One Size Does Not Fit All

Author(s):  
Gerald Grant

Managers, IT practitioners, and IS researchers are easily seduced by the latest information technology wave. Consequently, we tend not to question conventional assumptions about the implementation of IT systems in organizations. Instead of providing managers with directions, IS researchers can sometimes turn into prognosticators of the latest information technology fad. We call on researchers to delve below the surface of new IT trends to expose inconsistencies between technological promises and the reality of deploying information systems in global organizations. Many IS researchers are turning their attention to the area of global information management (Gallupe and Tan, 1999). This journal is a vehicle for publishing such research work. Interest in integrated global information systems is fueled both by the developments in information and communications technologies and the trends in business towards globalization of products and markets. Conventional wisdom suggests that businesses operating in global markets would benefit from implementing global information systems and achieve economies of scale and scope. This may be true in some cases, but does it hold for all cases? I suggest it may not. In certain cases deploying global IT systems could lead to diseconomies of scale.

Author(s):  
Y. Lan ◽  
B. Unhelkar

Having argued for and created a vision of the global entity, we now consider the system and process framework for GET. During global transition, organizations often face many explicit as well as implicit factors that could delay or, in the worst cases, even destroy the globalization process. In order to eliminate these unnecessary incidents, enterprises need to identify, document and follow the activities of the process of GET. In the past decade, researchers have made significant efforts to identify the global information systems management (GISM) activities. Most notable are Senn’s six key information technology issues (Senn, 1992), and the eight multinational categories of global information technology challenges by Palvia and Saraswat (1992). Based on the implication of activities on the process of globalization, six categories are identified to facilitate classification and collation of the GISM activities (Figure 3.1). The core concept of categorization intends to provide the organizations with an abstract overview of concerns in relation to the transition to globalization. These categories are labeled as:


Author(s):  
Yi-chen Lan ◽  
Bhuvan Unhelkar

Having argued for and created a vision of the global entity, we now consider the system and process framework for GET. During global transition, organizations often face many explicit as well as implicit factors that could delay or, in the worst cases, even destroy the globalization process. In order to eliminate these unnecessary incidents, enterprises need to identify, document and follow the activities of the process of GET. In the past decade, researchers have made significant efforts to identify the global information systems management (GISM) activities. Most notable are Senn’s six key information technology issues (Senn, 1992), and the eight multinational categories of global information technology challenges by Palvia and Saraswat (1992). Based on the implication of activities on the process of globalization, six categories are identified to facilitate classification and collation of the GISM activities (Figure 3.1). The core concept of categorization intends to provide the organizations with an abstract overview of concerns in relation to the transition to globalization. These categories are labeled as:


2008 ◽  
Vol 23 (S1) ◽  
pp. s35-s38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masood A. Shaikh

AbstractIntroduction:A long and protracted civil war compounded by the occurrence of nature-related disasters have forced thousands of Somalis to take refuge in camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) to escape violence and seek shelter. Dwellers of these camps have limited accessibility to and affordability of the fractured healthcare facilities located in nearby towns. A free, outreach, mobile, reproductive healthcare delivery system staffed with nurses and using an ambulance guided by a global information systems (GIS) map was established to address the accessibility and affordability issues hindering provision of quality reproductive healthcare to the women in the IDP camps and in the outskirts of Baidoa City, Somalia.Methods:All 14 IDP camps in Baidoa City were visited to determine the number of families/huts, and to acquire their global positioning system (GPS) central point locations. Global information systems (GIS) shape files containing major roads, river, and dwellings, and straight-line distances from the base clinic to each IDP camp were computed. The objective of creating and using this specially designed map was to help nurses in determining which camps realistically could be visited on a given day, and how best to access them considering the security situation and the condition of rain-affected areas in the city.Results:Use of the GIS map was instrumental in facilitating the delivery of healthcare services to IDPs and ensuring that resources were adequately utilized. Free healthcare services were provided each work day for the month long duration of the project; 3,095 consultations were provided, inclusive of 948 consultations for children under the age of 16 years, and delivery of three babies.Conclusions:Creation and use of a simple, need-specific GIS map in this pilot project effectively aided the logistical planning and delivery of mobile, outreach reproductive health services by directing the ambulance and nurses safely to accessible IDP camps in an area marred with long and protracted disasters from both natural and human causes.


2016 ◽  
pp. 1302-1313 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nelson Carriço ◽  
João Varajão ◽  
Vítor Basto Fernandes ◽  
Caroline Dominguez

Today's complex, unstable and competitive society raises several difficulties to organisations. In this context, Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) and information itself have become resources of vital importance. The pressing need for Information Systems (IS) to meet several business requirements, in addition to the complexity involved in technology and business management, turns the IS Function one of the main areas of influence for success of modern organisations. Through its capacity of representing activities, management objects and corresponding relations, the Information Architecture of the Information Systems Function (IAISF), a technique derived from the well-known Information Architecture but exclusively focused on the Information Systems Function (ISF), allows not only the conceptualization and understanding of the ISF itself, but also of its interactions with other areas within organizations. This paper presents the main results of a case study related to the application of the IAISF technique in a computer service centre of a University.


2008 ◽  
pp. 2645-2659
Author(s):  
Rosann Webb Collins ◽  
Stanley J. Birkin

The trend toward globalization of business has increased the need for global information systems that enable and support global operations. In order to develop and support global information systems, organizations must employ a global IS/IT workforce. This chapter details the unique nature of this global IS/IT workforce, identifies and discusses specific challenges to the management of these employees, and describes strategies for addressing these challenges. Relevant prior research on this topic in the management and MIS disciplines, labor statistics, as well as prior and ongoing research by the authors, are used to support this discussion.


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