Galleta, Dennis

Wetherbe, James C.

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Association for Information SystemsAIS Electronic Library (AISeL)ICIS 1981 Proceedings International Conference on Information Systems(ICIS)1981Information Systems and the Public Sector andMeasurement in Information SystemsDennis GalletaUniversity of MinnesotaJames C. WetherbeUniversity of MinnesotaFollow this and additional works at: http://aisel.aisnet.org/icis1981This 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 1981 Proceedings by an authorized administrator of AIS Electronic Library (AISeL). For more information, please contactelibrary@aisnet.org.Recommended CitationGalleta, Dennis and Wetherbe, James C., "Information Systems and the Public Sector and Measurement in Information Systems"(1981). ICIS 1981 Proceedings. 15.http://aisel.aisnet.org/icis1981/15Information Systems and the Public Sector andMeasurement in Information SystemsDennis GallettaDepartment of Management SciencesUniversity of MinnesotaJames C. WetherbeDepartment of Management SciencesUniversity of MinnesotaTwo important Information Systems topics Joyce Glasser's papers, "Organizationalare addressed in the papers in this section: Aspects of System Failure: A Case Studythe Public Sector and Measurement. Each at the Los Angeles Police Department,"of these areas has been neglected in the discusses the Pattern Recognition andMIS literature in the past. The public Information Correlation System (PATRIC)sector track will be concerned with global which was to be an aid to detectives inpolitical issues as well as specific case solving crimes. This case study depictsanalysis. The measurement track wil I be how important technologicl improvementsoriented to information value theory, are actually better off ignored i f success inmeasurement framework development, and expensive implementation cannot be guar-definition of task representation. anteed.The system was discarded due to socio-political issues before becoming fully oper-ational. Variables that were ignored inINFORMATION SYSTEMS AND THE implementation include the political envi-PUBLIC SECTOR ronment of the police department, inade-quacy of the existing data structures andRob Kling and Kenneth L. Kraemer's paper, processes, integration costs and diffi-"The Political Character of Computing culties, and the importance of trained per-Developments: Citizen's Interests and sonnel. The role of PATRIC was misunder-Government Services," directly addresses stood, and inadequate staffing further con-political issues in the public sector. The fused the parties involved.concept of managerial rationalism predictsvastly different computing usage than doesreinforcement politics. MEASUREMENT IN INFORMATIONSYSTEMSData from over 700 city and county Michael E. Treacy's paper, "Toward agovernments in the United States were Behaviorally Grounded Theory of Informa-collected to determine which perspective tion Value," provides insight into economicmore closely reflects actual practice. The information models. Faulty previousdata show a general support for "prevai I ing assumptions are examined, and modifica-community biases" of basic needs, effi- tions are made to five areas: the decisionciency, and law enforcement. Also, biases process, human judgment under uncer-of reform administrators are wei I served. tainty, the choice of actions, multipleBased upon the data, the political model is information signal resolution, and multipleapparently more accurate. decisions over time.229Each area of modification is discussed. An example of application of the measure-Basic alterations to assumptions do not ment method in a Mutual Savings Banklead to abandonment of existing theories of situation i I lustrates the properties.information evaluation. Rather, they lead Results from this example are encouraging.to a contingency use of evaluationtheories. In this way, no "universal" theory Richard D. Hackathorn and Robert A.is force-fit into a given situation. A Fetter's paper, "Toward a Formal Defini-"tailored" set of theories fitted to the tion of Task Representation," is concernedsitaution is much more useful. with formalizing a language for describingdecision making tasks, in light of knowl-Jon A. Turner's paper, "A Method for edge representation research. They illus-Measuring Some Properties of Information trate the large gap between theoreticalSystems," offers field study researchers a and actual business practice; order andscheme for representing system properties rationality are presently very rare.and sharing system measurement. The Ambiguity in decision situations causes thismeasurement framework is separated into gap, and task representation can lead toproperties of: processing organization, greater understanding of these situations.technical complexity, organizational com-plexity, functional completeness, and type. Simple Associative Networks (SAN) areproposed as a graphic tool for representa-Processing organization is concerned with tion of organizational activity. Four SANwork flows. Technical complexity is a levels (implementation, logical, epistemo-measure of size and structure. Functional logical, and conceptual)are described, andcompleteness is the degree to which the the notation is introduced. Complexity issystem includes applications for the users. handled by using a Petri Net approach.Organizational complexity deals with theuser environment. System type is con- Collectively these papers provide excellentcerned with actual processing functions that foundations for two research areas thatare performed. deserve more attention and effort.230

Information Systems and the Public Sector and Measurement in Information Systems

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Information Systems and the Public Sector and Measurement in Information Systems

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