Investigating the support role of the information center
MIS Quarterly
Champagne training on a beer budget
Communications of the ACM
Examining workgroup influence on technology usage: a community of practice perspective
SIGCPR '00 Proceedings of the 2000 ACM SIGCPR conference on Computer personnel research
Investigating information systems with action research
Communications of the AIS
The New Computing Archipelago: Intranet Islands of Practice
HOIT '00 Proceedings of the IFIP TC9 WG9.3 International Conference on Home Oriented Informatics and Telematics,: Information, Technology and Society
What is really important in supporting end-users?
Proceedings of the 2004 SIGMIS conference on Computer personnel research: Careers, culture, and ethics in a networked environment
| Hi-index | 0.01 |
In this paper, we present a research-in-progress study of the problem diagnosis phase of an action research project. The aim of the project is to improve the end user support function of a local municipality in Scandinavia. Five years ago, the municipality initiated a program of using unit personnel to train and support end users. Now, it is becoming apparent that the much acclaimed program is not functioning as well as it used to or as expected. We were called in by the municipality to help them improve the support function. That led to the ongoing action research project. As part of the problem diagnosis phase, we are conducting a three-step study using quantitative (survey) and qualitative (interviews, document analysis) to tease out any systematic patterns about success or failure of LM's user support program. The survey and several interviews have already been conducted. We are analysing the data to determine which of a variety of factors: social, organisational, political and individual are related to dissatisfaction with the support function. The findings will seek to explain what can go wrong with a best practice when factors blend.