Harold G. Levine

Politics and the function of power in a case study of IT implementation

Viewing organizations as political coalitions has a long history in management studies and has generated a great deal of research on the roles of organizational politics and power in decision making. Information technology (IT) researchers generally have followed the general trend by providing structural-functional accounts of politics, power, and control strategies. Although such studies underscore the importance, nature, and complexity of politics in IT implementation, they are constrained by the lack of both a general theory of human behavior as well as a model of power that bridges the individual actor and the wider interpersonal/organizational setting. In this paper we present a case study of power and politics in a large financial transactions company, but seen through the lenses of the action science perspective of Argyris and his associates and the model of power developed by A.A. Berle. More specifically, we examine the power vacuum in the IT effort that resulted from the senior executive abrogating his power and failing to delegate it to his subordinates. The resulting political havoc, in turn, caused competition and confusion, wasted effort, and a significant lack of productivity with regard to the implementation of a multimillion-dollar IT effort. We conclude with several hypotheses about how principles of action science and interpersonal power must be used by executives to manage the politics of IT design and implementation.

Principles of Data Storage and Retrieval for Use in Qualitative Evaluations

In spite of increased interest in recent years in the mechanics of qualitative evaluation, few evaluators or other qualitative researchers have addressed the related issues of qualitative data storage-retrieval and data reduction-analysis. Generalized procedures for these tasks, which are generally known within the field of anthropology, have never been systematically examined or codified. This paper borrows from developments in information and library science to construct general principles of data storage and retrieval for the field-based investigator. The five principles that are examined are formatting, cross-referral, indexing (including thesauri design and cross-referencing), abstracting, and pagination. The principles are illustrated with examples from evaluations of school-based programs in the United States. Although the emphasis here is on techniques for manual data manipulation, the paper also explores the advantages of, and considerations for, computerized data storage and search. Finally, the paper also includes a discussion of the more obvious implications of decisions about data storage and retrieval for data reduction and analysis.

Models of Qualitative Data Use in the Assessment of Classroom-Based Microcomputer Education Programs

As efforts to understand the benefits and consequences of classroom-based microcomputer programs increase, the use of qualitative strategies have increasingly become research methods of choice. Unfortunately, much confusion surrounds their use, partly because of uncertainty concerning just “what” should be evaluated and partly because the qualitative paradigm is not always well understood. This article discusses epistemological issues involved in the use of qualitative methods and specifies six models of qualitative data design and use: anecdotal, structured observations, case study, multisite case study, ethnography, and microethnography. Each is discussed in terms of its applicability to an ongoing evaluation of Apple Computers “Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow.”

Scientists and culture heroes in ethnographic method

Burgess, Robert G. In the Field: An Introduction to Field Research. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1984. xiv + 254 pp. including references and author and subject indices.

Diagnosis of Tuberculous Pleurisy by Culture of Pleural Biopsy Specimen

24.95 cloth,

Diagnosing the human threats to information technology implementation: a missing factor in system analysis illustrated in a case study

9.95 paper. Feldman, Elliot J. A Practical Guide to the Conduct of Field Research in the Social Sciences. Boulder: Westview Press, 1981. xviii + 122 pp. including bibliography, index, and appendix.

The Management of Obesity: Patient Self-Help and Medical Treatment

16.00 cloth,

Teaching Participant-Observation Research Methods: A Skills-Building Approach

6.95 paper. Foster, George M., Thayer Scudder, Elizabeth Colson, and Robert V. Kemper, eds. Long‐Term Field Research in Social Anthropology. New York: Academic Press, 1979. xvi + 358 pp. including bibliographies and subject index.

Statements of Fear through Cultural Symbols: Punk Rock as a Reflective Subculture.

39.50 cloth. Hammersley, Martyn, and Paul Atkinson. Ethnography: Principles in Practice. London: Tavistock Publications, 1983. x + 273 pp. including annotated bibliography, references, and name and subject indices.

Culture and Retardation

23.00 cloth,