A Study of Maintenance Related Problems: Analyzing a Saudi Arab Organization

by

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER # 1: INTRODUCTION1

Background1

Problem Statement3

Purpose of the Study3

The Research Question3

Implications of the Study4

CHAPTER # 2: LITERATURE REVIEW6

Definition of Maintenance6

Forms of Maintenance6

Benefits of Maintenance7

Introduction to Intranets: Origins and Legacies7

Origins of the Intranet8

The Internet Legacy: Distributed Information Networks10

Intranet Operations and Maintenance Activities11

Maintaining the technology11

Information architecture12

Content development12

Content updating and improvement14

Individual Volition and the Intranet14

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY17

Mixed Research17

Classification of research methods17

Multi-method studies18

Mixed method studies18

Steps in mixed methodology18

Strength and weakness of the mixed research19

Strengths19

Weaknesses20

Instrument for data collection20

Data analysis20

Reliability/Dependability22

Validity24

Ethical Considerations25

REFERENCES26

CHAPTER # 1: INTRODUCTION

Background

Intranets have been rapidly implemented in Saudi Arabian organizations since the mid-1990s, when internet technology was first applied inside the organization to create private “corporate internets”. By the year 2000, it was estimated that 79 percent of Saudi Arabian organizations had adopted intranets as an integral component of the organizational communications and information infrastructure (Pramod et al., 2006). Today, intranets have become nearly ubiquitous. They are not only the primary channel for the dissemination of information within many organizations, but are also the foundation for the consolidation of multiple systems into “one-stop” enterprise-wise information and communications systems comprising portals, knowledge management systems, workflow management and other applications. Intranets are web-based organizational information systems that enable organization members to easily access organizational information from their desktop computers.

Chong and Low (2006) define the intranet as: A communication infrastructure based on the communication standards of the Internet and the content standards of the World-Wide Web. Therefore, the tools used to create an Intranet are identical to those used for Internet and web applications. The distinguishing feature of an Intranet is that access to information published on the Intranet is restricted to clients in the Intranet group. In addition to providing information access and retrieval, intranets may also be used to enable workers to sign up for employee benefits, order supplies, fill out their timecards, access just-in-time training, coordinate work activities through shared project and workflow management tools, and/or access a complete library of organizational best practices and documents on a shared knowledgebase.

It is not unusual for large organizations to have multiple and separate intranets for their different divisions and subsidiaries. Financial giant Merrill Lynch was reported to have over two hundred intranets (Preiser 2003). Increasingly, these sites are being consolidated with other information systems such as scheduling or supply chain management systems through portals. Portals enable employees to access information not just from the intranet, but from all of a company's enterprise information systems, via a webpage that serves as a single point of access to all of the systems (Ford 2006). When intranets first began gaining widespread attention, they were promoted as inexpensive information systems.

Businessweek, in a 1996 cover story, trumpeted the benefits of the intranet: One of the intranet's most obvious virtues is its ability to slash the need for paper. Because web browsers run on any type of computer, the same electronic information can be viewed by any employee. That means all sorts of documents internal phone books, procedure manuals, training ...