NUDGE: IMPROVING DECISIONS ABOUT HEALTH, WEALTH, AND HAPPINESS by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein Penguin Books, 2009, 312 pp, ISBN 978-0-14-311526-7This book is best described formally as a general explanation of and advocacy for libertarian paternalism, a term coined by the authors in earlier publications. Informally, it is about how leaders, systems, organizations, and governments can nudge people to do the things the nudgers want and need done for the betterment of the nudgees, or of society. It is paternalism in the sense that "it is legitimate for choice architects to try to influence people's behavior in order to make their lives longer, healthier, and better", (p. 5) It is libertarian in that "people should be free to do what they like - and to opt out of undesirable arrangements if they want to do so", (p. 5) The built-in possibility of opting out or making a different choice preserves freedom of choice even though people's behavior has been influenced by the nature of the presentation of the information or by the structure of the decisionmaking system. I had never heard of libertarian paternalism before reading this book, and I now find it fascinating.Written for a general audience, this book contains mostly social and behavioral science theory and models, but there is considerable discussion of structure and process that has roots in mathematical and quantitative modeling. One of the main applications of this social system is economic choice in investing, selecting and purchasing products and services, systems of taxes, banking (mortgages, borrowing, savings), and retirement systems. Other quantitative social choice systems discussed include environmental effects, health care plans, gambling, and organ donations. Softer issues that are also subject to a nudge-based approach are marriage, education, eating, drinking, smoking, influence, spread of information, and politics. There is something in this book for everyone.The basis for this libertarian paternalism concept is in the social theory called "science of choice", the study of the design and implementation of influence systems on various kinds of people. The terms Econs and Humans, are used to refer to people with either considerable or little rational decision-making talent, respectively. The various libertarian paternalism concepts and systems presented are tested and compared in light of these two types of people. Two foundational issues that this book has in common with another book, Network of Echoes: Imitation, Innovation and Invisible Leaders, that was also reviewed for this issue of the Journal are that 1 ) there are two modes of thinking (or components of the brain) - an automatic (intuitive) process and a reflective (rational) process and 2) the need for conformity and the desire for imitation are powerful forces in human behavior. …

Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness

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A Break in the Clouds: Towards a Cloud Definition

Creativity in Context: Update to "The Social Psychology of Creativity"

The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception

From Control to Drift: The Dynamics of Corporate Information Infrastructures

In today’s hypercompetitive environment in which markets change rapidly and competitive advantages are difficult to sustain, companies are forced to innovate and identify new business opportunities. However, innovation requires ingenuity and creativity. Product and service development depends on the creativity of employees, but harvesting and bringing novel ideas to fruition is often a chaotic process, which underscores the importance of creativity management within organizations. In this article, we review the literature on creativity in an effort to summarize state-of-the-art knowledge on how to stimulate creativity and spur innovation in modern organizations. For that purpose, we use Rhodes’ 4-Ps model (1961) distinguishing between creative environments (called press), people, products, and processes. Through a review of 110 journals on the AIS journal list, this article offers insights―based on eighty-eight articles―into how creativity can be stimulated and supported by attending to each of these components. The literature teaches us how to utilize, evaluate, and strategize about creativity in organizational settings. Managers are advised to advance creativity and ideation processes, for example by building virtual environments that strengthen collaboration and creativity across organizational boundaries. Researchers are encouraged to investigate the relationship between strategy and information systems (IS) usage in fostering creativity.

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Creativity and Information Systems in a Hypercompetitive Environment: A Literature Review

Software Process Improvement as organizational change: A metaphorical analysis of the literature

Innovation and public procurement: Terminology, concepts, and applications

Cloud computing is drawing attention from both practitioners and researchers, and its adoption among organizations is on the rise. The focus has mainly been on minimizing fixed IT costs and using the IT resource flexibility offered by the cloud. However, the promise of cloud computing is much greater. As a disruptive technology, it enables innovative new services and business models that decrease time to market, create operational efficiencies and engage customers and citizens in new ways. However, we are still in the early days of cloud computing, and, for organizations to exploit the full potential, we need knowledge of the potential applications and pitfalls of cloud computing. Maturity models provide effective methods for organizations to assess, evaluate, and benchmark their capabilities as bases for developing roadmaps for improving weaknesses. Adopting the business-IT maturity model by Pearlson & Saunders (2007) as analytical framework, we synthesize the existing literature, identify levels of cloud computing benefits, and establish propositions for practice in terms of how to realize these benefits.

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Benefits of Cloud Computing: Literature Review in a Maturity Model Perspective

Purpose – The purpose of the article is to investigate the impact of organizational culture on software process improvement (SPI). Is cultural congruence between an organization and an adopted process model required? How can the level of congruence between an organizational culture and the values and assumptions underlying an adopted process model be assessed?Design/methodology/approach – The competing values framework and its associated assessment instrument are used in a case study to establish an organizational culture profile of a software development business unit within the case company. The instrument is supplemented with a technique to produce culture profiles of texts such as process models like the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) and the case company's quality management system. The different profiles are subsequently analyzed and compared.Findings – The culture profile of the CMMI confirms previous research and depicts a result‐oriented, formalized, and structured organization. A c...

Sune Dueholm Müller

Papers

Creativity and Information Systems in a Hypercompetitive Environment: A Literature Review

Software Process Improvement as organizational change: A metaphorical analysis of the literature

Innovation and public procurement: Terminology, concepts, and applications

Benefits of Cloud Computing: Literature Review in a Maturity Model Perspective

Competing Values in Software Process Improvement: A Study of Cultural Profiles