| As research and practice on Service-Oriented Architectures (SOA) has progressed, the service-oriented paradigm is being extended beyond technical information systems (IS) architectures to include business processes such as the process of developing software. This research presents just such an example of a new methodology called Service-Oriented Software Development (SOSD). To begin understanding the organizational impacts of adopting SOSD, two case studies are performed to examine how the coordination mechanisms employed by the IS development units of two large organizations change over time. The results of these studies reveal that SISD has the potential to dramatically change the most optimal structures, technologies, and coordination patterns commonly used in IS development units. In addition, SOSD can impact the performance of IS project and, in particular, the ability of project managers to meet project schedule and budget estimates. The results also suggest that existing theory on coordination structures should be revised to include the impact that social capital costs can have as managers select the most appropriate coordination structures for their units. To examine this issue in greater detail, two controlled experiments were performed to better understand how informal advice networks evolve over time in environments such as SOSD where project groups are formed and dissolved repeatedly over time. According to the results of these experiments, advice network relationships depend heavily on not only the knowledge that individuals possess, but the departmentation of their work groups and the uncertainty involved in their project assignments. |
