Information Systems Assignment: Interview Report for Gallantree

Question

Task: Information systems (IS) adoption in organization has been rising at a steady rate. The application of technology has grown from standardized process automation to systems that are genuinely innovative by translating them into basic business processes (Rebelo et. al., 2016). In fact, it is assumed that "More than being helped by computers, companies will live by them, shaping strategy and structure to fit new technology (Main 1988)". The goal of this information systems assignment is to establish an understanding of how certain main indicators of organizational structure impact information systems. Thus, the students are required to select a company, a corporation or a business entity. Then:

1. You are required to report on the implementation of IS in your own company.
2. Identify the strategy IS of implementation.
3. Emergence of new technology of IS implementation.
4. Identify the criteria of the interviewee.
5. Interview methods, questions and etc.
6. Analysis the result of interview
7. Analysis method using content analysis and/or thematic analysis

Answer

1. Introduction
The interview report for Gallantree is prepared. The organization is a small-scale financial services company based in Brisbane, Australia. It is a private organization that is currently composed of 15 employees. The interviews are conducted to understand the Information Systems (IS) strategy for the organization. The information gathering is essential to conduct the research and analysis. The collection of the information sets is conducted using interviews as the primary technique. The three types of interviewing techniques relevant to our case are Structured Interview, semi-structured Interview and narrative interview.

Structured Interview - The queries rose during a formal control of the interview. The responses collected by the respondent would be quite structured and controlled. The interview is arranged as the interviewer is pursuing an order unique set of questions in a fixed and limited number of answers. In a semi-structured Interview on the other hand, the researcher would set up an outline for all of the topics being covered. However, the interviewee’s responses as they come, would eventually determine the way forward for the interview. This is also the most common type of interview for qualitative research (Pinsky, 2013). Lastly, Narrative interviews are quite different in comparison and are based on one’s experiences. In a narrative based interview, the interviewee would explain his or her experiences in working with a person; project or the company (Mueller, 2019).The report covers the techniques of the interview questions, criteria of Interviewee, sampling, interview methods, and a brief conclusion.

2. Interview Question
The protocol followed to construct the interviews is based on the maximum coverage of the information. To ensure the same, the interview questions include the open and close ended questions.

The process that is followed to prepare for the interview questions is to understand the purpose of the interviews. Also, the interviewee details are identified and analysed. This is conducted so that the understanding of the interview purpose is clear with the determination of the expectations from the outcomes. The interview questions are prepared thereafter ensuring the adherence with the protocol. The mixture of the open and close ended questions is maintained during the preparation and development of the questions for the interview (Haag, Maeve Cummings & Phillips 2016).

The validity of the questions is crucial and the expert opinion is obtained for validations. The experts are presented with the list of the questions prepared and are asked for the feedback. On the basis of the comments and feedback, the changes are made in the interview questions. The process is repeated unless the approval on the questions is obtained from the expert. Once the approval is provided, the interview questions are confirmed and the same are used for the interview process (Silverman 2016).

3. Criteria of Interviewee
The interviews are being conducted so that the IS strategy and the associated details for the organization is identified. As a result, the respondents shall meet the following criteria.

• Must be an existing employee of the organization with at least 6 months of engagement period with the firm
• Shall confirm the availability for the interview as per the confirmed date and timeframe
• Shall be more than 25 years of age
• The ethical compliance rate maintained by the interview shall be 99% and above as recorded in the previous quarter
• The respondent shall not be engaged in any information security or privacy violations
• The technical resources shall be preferred over the operational/business resources
• The candidate shall be willing to provide the feedback and must have good listening skills
• The language barriers shall not be present for the candidates so that the effective understanding of the information shared is possible (Paulo, Albuquerque & Bull 2016)

The candidate(s) that meet the above criteria are called upon as per the finalized date and time. The interview is conducted with accordance to the set of questions prepared. The order of question shall also be maintained preferably. It will enable the effective gathering of the information.

4. Sampling
There are different techniques that are developed for sampling. These can be broadly classified as probability and non-probability sampling. The former is the one in which random process is used to select the participants. Therefore, every member in the data population has an equal chance of being selected under the probabilistic sampling technique. Non-probability sampling, on the other hand, is the technique in which the sampling process is not random. It is also referred as convenience sampling as the members that are easily accessible are the ones selected in the sample (Laudon & Laudon 2017).

In this case, the non-probability sampling technique will be used. The preferred methodology is the qualitative research to analyse the response of the interviews. The probability sampling is usually ideal for the quantitative research methods. The purposive method under the non-probabilistic sampling is used so that the interviewees with the specific skills and expertise are selected. This will enable the accurate execution of the research analysis so that the determination of the IS strategy and associated aspects is obtained. The choice of the participants as per the sampling technique will also enable the selection according to the interview criteria developed.

5. Interview Methods
There are numerous methods which can be followed to conduct the interview. The most common is the physical or the face to face interview wherein the interviewer and interview meet as per the decided place, date, and time. The other methods include web interviews, email interviews, etc.

In this case, the web-based interview method is used to conduct the interview. The interview is conducted using the web-conferencing tool, such as Google Meet. The interview time and the date is decided and communicated in advance. The interviewer also shares the meeting code with the interviewee to join the meeting. The web-based method is selected as it is easier to interact with the interviewees present in the remote locations. The tools will automatically record the sessions and the permission of the same will be obtained from the interviewee. This will enable the detailed analysis in the later stages (Rahman, Islam & Sutradhar 2018). The interviewer will be able to focus on the responses being shared rather than being engaged in noting down the information all throughout. It will also enable the maintenance of the social distancing norms during the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. The safety of the interviewers and the interviewees will be ensured and maintained in the process.

6. Conclusion
The interview reviewed is with an existing employee of Gallantree. It is identified that the organization currently does not have any cloud-based customer relationship management system. It is the major loophole detected as the customers need to be effectively engaged in the organization processes and activities. The implementation of the CRM system will assist the organization in better understanding the customer requirements and preferences. The interview response also suggested the improvements that shall be made in the security of the existing information systems. This is because of the data security risks and attacks that can arise on the existing and new systems.

7. References
Haag, S, Maeve Cummings & Phillips 2016, Management information systems for the information age, Mcgraw-Hill Education, New York, Ny.

Laudon, J & Laudon, KC 2017, Management Information Systems: Managing the Digital Firm, Global Edition, Pearson Education Limited, Harlow.

Paulo, RM, Albuquerque, PB & Bull, R 2016, ‘Improving the Enhanced Cognitive Interview With a New Interview Strategy: Category Clustering Recall’, Applied Cognitive Psychology, vol. 30, no. 5, pp. 775–784.

Rahman, M, Islam, MdS & Sutradhar, BC 2018, ‘Marketing Research: Personal/Face-to-Face Interviews and Computer-Assisted Personal Interviews’, Journal of Accounting & Marketing, vol. 07, no. 03.

Silverman, D 2016, Qualitative research, Sage, Los Angeles.

Mueller, R.A. (2019). Episodic Narrative Interview: Capturing Stories of Experience With a Methods Fusion. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 18, p.160940691986604.

Pinsky, D. (2013). The sustained snapshot: Incidental ethnographic encounters in qualitative interview studies. Qualitative Research, 15(3), pp.281–295.