Understanding the problem of coordination in a large scale distributed environment from a service lens view - Towards the South African public sector e-Administration criteria for coordination support

Collaborative work arrangements are often subject to many challenges, especially when the participants are physically dispersed across large geographical spaces. Usually, collaborating members of a particular work arrangement need to coordinate their actions to avoid conflicting or repetitive actions. However, coordination can be difficult and demanding, as collaborative work arrangements are dynamic and often emerging in response to different requirements. This paper is intended to create an understanding of the coordination needs of a cooperative distributed environment from a service lens perspective. By employing an interpretive case study approach the paper aims to answer the question “How can service components assist in understanding the coordination status quo in a heterogeneous and distributed collaborative work context?” The paper contributes to both theory and practice, through providing a systematic manner of contemplating coordination issues in a specific heterogeneous and distributed context, viz. the South African (SA) public sector. In addition, through the provision of design requirements, the article contributes towards a design theory in Information System (IS) research for the development and improvement of coordination support services in a distributed environment.