Showing papers in "Management Information Systems Quarterly in 1990"
TL;DR: Findings from a series of studies that examine the influence of a novice's learning style in learning typical EUC tools such as spreadsheets and electronic mail suggest that learning modes is an important predictor of learning performance, both by itself and in interaction with training methods.
Abstract: The importance of effective training in ensuring the success of end-user computing (EUC) has been emphasized by several researchers in information systems. A vast amount of evidence from research in related areas such as educational psychology suggests that individual differences, such as learning style, may affect users learning about a new EUC software package. This article reports the findings of a series of studies that examine the influence of a novice's learning style in learning typical EUC tools such as spreadsheets and electronic mail. A consistent pattern of findings emerges that indicates that learning modes is an important predictor of learning performance, both by itself and in interaction with training methods. The findings suggest that in the design of training, it is essential to match training methods to individual difference variables. Based on these findings, guidelines are recommended for IS professionals involved in EUC training and further research directions are discussed.
478 citations
TL;DR: This study examines the influence of anonymity on group process in groups using a group decision support system (GDSS) with an idea-generating task and finds group members whose contributions were anonymous generated more comments, were more critical and probing, and were more likely to embellish ideas proposed by others.
Abstract: This study examines the influence of anonymity on group process in groups using a group decision support system (GDSS) with an idea-generating task. Group members whose contributions were anonymous generated more comments, were more critical and probing, and were more likely to embellish ideas proposed by others than were those whose contributions were identified by name. Implications for group support research are discussed.
387 citations
TL;DR: Results of the study suggest that purposeful detection of abuse incidents is used less than other methods of discovering abuse and that certain perpetrators are able to hide their identities and abusive activities.
Abstract: As information systems (IS) managers and computer security administrators attempt to address what may be a serious and persistent problem of computer abuse in organizations, two important aspects must be considered: discovery of abuse incidents and discipline of perpetrators. This field study examines how IS managers address these two activities.Data for the study were gathered using victimization surveys of 1,063 randomly selected members of the DPMA (Data Processing Management Association). Results of the study suggest that purposeful detection of abuse incidents is used less than other methods of discovering abuse. Furthermore, the results show that certain perpetrators are able to hide their identities and abusive activities. Based on these results, the study conclusions present a model that shows how security efforts should be managed in terms of security effort allocations and disciplinary actions.
361 citations
TL;DR: The implementation of EMS at IBM in an alliance with the University of Arizona is described and the lessons learned and success factors at IBM can assist managers in effectively introducing EMS to their organizations.
Abstract: Businesses of the future will rely more than ever on the work of teams. Making better use of the team times spend in meetings will be a high priority, as will being able to adapt rapidly to change. Electronic meeting systems (EMS), which apply information technology to support the meeting process, can help accomplish these goals. This paper describes and discusses the implementation of EMS at IBM in an alliance with the University of Arizona. During the past three years, the project has grown from initial support for a single site to 33 IBM sites, with more on the way. Over 15,000 people have used the ever-expanding and evolving EMS tool kit. Use of EMS has improved group performance by an average of 55 percent, with even more dramatic reductions in project calendar time. The lessons learned and success factors at IBM can assist managers in effectively introducing EMS to their organizations.
266 citations
TL;DR: This paper describes the architecture that emerged and reviews its current status and identifies the principles upon which the architecture is being created and reviews what has been learned to date in the process of implementing the architecture.
Abstract: Star Enterprise is a joint venture partnership between Texaco Inc. and the Saudi Arabian Oil Company. Created in 1988, it became fully operational on January 1, 1989. This new organization inherited staff, facilities, and information resources existing within Texaco Inc. at the time of formation. A significant opportunity for the new organization was to create a new Enterprise Information Technology Architecture to support business functions and management decision making. While this venture was an opportunity, it was also a challenge because of the existing information technology that was comprised of incompatible hardware and nonintegrated systems. This paper describes the architecture that emerged and reviews its current status. Two major contributions of the paper are to identify the principles upon which the architecture is being created and to review what has been learned to date in the process of implementing the architecture.
249 citations
TL;DR: A critical review of the literature is reported, using an interactional psychology framework, which represents a more comprehensive approach incorporating organizational, work group, and job factors that affect individual adjustment.
Abstract: Little is currently known about the process of individual adjustment to information technology innovations. This article reports the results of a critical review of the literature, using an interactional psychology framework. In the past, researchers have focused on the limited themes of stress and attitudes. The indicators of individual adjustment emphasized in past research are strain symptoms and general job satisfaction. The proposed interactional framework represents a more comprehensive approach incorporating organizational, work group, and job factors that affect individual adjustment. The range of individual adjustment indicators should be broadened to include facets of satisfaction, organizational commitment, job involvement, and performance. By adopting this framework and refining the process used by researchers in studying individual adjustment, a better match between research issues and problems faced by managers will be achieved.
223 citations
157 citations
TL;DR: This study shows that use of XCON increased the information processing capacity of the organization and altered the local execution of the configuration task and provided for a company-wide shift in the process of configuring.
Abstract: This article presents a new and different perspective on a familiar story. XCON, Digital Equipment Corporation’s (Digital) expert system for configuring PDP and VAX computers, is a well-known commercial expert system. However, much of what has been written about XCON has been from either a technical or development perspective. In a different vein, this research examines how the use of XCON changed the task (configuration) it was designed to support, how it altered the roles and responsibilities of the technical editors (the individuals who performed configuration), and how the system helped eliminate an entire step in the company’s manufacturing process, thereby saving Digital an estimated $15 million. Drawing upon the concepts of organizational information processing, as operationalized by Jay Galbraith, this study shows that use of XCON increased the information processing capacity of the organization. Moreover, the system altered the local execution of the configuration task and provided for a company-wide shift in the process of configuring. XCON allowed a more centralized, controlled, and detailed application of configuration knowledge. This augmented knowledge application and had the benefit of supporting Digital’s product strategy. The main drawback was an increased need to commit resources to ongoing maintenance of the evolving XCON system.
153 citations
TL;DR: The legal status of information in its electronic forms of programs and data and the rights of individuals to keep private some information about themselves is not clearly defined in the current patchwork of old and new legislation on computer-based information as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The legal status of information in its electronic forms of programs and data and the rights of individuals to keep private some information about themselves is not clearly defined in the current patchwork of old and new legislation on computer-based information. As information usage in organizations increases, there is a need to minimize the information liabilities of managers and their organizations. This article identifies key issues, reviews relevant laws, and highlights implications for information managers. The discussion centers on the protection of inteflectual property rights concerning programs and data and the protection of individual rights to privacy of information stored in computer-based systems. Specific methods can help an organization establishing satisfactory legal posture to deal with these issues.
142 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors identify the important factors for the strategic use of information systems technology (IST) by examining the multifaceted role of IST in the healthcare context and propose three propositions from re-examining a variety of successful IST applications both within and outside healthcare organizations, re-applying the integration concept from the literature, and examining field experiences in the Healthcare industry.
Abstract: The potential use of information systems technology (IST) as a competitive weapon has been of enormous interest to many academic scholars and practitioners. However, the importance of identifying factors that organizations must deal with in the process of achieving IST competitive advantages has received inadequate research attention. This article attempts to identify these important factors for the strategic use of IST by examining the multifaceted role of IST in the healthcare context. Three propositions are developed from (1) re-examining a variety of successful IST applications both within and outside healthcare organizations, (2) re-applying the integration concept from the literature, and (3) examining field experiences in the healthcare industry. These propositions should serve as a basis for future empirical investigations into IST strategic applications.
139 citations
TL;DR: The study examines the relationships among some of the key features of the information center in its support role and reports on user satisfaction, and suggests that the number of information center employees, theNumber of databases, and the numberof software tools provided to user are negatively correlated with the user satisfaction.
Abstract: During the past decade, end-user computing has been subject to several research efforts. One result is common to nearly all of the studies on that topic: the importance of providing support to users. Descriptive studies have identified this result as a major issue; critical success factor studies have reported it as a key element, and models of factors of success have found that it is significantly related to user satisfaction with end-user computing. This article reports the results of a study that further investigates user support, in the particular context of the information center. The study examines the relationships among some of the key features of the information center in its support role and reports on user satisfaction. The results are based on the data provided by 172 users and 19 information center managers in 19 organizations. Analysis fo the data suggests that the number of information center employees, the number of databases, and the number of software tools provided to user are negatively correlated with the user satisfaction, while the proximity of the information center, the diversity of services offered, and the proportion of the information systems budget devoted to the information center are positively related with the various dimensions of user satisfaction.
TL;DR: The experience reported here highlights how commitment from top management is a primary factor for EIS success in the public sector, even more so than in the private sector.
Abstract: Advances in the development of executive information systems (EIS) have predominantly occurred in the private sector, with far less progress taking place in the public sector. Surely, the need for EIS in the public sector exists. Despite problems of EIS development in the public sector, successful systems can be built. This paper explores the differences between public and private systems and describes an EIS developed for a large agency of the New York state government. The system is being used in different and creative ways, leading to a change in the organization's culture, with implicit and explicit impact on the focus of the organization and its measurement systems. A key feature of the system is its very low development cost. Sensitivity to cost and risk inhibits development in public agencies, and in the private sector as well. The approach described includes the use of standard, easily available programming and software tools for development and prototyping with live data. An iterative process was employed to develop new data where no previously existed. The experience reported here highlights how commitment from top management is a primary factor for EIS success in the public sector, even more so than in the private sector.
TL;DR: The implementation experience confirmed that applying the reusability concept to all stages of the system's life cycle results in both strategic (e.g., improving programmer productivity and increasing the bank's capacity for timely response to market opportunities) and operational benefits.
Abstract: This paper describes the experience of a large bank in designing and implementing an information systems strategy that is based on the concept of reusability. The design and implementation was performed in two stages: (1) building a prototype to investigate the feasability and attractiveness of reusability concept for the bank; and (2) its subsequent implementation using a library of reusable entities and a programmer's workbench. The implementation experience confirmed that applying the reusability concept to all stages of the system's life cycle results in both strategic (e.g., improving programmer productivity and increasing the bank's capacity for timely response to market opportunities) and operational (e.g., reducing and controlling system development and maintenance costs) benefits. It is estimated that the library of reusable entities embedded within the programmer workbench saved the bank over $1.5 million in development costs in 1989 alone. Two of the most important lessons learned in implementing the reusability-based strategy are: (1) reusability comes in many flavors and should be applied to all stages of systems life cycle; and (2) major challenges in implementing the reusability-based strategy are managerial, not technical.
TL;DR: Intelligent interface requirements for knowledge presentation in an expert system used for diagnostic problem solving show that high-skill users perform significantly faster and more accurately when solving the problems and have self-reported confidence ratings that are higher than those of low- skill users.
Abstract: This research evaluates intelligent interface requirements for knowledge presentation in an expert system used for diagnostic problem solving. In a field study, interactions between employee expertise, knowledge presentation format (procedural vs. declarative), question type (requiring abstract vs. concrete knowledge organization), and task uncertainty are examined for employee problem-solving and decision-making performance (speed and accuracy). Also evaluated are confidence in system recommendations and lines-of-reasoning, as well as user satisfaction with the system interface. The study provides findings that are discussed within the context of intelligent interface requirements for organizational information systems. The results show that high-skill users perform significantly faster and more accurately when solving the problems and have self-reported confidence ratings that are higher than those of low-skill users. The expert system, however, has a greater impact on improving performance for low-skill users than for high-skill users. A relationship is found between skill level and task uncertainty indicating that different skill-level users require different presentation formats paralleling their conceptual representations of the problem. The interaction between skill level and knowledge organization is confirmed with results showing that low-skill users perform faster than high-skill users on questions requiring concrete knowledge organization; whereas high-skill users perform better when presented with questions requiring abstract knowledge organization.
TL;DR: The purpose of this field study was to learn more about the experiences of managers in introducing information technology in organizations, and found that U.S. and Irish managers see things much the same way.
Abstract: The purpose of this field study was to learn more about the experiences of managers in introducing information technology in organizations. Three viewpoints were chosen: the chief executive officer, the senior functional manager and the IT manager. It was hoped that the following questions would be answered: Do these three groups of managers experience the same issues? If so, in what ways do they view these issues differently? Do managers in Ireland experience the same issues as their counterparts in the United States? Data were gathered through personal interviews with managers in 49 organizations in Ireland. The firms represented a wide range of industrial sectors. The three groups of managers all frequently raised the same set of eleven organizational issues but had major differences in perspective on a number of these issues. IT managers identified a further six issues, which are mainly technical in nature. A comparison of these findings with those of earlier studies suggests that U.S. and Irish managers see things much the same way. These findings should be of practical value for IT planning and review exercises and for organizational development programs.
TL;DR: Through a case study of a chemical manufacturer, the investigation reported in this article facilitates a better understanding of the management of the cost estimating process.
Abstract: Information systems cost estimating is an important management concern. An estimate helps to costjustify individual proposals, to schedule their development, to staff them, to control and monitor theirprogress, and to evaluate estimators and implementers. Through a case study of a chemical manufacturer, the investigation reported in this article facilitates a better understanding of the management of the cost estimating process. Interviews with 17 information systems managers and staff members, and four user managers confirm that the practice of cost estimating can be viewed in terms of both a Rational Model and a Political Model, can identify impediments to accurate estimating, and can provide suggestions and warnings for managers and future researchers.
TL;DR: TELCOT, a computer-based system developed by PCCA, provides cotton traders with functions much like those available to NYSE or AMEX traders, and transformed P CCA from a small cotton merchant to a major cotton broker.
Abstract: This paper describes the strategic use of information technology by the Plains Cotton Cooperative Association (PCCA). TELCOT, a computer-based system developed by PCCA, provides cotton traders with functions much like those available to NYSE or AMEX traders. TELCOT transformed PCCA from a small cotton merchant to a major cotton broker. Handing 115,000 to 240,000 computer transactions per day, TELCOT provides over 20,000 cotton producers, 40 buyers, and 200 gin operators with an electronic marketing service that has helped PCCA grow from a $50 million to a $500 million enterprise in just 15 years.
TL;DR: This research has provided evidence that the system has been very effective in reducing vessel accidents-the objective performance criterion-on the lower Mississippi River, and IS managers should consider this method of evaluation as a means of increasing information management credibility.
Abstract: System performance measurement often is conducted using subjective method, such as self-reporting of utilization, or surrogate measures, such as user satisfaction. High system utilization or high user satisfaction provides no guarantee of high performance. This study reports initial research relating system utilization, measured as a continuous and independent variable, with an objective measure of system performance. The usage or participation rate of the New Orleans Vessel Traffic Service was correlated with its performance criterion of vessel safety, operationalized as the number of marine accidents. The evaluation model reported in this research employed utilization as an independent variable in the regression equation. This utilization measure was inversely correlated with vessel accidents-increases in DSS utilization were associated with reductions in marine casualties, assuming fixed levels of the other explanatory variables. This research has provided evidence that the system has been very effective in reducing vessel accidents-the objective performance criterion-on the lower Mississippi River. IS managers should consider this method of evaluation as a means of increasing information management credibility.
TL;DR: It is demonstrated that bias detection does not increase significantly with bias magnitude or specific detection instructions, two often-suggested detection factors, and bias detectors do, however, employ more effective misinformation search and verification strategies than non-detectors.
Abstract: Powers-of-ten information biases arise when recurring numeric information is consistently inflated or deflated by a power of ten. Such biases are difficult to detect because the information stream is internally consistent and external verification is impeded. This study confirms earlier findings that information bias detection rates are low. It extends those findings by demonstrating that bias detection does not increase significantly with bias magnitude or specific detection instructions, two often-suggested detection factors. Bias detectors do, however, employ more effective misinformation search and verification strategies than non-detectors. Therefore, IS research should investigate other strategies as well as the possibility that information biases contribute to poor decisions and dissatisfaction with information systems.
TL;DR: An overview of software reusability research suggests that the traditional approach to software development is inappropriate for the development of reusable software parts and an asset-based systems development method is needed.
Abstract: Software reusability has been viewed as one of the major opportunity areas for improving software productivity. An overview of software reusability research suggests that the traditionalapproach to software development is inappropriate for the development of reusable software parts. An organizational strategy for making software reusability practical is needed. An asset-based systems development method, based on this strategy, focuses on the development of information assets designed to be reused. It also facilitates identifying, representing, and classifying information assets.
TL;DR: A framework is presented that traces the development of a product, legal issues related to the development, and normative measures that organizations can take to forestall possible legal calamities.
Abstract: The development of expert systems has changed dramatically in recent years based largely on concepts dealing with artificial intelligence. These efforts are evolving from very specific, academically oriented efforts, such as medical diagnosis, to more managerially oriented corporate issues. Unfortunately, many proponents of these systems may be overlooking possible legal ramifications related to both the development and use of these systems. A major issue concerns the establishment of liability for the decisions and recommendations made by expert systems. Some liabilities could include product liability and negligence. All individuals involved with expert systems (knowledge engineers, domain experts, and users) are potentially subject to legal scrutiny. It behooves organizations involved in these systems to investigate potential legal problems concerning them. As these systems become more pervasive, courts may look upon them for what they are: systems of knowledge and experience, not simply passive computer software. A framework is presented that traces the development of a product, legal issues related to the development, and normative measures that organizations can take to forestall possible legal calamities.
Journal Article•
TL;DR: An asset-based system development method, based on this strategy, focuses on the development of information assets designed to be reused and facilitates identifying, representing, and classifying information assets.
Abstract: Software reusability has been viewed as one of the major opportunity areas for improving software productivity. An overview of software reusability research suggests that the traditionalapproach to software development is inappropriate for the development of reusable software parts. An organizational strategy for making software reusability practical is needed. An asset-based systems development method, based on this strategy, focuses on the development of information assets designed to be reused. It also facilitates identifying, representing, and classifying information assets.
TL;DR: The network successfully addressed such problems as developing effective data networking policies, network sizing in a multi-vendor environment, sharing excess information system capacity, centralizing the network while keeping the information systems decentralized, and overcoming the "not controlled here" syndrom.
Abstract: A growing problem for many organization sis spiraling telecommunications costs coupled with the need to respond faster to changing market conditions To handle such a situation, TRW's Space and Defense Sector management authorized a new integrated voice and data digital network for 20,000 employees located in 65 buildings TRW's top management saw the network as an opportunity to integrate the company's islands of information, which were isolated within separate data networks The project took four and one half years from design to implementation at a cost of $45 million The management techniques employed resulted in critical milestones being met not only on time but also 10 percent under the original budget The new network provided a single access mechanism that resulted in some unanticipated advantages that went beyond the original goals of fast response and cost containment The network successfully addressed such problems as developing effective data networking policies, network sizing in a multi-vendor environment, sharing excess information system capacity, centralizing the network while keeping the information systems decentralized, and overcoming the "not controlled here" syndrom TRW's experiences should prove valuable for large information-intensive companies attempting to meet similar challenges
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the major influences and events that led to the creation and implementation of Club Z, a very successful frequent buyer program, by Zellers Inc., a Canadian mass merchandiser and a division of the Hudson's Bay Company.
Abstract: The paper examines the major influences and events that led to the creation and implementation of Club Z, a very successful frequent buyer program, by Zellers Inc., a Canadian mass merchandiser and a division of the Hudson's Bay Company. While the paper describes this major retailer's innovation in the adaptation of computer technology to store-level marketing, it also analyzes some of the significant aspects of the Club Z implementation from an IS management perspective: how a champion emerged to advocate and protect the project at the highest executive level; how an outside systems consulting firm was brought in to manage the Zellers IS function during the project life; and how the cultural problem of anticipated store resistance to the required new technology was overcome.