Critical Issues in Information Systems

1. Critical Issues in Information Systems BUSS 951 Lecture 7 Systems for Organisations 1: Informative Technologies

2. Notices (1)General • Unfortunately I was not able to be available for consultations during Thursday today as I have another commitment in Sydney. I have set up a replacement consultation time for Monday 14:30-16:30 (for one week only) • I am consequently one day late in marking and due to other teaching commitments cannot restart this work until the weekend- I will hopefully have the Assignment 1s available during the replacement consultation time • Make sure you have a copy of Assignment 2 • BUSS951 is supported by a website (available from Tomorrow), where you can find out the latest Notices and get Lecture Notes, Tutorial Sheets, Assignments etc www.uow.edu.au/~rclarke/buss951/buss951.htm

3. Notices (2)Readings for Week 7 • Carroll, J. M. (1991) “Introduction: The Little House Manifesto” Reading 11 • Landauer, T. K. (1991) “Lets Get Real: A Position Paper on the Role of Cognitive Psychology in the Design of Humanly Useful and Usable Systems” Reading 11

4. Notices (3)Readings for Week 8 • Yu, E. (1998) “Why agent-oriented requirments engineering” Reading 6 • Yu, E. S. K and J. Mylopoulos (1994) “From E-R’ to A-R’- Modelling Strategic Actor Relationshiups for Business Process Reengineering” Reading 7

5. Agenda (1) • Technological Changes • Evolution of IS • Layered Architectures: Separation of presentation, application and data • Distributed Applications • Security and Personalisation • Data Processing Critical Issues • Layered Architectures and Planning Problems • Diversification of Skills • Tower of Babel • Standardisation versus Innovation

6. Technological Changes

7. Technological Changes (1)Data Processing & Information Management • in the 1990s much of the data processing scene has been transformed from that even since the 1970s and 80s (refer to Mowshowitz 1976 Reading 1) • particularly, • the kinds of technologiesthat were used to process data, and • the manner in which data was processing by organisations, • who gets to actually perform these duties that is EDP centres, data centres, outsourcers, ISPs and/or ASPs

8. Technological Changes (2)Concepts & Statements differ- same Theory! • there is now a dominant trend in considering work and its management from the point-of-view of knowledge work… • …the reality is that the knowledge work being referred to follows exactly the same logic identified earlier in our lecture on information • we are still dealing with the problems inherent with Shannon & Weaver but we still cannot see a way clear of it despite valiant attempts to consider for example ‘valued information’- something Shannon & Weaver is incapable of theorising as it does not deal with meanings (semantics) at all

9. Technological Changes (3)Current IT developed decades ago • current technological deployment is based on theory that is new very old • 1960s technology relied on batch processing, in the 1970s the technology was dependent on the timesharing systems • however in the 1980s there were two significant developments- networking architectures and microprocessor based systems- however attempts to combine these technologies were ineffective • Reasons: many but it is true that users often preferred the independence from IT management control that personal computing power provided

10. Technological Changes (4) Development of Client/Server Architectures … • Client/server technology is a form of distributed processing where an application is split in a way that allows a front end (the client) to request services of a back end (server) • Client/server technologies enable the possibility of having users interact with an application running on a mainframe, minicomputer or network server while the front end runs on their PC • Of course the real impetus behind the adoption of this technology is the Internet and corporate Intranets- the web browser becomes a universal client (web pages, mail, ftp, server applications, search …)

11. Technological Changes (5) Client/Server Architecture: Motivations • Management • Better equipment utilisation • Utilising technical workers better • Utilising non-technical workers better • Better products and services • Technological Advances • Microprocessors- powerful systems • Graphics- at the client side • Network Operating Systems and LANs • Software Development Tools- CASE tools can support it • Standards- are required to develop new, sophisticated applications required by client/server computing often IT companies sabotage standards in order to retain market share!- Critical Issue

12. Technological Changes (6) Client/Server Architecture: Advantages • Off-loading Mainframes • Improved Data Integrity • Reduced Network Traffic • Searches are processed on the workstation not on the traditional file server- followed by a sequence of record level requests made to the • alternatively with Client/server style database server the search request is packages and shipped to the database server where it executes. When complete, the search results are sent back to the workstation as a unit • Reduced Application Development • Reusability • Portations • Developer Interdependence • Reduced Cost

13. Technological Changes (7) Client/Server Architecture: Advantages • Complexity: applications are separated into several pieces that must communicate with each other across a network, client/server computing is inherently more complex that traditional data processing • Lack of Standards: require overwhelming support- the problem as I perceive it is largely at the management levels of both the adopting organisations, and the marketing practices of managers in large IT companies (Problems between Sun and Microsoft in relation to Java- hardly isolated- see latter) • Resource Intensiveness: very similar issues to the marketing practices of large IT companies who lock users out of the competition by developing proprietary standards (IBM was doing this in the 1960s- nothing has changed here!)

14. Technological Changes (8) Distributed Processing/Applications • the concept of distributed processing, distributing pieces of one software program entity across a number of processing systems, has been around since the 1970s and is was a direct influence on the development of ISO and IBMs SNA Architecture • end users at the application level demand more than the computing power available at their fingertips • more localised controllable types of applications have been spreading rapidly… • …but are now becoming entangled with the problems faced by Wide Area Network (WAN) routing and management

15. Technological Changes (9) Machine Architectures & System Software • any two processors using different architectures are by definition incompatible and software developed on one will need to be ported and compiled on the other system- in fact this kind of incompatibility was and still is encouraged by all parties • this is even the case with universal or standard software systems- any deviation is likely to affect compatibility and every system deviates… software rusts

16. Technological Changes (10) System Software Incompatibilities • even standards like UNIX which were meant to get around these problems have been subject to this kind of problem, example which flavour of UNIX (AIX, Xenix, ULTRIX, At&T, Berkeley flavours • this incompatibility even extends to PC based versions, RedHat, Corel Linux, Caldera OpenLinux, Mandrake Linux etc • even now there is still efforts at trying to get a core kernel for Linux, and to allow other producers like RedHat etc to package their distributions with whatever they want as long as they adhere to minimum standards for the kernel

17. Technological Changes (11) Remote Procedure Calls (RPCs) • there are a number of accepted ways to deal with the heterogeneous distributed systems- one popular way is to use Remote Procedure Calls (RPCs) • Procedures are not only characteristic of distributed system about are also used within standalone non-distributed programs • A procedure, function, or subroutine is a well defined program segment that performs a task or set of tasks and has a well-defined interface so that other program segments can use it • RPCs extend this technique of intramachine procedure calls into intermachine procedure calls required in distributed processing

18. Technological Changes (12) RPCs and Distributed Processing • RPCs differ fromlocal calls (used in subroutines etc) in that the address spaces for the caller procedure and the called procedure are located on separate machines which might be located on separate LANs or WANs • the calling mechanismat the RPC clientpasses arguments and control to an RPC server via communications software • similar software to used client side receives the information and simulates a local call to the intended procedure at the RPC server • when the procedure is completed the communication software on the server returns any output data to the original caller

19. Evolution of ISData from Marchand (1990)

20. Competitive Thrust IS Strategy IS systems Technical Efficiency Maximization of throughput Seeking of economies of scale Technology in search of solutions High-volume mainframe applications Evolution of ISA Managerial Historical View (c.1960s)

21. Competitive Thrust IS Strategy IS systems Cost Reduction Reduction of overhead Support function:back office operation Transaction processing Administrative systems Evolution of ISA Managerial Historical View (c.1970s)

22. Competitive Thrust IS Strategy IS systems Office Effectiveness Networking End-user computing IS emerging from the back office Technology architecture Evolution of ISA Managerial Historical View (c.1960s)

23. Competitive Thrust IS Strategy IS systems Flexibility Leveraging oftechnology architecture IS supporting business thrust Tailored work station Knowledge-based technology Multimedia environment Evolution of ISA Managerial Historical View (c.1990s)

24. Evolution of ISCritical Evaluation (1) • actually although there are some elements of truth to the slides just presented - a common enough representation of some of the salient issues - it should not be construed as a correct interpretation of events as we shall see • for instance how likely do you think it is that management had a major rethink about IS on January 1st of every decade for four decades consecutively!- if you believe that go buy a lottery ticket!

25. Evolution of ISCritical Evaluation (2) • in this case that somehow under the guiding hand of ‘information management’ organisations came to improve their understand of what makes for the good application of technology • terms like ‘effectiveness’ smooth over a rather unsavoury corporate history of unemployment, downsizing, and corporate raiding that took place in Australia for example

26. Evolution of ISCritical Evaluation (3) • the items which characterise different decades are highly selective- for example you simply do not find much interest in multimedia systems in organisations • I know for a fact that in some area of BHP, no new computing equipment is provided unless it can be cost justified 150%- guaranteeing that they actually buy something that they need and that they get the most use out of it

27. Evolution of ISCritical Evaluation (4) • this kind of presentation and similar kinds of presentation in IS and management suffer from a fatal condition known as a post hoc argument • a post hocis the fallacy of assuming that temporal succession is evidence of a causal relation • the same kind of problem happens in sciences and natural history museums as well- see Gee (2001)!

28. Evolution of ISSequential Implicativeness • in this case even though there seems no logic implication that causes for “flexibility” to follow from “office efficiency” the mere act of locating them one after another creates a sequential implicativeness • the author signals their desire to read this table left to right by placing labels which tell you which decade your in • and also by having the last column ‘flexibility’ as a kind of happy ending- this reveals a deeper true about how this argument is being constructed...

29. Evolution of ISNarrative Structure of Reality • as you read from left to right one column to the next- the ordering becomes powerful because it literally suggests and then constructs a narrative (ie. this happened, then this happened...) • in what the great Cultural Studies researcher Stuart Hall calls the narrative structure of reality

30. Information Managementand the Emerging Infomation Economy

31. Information Management (1) • now that we have established that there have been massive changes in the IS • although we have strongly critiqued the management rhetoric which describes these changes • it is important to focus now on the role of information management in organisations we should expect (and indeed we can easily find) changes to the concept of information occurring at the same time as we have the emergence of the so-called information economy

32. Information Management (2) • is seen as attempting to understand the many internal & external factors that shape organisations • several of these ideas that are currently central to information management are: • information and innovation • learning and adaptation • addressing value chains- key aspects of the job of knowledge workers)

33. Information Management (3) • current information management literature describes work in terms of value chains • must be addressed at both the bottom and top of business organisations in service and goods-producing industries • what is considered to link information and innovation in a business enterprise is the need to learn and adapt to key forces

34. Information Management (4) • information management services are now construed as contributing to the learning activities of the enterprise as they are reflected in group and individual work processes • focus on enhancing the value chains of employees as knowledge workers • this involves new requirements for sharing information resources in an enterprise as well as new ways of: • coordinating the management functions related to human resources • facilities planning information services and systems as they affect employee performance and productivity

35. Information Management (5)Emergence of the Information Economy... • information-oriented view of executives and workers as knowledge workers leads to new patterns of information use and sharing in businesses • so if the information economy is an international, social, and economic reality, then what is its impact on business?- Marchand (1990) identified the following responses from managers

36. Characteristics of the Information Economy Information economy is a business reality Knowledge and information are critical resources to respond to organised complexity The division of laour has shifted from indiustrial to information workers The internation ecomomy is an international phenomenon information processsing industry has developed as the basic industry of the information economy Effects on Business Knowledge is a key factor of production with capital, people, and technology information transforms agriculture amd industry manufacturing and service boundaries are blurred service sector boundaries are blurred entrepreneurial opportunities have been created information management evolves as a new business functions Information Economy’s Impact on Business

37. Current Views of Information • the rhetoric changes from information processingto knowledge work • we now see a shift in interest away from considerations data processing and more effort being expended into understanding more about what the term ‘information’ might mean • this promising avenue of research will be limited by the types of theories that can be adopted...

38. Current Views of InformationKnowledge Work & ‘valued’ Information... • note the quantitative overtones (minus, equals) together with the desire to think about information in qualitative terms (valued information) informationminusinformation equals valued available used information

39. Current Views of InformationKnowledge Work & ‘valued’ Information... • from a current information management point of view consideration of information must consider: • information content or actual knowledge, • timing or delivery of information • the quality of the information • the quantity or scope of the information • the presentation format or relevance of the information • the ease of retrieval or actual use oof the information, and, • finally the cost of the information to the individual, work unit, or organisation

40. Organisational ImplicationsData to Information Based Enterprises

41. Organisational ImplicationsData to Information Based Enterprises (1) • we have established that along with a change in the way IT is employed in organisations there has also been a commensurate shift in the way information as a category is described • now we consider the organisational implications of the development of information based enterprises in an information economy and the effect that this change has on how organisation and workers are managed

42. Organisational ImplicationsData to Information Based Enterprises (2) • of course there have been major changes that can be seen in what IS are used, how they are used, who uses them and who controls them • what changes are evident in the observed transformation from data processing to information based enterprises? • what implications have these changes had to the organisations in which they have been deployed?

43. Organisational ImplicationsData to Information Based Enterprises (3) • traditional hierarchical model of organisation based on control and compliance does not promote effectively the focus on service management • some authors have suggested a reversal of traditional pyramidal structure and a substantial downsizing to promote a focus on customer interaction with front-line employees where managers of support units strive to improve the quality of services

44. Organisational ImplicationsData to Information Based Enterprises (4) • managerial & organisational differences that characterise firms in the traditional, industrial-based model -vs- information-based model • traditional industrial model • 6 to 13 layers of control-oriented, top-down management • knowledge resides at the top and is distributed on a need-to-know basis downward • functional groupings tend to be rigid and poorly coordinated except at the top of the organisation

45. hierachical control-oriented top down knowledge residing at the top and distributed on a need to know basis downward functional orientation flatter, repsonsive horizontal, focused on the support of the worker shared information, targeted use of knowledge, expertise, and technology task, market orientation From To Organisational ImplicationsData to Information Based Enterprises (5)

46. Organisational ImplicationsValue Chains of Knowledge Workers (6) • a few ‘leading-edge firms’ are beginning to define all their workers as knowledge workers • due to automation, increasing reliance is placed on the quality and productivity of the less numerous, yet more highly skilled production workers in charge of manufacturing processes • an interesting possibility is to consider that the rhetoric of ‘knowledge workers’ is actually being re/produced solely to reduce costsby employing fewer workers- just a continuation automation during the 60s and 70s

47. + + + + Organisational ImplicationsValue Chains of Knowledge Workers (7) • the new knowledge worker becomes the object of ‘value adding’ management practices which views them as incurs costs and subject to various managerial practices Facilities Dimension work environment physical coordination work processes location/site characteristics Knowledge Worker reasoning capabilities cognitive style education experience personality motivation Human Resources compensation package learning/training resources benefits menu merit, equity in worker relations Information M’gmt Division information uses and needs sources of information types quality presentation format ease of retrieval worker Info Tech Division software availability and use tailored hardware to work task supportive tech. infrastructure

48. Organisational ImplicationsValue Chains of Knowledge Workers (8) • interestingly, the actual value of the knowledge workers and the utter depedence of organisations and managers on their work is rarely acknowledged • this erasure is evidence of workers is evident in the ways management practices address them (ie. refer to them, think about them etc) • pay attention to the language that is being iused in the following dioscussion about ‘knowledge workers’- what you need to think about is how are the ‘knowledge workers’ being addressed...

49. Organisational ImplicationsValue Chains of Knowledge Workers (9) • in general it is viewed as not a good idea to subject workers to these apparent disjointed activities of management! • the literature suggests that this traditional approach to the management of business processes and workers (termed disease-oriented treatment) can lower quality and flexibility enormously ... • ... and can result in treating the ‘symptoms’ of worker dissatisfaction and low productivity while being unable to deal with the causes of such problems

50. Organisational ImplicationsValue Chains of Knowledge Workers (10) • the alternative that is proposed to addressing the value chain of knowledge workers is characterized as patient oriented • perceiving and addressing the interactions and interrelationships between the key dimensions of the worker value chain • production workers are perceived holistically, and task requirements needs to be addressed in a coordinated way by each group of functional experts