CASE TECHNOLOGY AS A MEDIATING FACTOR IN ANALYST AND PROGRAMMER JOB OUTCOMES

Information Systems Working Papers Serie

IOS ASSIMILATION STRATEGIES: AN EMPIRICAL APPRAISAL

Interorganizational information systems (IOS) are increasingly relied on to facilitate the electronic exchange of data among organizations. Though substantive progress by the research community toward understanding IOS technology has been made, one unattended issue is understanding more fully the efficacy of alternative management strategies for assimilating IOS into organizational processes. Referred to here as IOS assimilation strategies, these strategies may offer to management useful alternatives for planning for and proceeding with IOS implementation. Conceptually based on Keen's (1991) notions of "reach" and "range" regarding organizations' computing infrastructure, two IOS Assimilation Strategies are tested for their comparative effects on three efficiency and six effectiveness measures. The empirical results, based on data from forty-eight organizations of the Group Insurance industry and the nonparametric Friedman test for significance testing, indicate that a significantly different ranking on the efficiency measures occurs across groups inhering varying strengths of IOS use pursuant to the alternative IOS Assimilation Strategies. The results suggest that greater efficiency gains may obtain by pursuing a strategy to extend IOS range over IOS reach. Consequently, management is advised to weigh carefully which IOS benefits, in terms of efficiency and effectiveness, are more important for substantiating IOS investments, and to make decisions regarding IOS implementation accordingly.Information Systems Working Papers Serie

A DISCREPANCY-BASED MEASUREMENT APPROACH FOR DATA INTEGRATION

This paper presents a measurement instrument for diagnosing the level of data integration at the organization and organization subunit levels. Incorporating consideration for specific theoretical properties related to data integration into its design, the measurement instrument relies on a discrepancy (or gap) measure to adequately account for these properties. Data from forty-eight organizations of the Group Insurance industry are used to test the reliability and validity of the measurement instrument. The results suggest that the discrepancy measure, based on the difference between respondents' ideal (i.e. normative) and actual estimates of data integration, appears to be a valid indicator of data integration. However the efficacy of using a discrepancy measure, over the simpler use of its parts, must be considered in light of practical and theoretical considerations.Information Systems Working Papers Serie

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN THE INFORMATION SYSTEMS MANAGERIAL RANKS: AN ASSESSMENT OF DISCRIMINATORY PRACTICES

This paper examines the extent to which gender discrimination is a force effecting the senior managerial ranks of the information systems (IS) occupation. While the employment trends of women in the IS occupation is encouraging, we present data which suggests that IS is not immune to the problems of gender discrimination. Analyzing data gathered by the Society for Information Management (SIM), we find several serious problems suggestive of discriminatory practices. First, a disproportionate majority of senior IS management is male. Second, women receive lower salaries than men even when controlling for age, education, job level and tenure within the organization.Information Systems Working Papers Serie

AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION INTO INTERORGANIZATIONAL SYSTEMS INTEGRATION, AND ORGANIZATION PERFORMANCE IN THE GROUP INSURANCE INDUSTRY

Interorganizational Systems (10s) are increasingly used to support exchange of business documents in many industries. Though clear improvements in organization performance are forthcoming in many cases, the research evidence is based largely on anecdotes and suggests that performance improvements may not be uniformly attained across organizations. Though integration of IOS with internal systems is recommended, the affects afforded through integration remain largely unexplored. This research study formulates a theoretical model of the complex interplay of relationships among IOS Usage, Systems Integration and Organization Performance, and tests the model's validity using a dataset of 48 organizations in the Group Insurance industry. The mode1 recognizes two conceptually distinct ways in which IOS may be used more intensively, includes two notions of systems integration which are argued to differentially affect the organization performance advantages, and uses a multidimensional organization performance construct to more adequately reflect the diversity of anticipated organization performance impacts presumed to extend from IOS use. The results are mixed in terms of direct organization performance impacts, and suggest that both notions of integration play a key role in facilitating attainment of the organization performance advantages.Information Systems Working Papers Serie

AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION INTO INTERORGANIZATIONAL SYSTEMS INTEGRATION, AND ORGANIZATION PERFORMANCE IN THE GROUP INSURANCE INDUSTRY

Interorganizational Systems (10s) are increasingly used to support exchange of business documents in many industries. Though clear improvements in organization performance are forthcoming in many cases, the research evidence is based largely on anecdotes and suggests that performance improvements may not be uniformly attained across organizations. Though integration of IOS with internal systems is recommended, the affects afforded through integration remain largely unexplored. This research study formulates a theoretical model of the complex interplay of relationships among IOS Usage, Systems Integration and Organization Performance, and tests the model's validity using a dataset of 48 organizations in the Group Insurance industry. The mode1 recognizes two conceptually distinct ways in which IOS may be used more intensively, includes two notions of systems integration which are argued to differentially affect the organization performance advantages, and uses a multidimensional organization performance construct to more adequately reflect the diversity of anticipated organization performance impacts presumed to extend from IOS use. The results are mixed in terms of direct organization performance impacts, and suggest that both notions of integration play a key role in facilitating attainment of the organization performance advantages.Information Systems Working Papers Serie

CASE TECHNOLOGY AS A MEDIATING FACTOR IN ANALYST AND PROGRAMMER JOB OUTCOMES

Information Systems Working Papers Serie

IOS ASSIMILATION STRATEGIES: AN EMPIRICAL APPRAISAL

Interorganizational information systems (IOS) are increasingly relied on to facilitate the electronic exchange of data among organizations. Though substantive progress by the research community toward understanding IOS technology has been made, one unattended issue is understanding more fully the efficacy of alternative management strategies for assimilating IOS into organizational processes. Referred to here as IOS assimilation strategies, these strategies may offer to management useful alternatives for planning for and proceeding with IOS implementation. Conceptually based on Keen's (1991) notions of "reach" and "range" regarding organizations' computing infrastructure, two IOS Assimilation Strategies are tested for their comparative effects on three efficiency and six effectiveness measures. The empirical results, based on data from forty-eight organizations of the Group Insurance industry and the nonparametric Friedman test for significance testing, indicate that a significantly different ranking on the efficiency measures occurs across groups inhering varying strengths of IOS use pursuant to the alternative IOS Assimilation Strategies. The results suggest that greater efficiency gains may obtain by pursuing a strategy to extend IOS range over IOS reach. Consequently, management is advised to weigh carefully which IOS benefits, in terms of efficiency and effectiveness, are more important for substantiating IOS investments, and to make decisions regarding IOS implementation accordingly.Information Systems Working Papers Serie

REENGINEERING: A FRAMEWORK FOR EVALUATION AND CASE STUDY OF AN IMAGING SYSTEM

Reengineering or business process redesign has become very popular. This paper presents a framework for comparing and evaluating reengineering efforts. The framework is applied to a case study of the reengineering of the securities processing function at Merrill Lynch. The paper compares the old and new process at Merrill. The new process features image capture, character recognition and extensive redesign. The reengineering effort has had a substantial payback for the firm.Information Systems Working Papers Serie

RE-ENGINEERING: A FRAMEWORK FOR ANALYSIS AND CASE STUDY OF AN IMAGING SYSTEM

Re-engineering or business process redesign has become very popular. This paper presents a clear description of re-engineering and contrasts it with incremental change in systems. The paper also develops a framework for comparing two related systems. The framework is applied to a case study of the re-engineering of the Merrill Lynch Securities Processing System. This system features image processing, character recognition and extensive process redesign. The re-engineering effort has had a substantial impact on the firm.Information Systems Working Papers Serie