General research settings

A single organisation (PublicCo) was referred to as a revelatory case (Yin 2009) for developing new insights into routine flexibility. This particular organisation was chosen to uncover insights that were not previously available elsewhere, i.e. in other contexts or empirical settings. Case studies have the potential to provide a more compelling contribution by promoting a great depth of rich empirical data in developing theories (Eisenhardt and Graebner 2007). Consideration has to be given to case selection as it greatly affects the validity of the theories that are drawn on (Curtis et al. 2000; Konisky and Reenock 2012). Besides, to provide rich information that addresses the research questions, cases are selected because they will provide valuable insight rather than because of their uniqueness. PublicCo provided an attractive setting for studying routine flexibility because of: (1) the infrequent occurrence of the Print Project that was observed, (2) the existing uncertainties relating to the Print Project, (3) the mixture of key participants in terms of experience and background, and (4) the possibility of mixed responses based on historical

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events. Therefore this study is based on a single case, which is the selected organisation, (PublicCo), with multiple sub-cases. Sub-cases are specific, refined cases that were identified within the organisation during the initial round of analyses to enable specific theory contribution. Extensive access was provided at PublicCo, a public organisation that has multiple departments and buildings in close proximity. This meant that I was free to come and go into any of the offices within PublicCo and was invited to all related meetings.

Printing in PublicCo is a vital part of its operations as its 14,500 staff use the print devices on a daily basis. The print jobs range from personal printing to big A0-size poster prints, and to large scale printing jobs such as booklets and flyers. The existing fleet was made up of around 360 personal printers, 420 large printers, and 60 multi-functional devices. Management of the printing service is shared between the IT department, the Print Room, and SupplierD, their main print device supplier. Thus the existing print service was made up of multiple types of print devices, and managed by a decentralised management system. There had been several attempts to upgrade the entire printer fleet and its services, but due to uncertainties on who should take ownership of the initiative, they were put aside.

When the IT department received a new Head, one of his initiatives was to create a project team to revamp the existing printing service. This was factored by many reasons. For instance, a survey and review of the existing print services that had been carried out the previous year showed that there were many parts of the service that users were unhappy about. In addition to that, the contract with SupplierD, their main printer supplier with whom they had had a ten-year relationship, was coming to an end. Therefore, it was time to review this relationship and explore other suppliers or options. Furthermore, there were also issues with regard to the existing print management software. A number of the devices were managed by software that was designed in- house. Since the original programmer had left PublicCo, this meant that upgrading the service using the current software was unlikely to happen. Some of the other print devices were managed by SoftwareS, tied to SupplierD’s devices, which had its own set of problems in terms of management and licences. The combination of all these factors encouraged the Print Project to be initiated. The new service upgrade was aimed at having a unified and efficient service.

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Key participant Background Role in the project

Project Manager Uses PRINCE29 _{as his project management}

tool, so how he manages the Print Project is based on achieving deliverables specified by PRINCE2

Responsible for managing the entire project in terms of its timeline, deliverables, and bridging between different parties

Procurement Head Has recently transferred from another public

organisation. Brings her experience in print services based on a similar project she was previously involved in

Responsible for the procurement processes, such as communicating with potential suppliers and contract negotiation

Technical Head From the IT department. Has been with

PublicCo for over 15 years. Brings his expertise in terms of the technicalities of the products being sourced.

Responsible for designing and configuring the new print service, which includes interfacing between the hardware and software

Print room Head Has been in charge of the organisation’s

print room for over 20 years, so is able to provide input on user trends in terms of print volumes and also details on the current print fleet

Having had a long working relationship with SupplierD, he provides assistance in terms of negotiations and getting data from them

Communication Representative

From the IT department assigned to assist with the Print Project’s communications’ needs

Responsible for disseminating information to all users around PublicCo about the changes that would occur during the project phase, as well as when the new print service is in place

Project Executive Part of higher management Chairs all the Board meetings and steers

important decision-making

IT Director Is the head of the IT department and was the

key person in initiating this Print Project. He is fairly new to PublicCo having joined only a year before the project started

A Board member. Also responsible for ensuring that the budget for the Print Project is approved by the steering committee

Commercial Head Has been with PublicCo for over 30 years,

and is currently the head of the facilities and commercial division. He has a good grasp of how the organisation operates and the cultures that exist e.g. acceptance to change

A Board member. Provides input and ideas based on his experience of the

organisation

Finance Head Head of the Finance department A Board member and directly takes part in

some of the routine activities that relate to finance issues

Table 3.1 – Summary of the key participants of this study

To start off the project, representatives from the IT department, Procurement, and Commercial team gathered for a kick-off meeting which also marked my very first involvement in this Print Project. These representatives formed a Working Committee which comprised of five main members: (1) Project Manager, (2) Procurement Head, (3) Technical Head, (4) Print room

9 _{Projects In Controlled Environments (PRINCE2) is a process-based method for effective project management used}

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Head, and (5) Communication representative. The Committee met at least once a week to discuss and update each other on the progress of the Print Project, discuss pending issues, and also to make decisions. I sat and observed all these meetings as a passive observer. Their backgrounds and roles are explained in Table 3.1.

Prior to the Print Project, none of the committee members had worked together before as they all came from different divisions within PublicCo. The Procurement Head was also new to the organisation having just transferred from another public organisation in a different city. However, the new team was expected to work together to achieve the objectives of the Print Project. Besides the weekly meetings, the Committee members were also expected to be involved in other project-related meetings such as supplier presentations, workshops, and site visits. For the Project Manager and Procurement Head, there were also the Board meetings. The project Board was headed by the Project Executive and several representatives from various parts of the organisation. The board met every two months to ensure that the Print Project was on track, and was responsible for giving direction to the working committee. Some of the notable Board members that played a significant role in the routines observed include the: (1) Project Executive, (2) IT Director, (3) Commercial Head, and (4) Finance Head.

PublicCo and the Print Project provides an attractive setting for studying routine flexibility for multiple reasons. Firstly, it is an exercise that only occurs once every 10-15 years, making it a fairly unique setting. The scarcity of this type of project means that there is little likelihood of being able to gather similar data from other settings. The printing service in PublicCo involves multiple departments within the organisation, which allowed me to gather data from a variety of sources. Secondly, prior to this, similar initiatives had been proposed over the past few years but did not materialise. By the time the project was initiated, there were already many uncertainties that had been the deterring factors for previous initiatives. This opened up opportunities for new ideas to be explored and implemented. Thirdly, the IT Director and Procurement Head, who were central members of the project team, were new to the organisation. When coupled with a group of people from various backgrounds who are required to work together for the first time, they could offer new and fresh ideas to the company. Lastly, there was the possibility of multiple types of responses to the Print Project, such as resistance. Since PublicCo is considered an established organisation with a strong organisational culture, it was most likely that implementing change

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would be a challenging process, as it had been with previous changes, such as when the organisation changed its official logo. Because of this, the Print Project could be full of challenges, which would provide an attractive setting for observation.