پژوهشهای مدیریت عمومی (Jun 2024)
Development of Cloud Governance Technology Based on Qualitative Method of Combining Basic Theories
Abstract
Abstract Information technology governance provides an organizational capability for the strategic alignment of information technology by clarifying the structures, processes and stakeholders. The development of this capability is more necessary in the more complex environment of cloud computing and for each actor of this ecosystem. The development of the information technology governance framework based on governance theories appropriate to the organization's environment significantly increase the success rate of this framework in realizing the strategic partnership approach of information technology with business and is a basic technology for establishing the processes required to achieve the organization's maximum goals. In this article, by determining and analyzing the basic theories of information technology governance and cloud computing governance, stakeholder theories and cost-transaction in the organizations using cloud computing resources, selected and then using the qualitative method of combining theories and based on the participation of all stakeholders (stakeholder theory) and resource-risk approach (cost-transaction theory), a hybrid basic governance theory has been developed.Introduction Although the topic of information technology governance has been the focus of researchers in recent years, the method based on the combination of basic theories has been neglected. Therefore, it is very important to address the development of the IT governance framework compatible with the organization's conditions (nature, size, technology, vision, strategies, etc.). This article explains a new method to determine the appropriate baseline for the development of such a framework in the cloud computing environment. Case study The field of activity of the five organizations, who participated in this research, is the development and support of software systems, the construction, supply and support of network equipment, the provision of mobile phone operator services and banking services in the context of mobile banking and the Internet.Materials and Methods Considering the social aspects of information technology, as well as the high dependence of the concept of governance on the context and nature of the studied organizations, the present research is based on the paradigm of meta-positivism and with the ontology of reality and incomplete understanding of it, epistemology of dualism and moderated objectivism, and qualitative methodology. It seeks to develop the basic theory of information technology governance in organizations using cloud computing environment. The current research is developmental from the point of view of the goal. The research method is based on the qualitative method of the focus group with the participation of five experts. The experts of this research were selected from the managers of five organizations active in the field of information technology, and all of them, while being members of the academic faculty of the university, had management experience in one of the studied organizations.Discussion and Results The point of distinction and innovation of the present research compared to other researches and previous studies is the simultaneous attention to two categories of the importance of the needs and expectations of the stakeholders and the economic attitude in providing the organization's computing resources. As mentioned in the literature, the previous researches were mainly based on one theory, and in the few researches where two theories were referenced, the combination of the two theories of stakeholders and cost-transaction was not. In this research, the concept of governance through stakeholder theory and cloud computing logic through cost-transaction theory can be implemented and understood in the process model of the studied organizations.ConclusionBased on the mapping of the findings of the first question of the research, it can be said: a suitable process framework for the governance of information technology in the organization's cloud environment, based on: 1- participation and supervision of all stakeholders (stakeholder theory) and 2- resource-risk approach in determining the priority of meeting needsThe obtained results show a developed hybrid governance theory, based on 51 needs of nine stakeholders, which ensures the fulfillment of 30 needs according to the resource-risk approach in the form of 16 governance processes, and provides an innovative basis of applying basic theories in the development of enterprise-ware technology of governance of information technology in the cloud environment.
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