Knowledge that Transforms

Over the past 35 years, information technology has permeated every business activity. This growing use of information technology promised an unprecedented increase in end-user productivity. Yet this promise is unfulfilled, due primarily to a lack of understanding of end-user behavior. End-user productivity is tied directly to functionality and ease of learning and use. Furthermore, system designers lack the necessary guidance and tools to apply effectively what is known about human-computer interaction (HCI) during systems design. Software developers need to expand their focus beyond functional requirements to include the behavioral needs of users. Only when system functions fit actual work and the system is easy to learn and use will the system be adopted by office workers and business professionals. The large, interdisciplinary body of research literature suggest HCTs importance as well as its complexity. This article is the product of an extensive effort to integrate the diverse body of HCI literature into a comprehensible framework that provides guidance to system designers. HCI design is divided into three major divisions: system model, action language, and presentation language. The system model is a conceptual depiction of system objects and functions. The basic premise is that the selection of a good system model provides direction for designing action and presentation languages that determine the system’s look and feel. Major design recommendations in each division are identified along with current research trends and future research issues.

The range of journals in which to publish scholarly papers in the management information systems (MIS) field has expanded over the years. The perceived ranking of the journals by those in the field is an important issue to academics. Another question of importance to academic personnel in the MIS field is whether the writing of books counts toward tenure and promotion. This article presents the results of a survey relative to these two questions. It was conducted in late 1989 and early 1990 among MIS professors in AACSB accredited business schools, with about half of all such schools participating. The survey found that the most highly regarded journals for IS research include an assortment of IS-specific, computer science, and management science journals. This continues a longstanding tradition, despite the introduction of several new IS journals. It also showed that books are generally counted toward tenure and promotion.

The development and use of knowledge-based (expert) systems has grown dramatically across a broad range of industries. Yet despite its growing importance, the study of expert systems lacks a cohesive framework for differentiating and comparing expert systems initiatives across different applications and in different industrial settings. The problem for IS managers is that a system that works in one situation may not be appropriate for another. This article presents a classification methodology for the systematic evaluation of a broad range of expert systems. Of primary concern in this study is the measurement of the complexity of such systems. Complexity in the area of expert systems consists of two basic dimensions. The first dimension is the complexity of the underlying knowledge residing with the key experts. The second dimension of the framework focuses on the complexity of the technology incorporated into a given system. This framework is then applied to a sample of 50 successfully developed knowledge-based systems. The results can be used as a foundation for generating research hypotheses for development time, budget, staffing, organizational control, and organizational participation.

Has office productivity been stagnant in recent years, despite massive spending on information technology (IT)? This concern has been raised in both academic publications and the business trade press. This article examines the basis for that concern, which, if true, would have profound implications for both IT researchers and practitioners.

The introduction of a large-scale image processing system at United Services Automobile Association (USAA) required both external and internal partnerships. The USAA-IBM external partnership demonstrates how the traditional arms-length relationship between a vendor and a customer evolved into a close relationship of mutual benefit with blurred boundaries between buyer and seller. Two internal partnerships, one within USAA and the other within IBM, illustrate the importance of internal partnerships in making an external partnership successful. This paper discusses the “mosaic” of relationships and the “squiggly lines” of responsibility that characterized the internal and external partnerships from the perspective of senior information systems management. The article also provides conceptual frameworks that help in generalizing from the partnership arrangements within USAA’s environments to those of other organizations.

Much has been said about opportunities for the strategic use of information technology by organizations aiming to gain a competitive advantage. However, not much is known about the actual process by which opportunities for the use of strategic information systems are identified. While various planning methodologies have been proposed, there is at present a paucity of information on empirical results obtained from applying them, and on their effectiveness, efficiency, and specificity. This article presents the results of a field experiment aimed at applying and comparing two well-known methodologies for identifying information systems opportunties from a competititve advantage perspective—Porter’s value chain and Wiseman’s strategic thrusts methodology. An instrument was prepared to operationalize each methodology, which was then applied in two matched sets of 10 mediumsized enterprises. Both methodologies were found to be effective in generating a significant number of ideas for information systems worthy of implementation. Similarities and differences are analyzed and disussed in terms of the number, estimated implementaton costs and duration, managerial level, and decision to implement the applications identified by the two methodologies. These applications are also classified from the perspective of both Porter’s and Wiseman’s framework. The results seem to indicate that while there is an overall similarity between the two methodologies, there are certain differences that show the more outward orientation of the strategic thrusts framework and its greater attractiveness for organizations in unstable environments.

This article is organized around two research questions: (1) do small insurers exhibit a higher degree of information technology investment intensity (i.e., the ratio of information technology expense to total operating expense) than large insurers? and (2) to what extent does the level of spending on information technology explain the degree of information technology investment intensity? The article offers an interpretation of the dependent and independent variables and uses data obtained from the life insurance industry. The findings on the whole indicate that small insurers spend a larger proportion of their operating expenses on information technology than do large insurers. Given the conditions prevailing in the life insurance industry, this means that large firms were not leaders in realizing the full potential of the economic benefits available. Contrary to expectations, spending more on information technology does not lead to a higher ratio of information technology expense to total operating expense. This finding is consistent with the observation by several academics and practitioners that how the technology is used and managed is an equal if not more important consideration than the level of spending.

The information systems literature is replete with conceptual frameworks for analyzing strategic applications of information technology (IT). In this article, the strategic impacts of IT investment are studied through the development of a formal economic model. In particular, it focuses on IT-related quality competition in a duopoly, where the services may not be priced initially (e.g., in the financial services sector), and where the benefits may come indirectly (e.g., in the form of interest earned on consumer deposits or float on checking accounts). A firm may have to invest in IT, regardless of its underlying cost structure, as a response to its competitor’s investment level. (We analyze the division of technology benefits between the firms and the consumers and study welfare implications for simultaneous and sequential investments.) Both firms prefer sequential over simultaneous investments, even when both have the required technology. While the IT-inefficient firm (one with higher IT cost for a given service quality) has followership incentives, the leadership incentives for the IT-efficient firm depend on the difference in IT cost structures and on the degree of substitutability between the services of the two firms. A preliminary treatment of pricing issues is provided in conjunction with consumer switching cost, which not only has a negative impact on consumer welfare but may also reduce total industry profits. For dynamic markets with new consumers, the negative effect of switching cost on the welfare of existing consumers is reduced when the IT-efficient firm moves first.

Most managers spend half their time trying to get the information they need, whether it be informally through meetings, phone conversations, or reading, or formally through organizational computer-based information. During this process they have to sift through a great deal of useless information, a situation commonly referred to as “information overload.” With the proliferating capabilities and plummeting cost of computers, it seems relief should be in sight for weary executives. Unfortunately, most information systems—formal or informal—do not meet executive needs. Indeed, most new systems require extensive revision (after they are supposedly completed) to even partially fulfill needs. This is a terrible loss. Most systems are expensive enough to develop. They are even more expensive to revise. As the pace of business accelerates, decisions that could wait for weeks must now be made in days, hours, or even minutes. Failure to get executives the information they need in a timely manner can result in lost opportunities or in a problem not being solved in time. Increasingly, executives have little reaction time to make decisions on pricing, product introduction, resource allocation, media inquiries, response to competition, and mergers. They need access to information without waiting several weeks or months for a computer project. Why can't executives and system designers work together to more correctly anticipate and determine information requirements? In this article, four reasons information requirements are not met are discussed, and four straightforward solutions executives can use to solve this problem are offered.