Knowledge that Transforms

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Additional informationNotes on contributorsEric K. ClemonsEric K. Clemons is Associate Professor of Decision Sciences and of Management at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. His research and teaching interests include strategic information systems, telecommunications technology and its commercial application, the use of information systems in international securities markets, and the impact of information technology on the distribution channel. In addition, Dr. Clemons is Project Director for the Reginald H. Jones Center’s Sponsored Research Project in Information Systems, Telecommunications, and Business Strategy.His education includes an S.B. in physics from M.LT., and an M.S. and Ph.D. in operations research from Cornell University. In addition to fifteen years on the faculty of Cornell, Wharton, and Harvard, Dr. Clemons has professional experience as a consultant in both the private and the public sector, and in executive education both domestically and abroad. Recent clients include Bell Canada and AT&T, the New York and London Stock Exchanges, Apple Computer, and Unisys, as well as major management consulting firms.Dr. Clemons is currently a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Management Information Systems, Information and Management, and the Computing Practices section of the Communications of the ACM. Recent publications include: “Competition and Cooperation in Information Technology Innovation”; “Structural Differences among Firms: A Potential Source of Competitive Advantage in the Application of Information Technology”; and “Evaluating Strategic Opportunities in Information Technology.”

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Additional informationNotes on contributorsJay F. NunamakerJay F. Nunamaker, Jr., is head of the Department of MIS and Professor of MIS and Computer Sciences at the University of Arizona. He received his Ph.D. from Case Institute of Technology in systems engineering and operations research, an M.S. in systems and industrial engineering, a B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Pittsburgh and a B.S. in industrial management from Carnegie Mellon University. He was Associate Professor of Computer Science and Industrial Administration at Purdue University, and joined the faculty at the University of Arizona in 1974 to develop the MIS program. He has authored over 100 papers on group decision support systems, the automation of software construction, performance evaluation of computer systems, decision support systems for systems analysis and design, and software engineering. Over the past fifteen years, he has led the ACM curriculum development activities in information systems.

:This paper describes an active, or symbiotic, decision support system developed for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration called the Generic Operations Simulation Technique (GOST). GOST combines parametric modeling techniques (regression) with discrete-event simulation to cost and plan future space programs. GOST differs from previous process modeling approaches by providing an “artificially intelligent modeling expert” and an “artificially intelligent domain expert” for assisting the user in developing and analyzing process models. An object oriented knowledge representation system provides the foundation for the GOST environment. A taxonomy of Computer Directed Process Managers, implemented within the representation system, controls the appropriate processes responsible for delivering active modeling support.

This paper reports on a field study examining the effects of different levels of PC availability on usage by auditors working in two large public accounting firms. Respondents’ tasks and information-processing tools were held reasonably constant, permitting an examination of the effect of the independent variable, microcomputer availability.Substantial support was found for the hypothesis that greater PC availability is associated with a greater amount of PC use, which was measured as self-reported hours of use per month and usage supporting 32 auditing tasks in three task categories. The study contributes to the theory of information source availability. The results suggest that future studies of end-user computing should account for the substantial effect of information-processing tools available.Key Words and Phrases: end-user computingpersonal computinguser behaviorinformation-processing tool availability Additional informationNotes on contributorsJanis L. GoganJanis L. Gogan holds a master’s degree from Harvard Graduate School of Education and MBA and DBA degrees from Harvard Business School. She is Assistant Professor of MIS at Boston University School of Management Her research interests include organizational assimilation and use of emerging information technologies and crossfunctional and interorganizational information systems planning, development, and use.

Many of the budgets of state governments are larger than those of a number of Fortune 500 companies. Budgeting offices in the executive branches of state governments are increasingly utilizing a wide variety of information systems technologies to manage and track funds, engage in financial planning, and undertake sophisticated financial analysis. These offices are the “nerve centers” for financial planning, evaluation, and management of funds for state-level programs and policies. This report explores two distinct issues within the context of technology and management in state budgeting offices. The first is an examination of the role that technology plays in the organizational structures and practices of these offices. In this regard, the thirty-eight budgeting offices in the sample demonstrated a comprehensive pattern of information systems use that compares favorably with technology use in other levels of government and reflects the multiple roles that public managers in these offices must play. The second issue is an assessment of the association between environmental, organizational, and technological factors, and the adoption and utilization of information systems technology. Surrogate variables for each of the three theoretical factors were found to be associated with increased adoption and use of technology in the offices surveyed. An argument is made for a theoretical perspective on the adoption and utilization of technology that attempts to integrate each of these three perspectives.Key Words and Phrases: government financeinformation systemspublic sector Additional informationNotes on contributorsJohn M. StevensJohn M. Stevens is Professor of Public Administration at the Pennsylvania State University. He has published research on public sector information systems technology, public management, business-government relations, policy implementation, financial management, and other topics, in Public Administration Review, Academy of Management Journal, Policy Studies Review, and other journals. He is the coauthor of Information Systems and Public Management and Business–Government Relations and Interdependence: A Managerial and Analytic Perspective. He serves on the editorial board of two journals: Public Productivity and Management Review and Computers, Environment and Urban Systems.Anthony G. CahillAnthony G. Cahill is Assistant Professor of Public Administration at the Pennsylvania S tate University. His most recent publications on the use of information systems technology in state and local governments have appeared in Computers, Environment and Urban Systems; Knowledge: Creation, Diffusion, Utilization; and Public Budgeting and Financial Management, as well as in the edited volume Managing Disaster: Strategies and Policy Perspectives. He is coauthor, with John M. Stevens and E. Sam Overman, of Information Resource Management in the Public Sector: The Impact of Information Technology in the 1990’s (forth coming).Josephine M. LaplanteJosephine M. Laplante is Associate Professor of Public Policy and Management at the University of Southern Maine. Among her recent publications are “Policy Analysis and State Executive Budgeting” in Public Productivity Review, and “Factors Associated with Financial-Decision Support Systems in State Government: An Empirical Exploration” in Public Administration Review.

:Existing output measurement metrics for cost estimation and development productivity need to be reexamined to determine their performance in computer-aided software engineering (CASE) development environments. This paper critiques and empirically evaluates four approaches to the measurement of outputs. Two of the metrics, raw function counts and function points, are based on the function point analysis methodology pioneered by Albrecht and Gaffney at IBM. The second two, object counts and object points. are based on a new approach-object points analysis-that is introduced here for the first time. The latter metrics are specialized for output measurement in object-based CASE environments that include a centralized object repository. Estimation results for nineteen large-scale CASE projects show that the new metrics have the potential to yield equally accurate, yet easier to obtain estimates than function points-based measures.

abstarctThis paper explores a model of the impact of office information systems (01S) on potential personal power and influence in an organization. The focus is on how O1S can increase the potential power and influence of an individual. I have drawn from power base theory to identify five bases of power that would, hypothetically, provide the potential for an individual's influence in an organization: (1) resource provision; (2) irreplaceability; (3) authority; (4) network centrality; and (5) expertise. To explore this conceptual model, data were collected from 136 users of well-established office information systems. This pilot study provides general support for our model that the impact of O1S on potential personal influence can be explained through its effects on the five power bases. In particular, the data indicate that network centrality is the most significant contributor to potential personal influence for administrative personnel, while resource provision is the most significant factor for technical personnel.Key Words and Phrases: office information systemsorganizational power Additional informationNotes on contributorsSoonchul LeeSoonchul Lee is an Assistant Professor of MIS at the Hong IK University, Seoul, Korea, and Assistant Professor of MIS at Boston University. He received a M.S. in Industrial Engineering from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, and a Ph.D. in MIS from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His major research focus is the impact of information technology on organizational control. His current research interests also include strategic information systems and computeraided approaches to information systems design.

:This paper posits that (1) metaphors perform a crucial role in enacting strategy and linking strategic thinking with IT planning; (2) the war metaphor. which underlies many previous discussions of strategic information systems (SIS) is inadequate, possibly obsolete, in today’s environment, and the shift away from this metaphor in the past few years is evidence of this; (3) other metaphors offer potentially more useful foundations for strategic thinking and SIS planning in today’s world than the war metaphor; and (4) explicit articulation and exploration of alternative metaphors help identify strategic opportunities for information technology (IT) applications, designing SIS for global enterprises, and formulating research on SIS issues. This paper outlines these arguments and identifies desirable characteristics of metaphors, and discusses alternative metaphors of the organization as: an adapting organism, city-state, participant in organized team sports, an expression of philosophy, and expression of economic forces. The paper concludes with suggestions for research on the use of metaphor in strategy formulation and IT planning.