Management Utilization of Computers in American Local Governments

Traditional concepts of management information systems (MIS) bear little relation to the information systems currently in use by top management in most US local governments. What exists is management-oriented computing, involving the use of relatively unsophisticated applications. Despite the unsophisticated nature of these systems, management use of computing is surprisingly common, but also varied in its extent among local governments. Management computing is most prevalent in those governments with professional management practices where top management is supportive of computing and tends to control computing decisions and where department users have less control over design and implementation activities. Finally, management computing clearly has impacts for top managers, mostly involving improvements in decision information. © 1978, ACM. All rights reserved

THE ECOLOGY OF MIS RESEARCH: A TWENTY YEAR STATUS REVIEW

The debate concerning the legitimacy of MIS as a field of research has endured over the last decade. The absence of theories and lack of a cumulative research tradition have been areas of particular concern. The research reported in this article provides evidence on these important issues. The study systematically analyzed MIS articles in seven core journals over the period 1968-1988. The resulting database, consisting of 792 articles, was analyzed for themes and topics, and on the basis of type of article (empirical/non-empirical). The findings indicate that MIS research efforts have refocused in some areas, while much remains to be done in others. This study provides the opportunity to pause and reflect on the last twenty years of research in MIS and to take stock so that the research of the coming twenty years will extend and build upon the existing foundations

Inductive Empiricism, Theory Specialization and Scientific Idealization in IS Theory Building

This paper distinguishes and discusses three strategies for theory building in Information Systems (IS) - inductive empiricism, theory specialization and scientific idealization - and contrasts them in terms of three desiderata of theories - realism, generality and precision - and tradeoffs between them. Inductive empiricism, emphasizing realism and generality, represents the received view with the classic Grounded Theory Methodology as a prime example. The paper argues for openness to theory specialization in practical disciplines such as IS. Theory specialization implies sacrificing generality of theories for their realism and precision. The distinctive attention of the paper lies in scientific idealization, sacrificing realism of theories for their precision and generality. It has been almost completely omitted in in the literature on IS theory building. The special focus of the paper lies in IT applications as a category of IT artifacts and in design-oriented theories which provide knowledge of how to design “better” IT applications. The paper illustrates its points using TAM/UTAUT research as an example

Strategic Decision-Making and Communication Technologies: An Institutional Theory Perspective on Yemeni Nongovernmental Organizations

This thesis examines how executives in NGOs and non-profit organizations in Yemen understand and talk about the uses/roles of communication technologies in strategic decision-making through a lens of institutional theory as set forth by DiMaggio and Powell (1983). Specifically, this study addresses how communication technologies are used for strategic decision-making purposes and for making sense of the work of other organizations within the same institutional field – women’s rights. Seven interviews with executives of NGOs and non-profit organizations were conducted and data were analyzed qualitatively. Through this analysis, this study answered two research questions: How do executives at NGOs and non-profit organizations understand and talk about the roles/uses of communication technologies in strategic decision-making? And How do executives at NGOs and non-profit organizations understand and talk about the uses of communication technologies for surveying the work of other organizations for strategic decision-making purposes? This qualitative study yielded seven themes. These themes of fall into two main broad categories: (1) challenges and (2) environmental scanning. The category of challenges elucidated factors that affect the use of communication technologies for strategic decision-making purposes and it included the minimal use of communication technologies and Internet and electricity as luxury. The category of environmental scanning addressed issues related to surveying the work of other organizations for strategic decision-making purposes, and it included lack of transparency and culture of sharing between organizations, limited benefit of surveying local NGOs, idolizing INGOs and foreign NGOs, and local NGOs as role models based on survival, funding, and technology. Findings of this study show, first, that the interviewees consider the minimal use of communication technologies and availability of Internet and electricity as factors that impede the effective use of communication technologies in their strategic decision-making process. Second, many interviewees question the benefit of surveying local NGOs due to the lack of a culture of sharing and transparency between organizations, and due to obvious admiration for INGOs and foreign NGOs. Third, most of the interviewees resisted the idea of mimicking other organizations and their practices

A Glorious and Not-So-Short History of the Information Systems Field

In this paper, the more than 40-year history of the information systems discipline is discussed by dividing history into four somewhat overlapping eras. For each era, important events that occurred are highlighted. The events are categorized as “management/governance of the IS function”, “technology”, “research themes”, “research methodology”, “education”, and “infrastructure” (organizations, conferences, journals, etc.). The paper then speculates on what the value would be if the IS community were to adopt a shared history. The paper contends that such a shared history would be effective in helping to bridge the communication gaps that exist between the different sub-communities that make up the discipline

User participation and user satisfaction in information systems development

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University, 26/06/2001.Information Systems (IS) are being developed and used in organizations to achieve their business goals and to enhance organizational effectiveness. The rate of systems success is questionable. One of the causes of IS failures might be user dissatisfaction with the systems. The success of an Information System is difficult to measure directly, so user satisfaction and system usage are frequently used as surrogate measures of system success. User participation in IS development has been advocated to achieve user satisfaction with the system and consequently system success. Past research findings about the effect of user participation on user satisfaction leading to system success are mixed and inconclusive. Past research has not been successful in showing whether user participation in IS development is necessary or not. So further research in this respect is justifiable. This thesis investigated the effect of user participation/involvement on user satisfaction. The effect of user expectations, and user-developer effective communications on user satisfaction has also been explored. A research model was proposed to proceed with this research. Meta-Analysis was carried out to investigate the relationship between user participation, user expectations and user-developer effective communication each with user satisfaction respectively. This thesis found some relationship of these factors with user satisfaction. The strength of the relationship (i. e. correlation 'r') was found to be 'medium' but not large'. The results also show that user involvement has a larger correlation with user satisfaction as opposed to user participation. The findings not only lead to the conclusions that user participation/involvement, user expectations, and user-developer effective communication have positive relationship with user satisfaction, but also contribute to the existing alternative views among IS researchers. The relationship between system usage and user satisfaction was found to be positive and of 'medium' strength and contrasts with the prevailing view that no correlation exists between them. So research findings are not only useful to resolve controversies that exists in past research but also lead to conclusions that user participation may contribute towards successful IS development and consequently user satisfaction with IS. Further, the causes of the emergence of unrealistic user expectations are explored and suggestions for future research are made.Government of Pakista

Management Utilization of Computers in American Local Governments

Traditional concepts of management information systems (MIS) bear little relation to the information systems currently in use by top management in most US local governments. What exists is management-oriented computing, involving the use of relatively unsophisticated applications. Despite the unsophisticated nature of these systems, management use of computing is surprisingly common, but also varied in its extent among local governments. Management computing is most prevalent in those governments with professional management practices where top management is supportive of computing and tends to control computing decisions and where department users have less control over design and implementation activities. Finally, management computing clearly has impacts for top managers, mostly involving improvements in decision information. © 1978, ACM. All rights reserved