CS6301 Case Study Research

Class Exercise 2.A

Semester II
th
26 March 2007

DR. PAN SHAN LING

Dept. of Information Systems, School of Computing

Submitted by

Khet Khet Oo Tha HT0600973J

1. Which chapter will you be using for your project?
Case 8 – Inter-organizational Project Management in XL.com

2. What is the central message of your case study? And, why is it

interesting?

The case reflects on inter-organizational initiatives in general, and how such

initiatives can be managed in terms of good social relationship and strategic
IT management.
The central message of the study is the collaborative efforts in the adoption
of IT based logistics platform by integrating the various knowledge bases
and balancing the strategic interest between the partners.

3. What is the theoretical perspective which you will be taking?

Specifically, what theory or framework will you be using?

Organizational theories in the lens of social capital perspective with the

inter-organizational relationship and organizational dynamics in
collaborative projects

4. What are the 5 findings that you are likely to propose for your case study?

a) Organizational dynamics in the individual motivation, strategic interest,

and knowledge sharing, changing over the life cycle of the IT project.
b) Un-establishment of business rules leads to the inefficiencies in
interdepartmental communication and logistics operations, thus resulting
misunderstanding and dissatisfaction among partners
c) The strong competence of third party service provider leading the
different perspectives of the project partners, and negotiation in conflict
resolution to the collaborative goal
d) Prior relationship between organizations can be leveraged for smoother
project implementation as a secondary role in pragmatic changes
e) The importance of collaborative efforts in facilitating the user adaptations
of IT in organizations (to overcoming employee’s resistance to change)
 5. What are the theoretical contributions and managerial implications?

Theoretical Contributions Managerial Implications

Organizational dynamics
Managers need to recognize the
importance of the new IT as a key
factor that brings about changes to
new practices resulting in many
benefits such as operational
efficiency, better quality, cost
reduction, and customer satisfaction.

Business rules Managers need to consider the

proper adoption of business rules in
order to facilitate the communication
and enhance the business operations.

Core competencies Managers need to select the service

provider who has competent in
domain knowledge and IT strategic
management in order to assess the
different requirements of the
partners, and cope with possible
issues.

Social Relationship Managers need to realize that social

factors such as close relationship,
understanding and trust over the
years only has to take as a secondary
influence in strategic tasks

Collaborative efforts Managers need to understand

important cooperation and support in
accomplishing the collaborative
project successfully such as
relearning processes, reconfiguring
work practices, and user training.

Reference: Inter-organizational Project Management in XL.com,

BHANDAR, Mamata, “Managing Strategic Enterprise Systems and E-
Government Initiatives in Asia”, World Scientific Publishing Co Pte. Ltd.
Singapore. 2004.