Elam, Joyce J.

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Association for Information SystemsAIS Electronic Library (AISeL)ICIS 1990 Proceedings International Conference on Information Systems(ICIS)1990PANEL 4 EXECUTIVE INFORMATIONSYSTEMS: ASSESSING IMPACTS ANDVALUEJoyce J. ElamFlorida International University, USAFollow this and additional works at: http://aisel.aisnet.org/icis1990This material is brought to you by the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS) at AIS Electronic Library (AISeL). It has been acceptedfor inclusion in ICIS 1990 Proceedings by an authorized administrator of AIS Electronic Library (AISeL). For more information, please contactelibrary@aisnet.org.Recommended CitationElam, Joyce J., "PANEL 4 EXECUTIVE INFORMATION SYSTEMS: ASSESSING IMPACTS AND VALUE" (1990). ICIS 1990Proceedings. 22.http://aisel.aisnet.org/icis1990/22PANEL 4EXECUTIVE INFORMATION SYSTEMS: ASSESSINGIMPACTS AND VALUEPanel Chair: Joyce J. Elam, Florida International University, USAPanelists: Tom Clark, Florida State University, ISAHisham El Sherif, The American University in Cairo and Information and Decision SupportCenter, Cabinet of Egypt, EgyptJack Rockart, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USAStrategic decisions have enormous impacts on organizations and a long line of organizational research has focused onunderstanding how information is used to support and enhance strategic decision making. Executive Information Systems(EIS) emerged in the 1980s as a vehicle that could deliver the right type of information in the right way to executives soas to improve their overall decision making. Executive Information Systems have caught hold in many industries andtheir use is projected to grow significantly in the next few years.The major issue that this panel will address concerns the impacts and value that organizations adopting EIS can expectto gain from their use. Clearly, these impacts and value will not be uniform across organizations. In the first part ofthe panel discussion, the panel will describe situations where the impacts and value have been significant and otherswhere the value of an EIS is questionable.Dr. Jack Rockart and Dr. Hisham El Sherif will describe situations where the impacts and value of EIS have been high.Dr. Rockart is an acknowledged expert in the area of Executive Information Systems and an advocate of their use.Based on his extensive research in this area, Dr. Rockart will present overwhelming evidence that the use of an EIS canprovide real value to organizations. Dr. El Sherif has managed the design and delivery of information and decisionsupport systems for the Cabinet of Egypt. These systems were implemented to provide enhanced support for thestrategic decision making process of the Cabinet and its Ministerial Committee. Dr. El Sherif estimates the cumulativeleverage that the set of systems has provided to be at least in the tens and possibly in the hundreds of millions of dollars.Dr. Tom Clark and Dr. Joyce Elam will describe situations where the impacts and value of EIS are not so evident. Dr.Clark will discuss his recent work on measuring the value of information in decision making within a particular industrysetting which calls into question the overall benefit of an EIS. Using a detailed simulation model of the canning industry,Dr. Clark found that more accurate and explicit information at the strategic decision making level actually resulted inworse performance than ambiguous and inexplicit forms of information. Only at the middle and operational levels did"better' information result in better performance. Dr. Elam will discuss the results on EIS value she found in a studyof the use of advanced information technologies by senior executives in the banking industry. Some executives hadadopted EIS as a very valuable managerial tool which others saw the use of an EIS as providing no additional valuewhatsoever.In the second part of the panel discussion, the panel will try to reconcile the conflicting evidence on the impacts andvalue of EIS. The topics that will be addressed by the panel include:• the source of EIS value;• the critical set of underlying organizational factors that must be considered when assessing potential impactsand value such as perceived time pressure to act, nature of competitive environment, decision making style ofthe organization, and values and cognitive biases of upper management; and• the theories of organizational design and decision making that can aid in the analyses of the impacts and valuethat EIS can have when used by top management.310FORMAT OF PANEL PRESENTATIONSThe members of the panel represent different schools with different educational philosophies, student bodies andeducational goals. Each panel member will make a short presentation1) describing the objectives, environment, content and pedagogy of their own core course with particular attentionto the goals listed above;2) evaluating their course with respect to the three objectives mentioned above and providing guidance on topicsand pedagogical approaches that have worked or failed to work in the past; and3) discussing future directions for the core course, paying particular attention to the role of the core course in theoverall MBA curriculum.The chair will also present some statistics related to the status of the MBA core course in business schools.309

PANEL 4 EXECUTIVE INFORMATION SYSTEMS: ASSESSING IMPACTS AND VALUE

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PANEL 4 EXECUTIVE INFORMATION SYSTEMS: ASSESSING IMPACTS AND VALUE

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