Top Management Support, Collective Mindfulness, and Information Systems Performance

Mindfulness is a cognitive process that facilitates the discovery and correction of errors that might escalate. This study applies mindfulness theory to examine the impact of top management support for information systems on collective mindfulness, and that of collective mindfulness on IS performance. It treated such mindfulness in five dimensions, and top management support and IS performance as uni-dimensional. Forty-seven chief executive officers responded to a survey asking their perceptions of the constructs. Top management support predicted four of the dimensions with the strongest effect on sensitivity to IS operations. A negative path from support to commitment to IS resilience suggests a management predilection for planning over improvisation and adaptation. Sensitivity to IS operations alone predicted performance

Autonomy, Procedural Justice, and Information Systems Planning Effectiveness in Multinational Firms

Job characteristics and procedural justice theories offer an avenue through which to better understand information systems planning effectiveness in multinational firms. The first theory suggests that greater autonomy leads to greater perceptions of fair treatment, and the second suggests that perceptions of fair treatment lead to greater commitment and performance. A postal survey of 131 chief information officers of U.S. subsidiaries of multinational firms collected data to test hypotheses based on the theory. Data analysis revealed that autonomy for IS planning significantly predicted feelings of procedural justice, and procedural justice predicted IS planning with greater effectiveness. These findings not only lend support to the theories but, more importantly, also suggest that parent managers consider delegating greater planning autonomy to the managers of their foreign subsidiaries

Information Systems Planning Autonomy in U.S.-Based Subsidiaries of Foreign Firms

Globally competing firms are increasingly dependent on information systems (IS) for managing and monitoring their international businesses. To utilize IS effectively, the need for IS planning is critical. This research-in-progress examines IS planning autonomy in U.S.-based subsidiaries of foreign (based outside the U.S.) firms and organizational variables that might influence this autonomy. It aims to determine if IS planning autonomy is a predictor of effective IS planning for these firms

Nine IT Management Problems Due to Rapid IT Change

Information technology has become a strategic resource in many organizations. As a result, the management of IT has dramatically increased in importance. IT is also changing at a rapid rate. This change is increasing the complexity of the challenges facing IT managers. Previous research has hypothesized that IT managers experience problems due to change in IT. The results from that research were used for a nationwide survey of 1,000 IT organizations. Two hundred forty-six respondents provided data to confirm the existence and refine the definitions of problems that IT managers experience due to changing IT. Nine problem categories emerged. They were New Integration, Support Burden, Training Demands, Resistance, Acquisition Dilemma, Errors, Vendor Oversell, Cascading Needs, and Vendor Neglect. These findings provide a better understanding of the problems caused by changing IT and a stronger basis for future research on them. They also provide IT managers with a checklist of potential problems when faced with such change

Seven Principles of Organization Learning in Information System Planning: Preliminary Findings from a Case Study

Information systems planning is a critical management challenge today. A new approach to information systems planning might help managers address this challenge. Organizational learning theory may offer such an approach. The objectives of this study were to illustrate principles of organizational learning in the context of information systems planning, thus to confirm its relevance to such planning, and finally to stimulate further research on its effectiveness in planning. Structured interviews with fourteen managers and project team members, an email survey of 52 physicians, reports, and other documents from an information systems planning project in a large university-affiliated medical center provided the basis for the research. The research illustrates seven principles of organizational learning in information systems planning