A Phased Model of Information Systems Strategic Alignment in Public Sector Organisations

A Phased Model of Information Systems Strategic Alignment in Public Sector Organisations Abstract Research AimWith the rise of e-business, organisations have become increasingly reliant on Information Systems (IS) (Huang et... [ view full abstract ]

A Phased Model of Information Systems Strategic Alignment in Public Sector Organisations

Abstract

Research Aim

With the rise of e-business, organisations have become increasingly reliant on Information Systems (IS) (Huang et al., 2013). The alignment between business and IS strategy, hereafter referred to as alignment, has long been considered as paramount in ensuring that organisations prosper. However, it has continued to be a pressing challenge for IS executives for over 30 years (Derksen and Luftman, 2014, Luftman, 2005, Peppard and Campbell, 2014, Luftman et al., 2017). Failure to align business and IS strategy may result in misused resources and failed IS projects, culminating in negative financial and organisational outcomes (Chen et al., 2010, Gerow et al., 2014, Ravishankar et al., 2011). Alignment between business and IS strategies is not easy to accomplish or maintain (Ciborra, 1997) in public or private organisations.

IS in Public Service Organisations (PSOs) has mainly been discussed in the literature as an aid to delivering new and better services to citizens (Bekkers, 2003), increasing efficiency and transparency, and improving accountability in PSO procedures and management (Dunleavy and Margetts, 2000). IS in the public sector has been mostly influenced by private sector experiences (Cordella and Bonina, 2012) and there has been an assumption that management models developed for the private sector can be directly applied to PSOs without significant alteration (Rocheleau, 2006). Notwithstanding what PSO IS management have learnt from their private sector counterparts, IS management within PSOs has faced and continue to face numerous challenges, for example excessive cost, project failure or unrealised value. However, there is a paucity of empirical research into alignment in PSOs.  

Since the 1980s, scholars have tried to ascertain factors that contribute as either enablers or impediments to this process of alignment (Hussin, King, & Cragg, 2002). An impediment is referred to as a key area that if mismanaged is a barrier to alignment (Luftman et al., 1999). Alignment is also viewed as having intellectual and social dimensions which underpin the ongoing alignment of business and IS strategies (Reich and Benbasat, 2000). Most alignment studies focus on the technical deliverables in relation to planning content and methodologies, that is, focusing on the intellectual dimension alone. Therefore, they do not include the social dimension which would encompass communication, interpretation and integration, and how collective and departmental levels within the organisation create mutual understanding in the alignment process (Balhareth et al., 2012). The focus of this paper therefore is on exploring the intellectual and social impediments to the alignment process in PSOs.

Design/methodology/approach 

A feature of most research into alignment is that it attempts to reduce complexity to enable investigation of simple cause and effect relationships which can create anomalies between studies (Campbell et al., 2005). Whilst researchers in the strategic management domain (Langley, 1999, Pettigrew, 1990, Van de Ven and Poole, 1995) have made a significant contribution to the methodology of process inquiry in organizations, very few of the methods developed for the study of organizational processes have been directly applied to the study of alignment within the IS literature. Process inquiry offers an excellent means for analysing longitudinal data particularly from case study research and is especially significant and applicable in a practice-oriented field such as IS research and can be of significant value to the stakeholders involved in alignment as it provides more guidance for action than the variance approach (Shanks et al., 2012). In this paper, we apply process inquiry to a specific temporal phenomenon, namely alignment. We outline the use of process inquiry in conducting interpretive case study research in exploring the process of alignment in a PSO. The study incorporates an empirical investigation of a PSO that examines the alignment of business strategy and IS strategy at multiple levels over two separate strategy-making periods.

Findings  We present a process model which emerged from the analysis of the case data highlighting the conditions, using process theories, under which certain impediments could be expected to occur therefore adding to existing knowledge on impediments to alignment.  The results illustrate that PSOs face differing challenges to alignment across different phases of the alignment process. The findings from the case show that misalignment was not automatically the result of just one impediment in a particular phase. Instead, misalignment resulted over a period of time when a number of impediments went unrecognised and unaddressed during the different phases.

Research limitations/implications

As this is an interpretive processual case study, the conclusions do not claim to be generalizable and do not assert to be verifiable facts (Walsham, 1995). The choice to limit the data to a single case was made by choosing depth over the generalisability of the findings. Selecting a single case does not mean that the findings cannot be used by other researchers or that they are invalid, but does mean that academics and practitioners should interpret the findings with the circumstances of the original case in mind.

Practical implications/Social implications/ Originality value

While this study concentrates on a single PSO, the results shed light on a globally-persistent IS management concern for the past thirty years. The model offers a planning and diagnostic tool for public sector managers intending to engage in the process of alignment. The research findings offer fresh insight into the alignment process, and also facilitate the amalgamation of a number of assertions about the social and intellectual dimensions of alignment by comparing prior research with individual characteristics of the model. Methodological contributions also arise due to the novel application of a processual approach, still somewhat rare in IS research.

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