This article reports how quantitative and qualitative methods were combined in a longitudinal multidisciplinary study of interrelationships between perceptions of work and a computer information sy...
Software quality assurance (QA) is a critical function in the successful development and maintenance of software systems. Because the QA activity adds significantly to the cost of developing software, the cost-effectiveness of QA has been a pressing concern to software quality managers. As of yet, though, this concern has not been adequately addressed in the literature. The objective of this article is to investigate the tradeoffs between the economic benefits and costs of QA. A comprehensive system dynamics model of the software development process was developed that serves as an experimentation vehicle for QA policy. One such experiment, involving a NASA software project, is discussed in detail. In this experiment, the level of QA expenditure was found to have a significant impact on the project’s total cost. The model was also used to identify the optimal QA expenditure level and its distribution throughout the project’s lifecycle.
Post-sale maintenance is already an important part of the competitive strategy of some firms and will become increasingly important to many others in the future. Information technology can be a significant factor in leveraging investments in maintenance and in directing a firm’s overall approach to the maintenance issue. This paper presents a conceptual framework for understanding, along with a series of examples that illustrate, the role information technology can play in the maintenance process. The framework and examples are intended to serve as a catalyst for identifying applications of information technology to post-sale maintenance.
This study, based on seven different samples involving 1005 employees, examines whether IS and non-IS people are or should be managed differently. How IS and non-IS people are managed is measured by three sets of managerial activities: (1) enriching the job, (2) attending to interpersonal relations, involving the employee, and reinforcing work behavior, and (3) attending to production and targeting work behavior. Two research questions are asked: (1) Do work-unit environments differ for IS and non-IS people? (2) Is the relationship of work-unit environment to productivity different for IS and non-IS people? The findings of this study support the conclusion that IS and non-IS employees at the same occupational level are not and should not be managed differently.
This study investigates the characteristics of end users within the context of their environments. End users are defined as those persons who interact with a computer as part of their job but are not programmers or analysts. The Job Diagnostic Survey (JDS) developed by Greg Oldham and J. Richard Hackman, is applied to 84 end users in 15 companies to discern 1) if there is a need for work redesign in the user environment; and 2) if there are problems specific to any part of the user environment. The results are compared with established norms for various categories of workers and show that end users generally perceive their jobs to be more highly motivating than do most workers. However, managers who utilize computers are not finding their jobs to be much more significant or meaningful than an average manager. Additionally, people utilizing the computer on a regular basis are experiencing boredom from a lack of interpersonal relationships. Solutions must be sought through work redesign.
In 1982, Security Pacific Automation Company (SPAC), the information systems subsidiary of Security Pacific Bank, undertook a number of changes to improve the data processing services they were providing to the Bank. Central to this effort was the development of the Management By Results (MBR)1 system. Part of MBR was the introduction of a series of measures designed to track the success of the changes SPAC was undertaking. These measures were linked to each of the four major aspects of MBR: strategic planning, service level agreements, commitment planning, and performance appraisal and compensation. Although the introduction of MBR and its accompanying measures were not without problems, they are now well established; and they allow senior management to measure SPAC’s contribution to the Bank at the operational, managerial, and strategic levels.
The impact of IS technologies on the competitive capability of the firm has increased the need for effective strategic IS planning. This paper argues that an effective strategic IS planning process must provide for (1) definition of key markets (within the firm) for IS products and services; (2) internal consistency, particularly between the strategic business plan and strategic IS plan; and (3) a means to assess the validity of the planning process. The need to establish validity is seen as critical in today’s highly turbulent business environment. Results of an actual planning process are used to illustrate how assumption surfacing can be used as one means to address the validity issue.
Information systems researchers, while helping others build better information systems, have done little in supporting their own information needs. The large amount of knowledge accumulated in IS today has created a situation where the researcher needs some sort of organizing mechanism to map the IS territory and relate its different components. A keyword classification scheme performs such a task through its content descriptors, systematically listed to show their relationships. This paper proposes a keyword classification scheme for IS. The scheme contains over 1,100 keywords and consists of nine top-level categories (reference disciplines, external environment, technological environment, organizational environment, IS management, IS development and operations, IS usage, information systems, and IS education and research), each of which is divided into subcategories.
A stage hypothesis for information centers (iCs) is proposed and 26 critical success factors (CSFs) for 1C managers are investigated. Based on 311 responses from 1C managers, support is found for the proposed stages and information is provided about the importance of the CSFs. A principal components analysis is performed on the 26 CSFs which identifies five composite CSFs: (1) commitment to the 1C concept; (2) quality of 1C support services; (3) facilitation of end-user computing; (4) role clarity; and (5) coordination of end-user computing. Statistical tests show that the importance of these composite CSFs tend to vary among themselves but is relatively constant individually across the 1C stages.