Organisational Themes;

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IMS3230 - Information Systems Development
Practices

• Organisational Themes
• People themes
• Semester 2, 2005

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References

• Avison, D.E. Fitzgerald, G. (2003).
• Information Systems Development
• Methodologies, Techniques and Tools. (3rd ed),
  McGraw-Hill, London. Chapters 1, 4.2-4.6, 6.6, 7,
  15, 16
• Kolb, D.A., Rubin, I.M. and Osland, J. (1995).
  Organisational Behaviour An Experiential
  Approach. (6th ed) Prentice-Hall, Englewood
  Cliffs.
• Schermerhorn, J.R., Hunt, J.G. and Osborn, R.N.
  (2000). Managing Organizational Behavior. (7th
  ed). Wiley, New York.

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Organisational themes in ISD

• Strategic information systems
• Business process re-engineering (BPR)
• Information systems planning
• Organisational change

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Organisational themes in ISD
strategic information systems early
computerisation focused on basic transaction
processing cost savings quantifiable, perform
same processing more efficiently limitations of
further efficiency gains opportunities limited
as more projects completed some opportunities
unlikely to demonstrate these types of
savings emergence of an additional role for
information systems and IT a direct tool for
gaining competitive advantage
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strategic information systems
use information systems to improve the business
in the market place competitive
advantage - redefine the boundaries of specific
industries - develop new products and
services - change the relationships between
customers and suppliers - establish barriers to
deter new entrants to the market place cost
justifications more difficult - benefits are not
reduced costs - need to show that benefits (e.g.
improved service) will be recognised - implicatio
ns for methodologies
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Business process re-engineering (BPR)
business process re-engineering
(BPR) opportunity to re-engineer business
processes which is enabled by technology the
fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of
business processes to achieve dramatic
improvements in critical, contemporary measures
of performance, such as cost, quality, service,
and speed Hammer and Champy (1993) what an
organisation should do, how it should do it, what
its concerns should be, not what they currently
are
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Business process re-engineering (BPR)
motivations for re-engineering - no choice
commercially - competitive forces require
re-aligning business processes with strategic
positioning - organisation management see
re-engineering as an opportunity to streamline
and to overtake their competitors - the band
wagon effect copy the competitors
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Business process re-engineering (BPR)
Hammer and Champys model - combine several
jobs which are performed by a case worker
responsible for an entire process - case team
members are empowered to find ways to improve
service and quality, reduce costs and cycle
times - process integration means less checks and
controls - less defects as the entire process is
completed by those responsible for the final
product - process steps determined by those
completing the task - parallel processing of
entire operations is possible
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Business process re-engineering (BPR)
BPR experiences of project failures (and
failure rates) - senior managers lack motivation
for organisational change BPR must be driven
from the top - extent of necessary change not
fully recognised - piecemeal approaches mean
individual process gains not translated into
organisational level improvement - failure by top
management to adequately define future
operations - non-critical business operations
addressed - motivation is publicity/bandwagon or
managements reputation - short-term financial
pressures result in lack of resources - BPR is
radical change, not TQM etc.
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Information systems planning
planning approaches stress the planning required
to develop an organisations information
systems top management involved in analysing the
organisations objectives plan for the use of
IS/IT to achieve the business objectives avoid a
piecemeal approach to IS development align IS/IT
with the business planning at three levels long
term, medium term, short term
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Information systems planning approaches
- organisation-wide perspective promotes
integration - involvement of top
management - IBM's BSP (Business Systems
Planning 1975) strategic management view of
entire organisation top management defines
organisational needs and priorities establ
ish a stable information architecture implemen
tation from bottom up
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Organisational change

• introducing and managing organisational change
• - new information systems
• - new information technology
• for systems development
• - new system development methodologies
• - new system development technologies
• - new system development techniques
• user perspectives
• systems developers as users changing roles and
  technology

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Organisational change

• organisational targets for change (Kolb et al
  1991)
• the people subsystem
• personnel flow, education
• the authority subsystem
• formal authority relationships, informal
  leadership patterns
• the information subsystem formal, informal
• the task subsystem job satisfaction, technology
• the policy/culture subsystem formal explicit,
  informal implicit
• the environmental subsystem internal physical
  environment, external environment

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Organisational change

• resistance to change
• feedback that can be used constructively by the
  change agent
• why do people resist change?
• - fear of the unknown
• - doubts about future competence
• - comfort with the status quo
• - vested interests threatened
• - surprise factor
• - poor timing
• - lack of resources
• - job security

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Organisational change

• three phases of planned change
• 1. unfreezing
• 2. changing
• 3. refreezing

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Organisational change

• acceptance criteria for changes
• changes must have clear, appropriate benefits
• changes must be compatible with existing values
  and experiences
• changes must not be too complex
• changes should be able to be tried on an
  incremental or experimental basis

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Organisational change

• strategies for gaining support for change
• force - coercion legitimacy, rewards,
  punishment
• rational persuasion expert power, rational
  argument
• shared power trust-based, common vision

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Organisational change

• dealing with resistance to change
• (Schermerhorn et al 1994)
• education and communication
• participation and involvement
• facilitation and support
• negotiation and agreement
• manipulation
• explicit and implicit coercion

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Initiating and managing change
SCOUTING
The Process of Planned Change
ENTRY
DIAGNOSIS
PLANNING
ACTION
Kolb et al (1991) p. 593
EVALUATION
INSTITUTIONALISATION
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Initiating and managing change

• scouting
• determine readiness for change, obvious
  obstacles
• entry
• negotiate a "contract" with entry point
  representatives
• diagnosis
• the perceived problem, goals, resources
  available
• planning
• define change objectives, alternative solutions,
  strategies
• action
• implement change activities, resistance,
  monitor
• evaluation
• relate to objectives
• institutionalisation
• complete vs continuous

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People themes in ISD

• Some potential solutions
• Participative approaches
• Management commitment/leadership
• Improved human-computer interfaces
• Training and education developers and business
  users
• End user computing
• JRP and JAD sessions

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User participation

• early systems development approaches
• - focus on technical aspects of computer systems
• - little actual decision-making by users
• problems
• - users resented developers as outsiders with
  little understanding of the business environment
• - systems imposed on users and not user
  friendly
• - systems did not adequately support business
  needs

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User participation definitions

• Barki and Hartwick (1989) distinguish between
• user participation
• a set of activities and behaviours performed by
  users
• user involvement
• a subjective, psychological state when a user
  considers a system to be both important and
  personally relevant
• How do these affect system usage and user
  satisfaction?
• How can we define and measure user
  satisfaction?

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User participation definitions

• participation as user involvement in systems
  design
• a process in which two or more parties
  influence each other in making plans, policies or
  decisions. It is restricted to decisions that
  have future effects on all those making the
  decisions or those represented by them
• (Mumford 1983, p. 22)
• participation may have different meanings for
  different groups
• e.g. morally right, employee commitment,
  management tool, empowerment of employees etc.

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Mumfords three levels of user participation

• three levels are identified by Mumford (1983)
• consultative
• all users are consulted about/contribute ideas
  to the design process but the design task is
  carried out by systems analysts
• representative
• design groups formed from elected or selected
  representatives take design decisions
• consensus
• design group members constantly discuss ideas
  and solutions with all users

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User participation

• expected benefits of user participation
• improved system quality
• more complete, accurate requirements
• provides expertise about the organisation
• avoids development of unacceptable or
  unimportant features
• improves user understanding of the system
• increased user acceptance
• realistic expectations
• arena for conflict resolution
• users more committed to the system
• decreased user resistance

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User participation and ISD methodologies

• Structured analysis
• user walkthroughs, users select implementation
  option
• SSADM
• user walkthroughs, user representation in
  development teams, users select technical option,
• Information Engineering
• users active in design activities, management
  involved in ISP and BAA, user reviews
• SSM
• users part of team problem owners and solvers
• ETHICS
• users do the design

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End-user computing

• Enabled by PCs and application packages for
  non-IT people
• e.g. spreadsheets, database, VisualBASIC etc
• Users in business organisations were able to
  build their own business applications, either
  stand-alone or integrated with organisational
  systems
• Definitions of end-user computing
• e.g.
• the practice of end-users developing,
  maintaining, and using their own information
  systems
• (Mirani and King 1994)

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End-user computing

• Early 1980s user-driven computing
• -end-user computing enabled by introduction of
  PCs
• -decentralisation of computing resources
• Resulted in user satisfaction
• -met needs unlikely to be satisfied by IT
  departments
• -some pressure off IT departments
• -end-users close to the business problems
• -systems resourced/costed within user
  department budgets

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End-user computing

• problems of control
• validity and integrity of data
• lack of documentation
• security issues
• maintainability
• application islands
• duplication and inconsistencies
• assistance required by users

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End-user computing

• A solution Information Centres
• -Staffed and run by IT department
• -Provide consultation, software and tools,
  liaison with vendors etc. to assist users in
  developing their own departmental information
  systems
• Significant in 1980s and early 1990s
• Increasingly sophisticated users of today have no
  need for Information Centres
• Users today need support from IT corporate
  specialists when developing customer-oriented
  systems in particular
• i.e. change from the tactical, problem-solving
  role of the past to a strategic, consultant role

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JAD (Joint Application Development)

• can be for analysis and/or design
• originated in late 1970s at IBM
• bring together key users, managers, systems
  analysts in a group meeting with a specific
  structure of roles and agenda
• JRP (Joint Requirements Planning) key system
  requirements
• JAD specify the systems design (external design
  only)
• group meeting
• avoid distractions
• identify areas of agreement and conflict
• resolve conflicts during the period of sessions

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JAD sessions roles

• JAD participants
• facilitator organise and run the sessions
• scribe(s) takes notes on a PC, CASE tool etc
• users understand the system requirements
• managers organisational overview
• systems analysts technical knowledge,
  learn about the system
• sponsor senior executive who commits and funds
  the process

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Joint Application Development
(JAD)

• JAD sessions
• from one to five days
• structured meeting room with white boards etc.,
  CASE tools
• located away from users workplace
• outcome is documents detailing the system
  workings of/requirements for the system/design

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JAD sessions

• benefits
• reduced time to move requirements/design forward
  (group vs one-on-one, details worked on between
  meetings)
• key people work together to make important
  decisions
• commitment is focused and intensive, not
  dissipated over time
• conflicts and differences can be understood and
  resolved
• improved quality and productivity