This paper is a critical analysis of two academic papers from peer reviewed journals, each investigating the business and it bit alignment topic that has been a top concern for it practitioners for two decades cahn, 20. The papers have been selected as they adopt contrasting research strategies qualitative and quantitative. The objective of this analysis is to highlight the positive/negative points in both papers in terms of the research's aim, objectives, design, and method and to propose an alternative research strategy for each paper. The investigation concludes that both papers had positive and negative points, regardless of their philosophical positions and design strategies. Choosing between qualitative and quantitative methods or mixing them depends on the study's questions both methodologies have their strengths and weaknesses. The main issue for any research is the credibility of its findings, regardless of the researcher's philosophical position.

This paper is a critical analysis of two academic papers from peer reviewed journals, each investigating the business and it bit alignment topic that has been a top concern for it practitioners for two decades. Cahn, 20 for many years, a number of researchers have emphasised the importance of bit fit in organisations to achieve competitive advantage luftman et al. Reich benbasat 1996 define alignment as the degree of it strategy necessary to support a business's mission, objectives and plans.

Many studies have been conducted to understand and assess the relationship between business and it in organisations, most of which have adopted a quantitative methodology to validate empirically the relationship between it investment and organisational performance and to provide credible evidence of the positive impact of aligning it strategy to business strategy. Therefore, it was difficult to find a good qualitative research paper in this area cahn, 20. The first paper paper 1 , entitled 'understanding the business it relationship' coughlan et al.

2005 , follows a qualitative methodology and the second paper paper 2 , entitled 'factors affecting it and business alignment: a comparative study in smes and large organisations' gutierrez et al. It is important to note that this work is not a comparison of the two papers therefore, the papers are analysed separately to achieve a clearer picture. Section 3 covers paper 1, highlighting its positive/negative points in terms of the research's aim, objectives, design, and method. The conclusions and implications of adopting different research strategies are discussed in section 5. This paper provides an insight into the business and it bit relationship alignment in organisations taking a communication based view on the concept of bit alignment coughlan et al. In other words, it provides contextual insight into the bit relationship, with particular reference to the organisational communication process. The authors noted that organisations need to develop and sustain a strong bit relationship to benefit from the value added development in today's demanding economy.

Bit alignment is a complex process that involves creating many crossover links between different parts of the organisation and requires a strong bit relationship. However, this relationship has suffered a divide that stems from the failure to justify high it expenditure compared to business benefit. 2005 , communication problems are the main contributor to the bit relationship divide therefore, a social oriented approach was proposed to understand the flow of information in organisations. This is an interpretive research paper adopting a case study strategy with which to collect and analyse qualitative data via semi structured interviews, in order to achieve an in depth understanding of the communication process in the bit relationship context. The lack of the literature's attention to communication issues in the bit relationship context was the driver for this inductive approach saunders et al. The research aim is to provide insight into the business and it bit relationship in organisations via the following objectives: identifying the areas and issues that affect communications in organisations coughlan et al. Mapping the connections between organisational issues to the way in which they relate to it coughlan et al.

Finding Someone to Write My College Essay

Investigating how different facets of the communication process interact in real life coughlan et al. The importance of the research topic was well justified by addressing the following points: communication problems within the bit relationship context are a major concern for both researchers and practitioners coughlan et al. Communication problems are a main contributor to the bit relationship divide coughlan et al.

Poor bit communications are normal in the financial sector therefore, the banking industry has created a new organisational role the relationship manager rm to deal with relationship communication problems coughlan et al. Despite the importance of communication within the bit relationship and implications for the rm's role, there has been little attention given in the literature coughlan et al. Previous social studies structuration theory and actor network theory have provided theoretical analyses of the complexity between an organisation and its it infrastructure, therefore a more practical approach required to empower practitioners with solutions. A four dimensional communication framework picture , based on shannon weaver's 1994 classic model of communications, was used to guide the study. Picture was originally devised to improve it system design: the acronym picture represents real life communication components and their application: 1 participation and selection 2 interaction 3 communications activities 4 techniques used for relationship establishment. The framework was used to guide the identification of important areas in the complex communication process. A clearly articulated conceptual framework is an important tool for guiding semi structured interview themes, and provides a structured approach to interpreting the findings smyth, 2004.

The study was conducted on a major high street uk bank, referred to as 'finco' for reasons of confidentiality. Furthermore, the study was conducted at one point in time, focusing on two key areas of the organisation retail banking and it. The retail banking division was chosen specifically because it is the biggest customer of the it division, and research suggests that retail banking has deep organisational divisions coughlan et al. Finco is an informative case for the following reasons:

It is closely integrated into the organisation to support its information management processes.

yin 2003 34 14 defined a case study as an empirical inquiry which investigates a phenomenon within its dynamic real life context to allow researchers to understand complex issues, especially when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident. A case study strategy with underlying interpretive philosophical assumptions was an appropriate choice for this study, since the aim of this work is to provide insight into the business and it bit relationship in organisations coughlan et al. 2003 , adopting a behavioural and social oriented view, with communication difficulties featuring as a major determinant coughlan et al.

Ib Extended Essay Film Studies

The authors addressed the framework limitation by noting that the framework was used in this study to identify areas that affect the communication process and not as a measurement tool. Recognising and noting the research limitations is always good practice, as it gives future researchers a starting point to continue the study in this area. 2005 , the communication process is dynamic and complex, involving individuals with different perspectives. A qualitative data collection method was adopted to provide deep understanding of the process's state, with reference to finco's retail and it relationship. This method is appropriate because it focuses on uncovering participants' perceptions and experiences, which are difficult to uncover with a quantitative method ghauri gronhaug, 2002. 2005 used semi structured interviews to collect data, which were conducted with top level managers from both retail banking and it to capture their perceptions of both organisational areas.

Each interview session lasted an hour based on a set of prepared questions and extra questions to expand on the relevant question. The questions were designed to probe for experiences, thoughts and opinions relating to bit relationship perceptions. There was no explanation as to why the semi structured interview methodology was chosen over unstructured interview or focus group methodologies, which are better suited as unstructured interviews are often used in case studies to uncover information without limiting the field of inquiry punch, 2005. 2005 noted that the interviews covered the spectrum of top level managers, there was no mention of the sampling method used to justify the chosen number of interviews. My assumption is that the judgemental sampling method was used, since it is a very popular choice in qualitative research and involves the choice of participants who are in the best position to provide the required information saunders et al. The authors did not discuss reliability, which is a common criticism of qualitative researches.