Information Managment

This volume is a sequel to Information Management: The Strategic Dimension (OUP 1988), a book which was well received by managers and academics alike. In the last decade, the pervasiveness of information technology (IT) has brought about far-reaching changes in how many managers and specialists work and, indeed, in how we conceptualize the organization. The correspondence between new organizational terminology and the language of IT demonstrates this -- networked, virtual and knowledge-based organizations, inter-organizational alliances, distributed organizations and groupware all being examples. For some, IT represents a solution to many organizational and operational problems (including the advocates of Business Process Re-engineering) and the most likely way to improve business performance and gain competitive advantage. At the same time, for many managers and organizations the reality is that the risks, costs, false trails and difficulties seem to outweigh any immediate tangible advantage. The purpose of this book is to take an informed, dispassionate and constructive look at the challenges of IT and to offer insight, analysis and guidance on the ever changing IT environment, focusing in particular on managerial and organizational issues. These include centralization versus decentralization, relations between users and specialists, managing the IS function, outsourcing versus internal capabilities, project management and systems implementation, and an assessment of Business Process Re-engineering at both the conceptual and empirical level. Section 1 looks at some of the organizational horizons made possible by information technology; the next section tackles some of the challenges that face organizations who want to exploit IT in innovative and strategic ways. Section 3 examines some of the eternal questions of how to organize the IS function. In Section Four the contributors look at various aspects of project management and systems implementation. The next section examines some contemporary management questions on the agendas of Chief Information officers and their IS departments. Michael Earl's postscript integrates the volume through the framework of 'organizational fit'. The book provides an authoritative overview and helpful diagnostics of current information management challenges by some of the leading information systems researchers in Europe and the USA. The volume will be essential reading for management students, consultants, and senior IT professionals. Hardback Sales Details Published: 28.03.96 First year sales: Total: 650, UK: 264, USA: 177, EUR: 76, JAP/Branch: 88, Other: 45 Life sales: 894

These essays, by leading academics and businesspersons from around the world, describe the current state of the art in information technology, a resource with increasingly important implications for managers and management students. Drawing on case studies from Ford, ICI, Volvo, and the U.K. Inland Revenue, the contributors discuss the place of technology in corporate strategy, its use in gaining competitive advantage, the formulation of information systems strategies, competitive dynamics in the use of value added networks, end-user computing, leadership in information management, and the development of information technology human resources.

This book examines influential ideas within Management Information Systems (MIS). Leading international contributors summarize key topics and explore a variety of issues currently being discussed in the field. They re-visit influential ideas such as socio-technical theory, systems thinking, and structuration theory and demonstrate their relevance to newer ideas such as re-engineering, hybrid management, knowledge workers, and outsourcing. In locating MIS within an interdisciplinary context, particularly in the light of rapid technological changes, this book will form the link between past and future approaches to MIS.