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J. Daniel Couger

Other affiliations: University of Colorado Boulder
Bio: J. Daniel Couger is an academic researcher from University of Colorado Colorado Springs. The author has contributed to research in topics: Information system & Curriculum. The author has an hindex of 21, co-authored 38 publications receiving 2842 citations. Previous affiliations of J. Daniel Couger include University of Colorado Boulder.

Papers
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Book
14 Nov 1980
TL;DR: In this article, the authors show the manager and worker how to deal with the stumbling blocks to greater productivity unique to the computer industry and encourage self-evaluation on the part of managers and workers to clarify personal and career objectives.
Abstract: From the Publisher: Shows the manager and worker how to deal with the stumbling blocks to greater productivity unique to the computer industry. Explains the characteristic work backlog as the result of increasing system complexity, an increase in the number of systems, high job turnover, greater maintenance costs, and a shortage of qualified personnel. Encourages self-evaluation on the part of managers and workers to clarify personal and career objectives.

305 citations

31 Dec 1997
TL;DR: The IS'97 report as mentioned in this paper is the latest output from model curriculum work for information systems that began in the early 1970s and has matured over a twenty year period, and represents the combined effort of numerous individuals and reflects the interests of thousands of faculty.
Abstract: The IS'97 report is the latest output from model curriculum work for information systems that began in the early 1970s and has matured over a twenty year period. This report represents the combined effort of numerous individuals and reflects the interests of thousands of faculty. It is grounded in the expected requirements of industry and represents the views of organizations employing the graduates. This model curriculum is the first collaborative curriculum effort of the ACM, AIS and AITP (formerly DPMA) societies and is supported by other interested organizations. The draft was reviewed at eleven national and international meetings involving over 1,000 individuals from industry and academia. All aspects of the computing field have had rapid, continuous change. As a result, university-level Information Systems (IS) curricula need frequent updating to remain effective. Since most academic units have mechanisms to maintain currency of curricula, why have professional society curriculum committees? If an IS academic unit were providing graduates solely to local business and government, the input on program contents could be derived from representatives of local organizations that hire the graduates. However, local employment is not the sole objective for undergraduate majors in Information Systems. Students from IS programs accept jobs in widely dispersed geographic areas. Therefore, availability of curriculum models enables local academic units to maintain academic programs that are consistent both with employment needs across the country and with the common body of knowledge of the IS field. The first IS curriculum models were introduced in the early 1970s. This early work was followed by model curricula developed by ACM and DPMA. Details of this history are reviewed in Appendix 2. Professional society curriculum reports serve several other objectives. One important use is to provide a local academic unit with rationale to obtain proper resources to support its program. Often, administration at the local institution is not aware of the resources, course offerings, computing hardware, software, and laboratory resources needed for a viable program. Administration may be unaware of the specialized classroom technology, library resources, or laboratory assistants essential for proper education of IS undergraduates. Finally, administration might not recognize the rapid turnover of knowledge in the field and the need for resources to support constant retooling of faculty. Curriculum reports provide recommendations in these resource areas as well as content for the necessary body of knowledge. They provide important information for local IS academic units to use in securing from their institution the necessary levels of support. The importance of the curriculum effort is based on continuing strong demand for graduates. A strong demand for IS professionals is forecast by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to continue through the year 2005 (Occupational Outlook Quarterly 1993). For example, the forecast increase in demand for system analysts is 110 percent for the period 1992-2005, averaging over 8 percent annually. Of all occupations analyzed, the systems analyst position is projected to have one of the highest demands. The IS field also remains attractive in regard to compensation. In 1993, raises in IS were second highest of all professions, only slightly below engineering (Sullivan-Trainor 1994). These growth and pay level factors indicate undergraduate degrees in IS will continue to be in strong demand over the next decade. In a time of restricted academic budgets, some IS academic departments have been under downsizing pressure from other academic disciplines in their own institutions, citing a decline in employment in central IS organizations. However, there is no lessening in demand for IS knowledge and ability in organizations; to the contrary, the demand is expanding as the functional areas of the organization gain more capability in IS. Many areas of the organization are now hiring IS majors for departmental computing activities. There is also strong demand for the IS minor by students in other disciplines who need IS expertise in order to be effective in their work and to assist in developing applications in their functional area. A third reason that the demand for IS courses will continue to increase is that students in related disciplines want to acquire basic and intermediate IS skills. Every discipline is experiencing growth in computer use, and students who enrich their IS knowledge are at a career advantage.

302 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Six case studies show how analytical techniques and intuitive techniques have been used in several industries to solve a variety of IS-related problems and/or opportunities.
Abstract: The subject of creativity is a neglected area in the literature of the information systems field. Yet, according to a Delphi survey of chief information officers, the field needs to be developing more creative and innovative solutions to its problems. Organizations must first be sure that certain preconditions and organizational components be in place to help individuals and teams become more creative. They can then use numerous creativity improvements techniques that have proved successful in other disciplines. In this article, six case studies show how analytical techniques (progressive abstraction, interrogations, and force field analysis) and intuitive techniques (associations/images, wishful thinking, and analogy/metaphor) have been used in several industries to solve a variety of IS-related problems and/or opportunities. Al told, some 20 creativity techniques provide especially appropriate for the IS field. Once managers understand when and where to use creativity techniques, they can move forward with implementing formal creativity improvement programs in their organizations.

225 citations

01 Jan 1997
TL;DR: The model curriculum provides guidelines, a set of courses, source materials, curriculum design objectives, and knowledge elements, and provides advice to a number of intended users of the report who have a stake in the achievement of quality IS degree programs.
Abstract: IS'97 is a model curriculum for undergraduate degree programs in Information Systems. Information Systems, as an academic field, encompasses two broad areas: (1) acquisition, deployment, and management of information technology resources and services (the information systems function) and (2) development and evolution of technology infrastructures and systems for use in organization processes (system development). The model curriculum provides guidelines, a set of courses, source materials, curriculum design objectives, and knowledge elements. It provides advice to a number of intended users of the report who have a stake in the achievement of quality IS degree programs.

215 citations


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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A review of the organizational and cross-cultural IT literature is provided in order to lend insights into the understanding of the linkages between IT and culture and develops a theory of IT, values, and conflict.
Abstract: An understanding of culture is important to the study of information technologies in that culture at various levels, including national, organizational, and group, can influence the successful implementation and use of information technology. Culture also plays a role in managerial processes that may directly, or indirectly, influence IT. Culture is a challenging variable to research, in part because of the multiple divergent definitions and measures of culture. Notwithstanding, a wide body of literature has emerged that sheds light on the relationship of IT and culture. This paper sets out to provide a review of this literature in order to lend insights into our understanding of the linkages between IT and culture. We begin by conceptualizing culture and laying the groundwork for a values-based approach to the examination of IT and culture. Using this approach, we then provide a comprehensive review of the organizational and cross-cultural IT literature that conceptually links these two traditionally separate streams of research. From our analysis, we develop six themes of IT-culture research emphasizing culture's impact on IT, IT's impact on culture, and IT culture. Building upon these themes, we then develop a theory of IT, values, and conflict. Based upon the theory, we develop propositions concerning three types of cultural conflict and the results of these conflicts. Ultimately, the theory suggests that the reconciliation of these conflicts results in a reorientation of values. We conclude with the particular research challenges posed in this line of inquiry.

1,591 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper provides the rationale for developing a solid literature review including detailed instructions on how to conduct each stage of the process proposed and provides arguments for the value of an effective literature review to IS research.
Abstract: This paper introduces a framework for conducting and writing an effective literature review. The target audience for the framework includes information systems (IS) doctoral students, novice IS researchers, and other IS researchers who are constantly struggling with the development of an effective literature-based foundation for a proposed research. The proposed framework follows the systematic data processing approach comprised of three major stages: 1) inputs (literature gathering and screening), 2) processing (following Bloom’s Taxonomy), and 3) outputs (writing the literature review). This paper provides the rationale for developing a solid literature review including detailed instructions on how to conduct each stage of the process proposed. The paper concludes by providing arguments for the value of an effective literature review to IS research.

1,344 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This study compares the TAM model across three different countries: Japan; Switzerland; and the United States, and indicates that TAM holds for both the U.S. and Switzerland, but not for Japan, suggesting that the model may not predict technology use across all cultures.

1,219 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper developed an IS design theory for EKP support systems, which makes the development process more tractable for developers by restricting the range of effective features and therange of effective development practices to a more manageable set.
Abstract: This paper addresses the design problem of providing IT support for emerging knowledge processes (EKPs). EKPs are organizational activity patterns that exhibit three characteristics in combination: an emergent process of deliberations with no best structure or sequence; requirements for knowledge that are complex (both general and situational), distributed across people, and evolving dynamically; and an actor set that is unpredictable in terms of job roles or prior knowledge. Examples of EKPs include basic research, new product development, strategic business planning, and organization design. EKPs differ qualitatively from semi-structured decision making processes; therefore, they have unique requirements that are not all thoroughly supported by familiar classes of systems, such as executive information systems, expert systems, electronic communication systems, organizational memory systems, or repositories. Further, the development literature on familiar classes of systems does not provide adequate guidance on how to build systems that support EKPs. Consequently, EKPs require a new IS design theory, as explicated by Walls et al. (1992). We created such a theory while designing and deploying a system for the EKP of organization design. The system was demonstrated through subsequent empirical analysis to be successful in supporting the process. Abstracting from the experience of building this system, we developed an IS design theory for EKP support systems. This new IS design theory is an important theoretical contribution, because it both provides guidance to developers and sets an agenda for academic research. EKP design theory makes the development process more tractable for developers by restricting the range of effective features (or rules for selecting features) and the range of effective development practices to a more manageable set. EKP design theory also sets an agenda for academic research by articulating theory-based principles that are subject to empirical, as well as practical, validation.

1,195 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a general framework for classifying and examining survey research and uses this framework to analyze the usage of survey research conducted in the past decade in the MIS field.
Abstract: Survey research is believed to be well understood and applied by management information systems (MIS) scholars. It has been applied for several years and it has precise procedures which, when followed closely, yield valid and easily interpretable data. Our assessment of the use of survey research in the MIS field between 1980 and 1990 indicates that this perception is at odds with reality. Our analysis indicates that survey methodology is often misapplied and is plagued by five important weaknesses: (1) single-method designs where multiple methods are needed, (2) unsystematic and often inadequate sampling procedures, (3) low response rates, (4) weak linkages between units of analysis and respondents, and (5) overreliance on cross-sectional surveys where longitudinal surveys are really needed. Our assessment also shows that the quality of survey research varies considerably among studies of different purposes: explanatory studies are of good quality overall, exploratory and descriptive studies are of moderate to poor quality. This article presents a general framework for classifying and examining survey research and uses this framework to analyze the usage of survey research conducted in the past decade in the MIS field. In an effort to improve the quality of survey research, this article makes specific recommenoations that directly address the major problems highlighted in the review.

1,185 citations