Betty Vandenbosch

Searching and scanning: how executives obtain information from executive information systems

Executive information systems may be used in different ways by managers in retrieving information. Two common modes of use are scanning, or general browsing of data; and focused search, or seeking answers to specific questions or well-defined problems. The purpose of this study was to investigate the antecedents of these two different modes of EIS use and also to examine their implications for perceived performance changes.The results show that, whenexecutives focus their use of EIS to answer specific questions or solve well-defined problems, they help to fine-tune operations and verify assumptions -- in other words, they help to make the organization more efficient. However, an EIS may also lead an executive to challenge fundamental managerial assumptions and preconceptions when using it to scan through information without having specific questions in mind. In this mode, an EIS may be used to help formulate problems and foster creativity -- thereby improving organizational effectiveness.EISs were found to contribute to gains in efficiency much more frequently than to gains in effectiveness. Companies that want to achieve greater effectiveness should pay attention to the role of the EIS in the scanning behavior of their managers. Factors that influenced the extent to which managers would engage their EIS in scanning included the extent to which EIS scanning was undertaken by others in the organization and the characteristics of the EIS itself.

Lotus notes ® and collaboration: plus ça change...

Work in organizations is becoming increasingly focused on collaborative work in groups. Groupware is widely touted as the information technology that can support this new mode of work by fostering collaboration. In a study of Lotus Notes®, a popular groupware product, implemented throughout the professional staff of a large American insurance company, we found the impact of groupware to be somewhat different from certain common expectations. While almost everyone was quite pleased with the Notes® implementation and its perceived impact, there was no evidence of a change in the degree of collaboration among organization members. Two key themes are explored as possible explanations for this result: fit of the technology to the organization, and limited training in how best to use this new technology.

An empirical analysis of the association between the use of executive support systems and perceived organizational competitiveness

Abstract A synthesis of management control theory suggests four major categories of use for management information: (1) score keeping, (2) improving individual understanding, (3) focusing organizational attention and learning, and (4) legitimizing decisions. A field study was undertaken to determine if these uses form a robust typology for classifying executive use of management information, and how useful each is perceived to be in enabling organizations’ competitiveness. The results of the study indicate that different uses have substantively different effects on perceptions of whether or not competitiveness is enabled. The study lends credence to the position that control and power, to a large extent, drive the perceptions of benefits associated with using management information in organizations.

Information flows and business process integration

Purpose – Many business process improvement efforts emphasize better integration, yet process integration can mean many things. The purpose of this paper is to emphasize the importance of information flows to modern business processes, and draw upon recent organizational and information systems literature to characterize process integration and to derive four principles of process integration: accessibility, timeliness, transparency, and granularity of information flows.Design/methodology/approach – Using a field study, the four principles of process integration are applied to analyze ten different business processes across five organizations.Findings – In total, 18 generalized activities are identified that describe non‐integrated behavior, and “keying in known data” was found to be the most common. Among other findings, analysis highlights the importance of documentation to modern business processes, especially for coordination roles, and the paper describes three different purposes for documentation fo...

Executive Support Systems and Learning: A Model and Empirical Test

Abstract:A model of the relationships among executive support systems (ESS), learning, and performance is developed. This model describes the impact of ESS on perceptions of competitive performance when viewed from a learning perspective. The model proposes two types of learning: mental-model maintenance, in which new information fits into existing mental models and confirms them; and mental-model building, in which mental models are changed to accommodate new information.The results of a survey of seventy-three executives support the view that the success of ESS may be contingent upon the type of executive learning they engender. The research found that perceptions of competitive performance resulting from ESS use are strongly related to mental-model building, but found no link between competitive performance and mental-model maintenance. Hence, it seems that ESS can and do foster executive learning. Nevertheless, organizations that embark on ESS development on the basis of promised gains in competitive ...

SAP implementation at Metalica : an organizational drama in two acts

This play attempts to reconstruct the social reality of key players at Metalica during the first couple of years of SAP implementation. Rather than adopting one perspective about the SAP project, we provide the views of different participants using their own words, arguments and ideas as much as possible. The play is constructed from summaries of systematic interviews which were changed only to suit scholarly objectives and a dramatic presentation. At the request of the company involved, the names and locations in this case have been disguised. Act 1 describes the companys vision concerning the implementation of an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, a crisis which emerged during the initial phase of implementation and the actions taken to remedy the shortfalls. Act 2 describes the project management, the dynamics between the implementation team members and the organizational implications of an ERP system implementation. The actual performance of the play and a subsequent discussion among the participants enable students to re-create and experience the thrills, frustrations, dilemmas and concerns originally expressed by the people who inspired this account of SAP implementation. Using theatre in an academic environment opens new avenues for critical observation, integrative sense making and experiential learning.

Lotus Notes and collaboration: le plus c/spl cedil/a change

Work in organizations is becoming increasingly focused on collaborative work in groups. Groupware is widely touted as the information technology that can support this new mode of work by fostering collaboration. In a study of Lotus Notes, a popular groupware product, implemented throughout the professional staff of a large American insurance company, we found the impact of groupware to be somewhat different from what many might have expected. While almost everyone was quite pleased with the Notes implementation and its perceived impact, there was no evidence of a change in the degree of collaboration among organization members. Two key themes are explored as possible explanations for this result: the fit of the technology to the organization, and limited training in how best to use this new technology.

How managers generate ideas and why it matters

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to describe a study of the styles and patterns people use to recognize the need for ideas, and generate and evaluate them to determine if understanding those patterns can help executives improve creativity and innovation in their organizations. People generally assume that good ideas are the result of good management and bad management leads to a dearth of them. But it might not be that simple.Design/methodology/approach – We talked with 49 senior executives about their process for generating and implementing ideas. Their approaches to information, problem solving, and interacting with people both inside and outside their organizations determined the kinds of ideas they generate and consider.Findings – We identified five distinct strategies or idea management types among the executives with whom we spoke: Incrementalists who take small steps and whose ideas are usually modest changes; Consensus builders who focus on agreement among stakeholders rather than ideas, per ...

Much ado about IT: a response to “the corrosion of IT advantage” by Nicholas G. Carr

This article takes issue with Nick Carr’s thesis, developed in his book and in articles for Harvard Business Review and the Journal of Business Strategy, that IT has become a commodity. The thesis, write the authors, draws upon a straw man argument based on analogy and gross simplification of the nature of IT investment. Carr argues that IT has become a commodity, much as railroads and electricity became in the past, and therefore it cannot possibly produce competitive advantage. But IT is different from earlier technologies in two fundamental ways. First, its growth and change potential is unprecedented and still continues, and second, it is the most versatile and flexible technological platform the human race has ever created. Carr also fails to emphasize how much more important IT has become as a consequence of its ubiquity in executing successful business strategies. Telling people that they won’t obtain competitive advantage from IT will lead them to pay less attention to it, leading to worse results, and a self‐fulfilling prophecy. IT will indeed become incapable of contributing to competitive advantage. Yet it is very difficult to find examples of large scale strategic successes and failures in the past decade in which IT was not a contributor to the result.

Executive support systems and executive preferences: a comparison of information channel selection theories

Abstract. A number of theories have been put forward to explain how managers make information channel choices. These include channel disposition, media richness and social influence. Each is assessed in terms of its usefulness for providing insight into why executives choose to use or not to use executive support systems (ESS). The results of a survey of 66 executives indicate that social influence theory may provide significant insight into information channel selection. A secondary analysis provides evidence that there are no significant relationships between demographic characteristics and several perceptual measures of ESS performance.