How Chief Executive Officers in Large Organizations View the Management of their Information Systems

Abstract

As part of a research programme on key information systems (IS) management issues, a survey of Australasia's largest organizations was conducted to identify which issues were perceived by their chief executive officers (CEOs) as being important, problematic and critical over the next 3–5 years. The results reported are based on a moderate response rate (though perhaps reasonable for the target group) but formal testing showed an absence of non-response bias. The most critical issues were revealed to be a mix of technology management issues (managing and measuring the effectiveness of the information technology (IT) infrastructure, and disaster recovery), strategic management issues (business process redesign, competitive advantage, and information architecture), people and support management issues (organizational learning, and executive and decision support) and systems development and data management issues (effective use of the data resource and effectiveness of software development). This reflects their interest in a wide range of issues, but all with an organization-wide focus. The non-critical issues were mostly related to the individual technologies and the place and role of IS in the organization. While the CEOs showed some agreement with their chief information officers (CIOs) on issues such as the IT infrastructure, competitive advantage and organizational learning, some distinct differences exist, particularly in relation to the quality and effectiveness of systems and processes and also how CEOs and CIOs perceive the IT knowledge of the CEOs.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Brancheau

J.C.

, and Brown

C.V.

(1993). The management of end-user computing: status and directions. ACM Computing Surveys, 25(4), 437–81.

Brancheau

J.C.

, Janz

B.D.

, and Wetherbe

J.C.

(1996). Key issues in information systems management: 1994–5 SIM Delphi results. MIS Quarterly, 20(2), 225–42.

Caudle

S.L.

, Gorr

W.P.

, and Newcomer

K.E.

(1991). Key information systems management issues for the public sector. MIS Quarterly, 15(2), 170–88.

Earl

M.J.

(1993). Experiences in strategic information systems planning. MIS Quarterly, 17(1), 1–24.

Feeny

D.F.

, Edwards

B.R.

, and Simpson

K.M.

(1992). Understanding the CEO/CIO relationship. MIS Quarterly, 16(4), 435–48.

Galliers

R.D.

, Merali

, and Spearing

(1994). Coping with information technology? How British executives perceive the key information systems management issues in the mid-1990s. Journal of Information Technology, 9(3), 223–38.

Hammer

, and Champy

(1993). Re-engineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution, (Harper Collins Publishers, Inc., New York).

Hartman

B.W.

, Fuqua

D.R.

, and Jenkins

S.J.

(1985). The problems of and remedies for nonresponse bias in educational surveys. Journal of Experimental Education, 54(1), 85–90.

Henderson

J.C.

, and Lentz

C.M.A.

(1996). Learning, working, and innovation: a case study in the insurance industry. Journal of Management Information Systems, 12(1), 43–64.

10.

Jacques

(1995). Top 500: overview of the year. The Bulletin, 5 December, 4–50.

11.

Jarvenpaa

S.L.

, and Ives

(1991). Executive involvement and participation in the management of information technology. MIS Quarterly, 15(2), 204–27.

12.

Jones

M.C.

, Taylor

G.S.

, and Spencer

B.A.

(1995). The CEO/CIO relationship revisited: an empirical assessment of satisfaction with IS. Information and Management, 29(2), 123–30.

13.

Laudon

K.C.

, and Laudon

J.P.

(1994). Management Information Systems: Organisation and Technology, 3rd edn (Macmillan, New York).

14.

Matheus

C.J.

, Chan

P.K.

, and Piatesky-Shapiro

(1993). Systems for knowledge discovery in databases. IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering, 5(6), 903–913.

15.

Moynihan

(1990). What chief executives and senior managers want from their IT departments. MIS Quarterly, 14(1), 15–26.

16.

Niederman

, Brancheau

, and Wetherbe

(1991). Information systems management issues for the 1990s. MIS Quarterly, 15(4), 474–500.

17.

O'Brien

J.A.

(1993). Management Information Systems: A Managerial End User Perspective, (Irwin, New York).

18.

Periasamy

K.P.

, and Feeny

D.F.

(1997). Information architecture practice: research-based recommendations for the practitioner. Journal of Information Technology, 12, 197–205.

19.

Pervan

G.P.

(1997). Information systems management: an Australasian view of the key issues- 1996. Australian Journal of Information Systems, 4.

20.

Pervan

G.P.

, and Meneely

(1995). Implementing and sustaining executive information systems: influencing factors in a mining industry context, in Proceedings of the 28th Annual Hawaii International Conference on Systems Sciences, Vol. III, 2–5 January, Maui, Hawaii, pp. 101–109.

21.

Pitt

L.F.

, Watson

R.T.

, and Kavan

C.B.

(1995). Service quality: a measure of information systems effectiveness. MIS Quarterly, 19(2), 173–87.

22.

Raghunathan

T.S.

(1992). Impact of the CEOs participation on information systems steering committees. Journal of Management Information Systems, 8(4), 83–96.

23.

Wang

, and Turban

(1994). Management information systems issues of the 1990s in the Republic of China: an industry analysis. International Journal of Information Management, 14(1), 25–38.

24.

Watson

R.T.

(1990). Influences on the IS manager's perceptions of key issues: information scanning and the relationship with the CEO. MIS Quarterly, 14(2), 216–31.

25.

Watson

R.T.

, Kelly

G.G.

, Galliers

R.D.

, and Brancheau

J.C.

(1997). Key issues in information systems management: in international perspective. Journal of Management Information Systems, 13(4), 91–115.