Organizational Achievement and Failure in Information Technology Management

Citation

Smith, T. (2002), "Organizational Achievement and Failure in Information Technology Management", International Journal of Manpower, Vol. 23 No. 3, pp. 301-304. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijm.2002.23.3.301.4

Mehdi Khosrowpour is certainly active in the information technology field. Editor of Information Management, a newsletter of the Information Resources Management Association, plus author of books on managing information technology (IT) resources in “the next millennium” and “the 21st century” (to partially quote these titles), as well as a book on Web‐enabled technology, Khosrowpour offers several resources to the information technology discipline in the year 2000. Also published in this year is the title being reviewed.

At the outset, please understand a reviewer bias for learning through positive examples, rather than descriptions of failure. However, since the book title includes “failure in information technology management,” it is appropriate to include them. Of the cases presented, six stand out as being complex, detailed, and sufficiently involving to use as discussion bases in upper level university courses. The remainder could serve as object lessons for failed applications with a common list of problems:

• •

  personnel turnover;

• •

  lack of money;

• •

  shortage of experienced IT staff;

• •

  software modules mismatched with business processes; and

• •

  either poor implementation management or lack of support from upper level management.

Some of these failure cases offer few “lifelines” to learners in establishing a priority for problem solving. For example, it is hard to know where to start when the IT manager is new and inexperienced, and the people who knew anything about technology in the organization just left!

On the other hand, certain cases are quite well done – rich detail (and discussion starting points), well written narratives with believable characters, interesting sites and situations, and international perspectives. A quick look at some of the more interesting cases follows:

• •

  The National Ignition Facility case recounts planning for the world’s largest laser using 192 laser subsystems focusing on a single point to simulate conditions at the sun’s center. Researchers will be able to measure properties of nuclear reactions, while complying with the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. The IT interest here is the integration of data repositories and systems using commercial software from an Internet software vendor. Web technology gives a unified interface to procurement officers, in‐house engineers, and external partners. It provides access to process‐oriented procurement applications and project‐oriented engineering tools and knowledge management.

• •

  The US automotive network exchange case focuses on increasing connectivity between carmakers, dealers, and suppliers using a community of interest network (COIN). Component suppliers and manufacturers select a service provider, and an industry interest group administers the system. This industry has changed over time due to globalization, increased competition, and over‐capacity. Manufacturers are outsourcing parts supplies and using electronic data interchange (EDI) to communicate. Suppliers are now engineering and manufacturing sub‐assemblies, delivering them just in time, sequenced for assembly. They compete in price and quality, supplying several manufacturers on a global basis. The IT interest here is electronic data interchange. This case features plenty of data and concepts for discussion.

• •

  The Jeans Wear executive information system case describes the strategic advantage of establishing a data warehouse to enhance apparel replenishment activities. Adjusting inventory and styles to respond to consumer tastes encourages individual sales, rather than a mass response to marketing – a pull strategy. EDI at the point of sale reduces restocking times as well. A data warehouse provides the data foundation from which retailers can make effective, timely decisions. It is also enterprise wide, crossing department and business units. Focal points in this case are the knowledge and experience in business processes on the part of managers, who led the project when it called for their particular expertise, and the interaction between end users and the IT staff. It also brings out the workload involved in maintaining the database.

• •

  The Celerity Enterprises case details information planning in a volatile manufacturing industry and the need to align information strategy with overall business strategy. Celerity is a semiconductor manufacturer with headquarters in the USA and assembly sites worldwide. Manufacturing/assembly positions comprise 80 per cent of the workforce. The case concerns updating a technologically old factory to produce programmable nonvolatile memory for consumer products in telecommunications, automotive, and railway equipment. The organizational culture change required to transform innovation orientation to that of low‐cost production adds an interesting twist to this case. By sticking to proven technologies and learning from existing productivity improvement measures in other locations, the management team hopes “to demonstrate how information can replace constrained, consumable resources” (p. 198). A knowledge management slogan if there ever was one!

• •

  The big‐bang enterprise resource planning (ERP) case addresses a Y2K problem in a potash extraction plant on the Dead Sea. As a result of increasing size, global expansion, and cultural concerns, Dead Sea Works decided to buy rather than make an ERP system, also choosing to outsource implementation rather than using internal resources. This case speaks to the consideration of software to integrate production, inventory, procurement, accounting, sales, marketing, and personnel functions in a database management system via state‐of‐the‐art client‐server architecture. Positive results were attributed to the possible alignment of Dead Sea Works’ needs and the support provided by the IT system implemented. Detail in the case is full and rich.

• •

  The municipal social services agency case concerns adapting general purpose accounting software to the information‐processing needs of a foster care program. A short, straightforward case, it shows a simplified approach to improving data access and transaction processing using off‐the‐shelf software. The vendor modified the software and provided implementation. Everyone is pleased with productivity increases and solid customer service provision to this important societal concern.

The remaining cases largely fall in two categories:

1. 1.

   (1) technology issues are present but no information planning has been done; and

2. 2.

   (2) business plans and information plans are mismatched.

As can be expected, the human responses to organizational problems vary, with the common theme being missing leadership – attributable to lack of interest or knowledge concerning the issues.

The format for the cases is standardized, in that readers can expect these features:

• •

  executive summary;

• •

  background;

• •

  setting the stage;

• •

  case description;

• •

  current challenges/problems facing the organization;

• •

  the decision/conclusion;

• •

  further reading; and

• •

  references.

This makes reading easier, especially in the longer cases, since the thought thread continues throughout each case. Readers don’t get lost in the details. Questions for discussion would make a nice addition, as well as content indicators for each case, perhaps gathered into a chart so that readers could quickly go to cases that addressed problems of particular interest to them. The charts and graphs are difficult to read due to the size of the inserts and the print fonts. An annoying aspect was the overuse of acronyms. Commonly known ones, such as HR for human resource, are understandable, but in a developing area of knowledge with several disciplines contributing information, clear terminology is more useful, especially to novice readers.

A nice feature is the inclusion of Web addresses for some companies and subjects. The Y2K issue comes up in several cases, which leaves a flat feeling in the reader, since the issue no longer concerns the public. Some of the cases seem dated, since they were written in 1998. Many technological advances have been made since that time. However, a discussion leader could conceivably add updated information. For example, the National Ignition Facility is currently in the news as a result of a General Accounting Office report citing a doubled cost projection over the original estimates of five years ago.

As a final comment in this review, the strength of this book is the case development, which answers an important pedagogical need for examples to use in instruction. Especially in disciplines that make advances almost on a daily basis, educators in all settings need an essence or a core from which to develop instruction. Case studies add to this core by providing business‐based decision‐making quandaries that arouse learners’ interests and engage their problem‐solving capabilities. The international settings in this book become added value for learners.