Sinéad Murnane | National University of Ireland, Maynooth (original) (raw)

Papers by Sinéad Murnane

Ethical concerns about the development and ubiquity of ICT (Information and communications techno... more Ethical concerns about the development and ubiquity of ICT (Information and communications technology) are rising as awareness of our increased dependency on ICT, combined with the potential lack of transparency of new technologies such as IoT and AI, unfold. One way of tackling this is to increase professionalism within ICT, and Bodies of Knowledge (BoKs) are an important part of this. BoKs represent the knowledge needed to function as a profession and are becoming increasingly essential to aid communication and encourage shared values and practices, particularly in emerging professional areas. They are valuable and influential in developing the scope and maturity of the ICT profession and, in turn, ICT development in society. Thus, identifying and understanding the codification of ethics in BoKs is important to maturing ICT professional practice in resolving ethical concerns. This paper 1) explores considerations and approaches to the incorporation of ethics within BoKs, and 2) carries out content analysis on how ethics are codified within the content structure of ICT BoKs. Findings reveal a range of different approaches, which suggests the value of categorising these approaches and developing guidance on a more consistent approach. We conclude by recommending future research for revealing and tackling both overt and implicit aspects to ethics within BoKs.

The pervasiveness of digital technologies and their potential for reshaping the industry landscap... more The pervasiveness of digital technologies and their potential for reshaping the industry landscape dictates that organizations operating today have little choice but to incorporate digital technologies into their business strategies. Failure to do so will impede the business’s viability, and may ultimately lead to business failure. However, for those organizations that successfully transition to digital business, unprecedented business opportunities exist for value creation and realization. However, transitioning to digital business involves a transforming and fundamental change to all aspects of an organization and its understanding of its place in the wider ecosystem. This white paper contributes to the topical digital imperative discussion in what is termed the third era of the enterprise. It highlights the driving forces behind digital business, and the cultural mindset shifts and other adjustments involved in implementing digital change.

Best Paper in Education, Teaching & Learning track of 2012 Irish Academy of Management conference... more Best Paper in Education, Teaching & Learning track of 2012 Irish Academy of Management conference at NUIM

Electronic Medical Record (EMR) adoption can be challenging for many hospitals. To address this c... more Electronic Medical Record (EMR) adoption can be challenging for many hospitals. To address this challenge -Intel Corporation, HIMSS Analytics USA/Europe and Innovation Value Institute have researched a management approach called Healthcare IT Maturity Model (HIT-MM). This approach better equips a hospital to strategize, implement and run electronic medical record (EMR) and general IT services. It involves the joint tracking of EMR adoption levels and maturity of IT capabilities. This allows a hospital to identify the next step in EMR adoption, together with the necessary IT capabilities to plan, implement and run those EMR services. Results highlight specific IT capabilities are of paramount importance for hospitals to achieve and effectively run higher levels of EMR adoption.

One of the objectives of the Grand Coalition for Digital Jobs is to contribute to raising the lev... more One of the objectives of the Grand Coalition for Digital Jobs is to contribute to raising the level of digital skills in the workforce and in particular in SMEs, in order to prepare them for the transformation of their businesses into the digital era. The main drivers for SMEs wanting to embrace the digital economy are internal efficiencies, cost reductions, better collaboration and new product and service offerings. Investing in the digitalisation of their business is vital for SMEs; this ultimately generates higher returns than any other forms of capital investment. Europe therefore needs to ensure that SMEs are equipped with the necessary digital skills to enable them to transform. This booklet aims to serve as a source of inspiration for SMEs that want to embrace digitalisation and acquire new skills. It contains a collection of case studies of SMEs that were able to transform their business with digital technologies as a result of gaining experience from a variety of developmen...

Electronic Medical Record (EMR) adoption can be challenging for many hospitals, and CIOs are ofte... more Electronic Medical Record (EMR) adoption can be challenging for many hospitals, and CIOs are often tasked to lead - with agility - the adoption of such technologies. To aid CIOs and senior IT decision-makers achieve this goal - Intel Corporation, HIMSS Analytics and Innovation Value Institute have created a holistic approach for hospitals to strategize, implement and run electronic medical record (EMR) and general IT services. It involves the joint tracking of EMR adoption levels and maturity of IT organisational capabilities. This allows hospital IT organisations to identify the next step in EMR adoption, together with the necessary IT organisational capabilities to plan, implement and run EMR services. Results highlight IT organisational capabilities relating to Governance, Strategic Planning, Supplier Management, Demand and Supply Management, Enterprise Architecture, and Relationship Management are of paramount importance for hospitals to achieve and effectively run higher levels...

This paper describes the process of investigating a number of different research methodologies in... more This paper describes the process of investigating a number of different research methodologies in order to select a suitable approach for an effective Industry-Academic collaborative research project. The research project in question is a 15-month research partnership between a global financial organisation and a research team from a university institute. The aim is to collaboratively design innovative solutions to support the company’s programme to improve their Information Technology (IT) capabilities using the IT Capability Maturity Framework (IT-CMF). A number of potential approaches were investigated, including Action Research (AR), Canonical Action Research (AR), Design Science Research (DSR), Design Thinking/User Experience (UX) and Action Design Research (ADR). Having discussed these approaches, this paper then explains why ADR was chosen as the approach for this project and examines its validity in practice throughout the first half of the project. The key contribution of t...

This research project was launched by the European Commission Directorate General for Enterprise ... more This research project was launched by the European Commission Directorate General for Enterprise and Industry as part of the European Commission’s on-going e-skills agenda. The specific objective of WP5 is to develop proposals for a pan-European institutional and governance framework for the ICT profession, and as such it is also part of an on-going initiative to mature ICT Professionalism in Europe. This work builds on earlier work undertaken in the 2012 IVI/CEPIS study on a European ICT Professionalism Framework (Mclaughlin et al., 2012) and will be followed by a research project which aims to identify a sustainable operating model for the promotion of ICT professionalism in Europe (European Commission, 2013). The current project aims to support the development of a European institutional and governance framework for ICT professionalism, with the goal of enhancing professionalism and mobility across Europe. The proposed framework has been developed iteratively in conjunction with ...

This paper outlines key findings that should be considered as part of the development of a demand... more This paper outlines key findings that should be considered as part of the development of a demand-driven and sustainable ICT professionalism framework: a framework designed to support the development of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) profession in Europe. A more detailed account of the research, and the resulting framework, are presented in “Governance Framework for ICT Professionalism - A Proposal” (Veling et al. 2014). This paper outlines eleven key findings that have been validated with industry-based subject matter experts. The effective consideration and management of these findings will be vital for the successful development of any overarching ICT professionalism framework. The research leading to the development of this framework is part of the larger European Union e-skills strategy1 and the "Grand Coalition for Digital Jobs". In 2013, a service contract was awarded by the European Commission (DG Enterprise and Industry) to a consortium led by ...

The tightly coupled relationship between organisational capability and the skills and competences... more The tightly coupled relationship between organisational capability and the skills and competences of the individuals working in that organisation has long been recognised in both the academic literature and by the practitioner community. Simply improving individuals’ skills and hoping that the organisation’s capability automatically improves in tandem is not sufficient, however. This relationship is non-trivial and needs to be actively managed, meaning that people need to have shared goals and not just fragmented learning (Kim, 1993).Prior knowledge and skills at the individual and collective level form the basis for developing capabilities in an organisation (Nieves & Haller, 2014). An organisation’s capabilities, therefore, lie primarily in the organising principles by which individuals’ and functional expertise is structured, coordinated, and communicated (Zander & Kogut, 1995). This requires deliberate intervention by the organisation’s management to enable or drive individual l...

Electronic Journal of Knowledge Management

As our dependency on ever-more complex, opaque, and ubiquitous information and communication tech... more As our dependency on ever-more complex, opaque, and ubiquitous information and communication technologies (ICTs) increases, ethical concerns about the development of those technologies are also rising. One approach to mitigate these concerns is to improve the maturity of the ICT profession through codification of its knowledge base and professional ethics. In this paper, some key theoretical approaches to ethics with a long-established tradition within Philosophy are explored and how these approaches may manifest in the codification of knowledge within ICT Bodies of Knowledge (BoKs) is discussed. BoKs provide a common vocabulary and knowledge inventory to aid communication and encourage shared values and practices, particularly in emerging professional areas such as the ICT profession. Thus, identifying and understanding how ethics are codified in ICT BoKs is important for maturing ICT professional practice in general, and more specifically, for the resolution of ethical concerns. T...

The Irish Journal of Management

By understanding knowledge to be performative – a ‘dynamic and ongoing social accomplishment’, ra... more By understanding knowledge to be performative – a ‘dynamic and ongoing social accomplishment’, rather than a representation or commodity – we view knowledge, or more accurately ‘knowing’, as a capability that emerges from, is embodied by, and embedded in recurrent social practices. The fluent knowing-in-practice that distinguishes an expert practitioner from a novice is developed through the reflexive interaction of the practitioner with their peers and their real-life work practices . Our key aim in this research was to explore whether it is possible for the abstracted classroom setting to approximate real-life work contexts, thereby enabling the active physical, mental, and emotional engagement of learner/practitioners within their community of practice, which have been demonstrated in the literature to be central to learning. How might training programmes actively engage learners in this way? We explored these questions through focus groups and interviews with participants on a p...

Electronic Journal of Knowledge Management

The Irish Journal of Management