Exploring possible consequences of shadow-IT usage within a self-managing team context.

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2022-01-14
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en
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Self-organizing forms of organizational design are often applied to teams in order for an organization to increase its adaptability. Fully embracing continuous technological change within an autonomous team could however lead to risks for organizational efficiency and security in certain situations. This case study provides additional insights into how these risks could by examining the concept of shadow-IT within a self-managing team context. The results are based on data gathered from semi-structured interviews, analyzed through performing a template analysis. The case organization is a consulting firm based in the Netherlands, which consists of three self-managing teams. Since the combination of the topics of shadow-IT and self-managing teams remain underexplored within scientific literature, the first aim of this study is to develop additional insights which may aid in addressing this knowledge gap. The second aim of this study is to assist practitioners in their decision making process around IT governance and dealing with shadow-IT usage within a self-managing team context. The research question: “How are consequences of shadow-IT use managed by members of an organization consisting of self-managing teams?” was answered by providing in depth-insights based on data gathered from qualitative interviews. Results of this study indicate that shadow-IT may be difficult to distinguish from business-managed IT in a self-managing team context. This increased difficulty could lead to shadow-IT use being overlooked in self-managing teams, since IT-governance and IT task responsibilities are decentralized. In turn, allowing for shadow-IT to exist could possibly decrease the efficacy and development of the business-managed systems, on which these teams depend for cooperation and peer-monitoring. If these business-managed systems are insufficiently updated, self-managing teams may become vulnerable to inefficiencies and security risks caused by shadow-IT use.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen