Rethinking the Role of the IS Function
Date
2008-09-26Author
Finnegan, Pat
Golden, William
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Recommended Citation
Finnegan P. and Golden W.,1994, Rethinking the Role of the IS Function. Executive Systems Research Centre, University College Cork, Ireland; Research and Discussion Papers, 10/94, pp 1-17.
Abstract
This paper proposes that IS managers need to review what they regard as their
core competencies if they are to be a valuable asset to organisations in the 1990s. The
authors start by questioning whether the IS function has strayed away from
information management in support of organisational functioning and become too
occupied by strategic management, organisational design and competitive
positioning. They compare the concerns of IS managers in western countries with
those of their counterparts in developing countries and conclude that, even though
they both face generally similar organisational conditions within the global economy,
that they are focusing on different IS support mechanisms. IS managers in western
countries are striving for strategic information systems and the redesign of business
processes, while their developing counterparts are focusing on more infrastructure
based issues that were important to western IS managers in the past. The authors
examine a number of these western concerns and conclude that while they provide
western IS functions with good organisational visibility they may not be of most
benefit to the main organisation.
The authors propose that IS managers need to be aware that changes in
organisational environments require that organisations be more flexible, fleet of foot
entities. They also note that strategy makers are now more concerned with emergent
strategies than with traditional mechanistic strategy formulation. They believe that
what such entities require is a more invisible IS function that proves to be strategic,
not because it proactively chases competitive advantage, but because it provides an
effective underlying flexible technical and information infrastructure that mirrors an
organisation's dynamism. They propose that the Japanese Kaizen model is a good
example of what such invisible efforts can achieve. Essentially, IS managers will
have to tackle issues that they would have considered solved in the past because
operating conditions have dramatically changed since. This will probably prove an
unwelcome suggestion to some IS managers who have been working for a high
organisational profile over the last decade, but should prove beneficial to the
organisation.