December, 1995

Key Issues in Information Systems Management: A Shift Toward Technology Infrastructure

James C. Brancheau Associate Professor, Information Systems University of Colorado at Boulder Brian D. Janz Assistant Professor, Information Systems University of Memphis James C. Wetherbe Professor, Management Information Systems, Director, Fedex Cycle Time Research Center, University of Memphis and Director, MIS Research Center, University of Minnesota

under review by MIS Quarterly

University of Colorado Graduate School of Business Campus Box 419 Boulder, Colorado 80309 (303) 492-5830
james.brancheau@colorado.edu

1996 by Brancheau, Janz, and Wetherbe Please do not cite or circulate without permission. Address all comments to James C. Brancheau at the address above.

Key Issues in Information Systems Management: A Shift Toward Technology Infrastructure Abstract
Over the past 15 years, the Society for Information Management (SIM) has periodically surveyed its members to determine the most critical issues in IS management. Again in 199495, SIM institutional and board members were asked to consider what they felt were the most critical issues facing IS executives over the next three to five years. Signaling an evolutionary shift in IS management, the top issues are focused on technology infrastructure. Surprisingly, business relationship issues have declined in importance compared to technology infrastructure issues. Internal effectiveness issues, however, have remained relatively stable over time. When viewed in the context of previous SIM surveys, our results show how the information systems discipline has evolved over the past two decades. We discuss the major trends in business, technology, and applications, as they relate to the key issue framework and point to further evolutionary changes in the IS function. For IS executives and general managers, the key issue framework suggests some general directions for emphasis and provides a coarse measure for benchmarking their own concerns against those of their peers. The views expressed in this study also impact educational missions in teaching and research. Current developments imply an explosion of information availability and an unprecedented business demand for innovative application of information. The resulting challenges for IS executives and educators over the next decade may well dwarf those of the past 20 years.

Introduction
Several years into the future when we can look back on the decade from the vantage point of the 21st century, speed may be the one word that stands above other possible descriptors for the 1990s. Speed, as in the rate at which new ideas are transmitted to every corner of the globe. Speed, as in the rapidity with which market niches are created and abandoned. Speed, as in the ever shortening product to market cycles. Speed, as in the roll-out of new business ventures. And speed, as in the accelerating rate of technological change. Speed is also the one word which best describes the key business drivers influencing the management of information systems. Speed in business demands flexibility in management and technology to respond to rapidly changing market conditions. Speed. Flexibility. Responsiveness. We heard these words over and over from senior information systems (IS) executives. IS executives are typically charged with responsibility for helping their organization make effective use of information technology. Over the past 15 years, the Society for Information Management (SIM), in a joint effort with the MIS Research Center (MISRC) at the University of Minnesota and others, has periodically surveyed its members to determine the most critical issues in IS management. These surveys are important because professional societies such as SIM, as well as IS vendors, consultants, educators, and researchers all need to be aware of IS executives' key concerns to serve their markets effectively. In addition, the ongoing study of a single professional group over a 15 year period provides valuable insight into the evolution of the discipline and its professional work. Following the methods developed in earlier studies, this article reports on the results of a threeround Delphi survey of senior IS executives and follow-up interviews. The results highlight the most important IS management issues over the three to five year planning horizon ending in 1999. A historical analysis of prior research is combined with the results of this and prior SIM surveys to shed light on the changes which have transformed the practice of IS management over the past two decades. The survey and interview methods employed in the research are outlined in the next section. Following this, the findings of the survey are presented. Next, the findings are interpreted in 1

terms of major shifts over time, the historical context in which they are situated, and their future directions and implications. Finally, conclusions are drawn about managing information systems and the evolving nature of the discipline.

Research Methods
One of the most noteworthy attributes of this study lies in the power that is obtained by replicating the research methods and subject populations used in previous SIM key issue studies (Ball & Harris 1982, Dickson et al. 1984, Brancheau & Wetherbe 1987, Niederman et al. 1991). The Delphi method was retained for its value in surfacing new issues and moving study participants toward consensus (Delbecq et al. 1975). Essentially, the Delphi method employs a series of linked questionnaires. Successive rounds of questionnaires summarize subjects responses to the preceding questionnaire and ask respondents to reevaluate their opinions based upon the summarized results. Questionnaire rounds are continued until a reasonable level of consensus is achieved. As in earlier studies, SIM institutional and advisory board members served as our subject population. The timing and nature of the five surveys is summarized in Table 1. Details about the development of issues and evolution of methods can be found in the individual articles. A summary of the methods applied in this study follow. Table 1. SIM Key Issue Surveys
Data Date 1980 1983 1986 1990 1994 Citation Ball et al. 1982 Dickson et al. 1984 Brancheau & Wetherbe 1987 Niederman et al. 1991 (present study) Participants SIM members 102 SIM institutional members 90 SIM institutional members 175 SIM institutional members 108 SIM institutional members Rounds 1 4 3 3 3

Round One The 1994-95 study began in March 1994 with a list of 21 IS management issues derived from the 1990 study. These issues, along with a brief rationale describing each issue were listed in random order and mailed to 217 SIM members. To reduce any bias inherent in a particular randomized sequence, four different randomized versions of the survey were distributed. Participants were asked to consider what they felt were the most critical issues facing IS executives over the next three to five years (i.e., through 1997-99). They were asked to rate 2

each issue on a 10-point scale, where 10 indicated their highest priority issue(s) and 1 indicated their lowest priority issue(s). Participants were also invited to comment on the list of issues and associated rationale as well write in issues they felt may have emerged since the 1990 study. Of the 217 mailed surveys in round one, useable responses were received from 78 respondents, yielding a response rate of 36%. Round Two In June 1994, all 217 SIM institutional and board members were sent feedback showing the results of the first round survey. Those SIM members that responded to the first round survey were also provided with their individual responses as a baseline for comparison. Issues were listed in rank order of importance from highest to lowest mean rating. Three issues with markedly lower ratings were dropped (leaving 18 remaining issues). Five new issues were added to the second round survey resulting in a total of 23 issues. The new issues were formed by clustering related issues and rationale submitted by first round respondents. All write-in issues submitted by four or more respondents were included. Respondents were again asked to rate issues on a 10-point scale. In the second round, useable responses were received from 87 respondents, yielding a response rate of 40%. Round Three In September 1994, respondents from the previous two rounds (108 individuals) were sent feedback from the second round survey on all 23 issues. They were asked to rate the issues one last time. Like the second round survey, issues were listed in rank order and personal ratings were provided from the last survey that the respondent had returned. Useable responses were received from 83 respondents, yielding a response rate of 76%. The three rounds of the survey provided one round for revising and generating issues and two rounds to increase the level of consensus on the importance of those issues. Overall, 108 of the 217 SIM institutional and board members participated in the study. In the following discussion, data are from the final round of the survey unless otherwise indicated. Appendix A contains the final round survey instrument used in the current study.

Interviews A four page summary of results was mailed to respondents in February 1995. In March and April, the 10 SIM officers and board members who had participated in the survey were invited to comment on the results and answer questions about the research. Seven individuals made themselves available for interviews. In addition to asking for their general reaction to the results, we asked what forces were driving the top issues, what made the issues so troublesome, and whether they thought the framework had the right balance between management and technology issues. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, and used to help interpret the results of the survey. The Participants The profile of survey participants in the 1994 study is quite consistent with previous SIM surveys. Consequently, one would not expect major shifts in rating due to changes in population demographics across the studies. However, because the individuals responding may be different, one cannot rule out the possibility that rating shifts could be attributable to underlying trends among those entering and leaving the field of IS management. All regions of the United States are represented in the survey, with the majority of the participants coming from the Northeast (40%) and Midwest (32%), and the minority from the South (13%), West (10%), and Canada (5%). In terms of industry representation, the majority came from the commercial sectors of manufacturing (48%) and services (39%), with a minority (13%) from the non-profit sector. In terms of positions held, the majority of participants (67%) were senior IS executives (e.g., CIO or VP) of their respective organizations. IS department managers (22%), IS educators (7%), and IS consultants (4%) made up the balance of the sample. The high percentage of senior IS executives is a major strength of the SIM institutional sample and adds value to the study's findings. Statistical analyses revealed few substantive differences in rankings based on position or industry. Although these respondents are not predominately from any particular region or industry, caution should be exercised in generalizing from this sample. Any systematic differences between SIM members and the greater population of IS executives in the United States limit the generality of the findings.

Results
The final round results are shown in Table 2. In presenting the results of the study, we first discuss the top ten issues and then comment on other significant changes in the framework. Top Ten Issues Each of the ten highest ranked issues are discussed briefly to provide insight into the rationale behind the issue and its relationship to other issues. The figure for each issue tracks its history in the key issue framework since 1980. Table 2. 1994 Key Issues Framework
Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 11 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 ------Key Issue Building a Responsive IT Infrastructure Facilitating and Managing Business Process Redesign Developing and Managing Distributed Systems Developing and Implementing an Information Architecture Planning and Managing Communication Networks Improving the Effectiveness of Software Development Making Effective Use of the Data Resource Recruiting and Developing IS Human Resources Aligning the IS Organization within the Enterprise Improving IS Strategic Planning Implementing and Managing Collaborative Support Systems Measuring IS Effectiveness and Productivity Increasing Understanding of IS Role and Contribution Facilitating Organizational Learning Managing the Existing Portfolio of Legacy Applications Facilitating and Managing End-User Computing Using Information Systems for Competitive Advantage Planning and Integrating MultiVendor Open Systems Developing and Managing Electronic Data Interchange Outsourcing Selected Information Services Implementing Decision and Executive Support Systems Improving Information Security and Control Developing and Implementing Object-Oriented Technology Improving Disaster Recovery Capabilities Developing and Implementing Multimedia Applications Implementing and Integrating CASE Technology
Note: All data are from the final round of the Delphi survey (N = 83).

Mean Rating 9.10 7.79 7.73 7.62 7.58 7.50 7.46 7.31 7.11 6.82 6.59 6.59 6.53 6.48 6.31 6.23 6.18 6.04 5.91 5.40 dropped dropped dropped dropped dropped dropped

Standard Deviation .096 1.19 1.38 1.50 1.40 1.86 1.62 1.70 2.02 2.02 1.91 2.01 2.02 1.87 2.03 1.88 2.12 1.86 2.00 2.03 -------

#1 Building a Responsive IT Infrastructure Building a technology infrastructure that will support existing applications while remaining responsive to change is a key to long-term enterprise productivity. This task is made difficult by the continuing rapid changes in infrastructure technology and the increasing breadth and depth of applications which need to be supported. More than any other, this issue captures an important new thrust of IS management: providing the processor power, network connectivity, and application framework required to support core business activities as well as unknown future ventures. This issue was first introduced in the 1990 study. Due to its general nature, it is closely related to several other top issues such as distributed systems (#3), information architecture (#4), and communication networks (#5). In a broad sense, these three issues can be viewed as relating to three of the components of an IT infrastructure: applications, data, and networks. #2 Facilitating and Managing Business Process Redesign In response to market pressures, many organizations are radically changing the way they do business. IT plays an increasingly important role in this change process by enabling the innovative redesign of core business processes. Having been popularized just after the 1990 key issues study (e.g. Hammer 1990), business process redesign (BPR) is new to the key issue framework in the United States. In related studies worldwide, however, it has been a top issue among IS managers and executives for several years (Watson et al. 1996). The importance of this issue is attributable to the need for major changes in internal processes to adjust to the ongoing massive changes in the external environment. Interviews with executive participants suggest that this issue is one of the major drivers for infrastructure-related issues such as responsive infrastructure (#1), distributed
20 15 10 5 0 1980 Business Process Redesign 20 15 10 5 0 1980 Responsive IT Infrastructure

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systems (#3), and communication networks (#5). Without a responsive infrastructure, IS becomes a constraint instead of an enabler of change. #3 Developing and Managing Distributed Systems Client-server applications promise to offer a costeffective alternative to centralized applications. Unfortunately, they present many challenges including: maintaining consistent software versions, maintaining consistent data, controlling joint development projects with users, and administering large-scale distributed applications. The demand for graphical user interfaces combined with the economics of making better use of the installed base of desktop computers and local area networks make client server a useful approach for distributing applications across a heterogeneous environment. First introduced in 1990, the importance of the issue has risen dramatically. This issue is closely related to the other infrastructure issues as well as software development (#6). #4 Developing & Implementing an Information Architecture A corporate/global information architecture is used to identify the major information categories used within an enterprise and their relationships to business processes. It is essential for guiding applications development and facilitating the integration and sharing of data. First introduced in the 1986 study, this issue remains highly ranked. Information architecture is related to the other infrastructure issues as well as software development (#6) and data resource (#7). An infrastructure cannot be responsive if data is scattered throughout the network without a plan. Similarly, software cannot integrate across functions nor distribute across networks without a clear plan for doing so. An information architecture provides a way to coordinate these activities.
20 15 10 5 0 1980 Information Architecture 20 15 10 5 0 1980 Distributed Systems

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#5 Planning and Managing Communication Networks Perhaps as much as anything else, organizations are information processing systems. Using technology to process information and communicate depends heavily on access to appropriate internal and external communication networks. Network access is complicated by rapid advances in underlying technology and major structural changes in the business environment. Although not written into the issue rationale on the survey, business use of the Internet surfaced during interviews as one factor driving the importance of this issue. This issue has a history dating back to the first SIM survey in 1980. Communication networks are closely related to the other infrastructure issues as well as to software development (#6). This issue has long been critical for managing information systems. #6 Improving the Effectiveness of Software Development After more than a decade of end-user computing, the application development backlog remains at high levels. Traditional development methods take too long. Centralized platforms are no longer satisfactory. New approaches such as client server have not fully matured. The never ending stream of new technologies keeps developers on a steep learning curve. Yet businesses must respond to their markets. As a core issue for managing IS, software development has varied in importance since the first study in 1980, always staying near the top. This issue is closely related to distributed systems (#3), information architecture (#4), communication networks (#5), and human resources (#8). Improved effectiveness is essential for next-generation applications which promise to be collaborative, multimedia, and object based.
20 15 10 5 0 1980 Softw are Development 20 15 10 5 0 1980 Communication Netw orks

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#7 Making Effective Use of the Data Resource The organization's data resource is growing in size, complexity, and value. Recent research on data mining (e.g. Matheus 1993) have emphasized the notion that organizational data are still largely unrecognized, inaccessible, and underutilized. IS must develop a climate within its department and throughout the organization which values data as a corporate asset. This issue has been in the framework since 1980 and continues to hold an important position. It is closely related to (#4) information architecture. While information architecture represents the harder (more quantitative) aspects of strategic data modeling and enterprise database design, this issue represents the softer (more qualitative) aspects of helping the organization develop a discipline for managing data. #8 Recruiting and Developing IS Human Resources Current and future shortages of qualified IS personnel threaten many organizations ability to make effective use information technology. Continuing emphasis needs to be put on developing business skills such as teamwork and leadership. Yet IS personnel must also stay current with emerging technologies such as distributed systems, communication networks, object-based development, and multimedia interfaces. The need to stay on top of rapid changes in both business and technology conspire to keep human resources ranked among the top issues as it has been since the first study in 1980.
20 15 10 5 0 1980 IS Human Resources 20 15 10 5 0 1980 Data Resource

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#9 Aligning the IS Organization within the Enterprise An IS organization's effectiveness in supporting enterprise needs is dependent on its organizational location within the enterprise. Appropriate alignment changes over time and requires a combination of centralized and decentralized structures. Too often IS is not located and structured appropriately causing this issue to remain important among IS executives. Even after the structural problems are solved with appropriate reporting, cultural and social issues may remain. One of the original issues introduced in 1980, this issue is closely related to strategic planning (#10). It has consistently remained important over the past 15 years. For 1994, this issue tied for the highest standard deviation of any top issue (s.d. = 2.02) indicating some disagreement over its relative importance. #10 Improving IS Strategic Planning It has always been important to align long-range IS plans with strategic business plans. Rapidly changing business environments, increased involvement of end users, and accelerated technological change make this difficult. Shorter planning cycles require a great deal of flexibility in any plan. This issue is closely related to organization alignment (#9) and was ranked #1 for many years (1980, 1983, and 1986). Interviews suggested that its drop in rank may be more due the current focus on implementation and execution rather than to having solved the problems relating to this issue. Its relatively high standard deviation (s.d. = 2.02) indicates some disagreement compared to the other top issues.
20 15 10 5 0 1980 Strategic Planning 20 15 10 5 0 1980 IS Organization Alignment

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Other Issues In addition to the ten critical issues above, there are other major changes in the key issue framework. Collaborative support (#11) is introduced as an important new application area. Despite a long history of research in academe (see Dennis & Gallupe 1993), this is the first time it has appeared in the framework. After declining steadily over the previous four studies, IS effectiveness measurement (#11) increased in importance by 5 ranks. This may be due to the long-standing need for IS executives to justify new investment and be accountable for their resources. The recent escalation in research on the productivity paradox appears to be timely (see Brynjolfsson 1993, Hitt & Brynjolfsson 1994). The third straight decline in the rank of competitive advantage (#17, down from #8 in 1990) reinforces the belief that achieving competitive advantage is more of an ongoing process which is achieved by focusing on a wide range of issues as opposed to focusing on a single application. Other noteworthy results include the introduction of outsourcing (#20) as a new issue and a large decline in the ranking of organizational learning (#14, down from #5). Appendices B, C, D, and E provide more detail including results by round, by industry, by position, and comparisons with 1990 data. ANOVA and Sheffe analyses showed that the services sector rated responsive infrastructure (p < 0.10), software development (p < 0.05), and legacy applications (p < 0.10) as significantly more important than the manufacturing sector (see Appendix C).

Discussion
Our discussion of results is organized into several sections. First, we examine the interrelationships among different issues in the framework, next we look at major trends in the framework, then we analyze the evolution of IS management to situate the framework in a historical context, and finally we explore the implications of the study. Issue Relationships Many of the top issues are interrelated. This is a direct result of the methods used to generate and revise issue titles and rationale (see previous studies for details). This is both a strength and a weakness of the key issues framework. It is a strength because each issue maps directly to an important problem faced by leading IS executives. The wording for each issue is suggested and refined by executives, thus it is easy for practitioners to relate the results to 11

their work. Another strength is that a consistent issue framework and issue generation/revision method has been employed since 1983. Changes since that time have been intentionally evolutionary. This approach facilitates longitudinal comparison over time and reduces researcher subjectivity in interpreting trends. Unfortunately, these interrelationships also result in fuzzy boundaries for each issue and in concepts with partially overlapping content. This makes it difficult to assure the reliability and validity of the results. Interrelationships among the top issues can be clarified by examining an influence diagram. Figure 1 depicts our understanding of interrelationships for many of the top issues. Depicted outside the circle (speed, globalization, digital convergence, etc.) are the major environmental

Figure 1. Influence Diagram for Seven Key Issues

Speed

Competition Business Pocess Redesign (#2)

Globalization

Responsive IT Infrastructure (#1) Tecnnical Advances Digital Convergence

Distributed Systems (#3)

Information Architecture (#4)

Communication Networks (#5)

Systems Development (#6)

Human Resources (#8) Decentralization Scarce Resources

forces (or drivers) believed to be shaping the top issues in the 1994 framework. Four of our executive participants offered these comments about external drivers:

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One central theme is driving all the issues: the rapidity of change in the marketplace. This includes things like shortened product cycles, thinning margins, and business performance going drastically up and down. Examples are everywhere... the big 3 automakers, IBM, Japan. It is very evident that the pace of technology introduction is much quicker than it has been. The cycle time on new micro-processor introduction is down to about 18 months and all of us are faced with the fact that we can not react that quickly. We can't do it. We are going to start skipping technology cycles. We are dealing with new business potentials or new technologies, new things that are happening. I think every business is in a similar situation where number one, your ability to create new products and put them out in the marketplace, and number two, to service and enhance and keep good customer service around those products, those two things have become the predominant drivers of American business. It is no longer good enough just to keep your costs down. No, in fact I don't see a single one that is not driven by business change. When the business was slow, IT could be slow. Today, IT has got to be fast. [Infrastructure] provides a business foundation, not a technology foundation. I see this as being similar to the business issue of developing a good human resources function or developing a good financial function.

Seven of the top issues are shown inside the circle with arrows depicting the major relationships. For example, our interview results strongly suggest that changes in the business are a response to external forces in the competitive environment. These changes drive a need for business process redesign (among other changes) and this in turn triggers a need for distributed systems (to support decentralization), communication networks (to support globalization), and a responsive IT infrastructure (to tie it all together). Similarly, a responsive IT infrastructure can be viewed as consisting of three important components: distributed systems, information architecture, and communication networks. Another SIM board member offered the following:
I think the reason that you see this trend is that if you look at the last five years, there has been so much downsizing. Okay, let's call it redistribution. And with the miniaturization of technology of itself, companies have gone away from mainframes and moved to networks of PCs, super servers, or whatever you want to call them. Clearly we didn't have the infrastructure to do that five years ago. Issues like #1 through #5, all relate to the IS function having to respond to change in the organization.

Needed changes in these infrastructure areas are driving new software development approaches including the application of client server and object technologies. The combination of business and technology changes in systems development and infrastructure drive the continuing importance of human resources. To keep the diagram intelligible, selected issues, indirect influences, and bi-directional influences are not shown. The major point here is that the key issues framework can and should be understood as a whole beyond its individual components. 13

Major Shifts in the Framework Using the classification scheme developed by Niederman et al. (1991), the top issues are analyzed by group. Figures 2(a) through 2(d) show the four groups of issues and their periodic ranking through all five SIM surveys dating from 1980. The rising importance of
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Figure 2(a). Technology Infrastructure Issues

infrastructure issues
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noted in the 1990

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IT Infrastructure Distributed Systems Information Architecture

study continues as a
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strong trend. All four of the technology infrastructure issues

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Communication Netw orks

have risen in importance in each of the past two studies. As discussed in more detail later, building a technology infrastructure to respond to rapid changes in the competitive environment is the major theme for many IS executives as they enter the late 1990s.
The number one issue says it all. My number one issue is building and maintaining a reliable and responsive infrastructure. Companies today are built on IT infrastructures -- e-mail, LANs, etc. As a result, the infrastructure on which all of this technology depends must be solid. Ten years ago we lived in an easy world -- one big box in one place. Today things are very complicated. Therefore we must be able to depend on the infrastructure.

In expressing their opinion about the importance of technology infrastructure, IS

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Figure 2(b). Business Relationship Issues

Data Resource IS Organization Alignment Strategic Planning IS Role & Contribution Organizational Learning Competitive Advantage 0 1980 Business Process Redesign 1983 1986 1990 1994

executives are trading off the importance of

business relationship issues. Figure 2(b) shows that many business relationship issues have declined in importance in direct relation to the technology infrastructure issues. This does not imply these issues are not important, but only that the executives in the study are focused on implementation and delivery more than on planning and alignment. This is a major shift for 14

IS managers since the mid to late 1980s when IS planning, organizational alignment, and competitive advantage ranked high in the framework. Two of our executive participants offered the following insights:
Our challenge in the 1980's was trying to help the overall organization see where IT fit in the big picture... we had to elevate the priority of IT. Today, I would say that we've been quite successful in doing this as most companies could not function without IT. For example, I work for the Chairman of the Board. My job is to provide the infrastructure so that the organization can run. In 1988 we spent a lot of time trying to align the IS organization with the rest of the business. Once our strategic IS plan was accepted by the organization, we turned our efforts from planning to implementation. In addition, we are moving away from a centrally controlled IS organization to one that's more distributed. This again maps to the changes occurring in business; moving away from headquarters control to more autonomous business units.

Even as the key issue framework has

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Figure 2(c). Internal Effectiveness Issues

shifted from
15 Softw are Development IS Human Resources IS Effectiveness Measures Legacy Applications

business relationship
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to technology
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infrastructure, the internal effectiveness issues (shown in Figure 2(c)) have remained relatively stable over time. Software development, human resources, effectiveness measurement, and legacy applications are core features of managing information systems. They are an integral part of making effective organizational use of information technology. These issues show the least variance across the 15 year period. Technology application issues, however, continue their historical decline in
5 20 End-User Computing 15 10 CASE Technology Executive/Decision Support Office Automation Collaborative Support 0 1980 1983 1986 1990 1994 0 1980 1983 1986 1990 1994

Figure 2(d). Technology Application Issues

importance. Case Technology (#12 in 1990), for example,

dropped out of the study after the second round. Similarly, object-oriented technology was 15

introduced in the first round, but did not survive the cut to the third round. The one new technology application issue is collaborative support (#11). A reasonable interpretation of the trend for the technology application group is that these issues are still important, but they have been delegated down in the organization. Amidst their broadening responsibilities, IS executives simply no longer have time to devote to relatively narrow application areas such as those listed in this group. Historical Analysis The information systems discipline has evolved considerably over the 15 years spanned by the SIM surveys. This section discusses some of the major trends in business, technology, and applications, as they relate to the key issue framework. The 1970s: Mainframe and Back-Office Computing The 1970s was a decade in which the emerging field of management information systems (MIS) took important steps toward strengthening its newborn position within organizations. The seeds had been planted for thinking about managing information as a resource parallel to land, labor, and capital (Dickson 1968). But data processing was still practiced as a technical specialty by most EDP managers and calls were made for involving business managers in the development of new computer applications (Adams 1972). IS managers were under attack in leading business journals with titles such as MIS is a Mirage (Dearden 1972) and facing record high turnover rates as reported in Plight of the EDP Manager (Nolan 1973). In business, the decline of the US auto industry vividly demonstrated the serious impacts of globalized markets and competitive threats. US companies, however, were still building economies of scale along relatively discrete product lines and within what appeared to be relatively undifferentiated and stable markets. At this point, sophisticated analytical tools were not widely understood or deployed in marketing. And even if market fragmentation had been better understood, it seems unlikely that the large companies of the era would have been able to respond economically to niche markets. In operations, statistical process control and continuous improvement were key tools for improving quality in response to the competition.

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First generation database, data communications, and real-time online systems were the new technologies of era. Keeping current with these new technologies was deemed critical for controlling IS operations so that systems did not come crashing down (Buss 1981). In software, timesharing report generation tools laid the foundation for the later emergence of end-user computing. The narrowly focused accounting applications of the 1960s were being replaced by functionally integrated applications such as financial management (with payables, receivables, general ledger), material requisition planning (with bill of materials, purchasing, production scheduling), and human resources management (with payroll, benefits, career tracking). Cross functional systems were still a decade away. Large companies typically organized their new MIS department as a centralized function with attention focused on the problems of managing this new activity. Gibson and Nolan (1974) offered the Four Stages of EDP Growth as a way of understanding the changes that were taking place and the need to adopt varying management disciplines (differing in degree of control and slack) to smooth the transition to a mature stage. The EDP budget was viewed as a surrogate for an underlying organizational learning curve. Latter stages of growth were seen as a period of data resource management where strategy and planning dominate IS management activity (Nolan 1979). Another view suggested the need for varying management approaches (organic or mechanistic) contingent on the developmental or operational nature of the subunit (Wetherbe & Whitehead 1977). Still others recommended that an effective IS managers orientation needed to evolve from systems during the early stages of growth to a balance between systems and user orientation in the mature stage (Taggart & Sibley 1979). New methods for dealing with the difficult problem of linking IS planning and business strategy were offered (King 1978, Rockart 1979). By the close of the decade, the first SIM key issues study in 1980 identified IS strategic planning (#1) as the most important issue for IS managers (Ball & Harris 1982). Other representative issues included measuring effectiveness (#2), decision support (#5), and office automation (#6). The Early 1980s: PCs and End-User Computing At the beginning of the 1980s, a detailed observation of six IS managers found them more manager than technician but still focused mostly on their internal organization with 60% of their contacts directed at 2nd-line subordinates and infrequent contacts with superiors (Ives & 17

Olson 1981). Long range forecasts suggested that IS managers needed to prepare for a tidal wave of technology change by the 1990s (Benjamin 1982). Others suggested that the growing EDP budget represented only the tip of the information iceberg reminding businesses that managing information systems extends far beyond the management of technology (Edelman 1981). Executive steering committees were promoted as one way for IS managers to align their strategy with that of the organization amidst the decentralizing forces of miniaturization (Nolan 1982). The IS management literature also recommended sophisticated organization designs responding to technology specialization (Shore 1983) and decentralization in business organization (Zmud 1984). A SIM sponsored study identified key changes in business, technology, and user knowledge as driving the need for IS managers to decrease their direct line responsibilities and increase their staff orientation (Rockart et al. 1982). IS managers were also urged to focus on service, communication, human resources, and alignment (Rockart 1982). In short, they were urged to make the transition from functional manager to general business manager. Later empirical tests found that IS managers were indeed moving in the expected direction (Benjamin et al. 1985). The top issues from 1983 captured these themes with the high ranking of strategic planning (#1), organization learning (#6), organization alignment (#7), and human resources (#8). A dominant influence on IS management during the early 1980s was the rapid adoption of personal computers (PCs) in organizations. Facilitating the management of end user computing had rose to a #2 ranking in 1983 and held a #6 ranking in 1986. There were many technical challenges associated with configuring, installing, and supporting personal computers (Benson 1983). PCs also fueled a series of innovations in user interface design which would eventually make graphical user interfaces a defacto standard by the end of the decade. Subsecond response time, autonomy of access, and usable interfaces forever raised the standards by which a friendly application would be judged. The slow evolution away from code-based mainframe mentality interfaces had begun. End-user computing (EUC) was clearly understood as a managerial and organizational evolution not just as a technology deployment (Henderson & Treacy 1986). The dawn of EUC finally broke the IS organizations monopoly on information services. Users made 18

unprecedented gains in knowledge and control over their computing activities. As software development rose to the #4 ranking in the 1983 study, software packages, rapid prototyping, and user development were offered as solutions for breaking the systems development bottleneck (Gremilion & Pyburn 1983). Foreshadowing todays client server development environment, IS managers were urged to develop a strategy for managing the shared environment in which IS and users were required to cooperate in systems development (Rockart & Flannery 1983). Information Centers were created to offer training, consulting, and technical support to help users help themselves (Brancheau et al. 1985). The managerial challenges ranged from dealing with user demand for investment, to providing controlled access to mainframe databases, to controlling or certifying the development of applications by end users. IS managers struggled with ways to assimilate yet another new activity into their organization. Technology integration (ranked #10 in 1986) was defined as bringing the islands of data processing, office automation, factory automation, and telecommunications under unified management (e.g. McKenney & McFarlan 1982) The Late 1980s: LANs and Departmental Computing Taking their new strategic role in organizations in earnest, IS managers ranked using IT for competitive advantage as their #2 issue in 1986. A strong staff orientation was evident in the 1986 SIM survey results with strategic planning (#1), competitive advantage (#2), organizational learning (#3), IS role & contribution (#4), and organization alignment (#5) the highest ranking issues. Porters (1980, 1985, Porter & Millar 1985) seminal works on competitive strategy and the value chain gained popularity and were quickly applied to IS management (McFarlan 1984, Cash & Konsynski 1985, Clemons & McFarlan 1986). Others reminded the field that sustainable advantage involved an entire organization not any single component (Ghemawat 1986). Examples of clear competitive wins in industries such as airlines (Copeland & McKenney 1988), distribution (Clemons & Row 1988), finance (Clemons & Weber 1990), and healthcare (Kim & Michelman 1990) raised the profile of information technology in many organizations. Effective application of IT also figured prominently in the literature on competing in time and developing fast-cycle capabilities (Hammer & Mangurian 1987, Bouer & Hout 1988). There was a recognition that competitive advantage often required

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interorganizational systems (Johnson & Vitale 1988) and a concerted effort to overcome high level resistance and neglect (Lederer & Mendelow 1988, Davenport et al. 1989). During this period, information technology also played a key role in corporate downsizing efforts targeted at cutting overhead and regaining competitiveness (Applegate et al. 1988). The flattening of organizations predicted by Leavitt and Whistlers (1958) Management in the 1980s had begun to take place. The new technologies of the day were predicted to have even greater organizational impact in the future (Straub & Wetherbe 1989). Amidst these events, IT appeared to have finally achieved a measure of CEO recognition as a critical organization resource (Jarvenpaa & Ives 1990). By the close of the decade, IS manager concerns about increasing understanding of the role and contribution of IS had dropped from #4 in 1986 to #12 in 1990. An influential technology theme running through the late 1980s was a serious effort to leverage the installed base of PCs for organizational purposes through deployment of local area networks (LANs). Early LANs focused on economies from sharing hardware resources such as large disk drives and laser printers. Later, the emphasis turned toward sharing software and databases. The interconnection of PCs with LANs enabled increases in the scope of PC applications (Bullen 1986) and fueled the rise of more complex computing architectures (Huff et al. 1988). This further increased the autonomy of departments and workgroups (Pyburn 198687). With the introduction of new platforms and the weakening of centralized control over data, IS managers struggled with the need to rationalize the management of data. Developing and implementing an information architecture (#1) and making effective use of the data resource (#2) were the highest ranking issues in the 1990 study. These results and the calls of others (Dixon & John 1989) foreshadowed an increasing focus on technology infrastructure issues through the 1990s. The Early 1990s: Client Server and Enterprise Systems Empirical evidence collected at the end of the decade suggested that leading IS executives had indeed evolved over the previous decade from that of functional manager to general business executive; becoming an active participant in corporate strategy and external affairs (Stephens et al. 1992). Two way communication with the CEO was found to reduce IS 20

executives difficulty with strategic planning (Watson 1990). During this period, many new IS executives were coming from a hybrid background which included both business and technology experience (Applegate & Elam 1992). This despite evidence that excellent CEO/CIO relationships could be found where both the CEO and CIO shared a vision to transform the business regardless of the CIOs background (Feeney et al. 1992). Business relationship issues such as strategic planning (#3), organizational learning (#5), and organization alignment (#7) still held a dominant position in the 1990 key issues framework. Yet the 1990 study also signaled the shift toward recognizing the critical importance of technology infrastructure.
The 1980's were stable compared to today. We had time to get into some of the soft issues. In the 1990's we talk speed, flexibility, and operating in an ambiguous environment. Long-range strategic planning doesn't fit with this. We don't have time for it, and I'm not sure there's much value in doing it today. It is critical to have a plan however; a looser notion of the old strategic technology plan. One that maintains the flexibility.

In business, earlier emphasis on downsizing led naturally to a search for even more radical improvements in performance. Decades of cumulative changes in the competitive environment had led to the need for radically reengineering business processes instead of simply automating them (Hammer 1990). The Tomorrow Organization (Datamation 1990) and The Horizontal Organization (Business Week 1993) captured the key business themes of the 1990s: flatter, team-based, customer-driven organizations focusing on business processes with expanded end-to-end links with customers and suppliers. Whereas marketing in the early 1980s took a shotgun approach due to limited analytical tools, marketing in the 1990s began to take a rifle approach. Databases of consumer purchase history contained extensive information about demographics and buying behavior. Customer history databases were seen as new corporate assets (Matheus 1993). Building on the large installed base of PCs and the widespread deployment of LANs, a major technical influence of the 1990s was the development of client server computing architectures. Mirroring changes in business organization, client server combined centralized data and network services with decentralized applications. Thus desktop personal computers were linked to departmental servers via LANs, with the LANs linked to corporate mainframes via wide-area networks. Although development of client server applications was estimated to be

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more costly than development of time-shared mainframe applications in 1990, client server costs were projected to fall well below mainframe costs by 1994 (Sinha 1992). A study of senior IS executives found that open systems and application integration were taking on a major role (Clark 1992). As a result, the size of the central IS organization was shrinking. There was a move toward managing infrastructure in some companies. As control over infrastructure was centralized, the development of applications was decentralized to business units. By this period, most companies were making extensive use of software packages and external contractors (Attewell 1992). Some organizations began to dismantle their information centers or at least merge them into a comprehensive support center (Robey & Zmud 1990) and IS executives no longer clearly distinguished end-user computing from organizational computing (McLean & Kappelman 1993, Brancheau & Brown 1993). Industry and vendor alliances became important for managing risk. New forms of proprietary-open architectures were also seen as a key to success in the global computer and communications industry (Morris & Ferguson 1993). One of our executive participants suggested:
[Another] issue is that the players are changing rapidly. We are seeing some people fade from view and it may not be evident to the general public but companies that haven't taken the right architecture path or created the right alliances just aren't going to be there in the future.

These events are reflected in the 1994 key issues framework with its emphasis on responsive infrastructure (#1), distributed systems (#3), and communication networks (#5). As one of our executive participants commented:
The issue is that companies are distributing themselves. They are putting more people and more management responsibility at the line close to the customer. And people want access to their own systems and their own data and everything is moving toward that. So managing distributed systems requires very high capability, client server systems.

Future Directions The next major era in information management might well prove to be public networked computing or what Rockart (1988) long ago called the wired society. The Late 1990s: The Internet and Electronic Commerce Speed looms as a major theme as we look ahead to the late 1990s and the dawn of the 21st century. In technology, the rapid commercial acceptance of the Internet and WorldWide Web 22

(Berners-Lee et al. 1994) and the growth of electronic document management (Sprague 1995) will further increase the scope of IS management responsibility. In business, the prospects include competing in niche markets with a size approaching one and competing against dynamic virtual organizations which are able to react quickly to almost any consumer need.
Figure 3. Building Infrastructure on the Past

These trends point to further evolutionary changes in the IS function. As shown in Figure 3, one can make the argument that these business and technology events build on the foundation of the previous two decades and are a natural extension of the ever widening scope and impact of information systems. For example, well prepared IS executives may find that their newly developed client server interfaces to their legacy back office systems provide them with the experience needed to manage this new transition in infrastructure. Unfortunately, developments in the field are rarely so orderly. The rapid acceptance of the Internet as a medium of commerce, for example, may prove to be a two-edged sword. Even as the Internet or its broadband successor provides part of the solution for increasing the interconnectivity, portability, and interoperability of the infrastructure; connection to these networks offers the potential of opening up an organization to accelerating change. These changes will in turn drive modifications in the infrastructure needed to respond to new business initiatives. In a twisted spiral of cause and effect, business needs drive technology application just as technological advance enables new forms of competition. These events are interpreted by managers who make further changes to the business (see Orlikowski 1992 for the structurational model of this phenomenon).
Mainframe/BackOffice (1970s) Internet/Commerce (late 1990s) Client Server/Enterprise (early 1990s) PCs/End-User (early 1980s) LANs/Departmental (late 1980s)

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As shown in Figure 4, the business and technology transformation spiral can be expected to continue well past the current planning horizon. The factors shown in the figure are speculative but they serve to illustrate the types of interactions we can expect to see in the future. For companies that master both their physical value chain and their virtual value chain, increases in the scope of operation may help redefine the very business the organization is in (Venkatraman 1994, Rayport & Sviokla 1995). IS executives may thus find, as their predecessors did, that the infrastructure built during the 1980s and early 1990s simply cannot deliver the function and performance required to support large scale, complex, integrated, hypermedia, information processing capability. They may find that they will need to innovate new ways of developing and managing the infrastructure required to feed the insatiable information appetite of their evolving and dynamic organizations. Technology implementation is often cited as the most challenging aspect of business process redesign (Maglitta 1995). If this is true now, it promises become even more so over the current planning horizon. All these developments imply an explosion of information availability and unprecedented business demand for innovative application of that information. The challenges IS executives face over the next decade may well dwarf those of the past 20 years. Just as many organizations are evolving toward a more organic structure, IS will need to find a way to evolve its current mechanistic technology infrastructure into an organic structure that more closely resembles the customer-driven, open systems, object-oriented ideal that may some day be possible (Welke 1994).
Business Change reinvention of business extreme contact with market data market innovation flexible delivery systems data mining improved organization memory access to external information Technology Change virtual reality natural language interfaces hyperintelligent network agents broadband global internetwork object databases unstructured document management Internet connectivity

Figure 4. The Business-Technology Transformation Spiral

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Implications It is tempting to interpret the 1994 results as implying that the IS management job is becoming more technical (see Figure 5). In fact the executives we interviewed were very clear about interpreting the importance of infrastructure issues as being fully driven by changes in their business environment. There was no mention of technology dominance or technology opportunism. Instead, the following comments are indicative of their sentiment:
From a management perspective, the overall business is demanding that business operations have increased self-control, yet they also want the operations to remain highly integrated -- this presents a major challenge to IS. Business issues are still number one, and I think that those top five that you mentioned are not necessarily an argument for saying that we are moving away from business issues. I think you could just as easily interpret those top five as that we are staying with the business issues as being the predominant driver. [This] is part of an overall trend towards the recognition by both the information systems people and the CEOs or vice-presidents who are the bosses of CIOs, to recognize that business issues are predominantly the drivers in making information systems an effective tool for their company. I think that we have at long last arrived at a point where the tools that make that kind of decision possible are out there for us to use.
Figure 5. Trends in Key Issue Framework
10 9 Application 8 Internal 7 Effectiveness 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1980 1983

Technology

Technology Infrastructure Business Relationship

1986

1990

1994

Looking to the future of IS management, it is important to ask whether these shifts in the framework are temporary or whether the pendulum will shift back to planning and alignment issues over the next decade. We asked our participants from the SIM board to comment and they differed in their views. One view is that technology infrastructure will remain critical and that the present framework is relatively balanced between management and technology issues. Here is what this group said:
I don't think we're on a pendulum... we will stay focused on the technical issues from now on because there's so much to consider from a technical perspective. Think about the Internet, mobile computing, telecommuting, electronic and voice mail... they all drive technology and force us to be available 24-hours a day, 7-days a week. This is a technical challenge. Strategic issues will be contained within these technical issues.

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I think this, like the centralization-decentralization issue, represents the big swing of the pendulum. Four years ago we were focusing on architectures, that is, how to do things. Now, we're actually trying to deliver on it. I don't think we'll see the pendulum swing back... we've achieved a balance that is now correct. We now understand the situation we are in, and it will last a long time.

Other board members felt the framework has moved too far toward technology. These comments are suggestive of their views:
No I think that the technology issues might predominate for another couple of years but it is going to come back to the business and change management issues as predominating sometime in the decade, probably toward the latter part of the decade. When the pendulum swings back, I think we may realize that we've focused so much on technology that we've ignored the source of our real competitive advantage -- our people. This is borne out in your results. Four years from now we may find that technology is indeed a commodity and that we need to be more focused on people... we need to be more high touch. The rapid shift to newer technology brings with it a high level of risk -- this risk is what has caused the focus on technology to sharpen. Once we bring the risk to manageable levels, I think we will see more balance between technology and managerial issues.

Indeed, both views can be supported depending on the situation. For companies which are focused on implementation and delivery, building a responsive IT infrastructure is not a short term endeavor. The ideal of a trouble-free technology infrastructure where operational and warehouse databases are well structured and fully integrated might be a decade or more away. Given the current trends toward convergence of media and industries, the challenges of building a responsive infrastructure should remain critical for some time to come. For other companies which have not yet recognized the strategic nature of IS or which are undergoing major restructuring; planning and alignment issues may need to be resolved before extensive infrastructure building can take place. As one executive put it:
I still believe that aligning the IS strategy to business strategy has to be the number one priority, it certainly is with me. Now in part that's because this company has undergone some substantial restructuring and reorganization and so our focus of the moment is making certain that we have got the right business drivers identified and the right IS response to those drivers firmly defined and driving our project development. For many individuals who are in companies that are not at our stage, they are more in an execution mode and they are faced with a revolution, maybe thats too strong a word, an evolution to client server and a whole new network topology. So as they try to respond to what they know are clearly defined objectives, they are running into all the problems of putting in place the platforms, architecting the network, trying to develop the internal skills to be able to manage the projects.

For IS executives and general managers, the key issue framework suggests some general directions for emphasis and provides a coarse measure for benchmarking their own concerns 26

against those of their peers. IS faculty should also take careful note of the changes in the key issues framework. For as long as we hope to retain a strong link with practice, the views expressed in this study impact our missions in both research and education. As is common with research, our findings raise more questions than they answer. What new technology components will be required as different media and industries converge? Which architectural standards will emerge as the dominate designs of the future? How will electronic document management systems affect business processes? What are the costs and benefits? What are the effects of opening up new communication channels on organization structure and performance? What effects will electronic commerce have on existing market channels? What new opportunities will be available? What structures will serve the IS organization into the next century? What problems in strategic planning and organization alignment will resurface in these new flatter more decentralized organizations? In business, how can we deliver just-intime knowledge to employees at their point of need? How can we transfer best practices in one part of the organization to other parts? On campus, how should our curricula change? How should instructional technology be integrated into our teaching mission? How will it transform the campus itself? These questions should prove to be fertile ground for a wide variety of research projects. As one of our executive participants commented:
I don't know if there is a "solution" to any of these key issues. I think it is a process, it is a continuation of focus on these things, and continuous improvement in the way that we are managing the IT infrastructure, managing business process redesign, managing distributive systems, etc. So I don't think that there is any sort of catch-all solution.

Conclusions
Signaling a major shift in IS management, the top issues of 1994 are focused on technology infrastructure issues. For the first time in its 15 year history, the key issues framework has taken on a technical flavor. This does not mean IS managers are reverting back to their days as technicians in the 1960s or 1970s. Instead, business requirements for speed, flexibility, and responsiveness are driving the importance of issues such as responsive infrastructure, business process redesign, distributed systems, information architecture, communication networks, and software development.

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This focus on infrastructure has important implications for organization structure, human resource development, investment justification, application integration, and the future of electronic commerce. Development of a responsive infrastructure presumes that the IS executive has achieved a measure of recognition in his or her organization and thus is influential in or at least knowledgeable about business strategy and direction. Without such knowledge, IS executives will have a difficult time harnessing information technology to support new business ventures. IS executives will need to keep moving in the directions dictated by business, by technology, and by their rising stature as corporate officers who are contributors in all aspects of the business. As corporate officers, IS executives must choose carefully how they spend their time. While specialized technology application issues can be delegated to their subordinates, turbulent periods of change such as the late 1990s demand both fast response and careful positioning for the future. As always, balance in managing the technical and managerial aspects of these issues will prove to be the best course of action. Like the businesses which they support, IS organizations must achieve speed, flexibility, and responsiveness. These goals are worthy of a strong effort by senior IS executives.

Acknowledgments
We wish to acknowledge SIM, the MISRC at the University of Minnesota, and the University of Colorado for their support of the research.

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McFarlan, F.W. "Information Technology Changes the Way You Compete," Harvard Business Review, May-June 1984, pp. 98-103. McKenny, J.L. and McFarlan, F.W. The Information Archipelago -- Maps and Bridges, Harvard Business Review, September-October 1982, pp. 109-119. McLean, E.R., and Kappelman, L.A. "The Convergence of Organizational and End-User Computing," Communications of the ACM, December 1993. McLeod, R., and Bender, D.H. The Integration of Word Processing Into a Management Information System, MIS Quarterly, December 1982, pp. 11-29. Morris, C.R. and Ferguson, C.H. How Architecture Wins Technology Wars, Harvard Business Review, March-April 1993, pp. 86-96. Niederman, F., Brancheau, J.C., and Wetherbe, J.C. "Information Systems Management Issues in the 1990s," MIS Quarterly, December 1991, pp. 474-499. Nolan, R.L. "Managing the Crisis in Data Processing," Harvard Business Review, March-April 1979, pp. 115-126. Nolan, R.L. "Plight of the EDP Manager," Harvard Business Review, May-June 1973, p. 143. Nolan, R.L. Managing Information Systems by Committee, Harvard Business Review, July-August 1982, pp. 72-79. Porter, M.E., and Millar, V.E. "How Information Gives You a Competitive Advantage," Harvard Business Review, July-August 1985, pp. 149-160. Porter, M.E. Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors, Free Press, New York NY, 1980. Porter, M.E. Competitive Advantage, Free Press, New York NY, 1985. Pyburn, P.J. "Managing Personal Computer Use: The Role of Corporate Management Information Systems," Journal of Management Information Systems, Volume 3, Number 3, 1986-87, pp. 4970. Orlikowski, W.J., and Robey, D. "Information Technology and the Structuring of Organizations," Information Systems Research, Volume 2, Number 2, June 1991. Rayport, J.F. and Sviokla, J.J. Exploiting the Virtual Value Chain, Harvard Business Review, November-December 1995, pp. 75-85. Robey, D., and Zmud, R. "Research on End-User Computing: Theoretical Perspectives from Organizational Theory," Desktop Information Technology, K.M. Kaiser, H.J. Oppelland, North Holland, 1990, pp. 15-36. Rockart J.F. The Changing Role of the Information Systems Executive: A Critical Success Factors Perspective, Sloan Management Review, Fall 1982, pp. 3-13. Rockart, J.F. The Line Takes the Leadership -- IS Management in a Wired Society, Sloan Management Review, Summer 1988, pp. 57-64. Rockart, J.F. "Chief Executives Define Their Own Data Needs," Harvard Business Review, March-April 1979, pp. 81-93. Rockart, J.F., and Flannery, L.S. "The Management of End-User Computing," Communications of the ACM, Volume 26, Number 10, 1983, pp. 776-784. Rockart, J.F., Ball, L., Bullen, C.V. "The Future Role of the Information Systems Executive," MIS Quarterly, Volume 6 (special issue), December 1982, pp. 1-14. Shina, A. Client-Server Computing, Communications of the ACM, Volume 35, Number 7, July 1992, pp. 77-98. Shore, E.B. Reshaping the IS Organization, MIS Quarterly, December 1983, pp. 11-17.

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Sprague, R.H. Electronic Document Management: Challenges and Opportunities for Information Systems Managers, MIS Quarterly, March 1995, pp. 29-49. Stephens, C.S., Ledbetter, W.N., Mitra, A., Ford, F.N. Executive or Functional Manager? The Nature of the IS Executives Job, MIS Quarterly, December 1992, pp. 449-467. Straub, D.W., and Wetherbe, J.C. "Information Technologies in the 1990s: An Organizational Impact Perspective," Communications of the ACM, Volume 32, Number 11, 1989 pp. 1328-1339. Taggart, W.M., and Sibley, V. "A Balanced Orientation for the Information Systems Manager," MIS Quarterly, June 1979, pp. 21-33. Venkatraman, N. IT-Enabled Business Transformation: From Automation to Business Scope Redefinition, Sloan Management Review, Winter 1994, pp. 73-87. . Watson, R.T., Kelly, G.G., Galliers, R.D., and Brancheau, J.C. "Key Issues in Information Systems Management: An International Perspective," under revision for Journal of Management Information Systems, 1996. Watson, R.T. Influences on IS Managers Perception of Key Issues: Information Scanning and the Relationship with the CEO, MIS Quarterly, June 1990, pp. 217-231. Welke, R.J. The Shifting Software Development Paradigm, Database, Vol. 25, No. 4, November 1984, pp. 9-16. Wetherbe, J.C., and Whitehead, C.J. A Contingency View of Managing the Data Processing Organization, MIS Quarterly, March 1977, pp. 19-25. Zmud, R.W. "Design Alternatives for Organizing Information Systems Activities," MIS Quarterly, Volume 8, Number 2, June 1984, pp. 79-93.

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Appendix A. Sample Survey Instrument KEY INFORMATION SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT ISSUES - ROUND 3 SURVEY
The following issues have been listed in descending order from most important to least important based on the average rating received by second round respondents. For your convenience, your personal ratings from the second-round survey are listed next to each issue. Given the averaged ratings of you and your peers in other organizations, please re-rate these issues by writing your new rating in the space provided. As before, rate each issue on a scale from 1 to 10, where 10 indicates your most important issue(s) and 1 indicates your least important issue(s). You will notice that many of the average ratings of the issues are relatively close together. Please try to distribute your rating scores across as much of the rating scale as you feel is appropriate. Thank you for your time. Least Important 1 2 3 Moderately Important 4 5 6 7
(Please fill in your rating in the spaces provided)
Your New Rating Your Last Rating

Most Important 9 10

Avg. Rating

____ 8.65

____ Building a Responsive IT Infrastructure

Building a technology infrastructure that will support existing applications while remaining responsive to change is a key to long-term enterprise productivity. This task is frustrated by the continuing rapid changes in infrastructure technology and the increasing breadth and depth of applications which need to be supported.

____ 7.94

____ Facilitating and Managing Business Process Redesign

To remain competitive, many organizations are radically changing the way they do business. IT plays an increasingly important role in this change process by enabling the innovative redesign of core business processes. Much has been learned about IT implementation in general which can help facilitate and manage BPR projects.

____ 7.67

____ Developing and Managing Distributed Systems*

Client-server applications promise to offer a cost-effective alternative to centralized applications. Unfortunately, they present many challenges including: maintaining consistent software versions; maintaining consistent data; controlling joint development projects with users; and administering large-scale distributed applications. (*Edited to recognize client-server technology as a popular implementation of distributed systems today.)

____ 7.62

____ Developing & Implementing an Information Architecture

A corporate/global information architecture is needed to identify the major information categories used within an enterprise and their relationships to business processes. It is essential for guiding applications development and facilitating the integration and sharing of data.

____ 7.57

____ Planning and Managing Communication Networks

Communication is the lifeblood of the organization. Using IS for competitive advantage depends heavily on access to appropriate internal and external communication networks. This task is complicated by rapid advances in underlying technology and major structural changes in the communications industry.

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Least Important 1 2 3

Moderately Important 4 5 6 7
(Please fill in your rating in the spaces provided)

Most Important 9 10

Your New Rating

Avg. Rating

Your Last Rating

____ 7.43

____ Improving the Effectiveness of Software Development

The application development backlog remains at unacceptably high levels. Traditional development methods and platforms are no longer satisfactory. New methods and platforms have not yet proven themselves. Sophisticated users are getting impatient. Improved effectiveness will be essential for next-generation applications.

____ 7.32

____ Making Effective Use of the Data Resource

The organization's data resource is growing in size, complexity, and value. Despite this, it remains largely unrecognized, inaccessible, and underutilized. IS must develop a climate within its department and throughout the organization which values the data resource as a corporate asset.

____ 7.26

____ Aligning the IS Organization within the Enterprise

The IS organization's effectiveness in supporting the enterprise's needs is dependent on its organizational location within the enterprise. Appropriate alignment may require a combination of centralized and decentralized structures. Too often IS is not located and structured appropriately.

____ 7.13

____ Recruiting and Developing IS Human Resources*

Current and future shortages of qualified IS personnel threaten the organization's ability to make effective use information technology. More emphasis needs to be put on developing business skills such as teamwork and leadership and staying current with new technology such as object-oriented and multimedia applications. (* Edited to reflect specific business skills and technologies.)

____ 6.99

____ Managing the Existing Portfolio of Legacy Applications

Most organizations have a large investment in their existing applications portfolio. Some "legacy" applications may need to be retired quickly. Others may need to be leveraged for many years before they are replaced. Integrating new technologies and migrating to new operating environments can be difficult. Too little is known about managing these problems.

____ 6.96

____ Improving IS Strategic Planning

It has always been important to align long-range IS plans with strategic business plans. Rapidly changing business environments, increased involvement of end users, and accelerated technological change underscore the need to continue improving strategic planning skills.

____ 6.73

____ Measuring IS Effectiveness and Productivity

Understanding how IT use impacts the bottom-line is crucial for justifying new investment. In addition, measuring the IS organization's performance is necessary for effective management. Measurement is becoming more important as companies attempt to reduce operating expenses to meet the competition.

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Least Important 1 2 3

Moderately Important 4 5 6 7
(Please fill in your rating in the spaces provided)

Most Important 9 10

Your New Rating

Avg. Rating

Your Last Rating

____ 6.61

____ Increasing Understanding of IS Role and Contribution

IS is often viewed as an operational activity with little recognition for its strategic contribution to the organization. This can result in executive management viewing IS strictly as an overhead expense. Funding can be cut resulting in missed opportunities for using IT to solve important business problems.

____ 6.53

____ Implementing and Managing Collaborative Support Systems

New software is needed to support the reengineered, flat, team-based organization of the future. Appropriate IT support can help teams share information, lead to faster decision making, and improved team effectiveness. Such support will become even more important in a distributed ubiquitous computing environment.

____ 6.48

____ Facilitating Organizational Learning

Organizations that prosper will need to make appropriate use of information technologies across their entire enterprise. Business practices and organizational structures will need to be modified in many cases. IS also must demonstrate its own ability to learn and use new technology.

____ 6.43

____ Using Information Systems for Competitive Advantage

In many businesses, long-term survival is dependent on using information systems to gain competitive advantage. Competitive advantage results from recognition of opportunities through creativity and innovation, followed by rapid implementation. These are historical weaknesses of the IS organization.

____ 6.36 ____ Planning and Integrating MultiVendor Open Systems Technologies*
Many companies are moving away from single-vendor proprietary operating environments to vendor-neutral environments based on industry and defacto standards. Due to large investments in legacy systems, carefully planned migration paths are critical. This task is complicated by a still-maturing technology and unstable standards. (* Edited to reflect the open systems nature of multivendor environments.)

____ 6.34

____ Facilitating and Managing End-User Computing

The proliferation of end-user computing through personal computers offers the promise of improved productivity but also the dangers of inadequate management control. Information systems management must balance control against the need for slack. Clarification of IS and end-user roles is a necessity.

____ 5.94

____ Outsourcing Selected Information Services

The internal information systems organization no longer has a monopoly. Outside contractors may be able to provide some services more effectively. What services should be outsourced? How should contractor relationships be managed? Fair and objective evaluation techniques are needed which assess both costs and benefits as well as potential risks from loss of control.

____ 5.93

____ Developing and Managing Electronic Data Interchange

Electronic communication with customers and suppliers may offer competitive advantage to a company or it may be a requirement for staying in business. IS executives must develop (or adapt to) standard transaction formats, keep current on technology developments, and learn to manage inter-organizational projects.

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Appendix B. Results By Delphi Round Issue Rank, Average Score, and Standard Deviation
Round One Issue Responsive IT Infrastructure Business Process Redesign Distributed Systems Information Architecture Communication Networks Software Development Data Resource IS Human Resources IS Organization Alignment IS Strategic Planning IS Effectiveness Measurement Collaborative Support IS Role & Contribution Organizational Learning Legacy Applications End-User Computing Competitive Advantage MultiVendor Systems Electronic Data Interchange Outsourcing Decision & Executive Support Object-Oriented Technologies Multimedia Applications Security & Control Disaster Recovery CASE Technology 18 20 21 17 10 11 19 14 13 16 15 5 6 3 2 7 9 4 8 12 Avg. Rank Score 1 8.68 new 7.46 7.45 7.64 7.66 7.36 7.25 7.56 7.35 6.92 new 7.15 7.01 5.77 6.69 6.76 6.27 6.50 new 6.20 new new 5.78 5.21 4.49 1.9 2.14 1.81 2.14 2.18 1.90 2.04 2.03 2.15 1.98 1.99 2.10 1.84 1.70 1.63 1.93 1.86 2.36 1.89 2.00 Round Two Round Three Std. Dev. 0.96 1.19 1.38 1.49 1.40 1.86 1.62 1.70 2.02 2.02 2.01 1.91 2.02 1.87 2.03 1.88 2.12 1.86 2.00 2.03 Std. Avg. Dev. Rank Score 1.22 1 8.70 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 8 10 12 14 13 15 11 17 16 18 19 20 21 22 23 8.00 7.68 7.62 7.57 7.42 7.36 7.17 7.28 7.02 6.79 6.52 6.66 6.49 6.99 6.34 6.38 6.34 5.95 5.94 5.78 5.72 4.56 drop drop drop Std. Avg. Dev. Rank Score 1.31 1 9.10 1.41 1.49 1.58 1.56 1.67 1.90 2.00 2.22 1.96 1.73 2.07 2.24 1.75 1.97 1.93 2.04 1.67 1.98 2.16 1.96 2.09 1.97 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 7.79 7.73 7.62 7.58 7.5 7.46 7.31 7.11 6.82 6.59 6.59 6.53 6.48 6.31 6.23 6.18 6.04 5.91 5.40 drop drop drop drop drop drop

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Appendix C. Results by Industry

Manufacturing Organizations (n = 40) Rank
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Rating
9.09 7.81 7.74 7.64 7.58 7.47 7.44 7.27 7.13 6.90

Key Issue
Building a Responsive IT Infrastructure Facilitating and Managing Business Process Redesign Developing and Managing Distributed Systems Developing and Implementing an Information Architecture Planning and Managing Communication Networks Improving the Effectiveness of Software Development Making Effective Use of the Data Resource Recruiting and Developing IS Human Resources Aligning the IS Organization within the Enterprise Improving IS Strategic Pl nning a

Services Organizations (n = 32) Rank

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Rating
9.32 8.07 8.03 7.81 7.68 7.61 7.50 7.30 6.87 6.73

Key Issue
Building a Responsive IT Infrastructure * Improving the Effectiveness of Software Development * Developing and Managing Distributed Systems Planning and Managing Communication Networks Facilitating and Managing Business Process Redesign Developing and Implementing an Information Architecture Recruiting and Developing IS Human Resources Making Effective Use of the Data Resource Aligning the IS Organization within the Enterprise Improving IS Strategic Planning

Non-Profit Organizations (n = 11) Rank

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Rating
9.00 8.05 8.00 7.91 7.73 7.68 7.36 7.32 7.23 7.18

Key Issue
Building a Responsive IT Infrastructure Making Effective Use of the Data Resource Recruiting and Developing IS Human Resources Improving the Effectiveness of Software Development Facilitating and Managing Business Process Redes ign Developing and Managing Distributed Systems Developing and Implementing an Information Architecture Managing Existing Legacy Applications Planning and Managing Communication Networks Aligning the IS Organization within the Enterprise

Notes: Excludes IS consultants, * denotes significant difference p < 0.10) (

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Appendix D. Results by Position

IS Practitioners (n = 74)

Rank
1 3 2 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Rating
9.07 7.80 7.79 7.66 7.60 7.46 7.44 7.25 7.07 6.86

Key Issue
Building a Responsive IT I frastructure n Developing and Managing Distributed Systems Facilitating and Managing Business Process Redesign Developing and Implementing an Information Architecture Planning and Managing Communication Networks Improving the Effectiveness of Software Development Making Effective Use of the Data Resource Recruiting and Developing IS Human Resources Aligning the IS Organization within the Enterprise Improving IS Strategic Planning

IS Observers (n = 9) (Educators and Consultants) Rank

1 2 2 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Rating
9.33 7.88 7.88 7.78 7.63 7.50 7.44 7.33 7.22 6.75

Key Issue
Building a Responsive IT Infrastructure Improving the Effectiveness of Software Development Recruiting and Developing IS Human Resources Facilitating and Managing Business Process Redesign Making Effective Use of the Data Resource Aligning the IS Organization within the Enterprise Planning and Managing Communication Networks Developing and Implementing an Information Architecture Developing and Managing Distributed Systems Improving IS Strategic Planning

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Appendix E. 1990/1994 Comparison of Key Issues

1994 1990 4-Year Issue Classification Rank Rank Change M/T P/C I/E Group
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 11 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 ----6 -12 1 10 9 2 4 7 3 -16 11 5 15 18 8 12 12 -12 17 19 20 Notes: M/T indicates management (M) or technology (T) P/C indicates planning (P) or control (C) I/E indicates internal (I) to IS or external (E) Group indicates business relationship (BR), technology infrastructure (TI), internal effectiveness (IE), or technology application (TA) +5 new +9 -3 +5 +3 -5 -4 -2 -7 new +5 -2 -9 0 +2 -9 -7 -7 new ----T M T T T T M M M M T M M M T M M T T M T M T T C C C P C C C C C P C C P C C C P C C C C C C C I E E I E I E I E E E I E E I E E I E E I E I I TI BR TI TI TI IE BR IE BR BR TA IE BR BR IE TA BR TI TI IE TA TA IE IE

Key Issue
Responsive IT Infrastructure Business Process Redesign Distributed Systems Information Architecture Communication Networks Software Development Data Resource IS Human Resources IS Organization Alignment IS Strategic Planning Collaborative Systems IS Effectiveness Measurement IS Role & Contribution Organizational Learning Legacy Applications End-User Computing Competitive Advantage MultiVendor Open Systems Electronic Data Interchange Outsourcing CASE Technology Decision & Executive Support Security & Control Disaster Recovery

39