There is a lack of understanding of how organizations operate their IT capacity-management processes. Within the body of literature on IT capacity-management there is an abundance of advice for organizations on how to set up or run the processes for IT capacity-management, but very little in the way of describing the processes as performed and operated in organizations out in the field. Using qualitative methods this research sought to gain an understanding of how organizations are operating their IT capacity-management processes in the field. A dozen subjects from 10 organizations were interviewed and the data were analyzed with a grounded theory approach. Cloud computing was found to be a disruptive technology providing the occasion for major changes in the structures of IT capacity-management. The differences in these structures were expressed through an IT capacity-management structures spectrum. The relative relationships between the roles in these structures as plotted along this spectrum were found to have the IT capacity-management role migrate from mediator, to directly linked to the data center, to largely absent. The results provide the IT capacity-management field and managers in IT a starting point from which to shape career development and organizational change management efforts as an organization migrates from a classic structure to a cloud structure.
","abstract_html":"<p>There is a lack of understanding of how organizations operate their IT capacity-management processes. Within the body of literature on IT capacity-management there is an abundance of advice for organizations on how to set up or run the processes for IT capacity-management, but very little in the way of describing the processes as performed and operated in organizations out in the field. Using qualitative methods this research sought to gain an understanding of how organizations are operating their IT capacity-management processes in the field. A dozen subjects from 10 organizations were interviewed and the data were analyzed with a grounded theory approach. Cloud computing was found to be a disruptive technology providing the occasion for major changes in the structures of IT capacity-management. The differences in these structures were expressed through an IT capacity-management structures spectrum. The relative relationships between the roles in these structures as plotted along this spectrum were found to have the IT capacity-management role migrate from mediator, to directly linked to the data center, to largely absent. The results provide the IT capacity-management field and managers in IT a starting point from which to shape career development and organizational change management efforts as an organization migrates from a classic structure to a cloud structure.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Bauer, Joseph Frederick"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)","degree_level":"Open Access Dissertation","degree_discipline":"College of Technology","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Al Bellamy, PhD, Dissertation Chair","Ali Eydgahi, Ph.D.","Dorothy McAllen, Ph.D."],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2015,"date_issued":"2015-11-16T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2015-11-16T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:17:06Z","subjects":["management","cloud computing","information technology","organization","Science and Technology Studies"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://commons.emich.edu/theses/660","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Al Bellamy, PhD, Dissertation Chair","Ali Eydgahi, Ph.D.","Dorothy McAllen, Ph.D."]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Bauer, Joseph Frederick"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2016-07-11T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["College of Technology"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Open Access Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["management","cloud computing","information technology","organization","Science and Technology Studies"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://commons.emich.edu/theses/660"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["There is a lack of understanding of how organizations operate their IT capacity-management processes. Within the body of literature on IT capacity-management there is an abundance of advice for organizations on how to set up or run the processes for IT capacity-management, but very little in the way of describing the processes as performed and operated in organizations out in the field. Using qualitative methods this research sought to gain an understanding of how organizations are operating their IT capacity-management processes in the field. A dozen subjects from 10 organizations were interviewed and the data were analyzed with a grounded theory approach. Cloud computing was found to be a disruptive technology providing the occasion for major changes in the structures of IT capacity-management. The differences in these structures were expressed through an IT capacity-management structures spectrum. The relative relationships between the roles in these structures as plotted along this spectrum were found to have the IT capacity-management role migrate from mediator, to directly linked to the data center, to largely absent. The results provide the IT capacity-management field and managers in IT a starting point from which to shape career development and organizational change management efforts as an organization migrates from a classic structure to a cloud structure.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Understanding how organizations operate their IT capacity-management processes"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Al Bellamy, PhD, Dissertation Chair","Ali Eydgahi, Ph.D.","Dorothy McAllen, Ph.D."],"dc:creator":["Bauer, Joseph Frederick"],"dc:date.available":["2016-07-11T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["There is a lack of understanding of how organizations operate their IT capacity-management processes. Within the body of literature on IT capacity-management there is an abundance of advice for organizations on how to set up or run the processes for IT capacity-management, but very little in the way of describing the processes as performed and operated in organizations out in the field. Using qualitative methods this research sought to gain an understanding of how organizations are operating their IT capacity-management processes in the field. A dozen subjects from 10 organizations were interviewed and the data were analyzed with a grounded theory approach. Cloud computing was found to be a disruptive technology providing the occasion for major changes in the structures of IT capacity-management. The differences in these structures were expressed through an IT capacity-management structures spectrum. The relative relationships between the roles in these structures as plotted along this spectrum were found to have the IT capacity-management role migrate from mediator, to directly linked to the data center, to largely absent. The results provide the IT capacity-management field and managers in IT a starting point from which to shape career development and organizational change management efforts as an organization migrates from a classic structure to a cloud structure.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://commons.emich.edu/theses/660"],"dc:subject":["management","cloud computing","information technology","organization","Science and Technology Studies"],"dc:title":["Understanding how organizations operate their IT capacity-management processes"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["College of Technology"],"thesis:degree_level":["Open Access Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:17:06Z"}