Design observations for interagency collaboration

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.giq.2013.11.006Get rights and content

Highlights

  • We take a sociotechnical perspective on interagency system design.

  • We analyze interview data from 80 public safety networks.

  • We include 6 in-depth cases of criminal justice and emergency response collaboration.

  • We present 14 design observations for public sector inter-organizational systems.

  • We highlight organizational and technological insights for each design observation.

Abstract

We present 14 design observations for public safety networks (PSNs) and describe how they may apply more broadly to a wider range of inter-organizational systems within the public sector. A PSN is an interagency collaboration focused on developing and using information systems in support of information sharing and functional interoperability among public safety organizations engaged in law enforcement, criminal justice, and emergency response. We base our design observations upon an analysis of an extensive survey of 80 PSNs plus 6 in-depth case studies. The design observations identify commonalities that can guide agencies participating in interagency collaborations in addressing the interlocking issues they face. Our goal in presenting this set of design observations is to: (1) encourage improved PSN systems design and (2) draw attention to the importance of jointly addressing governance and technological considerations when designing PSNs.

Introduction

Through this paper, we advance a set of 14 design observations about public safety networks (PSNs). PSNs are interagency collaborations focused on the development and use of information and communication technologies (ICT) to support the information sharing and functional interoperability needs of public safety organizations engaged in law enforcement, criminal justice, and emergency response (Sawyer, Fedorowicz, Tyworth, Markus, & Williams, 2007). As such, a PSN is a specific form of an inter-organizational system (IOS) created to support information sharing among distinct organizations through a collective technology infrastructure. However, public safety networks also represent a collaborative phenomenon exhibiting characteristics in common with a wide range of government agency information-sharing initiatives. Looked at through this lens, these PSN design observations also should provide guidance to a broader set of interagency collaboration domains (Fedorowicz and Dias, 2010, Markus et al., 2002).

As government agencies strive to increase their ability to share information and communicate across organizational boundaries, they must address many new technological and organizational challenges. Although interagency collaborations have unique needs, features and goals, agency decisions made before and during the implementation process also share many commonalities. In response to this, we have derived a set of design observations from these commonalities to guide those agencies participating in interagency collaborations through the range of interlocking issues they face.

We pursue two goals in presenting this set of PSN design observations. First, we seek to promote these design observations as guidance for IOS developers. We achieve this goal by synthesizing our empirical findings into a set of design observations, which constitute an inventory of the many alternative configurations that currently exist. Second, we seek to increase the attention paid to the co-design of organizational governance structures and operations structures that PSNs, and all IOS, require. The design observations accomplish this goal by showcasing the interdependence among governance structures and PSN technology development (Denyers, Tranfield, & van Aken, 2008).

We focus on design observations because they provide a means to summarize and synthesize the empirical data gathered from our study of PSNs. Beyond this descriptive contribution, design observations become the basis for developing design principles (Germonprez et al., 2011, Hevner et al., 2004). While design observations provide guidance, design principles provide a fundamental idea which directs designers (Markus et al., 2002). Fig. 1 depicts this process. The dotted lines surround the portion of the process developed in this paper.

The next two sections respectively describe the research perspective and theoretical basis for developing our design observations. We then summarize the empirical context and describe our study of PSNs. We next present our set of 14 design observations and in the final section discuss how these design observations will lead to the construction of design principles and outline research and practice implications.

Section snippets

A design perspective: literature review

In developing the observations that follow, we seek to provide PSN design guidance that advances both scholarship and professional practice.

Theoretical context: rational choice and institutions

Rational choice and institutional theory factors informed our identification of organizational characteristics and environmental conditions that influence PSN design within the scope of our broader PSN research project (Dias, 2011, Williams and Fedorowicz, 2011). The sociotechnical perspective provides the theoretical basis for specifying IOS features (Dias, 2011, Gantman, 2012, Jacobson, 2012, Tomasino, 2013, Tyworth, 2009, Williams and Fedorowicz, 2011).

The PSN design context

Public safety in the U.S. encompasses a wide range of public sector activities, from policing to criminal justice to emergency management to homeland security (Manning, 2003). Public safety activities are supported at all levels of government. The United States' federalist tradition is such that public safety is – and will be – an inherently cross-jurisdictional, multi-governmental, and institutionally complex activity (Breton, 2000).

One of the biggest challenges facing public safety agencies

The PSN survey

Our survey design targeted the creation of a data set useful for detecting patterns in PSN formation, use and performance. A professional survey research organization collected the data in 2009–2010 using a semi-structured phone protocol7 to interview senior PSN personnel (e.g., the CIO or PSN project manager). The resulting data set includes information on 80 state and local level PSNs from across the United States.

Survey

PSN design observations

The list of design-oriented observations presented here reflects a set of patterns detected in the survey data with corroboration from the in-depth case studies. These descriptive observations represent an essential preparatory step for the future development of prescriptive design principles (see Fig. 1). We anticipate that, in general, successful PSNs will incorporate a different cluster of these observed elements than unsuccessful PSNs. Our more nuanced expectation would be that the specific

Conclusions and future research

Although we have emphasized commonalities in existing PSN design practice, our inventory documents a range with considerable variation. We augment that inventory with deeper insights about PSNs not found in either research or practice publications. In these ways, our observations inform both PSN development practice and design research for inter-organizational systems.

At the present, these design observations reflect our generalized knowledge about PSNs. This essential step is preparatory to

Acknowledgments

We are indebted to the many organizations and individuals who participated in the in-depth case studies and surveys. This work was supported by the National Science Foundation grants NSF-0852688 and NSF-0534877. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed here are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Jane Fedorowicz is the Chester B. Slade Professor of Accounting and Information Systems at Bentley University, located in Waltham, Massachusetts, USA. She holds a joint appointment in Bentley's Accountancy and Information & Process Management departments. Her MS and PhD degrees in Systems Sciences were awarded by Carnegie Mellon University. She was principal investigator of a National Science Foundation project team studying interorganizational design issues for public safety networks. She also

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    Jane Fedorowicz is the Chester B. Slade Professor of Accounting and Information Systems at Bentley University, located in Waltham, Massachusetts, USA. She holds a joint appointment in Bentley's Accountancy and Information & Process Management departments. Her MS and PhD degrees in Systems Sciences were awarded by Carnegie Mellon University. She was principal investigator of a National Science Foundation project team studying interorganizational design issues for public safety networks. She also served as principal investigator for the Bentley Invision Project on interorganizational information sharing and coordination infrastructures in supply chain, government, and health care. Dr. Fedorowicz has published extensively and has served in a governance capacity for a number of professional associations including INFORMS, AAA and AIS. She was named a Fellow of the Association for Information Systems in 2006. She is currently the President of the Association for Information Systems.

    Steve Sawyer is on the faculty of Syracuse University's School of Information Studies and a research fellow at the Center for Technology and Information Policy. Steve's research focuses on the sociotechnical relationships among changing forms of work and organization and uses of information and communication technologies. Sawyer's research is done through detailed field-based studies of scientific collaborators, software developers, real estate agents, police officers, organizational technologists, and other information-intensive work settings. His work is published in a range of venues and supported by funds from the National Science Foundation, IBM, Corning, and a number of other public and private sponsors. Prior to returning to Syracuse, Steve was a founding faculty member of the Pennsylvania State University's College of Information Sciences and Technology. Steve earned his Doctorate in Business Administration from Boston University in 1995.

    Christine B. Williams is a Professor of Government at Bentley University. She holds MA and PhD degrees in Political Science from Indiana University. Dr. Williams currently serves as Managing Editor, North America for the Journal of Political Marketing and on the editorial boards of the Journal of Information Technology and Politics, Journal of Public Affairs, and the International Journal of e-Politics. Her research area is political communication, with emphasis on new and emerging technologies. Projects include two cross-disciplinary research collaborations, a National Science Foundation study of interorganizational design issues for public safety networks and a study of social media use in policing. Her work has appeared in academic publications such as Government Information Quarterly, Information Polity, New Media & Society and Social Science Computer Review; in trade and professional association publications such as Campaigns & Elections and IEEE Computer; and in U.S. and international news media outlets.

    M. Lynne Markus is the John W. Poduska, Sr. Professor of Information and Process Management at Bentley University. Professor Markus's current research focuses on the societal consequences of “big data” analytics, with a particular focus on financial information systems and automated securities trading. Dr. Markus has received numerous research grants and contracts from the National Science Foundation and industry sources. Her most recent book is Methods for Policy Research: Taking Socially Responsible Action (2013, Sage Publications, second edition, with Ann Majchrzak). Dr. Markus was named Fellow of the Association for Information Systems in 2004 and was awarded the Association's award for exceptional lifetime achievement, the LEO Award, in 2008.

    Sonia Gantman is an Assistant Professor in the Accounting department at Providence College in Rhode Island, USA. She earned her Master's degree in Accountancy and PhD degree in Information Systems from Bentley University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Computer Science from Tel Aviv University (Israel). Sonia's research interests include different aspects of information systems design, in particular IS alignment with business processes, inter-organizational integration, legacy data management, adoption of new IS.

    Martin Dias is an Assistant Professor in the Supply Chain & Information Management group in the D'Amore-McKim School of Business Administration at Northeastern University in Boston, MA. He holds a PhD in Information Systems from Bentley University, an MBA from Babson College, and a Bachelor of Science in economics from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business. Dias takes a network perspective in examining the formation, operation, and evolution of public safety collaborations. He is particularly interested in how information systems can be designed and used to improve situation awareness and citizen engagement by public safety networks. His teaching focus is management information systems.

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    Michael Tyworth is an Instructor of Management & Organization in the Smeal College of Business at Penn State University where he teaches courses in management and management information systems. Michael's research focuses on socio-technical factors in information systems development and cyber defense.

    Arthur Tomasino is a Visiting Assistant Professor at Bentley University, located in Waltham, Massachusetts, USA. His PhD is also from Bentley University where his research focused on the complexity of information systems and the interaction of micro and macro-level activities to explain information system development. He uses complexity and chaos theory as the basis of his research and has applied these theories to analyze inter-organizational IT development in the field of public safety networks.

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