Federal IT Collaborative Research

August 25, 2010

David Paschane, Ph.D.

The Federal CIO and Applied Organizational Informatics

Federal information technology organizations are under careful examination because of under-performing, expensive projects; ineffective simplification and automation of program operations; and, inability to help attract and retain the emergent, technology-savvy workforce.

Federal CIOs are expected to lead the necessary changes; however, in comparison to their civilian counterparts, their plans and decisions are not readily supported by research that enables a progressive, high-speed IT environment where incremental improvements are controlled through recursive analyses.

To be successful, Federal CIOs will require organizational and technological research that provides continuous identification of operational opportunities to test the integration of small, agile technology placement. The management of an evidence-based IT environment ensures that employees have immediate, direct engagement with innovation, pertinent to their perspective work functions.

Another condition of success among Federal CIOs is the ability to conduct collaborative research. IT collaborative research reduces overall risk and cost, while increasing knowledge and expertise through comparative analyses and increased opportunities for applied tests of efficacy, (e.g., PASS framework).

General Opportunities:

Organizational informatics, where operational research affects technology integration, is rapidly progressing as a field of study and used in many business operations, e.g., Amazon.com.

Operational sciences are increasingly integrated into software development designs, including evidence-based decisions in agile programming and teaming, e.g., Chapter 33 (GI Bill).

EOP (OMB and OSTP) directed all agencies to support science and technology that enables outcome-oriented goals, including information and communication capacity (M-10-30).

The Federal CIO Council has a collaborative role with the OSTP R&D program for IT, NITRD; Faster Administration of Science and Technology and Research (FASTER).

The Government IT Executive Council (GITEC) is a forum that can be used to report research progress, highlight affects or organizational informatics, and collaborate on CIOs’ strategies.

Research Objectives:

Sustain in-depth awareness of the effects of organizational informatics in various work functions, as they impact employee engagements, workflows, and outcome performance.

Increase the capacity of employees to use continuous performance analyses that are embedded in their work environment, and allow for their test of innovative performance improvement.

Research Agenda:

Modeling of opportunities to apply technology in various functional units, with evidence of likely effects on immediate performance capacity and sustainable organizational capacity.

Applied research in behavioral (circumstantial, triggers, motivation), organizational (roles, processes, change), and systems (interdependency, culture, capacity) components.

Applied research in informatics, including cognitive sensitivity to interactivity, mutual adaptation in accelerated modifications, and inferential capacity in recursive modeling.

Education of the emergent workforce in broad IT functions, organizational informatics, and technology-affecting performance, with emphasis on attracting service disabled veterans.