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IT-based innovation requires the attention, involvement, and commitment of both business and IS stakeholders. Coordination mechanisms are an organization design solution for linking these
stakeholders via formal structures and processes as well as via informal mechanisms that provide opportunities for voluntary collaboration. This paper reports the findings from semi-structured interviews
with 38 senior IS executives from primarily Fortune 500 companies representing a broad range of manufacturing and service industries. The data analysis yields an expanded scheme of 21 specific mechanisms
within six a priori categories (integrator roles, groups, processes, informal-relationship building, human resource practices, IT-based systems) and an emergent scheme of three coordination goals (strategic
alignment, partnering, learning). The coordination goals and design challenges associated with specific mechanisms are described from a CIO perspective, and insights related to implementing a portfolio of
mechanisms are shared. Our intent is to provide both a roadmap for the IS practitioner and some empirical data on a topic of increasing importance for the IS researcher. |
