Management Science
The relationship of MIS steering committees to size of firm and formalization of MIS planning
Communications of the ACM
Managing telecommunications by steering committee
MIS Quarterly
Corporate systems management: an overview and research perspective
Communications of the ACM
The interdisciplinary study of coordination
ACM Computing Surveys (CSUR)
Impact of the CEO's participation on information systems steering committees
Journal of Management Information Systems
Power, politics, and MIS implementation
Communications of the ACM
Designing Complex Organizations
Designing Complex Organizations
Decentralized Mechanism Design for Supply Chain Organizations Using an Auction Market
Information Systems Research
IT Governance: How Top Performers Manage IT Decision Rights for Superior Results
IT Governance: How Top Performers Manage IT Decision Rights for Superior Results
Journal of Management Information Systems - Special issue: Information technology and organization design
Realising Systems Thinking: Knowledge and Action in Management Science (Contemporary Systems Thinking)
Coordination in Fast-Response Organizations
Management Science
Technological Embeddedness and Organizational Change
Organization Science
Generative mechanisms for innovation in information infrastructures
Information and Organization
An evaluation of data processing steering committees
MIS Quarterly
Toward a Theory of Coordinating: Creating Coordinating Mechanisms in Practice
Organization Science
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Large, multi-unit organizations are continually challenged to balance demands for centralization of information technology that lead to cost and service efficiencies through standardization while providing flexibility at the local unit level in order to meet unique business, customer, and service needs. This has led many organizations to adopt hybrid federated information technology governance (ITG) structures to find this balance. This approach to ITG establishes demand for various means to coordinate effectively across the organization to achieve the desired benefits. Past research has focused on the efficacy of various coordination mechanisms (e.g., steering committees, task forces) to coordinate activities related to information technology. However, we lack insights as to how and why these various coordination approaches help organizations achieve desired coordinated outcomes. This research specifically identifies coordinating as a process. Adopting the philosophy of critical realism, we conducted a longitudinal, comparative case study of two coordinating efforts in a federated ITG structure. Through a multifaceted approach to scientific logic employing deductive, inductive, and retroductive elements, we explicate two causal mechanisms, consensus making and unit aligning, which help to explain the coordinating process and the coordination outcomes observed in these efforts. We additionally elaborate the operation of the mechanisms through the typology of macro-micro-macro influences. Further, we demonstrate the value of the causal mechanisms to understanding the coordinating process by highlighting the complementarity in insights relative to the theories of power and politics and of rational choice. The study contributes to our understanding of coordinating as a process and of governance in federated IT organizations. Importantly, our study illustrates the value of applying critical realism to develop causal explanations and generate insights about a phenomenon.