Information Systems and Business - Essay Example

Lit Review One of the most prevalent practices among researchers who find it difficult to operationalize their theoretical concepts and constructs inconcrete terms and ideas is to make compromises when they operationalize their variables. Thus, researchers are often found to make compromises when they operationalize their variables in such challenging situations, i.e. they move from the theoretical constructs they want to examine to something concrete that they can actually measure to represent those constructs.

Hirschheim and Sabherwal, in their study "Detours in the Path toward Strategic Information Systems Alignment", and Sabherwal and Chan, in the article "Alignment between Business and IS Strategies: A Study of Prospectors, Analyzers, and Defenders", illustrate how researchers make compromises when they operationalize their independent and dependent variables. In this background, this paper analyzes the questions where these researchers make significant compromises and who does the better job of operationalization in their research article.

In their article, Hirschheim and Sabherwal make significant compromises when they deal with the issue of alignment between IS and the business strategies which has traditionally been a key issue facing IS management. Due to insufficient research being conducted on how such alignment is achieved and sustained over time, the authors find it difficult to conceptualize and operationalize their original variables. "Thus, our view of strategic alignment focuses on an organization's ongoing efforts to establish and maintain a series of interdependent relationships between business and IS strategies.

These relationships involve the movement (i.e., change) of business strategy and/or IS strategy in such a way that the two are in alignment." (Hirschheim and Sabherwal, 2001, p. 87). Thus, the authors were able to operationalize their constructs in concrete terms and they are able to label the three observed problematic trajectories as paradoxical decisions, excessive transformation, and uncertain turnarounds. These concrete constructs are central to the essential investigations and findings of the research which also suggests the competence of the researchers in operationalizing their original variables.

Sabherwal and Chan also confront similar issues in operationalizing their independent and dependent variables when they examine the impact of alignment on perceived business. The issue of operationalizing the original variables was confronted in the discussions of typologies or pure strategies which have been simplifications. Whereas the ideal Prospector, Analyzer, and Defender business strategies are really archetypes that may be flexibly combined in practice by firms, "the analysis and discussion refrained from discussing and testing hybrid strategies in this article" in order to avoid complication.

(Sabherwal and Chan, 2001, p. 26). Though both the studies employ a great strategy of operationalization, Sabherwal and Chan have done it more efficiently as their strategy involves more concrete terms and concepts to operationalize their original constructs. More significantly, they were aware of the limitations of their study and clearly state their strategy to operationalize their constructs which helps the readers in comprehending the overall concept underlying the research. While Hirschheim and Sabherwal compromise through the problematic trajectories of paradoxical decisions, excessive transformation, and uncertain turnarounds, Sabherwal and Chan simplify the ideal Prospector, Analyzer, and Defender business strategies in order to better conceptualize these constructs.

In short, Sabherwal and Chan most effectively illustrate how researchers often compromise when they operationalize independent and dependent variables. References Hirschheim, Rudy and Sabherwal, Rajiv. (2001). "Detours in the Path toward Strategic Information Systems Alignment." California Management Review. 44 (1). p. 87. Sabherwal, Rajiv and Chan, Yolande E. (2001). "Alignment between Business and IS Strategies: A Study of Prospectors, Analyzers, and Defenders." Information Systems Research. 12(1). pp. 11-33.