Master Thesis The role of group dynamics in business and IT alignment

(1)

1

Master Thesis

The role of group dynamics in business and IT

alignment

10th July 2015

by

A. AKHTAR

University of Groningen

Faculty of Economics and Business

Under the Supervision of Prof. Dr. E.W.

Berghout

(2)

2

Abstract

Ample literature exists on business and IT alignment and also on group dynamics. However, little research has been conducted on the role of group dynamics in business and IT alignment. This study aimed to provide a better theoretical understanding on the interplay of these two concepts. The main contribution of this paper is that it found that business and IT alignment process influences team roles in such a way that they inter-change and factors arising from these processes which cause these changes are interest, understanding, compliance and approval. Another important contribution is that we argue that a productive business and IT alignment could be achieved without tightly aligning all the elements of alignment framework.

1. INTRODUCTION

Information technology has been a backbone of business in recent years (Chantatub, Preittigun and Vatanasakdakul, 2012). IT usage and its range of objects can be from simple productivity enhancement applications to the complex IT strategy development. IT application and usage in the business world makes it an integral and important element of the business activities. Thereby, it must be managed and architect carefully, which gave rise to the concept of IT Architecture (ITA).

(4)

4 attention. Moreover, this gap makes it interesting and relevant to research since this research aims at providing an understanding of group dynamics in ITA and it is particularly focused on group dynamics in the alignment process of business and IT. The research aims to answer the following question:

How do Belbin’s team roles influence the alignment process of business and IT and vice versa?

The research is conducted in the context of IT Architecture and on business and IT alignment in particular. There is a managerial, societal as well as economic relevance of this study, by knowing what role group dynamics play in business and IT alignment and in alignment process in particular, managers would be able to understand how they can increase the effectiveness of alignment processes. Besides this, they may recognize and/or appreciate the importance of group dynamics in business and IT alignment. The statement of Weill and Ross (2004) support the managerial relevance they mention that aligning IT decision and behavior to organizational performance is an essential task to the managers. Social relevance for this study is that people will be more aware of group functioning and how they can function better as a group which might improve their work relationship, moreover satisfaction level from work life may also increase. In terms of economic relevance, organizations spend somewhere 1 to 10 percent of their revenue on IT expenditures, for an organization with €2 Billion in revenues could mean €200 million of IT expenditures. Any significant gain in the effectiveness of business and IT alignment knowledge will certainly provide economic benefits to organizations.

(5)

5

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

In this section, first it is described how the literature review is conducted. Then, the relevant concepts of literature review are described and finally, research question and objectives are presented.

Literature review is conducted using the authentic data source namely EBSCO (Business source premier). The literature review is conducted in a systematic way. Moreover, the search keywords were Enterprise architecture (IT Architecture), business and IT alignment, group dynamics. The keyword of business-IT alignment search resulted in 70 articles, this search result is further refined to scholarly journals which resulted in 46 articles, out of these article the articles with less than ten citations were excluded, finally 15 articles were left and reviewed, after acquiring the understanding and basic knowledge of the subject some other articles or books are reviewed, this resulted in additional 12 readings, in total 27 readings for business and IT alignment. Furthermore, the reason behind additional 12 readings is that the 15 reviewed articles often referred to the articles and (or) books which were not present in first 15 reviewed articles. Besides this, the keyword of group dynamics search resulted in 5859 scholarly journals, out of these 15 most cited articles were reviewed, and additional 5 readings were also reviewed for the same reason as mentioned above. Next to this, the keyword of Enterprise architecture resulted in 360 academic articles, first 15 most cited articles were quickly scan to gain the basic knowledge of enterprise architecture (IT architecture). To sum up, the total of 47 articles and readings were reviewed and 15 articles were quickly scanned to conduct this study.

Ross (2003) acknowledges that the term IT architecture lacks a universally accepted definition. And mentions that the terms IT architecture and infrastructure are used interchangeably; he defines “IT architecture as to a firm’s list of technology standards”. Kappelman and Zachman (2013) mention that IT Architecture (ITA) represents a change in how we think about and manage information technologies and the organization they serve. ITA activities are done in isolation by different groups using different tools and methods, which should not be the case. ITA must bridge the gaps between these activities from strategy to operations and aligning the whole organization. A quick IT Architecture literature scan suggests us that there is no accepted definition of ITA and aligning IT activities with business is one of the most important issues in ITA literature. Luftman, Lewis and Oldach (2005) found that alignment is management’s top concern. This shows the importance of business and IT alignment.

2.2 Business and IT alignment

(6)

6 value. The business and IT alignment is defined as “the extent to which IT strategy enables and drives business strategy” (Luftman et al. 1993; Reich and Benbasat 2000; Cuenca et al., 2011). Luftman and Kempaiah (2007) mention that the alignment should focus on how IT and business are aligned with each other. Moreover, Avison, Powell and Wilson (2004) state that alignment assists an organization in three ways (1) through maximizing return on IT investment, (2) by helping to achieve competitive advantage through IS and (3) through providing direction and flexibility to react to new opportunities.

The literature review on Business and IT alignment revealed various frameworks such as Chan et al. (2006), Street (2006), Rondinelli et al. (2001), Reich and Benbasat (2000), Maes (1999), Luftman et al. (1999), Baets (1996), Henderson and Venkatraman (1993) and Scott-Morton (1991). The components, type of research and the key findings of these frameworks are shown in table 1.

Framework Type of research Alignment components/elements Main findings Scott-Morton (1991) An initial attempt to discover strategic power of IT, resulted in alignment framework. (1) Strategy, (2) structure, (3) management processes, (4) technology, (5) individuals and roles (6) external environment.

If these elements are in alignment, it can deliver substaintial reward to the company. Henderson and Venkatram an (1993) Alignment model that emphasized cross-domain relationship in external and internal alignments.

(1) Business scope (2) business governance, (3) distinctive competencies, (4) technology scope, (5) IT governance, (6) systemic competencies, (7) administrative infrastructure, (8) organizational infrastructure skills, (9) organizational infrastructure processes, (10) IT architecture, (11) IT infrastructure skills, (12) IT infrastructure processes.

Found four key domains for alignment business strategy (components 1, 2, 3), IT strategy (4, 5, 6), organizational infrastructure and processes (7, 8, 9) and IT infrastructure and processes (10, 11, 12). Baets (1996) Investigated factors involved in alignment

(1) Business strategy, (2) business organization, (3) IT infrastructure, and (4) IT strategy elements.

Alignment is a process of components (1, 2, 3, 4) Luftman et al. (1999) Investigated the enablers and inhibitors of aligment.

(1) Project priority settings, (2) IT knowledge of the business, (3) IT leadership, (4) strategy

development, (5) senior executive support IT support, (6) working relationship between business and IT.

Found factors effecting IT executives

(components 1, 2, 3) and factors effecting business control (4, 5, 6). Maes (1999); Avison et al. (2004) Exteded Henderson and Venkatraman (1993) model.

(7)

7 oriented thinking, (16) core

competencies, (17) infrastucture architecture. Reich and Benbasat (2000) Investigated antecedents for short term and long term alignment.

(1) Shared domain knowledge, (2) IT implementation success, (3) communications, (4) planning connections between business and IT, (5) business direction.

Found that shared domain knowledge (component 1) suitable for long term alignment and rest (2, 3, 4, 5) for short term alignment. Rondinelli et al. (2001) Investigated multinational corporations.

(1) Business strategy, (2) market penetration decisions, (3)

management processes, and (4) organizational structures. Organizations should continously realign to components (1, 2, 3, 4). Street (2006); Chan & Reich (2007) Investigated alignment capabilities development overtime. (1) IS service matching, (2) environmental IT scanning, (3) assessing alignment, (4) building stakeholder commitment, (5) IT filtering, (6) prioritizing IT resources, and (7) strategic IT experiments.

Found that the organizations that experience punctuated change thier alignment capabilities were weakened by change. Chan et al. (2006) Investigated antecedents for alingment which are under IT control.

(1) Shared domain knowledge, (2) planning sophistication, (3) the credibility of the IT, (4)

organizational size and (5) environmental uncertainty.

Found (components 1, 2, 3) are directly under the control of IT management and components (5, 6) are external to the IT. TABLE 1 BUSINESS AND IT ALIGNMENT FRAMEWORKS

The literature review of business and IT alignment suggests that there are two widely recognised alignment frameworks for business and IT alignment MIT90s and Henderson and Venkatraman since these two frameworks often appeared in the reviewed articles. This is also supported by the argument of Cuenca et al. (2011) they mention that there are two widely recognized approaches for business and IT alignment, SAM (strategic alignment model) of Henderson and Venkatraman (1993) and another one is MIT90s framework of Scott-Morton (1991). Moreover, Avison et al. (2004) also mention that there are number of alignment models have been proposed, among them are two key ones which are able to draw researchers attention are the MIT90s model and strategic alignment model of Henderson and Venkatraman. Further we will discuss both of these frameworks.

HENDERSON AND VENKATRAMAN ALIGNMENT FRAMEWORK

(8)

8 Henderson and Venkatraman’s alignement framework presented 12 components for the alignment of business and IT, these fall under above mentioned four domains. According to this framework business strategy at external level is structured by three components namely: (1) business scope, (2) business governance and (3) distinctive competencies. Moreover, IT strategy at external level is also ordered by three components i.e. (4) technology scope, (5) IT governance and (6) systemic competencies. Furthermore, Organizational infrastructure and processes at internal level is also structured by another set of three components, they are as follows: (7) administrative infrastructure, (8) skills and (9) processes. Further, IT infrastructure and processes at internal level is also ordered by three components i.e. (10) architecture, (11) skills and (12) processes.

MIT90’s ALIGNMENT FRAMEWORK

Martin (2012) state that MIT90s is a well known and highly sighted framework that focuses on business and IT alignment and it offers the powerful and broad framework of forces that influence IT and business alignment with the organizations.

(9)

9 MIT90s framework will be used in this study as a framework to map the alignment of the case study organization; this framework is chosen above the other business and IT alignment frameworks based on our four criterions: (1) test of time, (2) simplicity, (3) familiarity and (4) intentional design. We describe these four criterions as follows: Firstly, Test of time: MIT90s framework is highly cited and still used in studies such as Martin (2012). Secondly, simplicity: this framework provides comprehensive and simplistic view which is easy to understand and not overly complicated. Thirdly, familiarity: organization in which case study will be conducted is familiar with the alignment model. And finally, intentional design: this framework is specifically designed for business and IT alignment.

Besides this, there are some dilemmas regarding the MIT90s framework, is it still an effective tool to analyse business and IT alignment as proposed by some of the studies? Is a fit between all the elements of framework are always required in order to have a good alignment? Apart from this, generally business and IT frameworks are very rich in their coverage of many aspects such as strategy, processes, structure, individuals, skills, technology and infrastructure but they seem to ignore the behavioral side of these processes such as group dynamics.

2.3 Group Dynamics

Burnes (2014: 340) mentions that Kurt Lewin was the first one to write about the importance of the group in shaping the behavior of its members (Aliport, 1948; Bargal et al, 1992; Burnes, 2014). Lewin (1951) define group as “it is not the similarity or dissimilarity of individuals that constitute a group but interdependencies of fate” and group dynamics as “the way the groups and individuals act and react to changing circumstances” (Forsyth, 2014, p. 18). Foresyth (2014, p. 4) presents various definitions of group and conclude that a group is two or more individuals who are connected by and within social relationships.

The literature review of group dynamics indicate that that there are two widely recognised research work in group dynamics, which are of Belbin’s research work on team roles and Tuckman’s model of group development stages since these two framework often appeared in the reviewed articles. This is also supported by Burnes (2014) argument, who mentions that perhaps the best known work in group dynamics are of Belbin’s (1996) on team roles and Tuckman’s model of the stages (1965). Belbin’s work is highly influential for the construction and development of groups, he identified nine categories in which individuals fall in a group. Tuckman’s model identified four stages which a team must go through in order to grow and develop its effectiveness, and he maintains that group decision making process should occur in these four stages of Forming, storming, norming and performing. BELBIN TEAM ROLES

According to Aritzeta, Swailes and Senior (2007) Belbin’s team role model is used by many organizations including FTSE-100 companies, multinational agencies, government bodies and consultants and has been translated into 16 languages. They further concluded that the practical implications of the model for team roles analysis are substantial.

(10)

10 imaginative, unorthodox person who solves difficult problems, there are some allowable weaknesses for this role such as person ignores details and too preoccupied to communicate effectively. (2) The Resource investigator is an extrovert, enthusiastic, communicative person who explores opportunities and develops contacts, the allowable weaknesses for this role include overoptimistic behavior and loss of interest once the initial enthusiasm has passed away. (3) Moreover, the co-ordinator is a mature, confident, a good chairperson who clarifies goals, promotes decision making and delegates well, and the allowable weaknesses for this role include that this person can be seen as manipulative individual and delegates personal work. (4) The shaper is challenging, dynamic person, who thrives on pressure and has the drive and courage to overcome obstacles; this role can prove others and could hurt people’s feelings. (5) Furthermore, monitor evaluator is a sober, strategic and discerning person, who sees all options and judges accurately; the allowable weaknesses for this role include lacking drive and lacking ability to inspire and this person might be overly critical. (6) Another role is described as teamworker this role is a cooperative, mild, perceptive, and diplomatic person, who listens, builds, averts friction and calm the waters, some weaknesses in this role include indecisiveness in crunch situations and easily influenced by others. (7) Further, the Implementer is a disciplined, reliable, conservative and efficient team member, who turns ideas into practical actions; this role is somewhat flexible and slow to respond to new possibilities. (8) Next, the completer is a painstaking, conscientious, anxious person, who searches out errors and omissions and delivers on time, the weaknesses to this role include reluctance to delicate, inclined to worry unduly and can be a nit-picker. (9) Lastly, the specialist is a single-minded, self-starting and a dedicated person, who provides knowledge and skills in rare supply, this role’s weaknesses include that this person contributes on only a narrow front, dwells on technicalities and overlooks the big picture.

Besides this, some of the dilemmas regarding Belbin’s team roles are; as suggested by some of the studies, is Belbin’s work still an effective tool for managers to measure group’s effectiveness? How many team roles are usually filled by a person in a team? Does these team roles changes or stay stable overtime? Some of these dilemmas will be explored in the research.

TUCKMAN’S STAGES MODEL OF GROUP DEVELOPMENT

(11)

11 establishes relationship with each other, organizational standards and with leaders. (2) The second stage ‘storming’ refers to intragroup conflict and polarization around interpersonal issues, showing the lack of unity between the group members. The resistant behavior among group members resist group member from exploring unknown areas of interpersonal relationships, the group member rather seek to retain security. During this stage, emotional responses to task are evident and resistant behavior is present between group members. (3) The next stage is ‘norming’ in this stage the resistance is overcome and the group develops cohesiveness and in-group feeling, new standard develops and new roles are established. Furthermore, in this stage the group becomes an entity and harmony is ensured through avoiding task conflicts. Neuman and Wright (1999) mention in the norming stage the group discovers the most effective ways of working with each other. (4) The last stage in original model is ‘performing’ in which group attains interpersonal structure which becomes the tool of task activities. Roles of the member become flexible and functional and group energy is directed into the task. Moreover, the structure issues have been resolved and enacted structure become supportive of task performance. The group becomes problem solving tool as the members adapt and play roles that will improve the task activities (Bonebright, 2010). The later added fifth stage ‘adjourning’ in 1977 by Tuckman and Jensen reflected a group life cycle model in which separation is an important issue (Bonebright, 2010).

In this paper we will use the definition of Forsyth (2014) of group and the definition of Lewin (1951) of group dynamics. The literature review of group dynamics suggests that paying attention to group development and the team roles may improve group’s effectiveness and decision making. Thereby, team roles and group development stages are important aspects for alignment process of business and IT.

Besides this, some of the dilemmas regarding Tuckman’s model of stages are, is this decades old framework still an effective tool to measure group development? What effects the group development stages may have on alignment process or team roles? Some of these dilemmas will be explored in this study.

2.4 Team roles and business and IT alignment process

The literature do not provide much help on the relationship between group dynamics and the alignment process of business and IT, specially how team roles influence the alignment process of business and IT and vice versa, which factors influences it. Not much is known about the relationship and influences. Thereby, this concept is exploratory in nature and deserves some academic attention. In this paper this concept is explored and some light is shed on the understanding of the concept and its influences in the process.

2.5 Research question

(12)

12 Tushman's model of group development and Belbin's model of team roles are decades old models, are they still effective as claimed by some of the studies? Are the group development stages having any effect on team roles? How many roles are usually fulfilled by a person in a team? How stable are these team roles? We hope to reflect on these dilemmas. Besides this, the research also hopes to reflect on some other dilemmas related to business and IT alignment and employed framework, Is MIT90s framework still an effective tool to analyse business and IT alignment? Is a fit between all the elements of framework are required in order to have a good alignment? Another dilemma arises from the statement of Avison et al. (2004) “Unfortunately there is little in the literature at present that explains what a manager should do with these frameworks other than understand them conceptually”. Thereby, it is also an objective of this study to reflect on managerial implications of the employed frameworks.

3. METHODOLOGY

The methodology employed in this research is the case study method. In this section the case study method and how it is applied is described, moreover interview and research process is also discussed under this section.

CASE STUDY METHOD AND DESIGN

The Design and methods of the case study research used in the research are of Yin (2009 and 2014) and the theory building from the case study research are of Eisenhardht (1989), the work of these authors are used as general guidelines to assist in the development of the case study research. These authors differ in the contributions they have made in the field of case study methodology, Yin (2009 and 2014) offers comprehensive description of how to execute different phases of case study research on the other hand Eisenhardt (1989) offers guidelines for the process of inducting theory using case studies. In this research the combination of above mentioned authors work and other authors’ contributions are used as a guideline to conduct case study research.

The research was designed using the guidelines of Yin (2014, p. 29) he mentions that research design is much more than a work plan and the purpose of the design is to avoid the situation in which evidence does not address the initial research question. Attention is paid to the five components of research design of Yin (2014) these components are as follows: (1) a case study questions, (2) its propositions, (3) its unit of analysis, (4) linking the data to the propositions and (5) criteria for interpreting the findings. The unit of analysis in this research is the ‘case’ aimed at group level. Besides this, Eisenhardt (1989) states that the theory building research start as close as possible to the ideal of no theory under consideration and no hypotheses to test. This research started with some theory in mind however, some parts of the research were left for exploration.

(13)

13 account of the limited prior research which causes uncertainty about most important variables and adequate ways of measuring. Thereby, theory development approach suited best to this research.

A single case study method is used for the research, in which holistic (single unit of analysis) approach is employed. Foresyth (2014, p. 45) addressing case study research on groups states that one of the best ways to understand groups is to understand one group in particular. He further mentions that by focusing on limited number of cases the researcher often provides richly detailed qualitative descriptions. Moreover, “A case study can be used when research has no way of imposing mythological controls in the situation” (Griffin and Bengry-Howell, 2008; Yin, 2009). Furthermore, Yin (2014, p. 51) states that the single case study is an appropriate design under several circumstances such as critical, unusual, common, revelatory and longitudinal case. The studied case in the research falls under the category of common case since the studied phenomenon could be likely occurrence in large organizations. Besides this, Benbasat, Goldstein and Mead (1987) mention that the case study research provides an opportunity to engage in theory building research.

3.1 Controllability, reliability and validity

Aken, Berends & van der bij (2012) mention that the most important research oriented criteria are controllability, reliability and validity. Moreover, controllability is the prerequisite for the evaluation of validity and reliability and it explains both. The research controllability is ensured through providing detailed description of the study so that it can be replicated by others. In general it is difficult to prove if the research is reliable however results of the study are considered reliable when they are independent of the particular characteristics of that study.

There are several sources of potential bias which can harm reliability: researcher, instruments, respondents and the situation bias (van Aken et al., 2012). In order to deal with it, the attention is paid on three biases (researcher, instrument, and the respondents) so that the effects of these three biases could be minimized. Situation bias, which could be minimized through conducting study at another period of time, is left out since there is not much that could be done due to the limited time scope of the research. Researcher bias is controlled through the feedback from the university supervisor and the company supervisor. The instrument bias is minimized through the combination of multiple sources of evidence namely interviews, group meetings, informal meetings, field notes, and observation during field visits. Moreover, twelve interviews were conducted, five times attended in group meetings, four informal meetings were conducted, six field notes were generated and two notes of observation. The respondent bias is reduced through interviewing the whole group, so that everyone involved is represented and sample size could be increased.

(14)

14 to the generalization of study (Yin, 2014, p. 48), this is increased through providing useful and meaning insights into the relationships that could be further developed.

3.2 Data sources

The primiary source of data were interviews. Secondary sources included field notes, participation in meetings, informal conversation with the employees and relavant organizational documents. The above mentioned multiple sources of evidence is used in order to ensure contruct validity. Besides this, during data collection the basic list of desired attributes of Yin (2014, p. 73) was taken into account and followed. This list of desired attributes presents five attributes for conducting good case study, these attributes are follows; ask good question, be a good listener, stay adaptive, have a firm grasp of the issues being studied and avoid biases.

3.2.1 Initial understanding

The initial understanding of the subject is gained through the meetings with the supervisor in the company and agreement is made on the research topic, collection of evidence and participation in the group meetings. The research proposal is presented to the whole group (ACM group), this particular group is the focus of this research.

3.2.2 Semi structured interviews

According to Cooper and Schindler (2008) semi structured interviews provide a stable structure at the same time leaving room for further probing so that unexpected information and factors could emerge. Twelve semi-structured interviews were conducted in two rounds, first round of interviews was held in two days and second round in three days. Moreover, among the respondents were one IT manager, three architects, two external consultants, two service delivery managers and four team managers. Summary of rounds and the number of interviews per day is depicted in table 2. All of the respondents belong to one same group (which is called ACM group), and among the respondents were seven team managers, two architects, two external consultants, and an IT manager. The process of interviews was as follows: first, questionnaire was prepared and first round of interviews was conducted. Next, after the first round of interviews some changes was made (few new questions were added) and finally before the last interview few minor adjustments were also made to the semi structured questionnaire for the clarification of the questions.

Interviews

Round number Day Respondents Number of

interviews

One 1 IT manager and service delivery

manager

2 2 2 x consultant and team manager 3

Two 1 2 x Architects and 2 x team

managers

4 2 Team manager and service

delivery manager

2

3 Team manager 1

Total number of interviews 12

(15)

15 Besides this, interviews were recorded after obtaining the permission from the respondents and they were informed about the anonymity of the recordings, the average recording time is 40 minutes and average conversation time is 51 minutes (this included starting and ending conversation). To maintain anonymity all the recordings were coded in the following manner: for example interviews conducted on day 1 were coded as 101, 102 and on day 2 as 201, 202 and so forth. After that, transcripts were made out of the recordings and analysis procedure followed. After the interviews, some of the respondents were contacted through informal meeting; this was done to unleash potential new information and factors. Furthermore, this group is selected for primary data collection since this group lies within the research boundary of business and IT alignment, the group is heterogeneous and its members are from various departments, the members include different functional roles namely IT manager, architects, IT team manager, service delivery managers and external consultant. Such a heterogeneous group presents an opportunity to collect data from various perspectives and represent different mindset. Thereby, the group presents sufficient source for data collection and analysis.

3.2.3 Secondary and other data sources

The main sources of secondary data were participation in ACM group meeting and informal meetings with the group members. In total five group meetings were attended, each meeting lasted for an hour. Moreover, the three informal conversations were held, these two secondary sources generated field notes. These field notes were compared with the primary source of data (interviews) for consistency. Besides this, notes are composed during the interviews; this provided a starting point for the data analysis.

3.3 Data analysis

First, the interviews were transcribed and the coding procedure followed. The two level coding method is employed for the coding. The two level of coding refers to open code and selective code. According to Pandit (1996) open code refers to the part of analysis that deals with categorizing and labelling the phenomena that emerges from the data and selective coding refers to the integration of developed catagories that emerges in open coding process in order to form the initial theoritical framework. The summary of coding process is shown in table 3.

Coding process

Step 1 Interviews are transcribed and read few times in order to get familiarity and to gain holistic view.

Step 2 The data is coded for business and IT alignment, Belbin team roles, influence of team roles on alignemnt process and group development through this procedure open codes are generated.

Step 3 Next, the specific codes are generated by making sub catergories in the open code categories of business and IT alignment, Belbin team roles, influence of team roles on alignemnt process and group development.

Step 4 Specific codes were merged or seperated whenever it was necessary and the coding schema is developed.

Step 5 The final coding is conducted based upon coding schema.

TABLE 3 CODING PROCESS

(16)

16 as the codes that occur frequently in the data (three or more respondents talked about them) on the other hand weak inductive codes are described as the codes that do not occur frequently in the data (less than three respondents talked about them). The weak relationship doesn't imply that it should not get any attention however it can be arranged low in priority. The codes are developed based upon the coding schema which is described in table 4. First all the text is coded by open codes, later patterns were searched and the open codes were recoded by specific codes.

Coding schema

Code name Description Example

1. Business and IT Alignment

Coded with this code whenever respondent responded about the business and IT alignment.

I think at this moment the overall business alignment is good in the area where I am working (IT manager). 1.1 Strategy Sub-coded the open code of

business and IT alignment by ‘strategy’ code whenever respodents talked about the strategy of business and/or IT.

Strategies are not aligned; they are not projected on the same set of guidelines, targets because they are not there (External consultant) 1.2 Structure Sub-coded the open code of

business and IT alignment by ‘structure’ code whenever respodents talked about the structure of business and/or IT.

I haven’t seen the real need to reorganize (External consultant).

1.3 Management processes

Sub-coded the open code of business and IT alignment by ‘Management processes’ code whenever respodents talked about the managerment processes or governance or achitectural maturity of business and/or IT.

Architectural maturity is not so mature (IT Architect).

1.4 Technology Sub-coded the open code of business and IT alignment by ‘technology’ code whenever respodents talked about the technology and/or information sharing of business and/or IT.

Most of the time they have both too much and too less information (IT Architect)

1.5 Individuals and roles Sub-coded the open code of business and IT alignment by ‘individuals and roles’ code whenever respodents talked about the functional roles, capacity of individuals and training of business and/or IT.

The most difficult part about the strategy is to get people aligned (IT manager)

1.6 External environment

Sub-coded the open code of business and IT alignment by ‘external environment’ code whenever respodents talked about the government regulations, laws and social trends of business

(17)

17 and/or IT.

2. Team roles (subcoded with nine role

catagories)

Coded with this code whenever respondents talked about ACM group roles, further subcoded with particlar ‘role code’ among nine catagories of Belbin team roles.

On certain subjects we need specialist (IT manager).

3. Alignment process influence on team roles

Used this code whenever respondents talked about influences on team roles

When the issues at hand are of my interest than I have a different role (Service delivery manager).

4. Team role influence on alignment process

Used this code whenever respondents talked about

influences on alignment process

So what the team manager does is to try to influence the project to get a as stable situation [environment] as possible.

5. Group development (subcoded with four catagories)

First coded with group development whenever respondents talked about the group, later sub-coded with four categories of forming, storming, noming and performing whenever respondents talked about group formation, performance, openess, conflicts and interdependencies.

The group is very open, this is not which comes by itself, it is something that you have to build on (IT manager).

TABLE 4 CODING SCHEMA

4. RESULTS

In this section our findings are presented, first the finding related to business and IT alignment are discussed, to map the alignment MIT90s framework is employed. Next, belbin team roles and the influence of these team roles on the alignment process are presented and finally, findings related to Tuckman’s model of group development are presented.

BUSINESS AND IT ALIGNMENT (MIT90s FRAMEWORK)

Busines and IT alignment in the researched organization take places in various forms such as through projects, architectural processes and business processes, and the pupose of IT and business alignment is seen as better IT systems to support the business needs.

“Projects are nothing else but the delivery modes for change and it has all to do with the alignment of business and IT because if the business changes we have to adapt IT on roles, IT architecture and on the technical side” (IT manager).

(18)

18

“The alignment comes through the business processes and the IT comes with it” (Team manager).

“IT should be aware what business is doing and business should be aware what IT is doing but also same kind of language (terminology), the purpose of this should be better IT system to support the business”(IT Architect).

The IT and business alignment is also seen by managers in the organization as one of the most difficult part in IT management practices. However, at the IT side it is understood better what buiness is trying to achieve than the other way around. The role of IT department in the organization regarding business and IT alignment came a long way up from a follower role to a discussion role. The overall big picture of the business and IT alignment is positive however, some elements (structure, technology and external environment) of MIT90s framework are better aligned than others (strategy and management processes and individuals and roles), they will be discuss one by one.

“There are departments where the alignment is extremely good; where we understand why they are doing things and they are some parts where it is may be an average. I think the overall view is positive” (Team manager).

“We came a long way because earlier number of years ago we were like a quarter machines, the business came to the machine, insert the quarter and we deliver the product. That was our role few years ago; it is moving towards discussion role” (Service delivery manager).

Our findings related to overall alignment suggest that in order to have a positive big picture of alignment not all the elements of framework have to be completely aligned. Some aspects can have better fit than others, we also found that loosely aligned elements increase flexibility and ability to respond quickly since everything is not planned and expected, some flexible is required in order to respond to unexpected events and demands of business. A tightly aligned structure between business and IT seems a key element for a good working alignment as each department of business is supported by equivalent in IT department, this increases coordination and task activities are responded directly by the particular support department reducing unnecessary delays.

STRATEGY

The IT strategy and the business strategy in the organization are seen as not aligned with each other. The business strategy is not always clear to the IT deparment which makes it difficult to align with each other. However, the IT strategy is clear and it is driven by standardization of work processes, technology and functional roles.

“We have a strategy as a company but it’s not programmed ... And that’s makes it little bit more difficult to align on the strategy level” (IT manager)

(19)

19

complex, there is only one way to survive that is standardization on working processes, technology, on roles etc. that is our strategy” (IT manager)

The business department has a vision however the real strategy to get to the desired state is missing due to that there is more technological push towards business than the business pull of IT. The lack of clear strategy from the business is causing visibility issue for the IT deparment. The business strategy from the IT perspective is seen as a reactive strategy instead of a proactive strategy, this brings another challenge for the IT department, which is to have high flexbility in place and to react quickly to the business demands and deliver in short span of time. In order to solve these issues and challenges, IT department would like to have a place on business table, so that they are involved early in the process.

“They have kind of vision but not a real strategy to get there. That’s what is really missing; there is more of an IT push towards the business than the other way around. It’s more technology push than pull from business “(IT Architect).

“Whenever there is a deadline within reach or perspective they act, they demand we follow and we want turn a little bit around, we want to become full service provider, so we want a place at their table” (External consultant).

“They have a view on future plans 3 to 5 years, do you call that a business strategy, not really” (Service delivery manager).

“Usually when the business makes a strategic choice and afterwards we hear about it, we comply and we follow. Most of the time we say if we knew this last year than... May be there isn’t a 4 years plan but we would like to help in creating one because its not just about IT, its also about processes” (Team manager).

The findings related to the strategy suggests that in order to have a good alignment of business and IT strategies, it is of vital importance that the business strategy is clear to the IT department so that it can be easily translated and incorporated into the IT strategy. Moreover, another important factor that emerges from the findings is that the business should provide high visibility to the IT department so that some activities could be planned in advance. These factors are in line with theory which suggests that vision plays a important role in alignment. Besides this, it is also found that having high flexibility in place increases the effectiveness of IT strategy, it enables them to respond quickly to the business needs and demands. This is a unique finding.

STRUCTURE

The current business and IT strucural alignment of the organization seems a good fit, Although it doesn’t seem to be an end state. Each structural business unit is supported by the similiar IT structural unit. The coodination between these units appear to be the area of improvement, IT and business units should spend more time together to understand each others need, this could be done in the form periodic meetings or any other formal or informal infomation exchange mechanisms. Moreover, the IT and the business department should try to benefit more from the fact that IT deparment is internal.

(20)

20

“The current structure of functional roles is supporting the business, and it is much better than we had before, but don’t think it’s an end state, It should move forward” (Service delivery manager).

“I think we should keep it like this and grow towards each other, and benefit from the fact that we are internal” (Team manager).

“In some cases the structure is supporting the alignment process; business and IT are not spending enough time together to understand each other’s need, especially from business side” (External consultant).

The findings related to structural alignment indicate that in order to have a good alignment each business unit should be supported with similar or equivalent IT unit. Moreover, another important factor could be that IT department is internalized in the organization; this might help in increasing the coordination between business and IT units. Further, periodic meetings between the business and IT could further enhance the structural alignment. These findings are in line with theory which indicate that new ways of working become possible and coordination between IT and business increases.

MANAGEMENT PROCESSES

The Findings reveals that the management processes to support the business and IT alignment in the organization are not adequate enough. The discussions on the effects of business changes on IT are held in the governance board regarding delivery and operations. However, on the execution side the need for business and IT alignment is not always completely understood. Thereby, some management processes should especially focus on the understanding of business and IT alignment on the execution side.

“We have a (we call it) steering committee but it’s not exactly the steering committee, it’s kind of a governance board, where we have discussion on business changes, how it effects IT on delivery modes and on operation modes” (IT manager).

“It is starting, Its not enough from both sides but the awareness is growing may be because of the external influences. They see that they can both benefit more from each other [business and IT]. It is growing, you can also see that, we used to follow but now there are some discussions that are held, we are not there yet” (Team manager).

“The management governance is ok, I think it’s more on an execution side where you can gain more, on a higher level people do understand, do communicate” (External consultant).

Moreover, the architectural maturity is not that mature, the reason behind it is that there is no feedback processes in place, once the architectural process is completed it is never looked back.

“Architectural maturity is not so mature because we are doing a lot but we never or very less look back and see if its went fine. It’s not a close loop, there is no feedback. If architecture is done then we say good bye” (IT Architect).

(21)

21 The findings related to management processes suggests that in order to have a good alignment two elements should be managed properly. first, governance of execution side and secondly, architectural maturity. These findings are unique, basically what these findings show is that often business needs are not completely understood by the people performing execution tasks at the IT department and the lack of feedback from architectural processes hinders architectural maturity.

TECHNOLOGY

The coordination between IT and business in the organization through technological alignment seems properly aligned. However, sometimes business has too much information available through technological alignment processes, and the IT department try to reduce it on certain areas in order to have focus on functionality.

“I think they have too much information, sometimes we say that we are growing from a gas transport company to an information transport company. We have two goals, it’s not just gas, and it’s also information and data. The business is trying to please all these parties, governments, the shippers and sometimes it is better to ask them what they really need for information” (IT team manager).

“We have done many things in order to ensure that they have enough information” (Service delivery manager).

“Its little bit difficult because we try to get business little bit away from the technology and talk more on functionality, what do you want, and it is sometimes very difficult for the business to understand” (IT Architect).

The findings related to the technology suggests that in order to have a good alignment of business and IT it is of vital importance that business have proper information from IT through different tools, applications and other information systems. However, it should be taken care that information systems should not provide unwanted information to the business and or IT which hinders productivity. These findings are in line with theory except for the information systems should not provide too much information to the business.

INDIVIDUALS AND ROLES

In order to have proper alignment of business and IT certain capacities of indivuals are required. In the organization not all the individuals and thier roles are adequately capable to understand the business and IT alignment needs. Training alone cannot solve the problem, new recruits could be an option.

(22)

22

“Some people are more knowledgeable than others but in general it is better than it was. I think we have quite good mix of functions” (IT Architect).

The findings related to the force of individual and roles indicates that in order to achieve a good alignment one of the most important factor is the ‘capacity of individuals’ to understand the needs and requirements for the alignment of buiness and IT. Another crucial factor that is found is ‘knowledge of individuals’ related to the alignment of business and IT, these factors are in line with the theory.

EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT

The business and IT alignment of external environment forces on the organization is tightly aligned on one side of the environment such as government regulations, new laws and other governmental obligations that emerges from the environment time to time, the other side of the environmental forces such as business development and trends in society are not completely aligned, since social trends are not considered that important to align inside this organization. The other developments in the environment such as shorter time to market is a challenge for the business and IT. however, this challenge provoked the demand for IT systems in the organization and at the moment this component of business and IT alignment is also considered a fit.

“If you look at the market changes from the past, we were able to deliver and that’s quite good, we are agile enough to meet those kinds of changes on the business side” (IT manager). “We are not a consumer market; we are very focused on governmental issues and laws. These kinds of demands are met extremely well through IT because we are obliged to, it’s the law. We should comply with these demands. For other social trends I think there is no real need for us to respond to those demands” (Team manager).

“There are two things I guess, the demands that the business is aware of and its quite easy for example you have a new law and you have to implement this law and most of the time they see it coming, the other side such as shorter time to market… we have to act within shorter time frame” (IT Architect)

The findings related to the external environmental forces suggest that in order to achieve a good alignment ‘meeting governmental regulations and laws’ is a must. Moreover, another important factor that emerges from analysis is ‘shorter time to market’. The other factors such as social trends and business developments depend on organization’s market focus. The first factor is in line with the literature, however the second factor (shorter time to market) is a unique finding.

BELBIN TEAM ROLES

(23)

23 specialist. Moreover, some other roles are not completely missing nevertheless are less prominant and visible, these roles are of resource investigator, monitor evaluator and plant.

“Its easier to say that which role I don’t have” (Service delivery manager).

“What’s missing now and then from the team is an expert on certain subjects” (Team manager).

“We need some more enthusiastic communicative persons and some more dreamers” (IT Architect).

BELBIN TEAM ROLES AND ALIGNMENT PROCESS

We have found that there is an influence on team roles from the alignment process, however there is no concreate evidence found for the other way around (influence of roles on the alignment process of business and IT). The influence on team roles from the alignment process happens in the form of role change. All of the group members experience these changes in roles arising from alignment processes. Moreover, we have also investigated which factors in the alignment processes have influence on these role changes. Our findings indicate that there are some strong factors such as interest in the subject, understanding of the subject, compliance and approval, these factors arises from alignment processes such as projects, architectural processes and buiness processes. Furthermore, these factors trigger role changes. Besides this, some of the weak factors have also been found, these include personal favors, social interaction and personal capability.

“Role also changes when you get overruled by things, the law, government, regulation, timeline than you have to change your role” (Team manager).

“Interest plays a role. Some have this and others have broader interest like from an architecture perspective. So they bring in another subject also. So interest is one” (IT Architect)

“The subject that I know something about is certainly a factor to change my role” (Service delivery manager).

“Sometimes the idea comes from my group, my team then I have a different role because than I am presenting the item/topic, the group should agree with me, so I am not the completer then” (Team manager).

“People who can adapt more their team roles they have more influence. So in a team, people who can move their roles more have more influence” (IT Architect).

TUCKMAN MODEL OF STAGES

(24)

24

“This is the reason why I setup this group, I wanted to manage all the interdependencies between the different groups that I have within my department and the objective of the group is to facilitate standardization” (IT manager).

“What he wanted from those silos is to cooperate more and to learn from each other. What we did was we put into place policies (architecture policies) we had a program which was aiming for standardization in technology but also how we work (the processes)”(External consultant).

“There are complete different people in the group, some of the group members are very specialized in techniques, some are more specialized in processes, and some are keener on how to manage things than others. I think the group in itself is the best group you could have” (service delivery manager).

“We are a heterogeneous group, and it is beneficiary. If you look at the team roles, we have many different flavours” (service delivery manager).

The group has high inter-team exchangeability and team managers and employees are able to learn from each other and other teams. Besides this, resistant behavior and conflicts between the group members are not evident, this points out to the unity between the group members and the ability of its members to understand each others concern.

“I don’t recognize any resistant behaviour among group members” (Service delivery manager).

“We have inter-team exchangeability, more than we had before. It’s also easier for a team manager to help or jump in when other team manager is ill. The team managers are more able to learn from others team and employees are also able to learn from others’ teams” (External consultant).

“I wouldn’t say there are any real conflicts, but more difference of opinion and they are usually openly discussed” (Service delivery manager).

“Team members have the knowledge of each other’s environment, so everyone knows something on a high scale” (Team manager).

The group is very open to discuss any issues and everyone expresses thier opinions and there is no evidence of running hidden agendas. However, there are some concerns regarding the items that make it to the group’s agenda.

“I would say that we are almost completely full with openness, I don’t believe that anybody in the group have their hidden agendas, everybody is open” (Service delivery manager). “I think we have a group of people that are very open to each other. I don’t think that there is someone who doesn’t say something, we are very open, if we think we have to discuss it then it will be discussed” (Team manager).

(25)

25

“If I look at overall picture, I think ACM is the important and adds value to the things we are doing, without the ACM we lose kind of control what is going on in our IT environment” (Team manager).

The group’s decision making process is seen as fair and legitimate. Moreover, there are no past decisions that group regrets. Besides this, In terms of performance of the group, the group is believed to have high performance.

“We have excellent debates, sharp debates, I think the performance is on standardization, and we try to bring cost down and try to improve quality and so on…Last two years we have a

full score of 100 percent (on some measurement tool)…Now we are focusing on beyond the

25 % of our peers and benchmark. That’s how I measure the performance of this group” (IT manager).

“I don’t think that we discussed a past project and we felt that we made a bad decision. We never had this” (Team manager).

One of the suprising finding is that all the group member are satisfied with the group and its decision making process. The findings related to the group development suggest that the group is in performing stage since there are hardly any evident conflicts and unity in the group is strong. Moreover, all the group members are satisfied with the group and accept each other. Futhermore, commitment levels of most of the members are high and the group is valued by its members since group meetings are seen as a hard block in thier agenda. Besides this, some issues need to address in order to move the group completely into the performing stage, one of the most important issue is to address the concern of how some items makes it to ACM meeting while others (sometimes important items) do not ever appear in the ACM group agenda and are never discussed, the criterea for bringing in the issues to ACM is not completely understood by its members. Morever, no evidence is found for the existing criteria.

(26)

26

5. DISCUSSION

The findings captured through analysis in the previous section explain which aspects are important for business and IT alignment, how alignment processes affect team roles and how the group development progresses. In this section, our unique findings (relationships emerged from this study), theoritical as well as managerial implications, recommendations for the organization and researchers, limitations of the research and the direction for the future research will be discussed.

From the analysis emerged some unique findings in the concepts of business and IT alignment, Belbin team roles, effects of alignment process on team roles and in group development stages model. Our unique findings are as follows: First, it is found that in order to have overall positive business and IT alignment it is not always necessary to have a tight fit among all the elements of alignment framework. Second, for a good business and IT alignment proper governance of execution side should be taken care of through the management processes. Third, a matured IT architecture enhances the business and IT alignment. Other findings are related to group dynamics, fourth, the group members see themselves in many roles of Belbin and they can hardly differentiate between them. Fifth, the alignment process of business and IT influences team roles in the form of role change and some factors (such as interest, understanding, compliance and apporval) arising from alignment processes cause these role changes. Sixth, a group in performing stage should have no hidden agendas, able to understand each others concerns and should see group meeting as a hard block in thier agendas. These findings will be discussed next.

Our main conclusion from business and IT alignment is that the overall business and IT alignment does not require a tight fit between all the elements of alignment framework. For example some elements could have better fit than the others; this may provide loosely fit elements more flexibility than the tightly fit elements. Our findings indicate that IT flexibility is one of the most important factors for a successful IT strategy (at least in the case of studied organization). Moreover, having high flexibility in place enables IT department to respond effectively and quickly to business needs and demands. Thereby, we argue that the tight fit among all the elements is not always required since loose fitted elements will provide some form of flexibility to the IT department and good overall positive alignment picture will emerge. This is also supported by the argument of Cawsey, Deszca, Inlogls (2012) they agrue that in the long run tight fit in a stable environment leads to ingraned patterns in the organization, some patterns can be change resistant and can be hugely ineffective when environment changes.

(27)

27 Regarding Belbin team roles one of the most interesting finding is that all the members in the group see themselves in many roles of Belbin and they can hardly differentiate between them. Belbin himself acknowledge that some members will be able to function well in both primary and secondary role (Fisher, Hunter and Macrosson, 1998) however he doesn’t talk about three or more roles. Besides this, most group members acknowledge three or more roles and they often switch between them. This finding is supported by Tuckman’s model of stages, Tuckman mentions that in performing stage the roles of the members become flexible. Furthermore, Bonebringht (2010) states that in performing stage group members adapt and play roles that improves task activities.

Apart from this, the focus of the research is on finding the relationship between alignment processes and the team roles. The findings related to that revealed some good results first of all we have found that alignment process of business and IT influences team roles in the form of role change. Secondly, findings also revealed that there are some factors arising from alignment processes that causes these team role changes. These factors include interest, understanding, compliance and approval. Moreover, interest in the alignment processes, understanding of the processes, compliance to the rules, regulations, laws and deadline and when approval is required from the team members. These factors will be discussed one by one, first a little explanation of alignment processes is required; we found that alignment processes happens in the form of a new project, new architecture or new business process. Coming back to factors, (1) Interest: is rather simple, it arises when alignment processes are of interest to the team member and they adapt their role to grab the opportunity. (2) Understanding: of the alignment processes provides an opportunity to the team member to change role in order to contribute to the group’s knowledge about the processes. (3) Compliance: when conformity to the alignment processes is required in order to meet certain deadline, governmental rule and regulations then it influences members to adapt their role. (4) Approval: when agreement is required on certain issues or situations, the member changes role in order to get approval of other members or to achieve consensus.

Next to that, the findings regarding the group development revealed some new relationships (factors). In order to have a group which is performing, whose members are flexible to exchange roles and the group’s energy is directed towards task activities (performing stage in Tuckman’s terminology) the following emerged factors should be present: first, the group members have ‘no hidden agenda’, the group members value the group in such a way that they see it as a ‘hard block’ in their agenda and they are ‘able’ to understand each other concerns. What these findings imply in theoretical and managerial world, will be discussed next.

5.1 Theoritical contributions

(28)

28 This research aims to answer the following question: “How do Belbin’s team roles influence the alignment process of business and IT and vice versa?” it is found that there is a strong evidence that business and IT alignment process has influence on team roles particularly on Belbin's team roles. This influence occurs in the form of a role change, individual members in a team experiences role changes when some factors arises from alignment processes effects them in such a way that their team role comes under influence and to respond to the new challenges arising from alignment processes they adapt their role. This is how alignment process influences team roles. Moreover, we have further investigated which factors cause it and found some strong and weak factors. The weak factors are personal favors, social interaction and personal capability. On the other hand, strong factors are interest, understanding, compliance and approval. The influence of alignment processes on team roles and factors causing it suggests us that the entire alignment of business and IT is more complex than expected. This complexity points out to the importance of group dynamics (especially team roles) in business and IT alignment. This research provided some useful insights and explanations regarding the complexity of this interplay between team roles and business and IT alignment however, this complexity is not yet fully understood and may require further academic attention. Besides this, regarding Tuckman’s model of stages, some new relationships are also found. However, these findings are only related to the performing stage as the studied group is found in this stage. The group in performing stage should have the following characteristics; its members should be able to understand each other concerns, the group members should not have any personal hidden agendas, and its members should be able to recognize the group meeting as a hard block in their working schedule, so that they meeting are taken seriously. Next to this, the third contribution is regarding business and IT alignment, we argue that a good business and IT alignment could be achieved without tightly aligning all the elements of framework since loosely fitted elements will provide more flexibility and tightly fitted elements will ensure for increase effectiveness, from this balance of loosely fit and tightly fit emerges overall positive alignment picture.

5.2 Managerial contributions

The managerial contributions of this research are as follows; first, it can be concluded that MIT90s framework is still a powerful tool to do business and IT analysis. Second, managers should make sure that employees at execution side understand business needs. Third, managers should also pay attention to the feeback process of IT architecture this will enhance architectural maturity. Fourth, we suggest that Belbin's team role model and Tuckman's model of stages should be used simultaneously in order to get overall assessment of the group. Fifth, it is important for the managers to recognize that group dynamics plays an important role in the alignment process.

One of the objectives of this research is to reflect on managerial implications of the models employed in the research as pointed out by Avison et al. (2004) that unfortunately there is limited literature what a manager should do with these frameworks. The above mentioned contributions and their implications will be discussed next one by one.