Eastern Michigan University DigitalCommons@EMU Master's Theses, and Doctoral Dissertations, and Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations Graduate Capstone Projects 11-16-2015 Understanding how organizations operate their IT capacity-management processes Joseph Frederick Bauer Follow this and additional works at: http://commons.emich.edu/theses Part of the Science and Technology Studies Commons Recommended Citation Bauer, Joseph Frederick, "Understanding how organizations operate their IT capacity-management processes" (2015). Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations. 660. http://commons.emich.edu/theses/660 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Master's Theses, and Doctoral Dissertations, and Graduate Capstone Projects at DigitalCommons@EMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@EMU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Understanding How Organizations Operate Their IT Capacity-Management Processes by Joseph Frederick Bauer Dissertation Submitted to the College of Technology Eastern Michigan University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Technology Concentration in Technology Management Dissertation Committee: Al Bellamy, PhD, Dissertation Chair Ali Eydgahi, Ph.D. Dorothy McAllen, Ph.D. Denise Tanguay, Ph.D. November 16, 2015 Ypsilanti, Michigan Running head: UNDERSTANDING HOW ORGANIZATIONS ii Acknowledgements The author would like to acknowledge the help and support he received from his family, friends, colleagues, and mentors. Completing this research was a large commitment and your continued support made it possible. Thank you. Special thanks to Dr. Carol Haddad for her support and feedback while working through this dissertation. It was reading her published works in Halle Library on a warm September afternoon in 2007 that influenced my choice of which graduate program to attend. Running head: UNDERSTANDING HOW ORGANIZATIONS iii Abstract There is a lack of understanding of how organizations operate their IT capacity- management processes. Within the body of literature on IT capacity-management there is an abundance of advice for organizations on how to set up or run the processes for IT capacity- management, but very little in the way of describing the processes as performed and operated in organizations out in the field. Using qualitative methods this research sought to gain an understanding of how organizations are operating their IT capacity-management processes in the field. A dozen subjects from 10 organizations were interviewed and the data were analyzed with a grounded theory approach. Cloud computing was found to be a disruptive technology providing the occasion for major changes in the structures of IT capacity-management. The differences in these structures were expressed through an IT capacity-management structures spectrum. The relative relationships between the roles in these structures as plotted along this spectrum were found to have the IT capacity-management role migrate from mediator, to directly linked to the data center, to largely absent. The results provide the IT capacity-management field and managers in IT a starting point from which to shape career development and organizational change management efforts as an organization migrates from a classic structure to a cloud structure. Running head: UNDERSTANDING HOW ORGANIZATIONS iv Table of Contents Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................................... ii Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................... iv List of Tables .................................................................................................................................. 7 List of Figures ................................................................................................................................. 8 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 9 Statement of the Problem .......................................................................................................... 10 Nature and Significance of the Problem ................................................................................... 10 Objective of the Research ......................................................................................................... 11 Research Questions ................................................................................................................... 11 Literature Review.......................................................................................................................... 13 Capacity-management............................................................................................................... 13 IT Capacity-management .......................................................................................................... 19 Cloud Computing ...................................................................................................................... 25 Theoretical Frameworks ........................................................................................................... 27 Methodology ................................................................................................................................. 34 Research Design........................................................................................................................ 34 Subjects ..................................................................................................................................... 35 Human Subjects Approval. ....................................................................................................... 39 Data Collection ......................................................................................................................... 40 Running head: UNDERSTANDING HOW ORGANIZATIONS v Data Analysis ............................................................................................................................ 41 Results ........................................................................................................................................... 48 Spectrum of IT Capacity-Management Structures ................................................................... 48 IT Capacity-Management Business Process Model ................................................................. 60 The Variants Within IT Capacity-Management Processes ....................................................... 73 Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 80 Relating the Results to the Literature........................................................................................ 84 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 89 References ..................................................................................................................................... 91 Appendix A: Informed Consent Form .......................................................................................... 98 Appendix B: Interview Questions ............................................................................................... 100 Appendix C: Initial Contact Solicitation Email .......................................................................... 102 Appendix D: Code Dictionary .................................................................................................... 103 Appendix E: Interview Questions, Research Questions, and Theoretical Frameworks Alignment ..................................................................................................................................................... 106 Appendix F: Organization Coding to Model Attributes Summaries .......................................... 109 Appendix G: Coding References by Organization ..................................................................... 113 Appendix H: ITIL and IT Capacity-Management Model Attributes Comparison ..................... 115 Appendix I: Open Coding Categories ......................................................................................... 119 Appendix J: Selective Coding Categories and Themes .............................................................. 121 Running head: UNDERSTANDING HOW ORGANIZATIONS vi Appendix K: Panel of Judges Sheets .......................................................................................... 123 Running head: UNDERSTANDING HOW ORGANIZATIONS 7 List of Tables Table 1 .......................................................................................................................................... 36 Table 2 .......................................................................................................................................... 37 Table 3 .........................................................................................................................................