame, boundary spanning, perspective seeking and cultural adaptation of technology-in-use. The study has implications for deliberately designed mechanisms that can aid inversion and negotiation of incongruent frames.

Political satire and the counter-framing of public sector IT project escalation

© 2018 by the Association for Information Systems. Despite significant research into why IT projects fail, the frequency and impact of failure remains high. Attention has shifted to understanding and guiding de-escalation (i.e., reversing failure). This major turnaround process initially benefits from negative feedback on the status quo and requires an organization to break its established frames and re-establish its legitimacy with stakeholders (Pan & Pan, 2011). We consider the role of satire as a lens to challenge dominant frames and better understand stakeholders during the shift towards de-escalation based on analyzing political cartoons about high-profile troubled public sector projects in New Zealand and Denmark. Drawing on the theories of technological frames of reference, legitimacy, and stakeholder salience, we show how cartoonists expose and critique the normative framing of dysfunctionality to act as field-level evaluators of legitimacy. Through counter-framing, exaggeration, and metaphor, they emphasize the urgency of citizen users’ claims while undermining the legitimacy of powerful stakeholders. We extract lessons for stakeholder management and communication during project turnaround and suggest that satire could be a valuable addition to diagnostic and planning tools during de-escalation. We identify that sensitivity to framing of IT projects exists in the public realm, which reinforces calls for organizations to consider institutional framing.

Making Indian cities smart: Framing incongruencies and reconciliation

© 40th International Conference on Information Systems, ICIS 2019. All rights reserved. Smart cities aim to utilize information technologies to improve efficiency and effectiveness of urban infrastructure and service delivery, and to advance the agenda of sustainability. Smart cities typically involve a variety of stakeholders with diverse agendas. In this study, we seek to explore incongruencies in stakeholder perspectives and identify how these are negotiated and reconciled. We examine the evolution of a smart city initiative in Bhubaneswar, an Indian city, over a three-year period, focusing on the divergence of stakeholder perspectives. We draw upon Technological Frames of Reference theory in identifying framing incongruencies present in the city's foundational frames. We understand these through the underlying frameworks of archetypal core constitutive values. We delineate mechanisms used to reconcile the incongruencies through building a shared foundational frame, boundary spanning, perspective seeking and cultural adaptation of technology-in-use. The study has implications for deliberately designed mechanisms that can aid inversion and negotiation of incongruent frames.

Political satire and the counter-framing of public sector IT project escalation

© 2018 by the Association for Information Systems. Despite significant research into why IT projects fail, the frequency and impact of failure remains high. Attention has shifted to understanding and guiding de-escalation (i.e., reversing failure). This major turnaround process initially benefits from negative feedback on the status quo and requires an organization to break its established frames and re-establish its legitimacy with stakeholders (Pan & Pan, 2011). We consider the role of satire as a lens to challenge dominant frames and better understand stakeholders during the shift towards de-escalation based on analyzing political cartoons about high-profile troubled public sector projects in New Zealand and Denmark. Drawing on the theories of technological frames of reference, legitimacy, and stakeholder salience, we show how cartoonists expose and critique the normative framing of dysfunctionality to act as field-level evaluators of legitimacy. Through counter-framing, exaggeration, and metaphor, they emphasize the urgency of citizen users’ claims while undermining the legitimacy of powerful stakeholders. We extract lessons for stakeholder management and communication during project turnaround and suggest that satire could be a valuable addition to diagnostic and planning tools during de-escalation. We identify that sensitivity to framing of IT projects exists in the public realm, which reinforces calls for organizations to consider institutional framing.

Understanding the Hidden Dissatisfaction of Users Towards End User Computing

The objective of this research is to examine satisfied and dissatisfied end users in an organization to determine if they hold different technological frames of reference towards end user computing (EUC). This research examines the effectiveness of the computer systems at the organization, while at the same time measuring the level of end user satisfaction with the EUC environment. Grounded theory techniques for qualitative analysis of interviews were used to assess the technological frames of reference of selected highly satisfied and highly dissatisfied users. While analysis of the satisfaction surveys alone indicated that the user population was generally satisfied with their EUC environment, follow-up interviews and service quality gap analysis highlighted several individual support areas that required remedial action. In addition, satisfied and dissatisfied users held different views or technological frames of reference towards the technology they used. Their frames of reference affected their expectations of the technology, their interactions with the MIS support staff, and their utilization of the technology on a day-to-day basis.