Outline of the thesis

agriculture, cigarettes, navigation, computers, cellular telephones and – why not – language itself, which is perhaps the most ancient of apparatuses – one in which thousands and thousands of years ago a primate inadvertently let himself be captured, probably without realizing the consequences that he was about to face. (p. 14).

In this study the term device is used to refer to methods used by decision makers to manage uncertainty, ambiguity and at the same time to influence collective judgment and reach collective decisions.

In the BI literature there is no discussion about what is meant by decision-making although the term is used quite often by BI scholars. Further, there is no distinction betweenindividual decision-making and organizational decision-making.

This study investigates the use of the BI output in organizational decision-making, viewing decision-making as a collective process involving multiple actors and decision-makers that usually are not consistent in terms of their preferences and identities. At the same time, these actors might or might not be inclined to eliminate the conflict that arises from these inconsistencies. As such, the actors or decision-makers have to reach organizational decisions despite their conflicts due to inconsistent preferences or identities. Organizational decisions are decisions that have a great impact on the present and the future of the overall organization.

by presenting the research question, the research scope and definitions of key terms used in this thesis. Finally it presents the outline of the thesis to provide a map for an easy navigation of the manuscript.

Chapter 2 – Literature Review

This chapter presents a literature review of the BI literature. The discussion of the literature is based on my understanding of previous research in the BI field to which this thesis aims to contribute. First, it presents the concept of BI and its evolution as illustrated in the literature. Second, it illustrates and discusses current perspectives on BI, which are divided in two streams of literature. Third, the chapter concludes by presenting the common ideas of these two streams in relation to BI use in decision-making and highlights the need for the current study.

Chapter 3 – Theoretical Framework

Reflecting on the BI output and its similarities with formal analysis chapter 3 presents scholarship on the use of formal analysis and how formal analysis is used in organizational decision making processes. In particular, it presents three different views on the use of formal analysis in organizational decision-making. This literature stream informed this study by providing a loose set of theoretical concepts. These are used as sensitizing concepts in studying the use of the BI output in organizational decision-making, especially when performing the analysis of the empirical data.

Chapter 4 – Research Approach

In chapter 4, the research approach is presented and reflected upon. The chapter provides a brief overview of the different philosophical perspectives which are available and describes in detail the ontological and epistemological assumptions made by the study itself and also by me as a researcher in particular. It also guides the reader through the reasoning behind the choice of interpretivism as a philosophical stance and

the interpretive study as a strategy. Further, it presents the overall research design which includes a detailed description of my involvement style in the organization. This is followed by a thorough account of the data collection methods employed in the longitudinal interpretive study and the thematic analysis that guided the analysis of the empirical data.

Chapter 5 – Empirical Setting

The aim of this chapter is to provide background information for understanding the process of IT project prioritization in the broader organizational context in which it took place. The rationale behind this chapter is to provide the reader with a contextual frame in which the results of the empirical findings are embodied and embedded.

Specifically, it introduces and describes the Danske Bank Group and outlines its historical development. Further, it describes the business’ structure and presents the organizational chart as it was during the period of the study. Next the Group IT, its structure and the emergence of the project idea are presented. Finally, the chapter offers a detailed narrative of the process of IT project prioritization, including all the activities and the events that take place in this process.

Chapter 6 – Analysis and Results

This chapter presents the analysis of the empirical data from the IT project prioritization process. It provides rich insights into the overall IT project prioritization process and introduces the main themes and second order categories of the empirical findings for each level of the governance structure in the process in relation to the use of the BI output in the decision-making process.

Chapter 7 – Discussion

This chapter discusses the empirical findings between the two levels of the governance structure in relation to the BI literature. Moreover, it discusses the role of the BI output

in this study, juxtaposed with the role of BI as discussed in the literature presented in chapter 2. Next, the contributions of this study and its implication for theory and practice are presented. Finally, the study is evaluated against a set of qualitative research criteria.

Chapter 8 – Conclusion

The final chapter of this thesis presents the conclusion. The conclusion involves a discussion of how the findings answer to the research question that steered this study.

The chapter ends by summarizing the contributions of the thesis and suggesting future research streams.