Research Questions and Hypotheses

 

Chapter 3 - Creating Intranets for Management and Collaboration in Federal Agencies
Managing IT in Government, Business & Communities
by Gerry Gingrich (ed)
Idea Group Publishing 2003

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Based on the development of intranets and e-government solutions in the federal government, we expected to find a range of intranet designs and purposes from simple newscasts to sophisticated portals linking members to sites for human resources needs, travel planning, training, and self-designed collaborative linkages. We found a narrower range of designs than expected. The reasons for this and other patterns in the development of the intranets emerge from the individual case studies.

We interviewed several individuals in six departments. We began to identify these agencies and the offices and actors within them from leads provided by the Chief Information Officer's Council, its e-Government Committee, and its Intranet Roundtable. Additional contacts were recommended by these actors. Our rationale for case selection was that we wanted to optimize our chances of finding the most advanced examples rather than a representative sample of all stages of intranet development. Case studies of agencies with little intranet experience would not have as much to tell us about its potential or use. The emerging vision of intranets as key management tools is more easily observed in agencies that are more advanced in their exploration of uses and limitations.

We posed questions about the current state of agency intranets, their origins, and major changes to the site. In several cases we were able to document the design of sites at different stages of development. We questioned actors about the original purposes and motivations behind intranet creation. We tried to determine what pressures within the federal setting might encourage intranets. We also probed the sources and level of resources. The composition and mission definition of the intranet development teams were investigated. We also became aware, as research progressed, of the need for agencies to encourage intranet recognition and usage, and so we came to collect stories about how the intranet was marketed to agency staff. Finally, we investigated other factors that appear to have encouraged or impeded intranet development.

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