The Role of IS Users in IS Development - Essay Example

Explain how the role of IS users in IS development has evolved over time. What are the benefits that are expected to come out of increased involvement and what are the main difficulties that need to be overcome? Contents Introduction 3 Information Systems 4 User Participation 7 Type 8 Degree 8 Content 8 Extent 9 Formality 9 Influence 9 Advantages of User Participation 9 Constraints 10 References 11 Introduction The world has evolved very rapidly over the last couple of decades. This evolution has not only been an economic or technology evolution. In fact the most important revolution has been in the social perceptions and norms of our society. The introduction of new words into our everyday lives is also a part of this revolution. Words like cell phone, Google, internet were not part of our daily vocabulary only a few years ago. Today almost everyone old enough owns a cellular phone. This social revolution is mostly brought about by the changes in technological evolution. For many generations, the pace of technological growth was steady. Although after the breakthroughs of the 17th and 18th century, man has achieved more than it had ever done in its entire history. The pace during these two centuries was consistent and steady. The real revolution didn’t come until the mid nineteenth century. This was the first time that man had tried to use artificial computing technology to find solutions to its various problems. The possibilities to this revolution were limitless. Many different breakthroughs were made using this technology. The most amazing breakthrough was none other than the man’s quest of space. Using the mathematical abilities of computers, human beings were able to conquer space for the first time. This would not have been possible without the usage of computers. These computers were many millions times slower than the processing power controlled by modern day super computers. In fact the simplest of desktop computer being used today by a seven year old, has more processing power than the computer used by NASA to send man on the moon. Nevertheless, the whole mission would not have been possible without the use of computers. The journey from computer usage by NASA to modern day smart phone is spanned over only a few decades. In this era the advancements in chip technology, both for storage and processing have given computer technology a whole new meaning. The computer was always used mostly as a giant calculator. Thus it was mostly utilized to process calculations which would otherwise be difficult for human beings to carry out themselves. The journey from being a calculation device to what we today know as information technology is the amazing journey of computers, which has transformed this world. As the name implies, the computers has transformed from being computers to being sources of ‘information’, thus the word information technology is used for computers. The word information has been totally redefined by the computers. Initially large amounts of information were stored on special devices such as hard disks, floppy drives. However this data could not be shared with everyone. This is because the device had to be in physically in the same location as the user to be utilized. This was a great limitation on the growth and access of data. This is because without open access no database or information source can really grow to satisfy the needs of a diverse user base. The needs of humanity have become more and more diverse over the last few decades. This is because the growths in various sectors have reduced the emphasis from just a few sectors to simultaneously many different fields. The information sources therefore have to diverse in order to satisfy the need for this diversity. This has been made possible today by many different user generated Information systems. Information Systems Today information system is established as a profession and a widely studies academic discipline. This is because the reliance on computer generated information systems by humans has increased greatly over the last few decades. This discipline has many different aspects, similar to any other important function such as governance. The three main components of information system studies include strategy, operational and managerial activities. Information system is not a concept specific to any one field. In fact this is a discipline which is related to many different fields such as medicine, business, engineering and social science. The different activities in Information system management include storing information, processing information and finally the distribution or usage. The full scale study of information system is actually a combination of both hardware and software study. The students of information systems do not only have to understand the programs which basically store and distribute information but also study the hardware systems which power these programs. Another very important aspect of information systems is the people. The study of people which contribute or generate the information is vital to a successful information system study. The study of algorithms involved in programming for computer generated information systems is an important part of information system management. However as the aim of information systems is primarily to serve the user the design is not important. The importance of design information system is only limited to improving the service. In fact the most important aspect of information systems is the functionality part. Thus it is more important for an information system to be functional rather than have a very unique or good design. In definition information systems are given many different definitions but the following definition given by (Silver, 1995) is indeed the most comprehensive: ‘Information systems are implemented within an organization for the purpose of improving the effectiveness and efficiency of that organization. Capabilities of the information system and characteristics of the organization, its work systems, its people, and its development and implementation methodologies together determine the extent to which that purpose is achieved’ The usage of information systems as can be seen by the definition is primarily in organizations and corporations. The information systems implemented by the governments are usually very secure and difficult to study because of a lack of access. Therefore the most known information systems in place today belong to organizations such as 3M, Wal-Mart, and Dell etc. There are many different types of information systems being used in the world today. To understand the increased role of users in these systems, one must first understand the different types of these systems. The legacy systems developed in the early eighties were usually very stringent when it came to control. This is because the organizations of that were more bureaucratic. Thus we can say that the information systems have also evolved with time along with organizational structure. In order words it can be said that the organizational structure and information system evolution has gone hand in hand. This is primarily because information systems function as facilitator. Thus they have to evolve along with the body they are facilitating. Therefore as the organizations have become decentralized, the information systems have also become decentralized. The legacy information systems were in form of a power pyramid similar to hierarchy of a bureaucratic organizational structure. Thus the line managers were usually connected to a transactional support information system. Middle management was given access to a Management information systems and top management had access to executive information systems. These executive information systems contained information generated from other two information systems as well. The systems in the today’s organization are much more different. There are however many other reasons as well besides the lack of strict organizational hierarchies. The needs have evolved other years as the processes in organizations have becomes more computerized. The need for data has increased along with the mechanization of data entry. Another important factor which has increased the complexity of information systems is increased interaction of users. The continuous feedback systems are integral to service organizations working on continuous improvement systems. Thus the user needs a limited access to the information system in order to give feedback and interact. The following are some examples of modern day information systems: Data warehouses Enterprise resource planning Enterprise systems Expert systems Geographic information system Global information system Office Automation User Participation In order to understand the participation of users in Information system development, the different types of users must also be analyzed. There are three different types of users in Information system development as explained earlier. These are the employees, middle management and senior management. Over the years the contribution of each sector to the development of information has increased (Bosman, 2000). Each of these users contributes to the development in different phases and stages. The senior management for example usually contributes mostly at the decision making stage. The role of middle management is the most crucial in the problem definition stage. Thus the middle manager basically defines the constructs that become part of the information system. The employees directly contribute through testing and application. Many employees are direct users of the information systems therefore they may make daily contributions to the system in forms of entries. There are however many different levels and forms of user participations (Bosman, 2000). It is also important here to differentiate user involvement from user participation. The following different levels of forms of user participations can be used to differentiate and understand contribution of users to Information system development: Type The type defines the number of users which are participating in the development of an information system. The users here also must be classified on the basis of automatic participation in development or doing it as a part of job designation. Degree The degree of participation defines the level of power a user holds in the development process. Rather than level of power it can be better understood with level of responsibility. Content There are different types of employees involved in the development of an information system. Some employees work on the new system as the part of their job designation. These are usually architects or employees which handle the technical aspects of the design. Other users can contribute to the social designs of the information system. Extent The extent of involvement is closely related to the content aspect of involvement. The users which are involved in the technical aspects of the information system design have higher tendencies of being involved in the long run because they are involved in the physical design as well. Users involved in the social aspects are however only involved in the early stages because their involvement is with the conceptual process only. Formality Most organizations encourage informal contributions through feedback and discussion forums. This type of involvement is mostly an informal participation. Employees are also invited to participate in a formal capacity especially when they are representing their departments or divisions etc. Influence The senior management has a high level of influence because of their positions power. However regular employees can have a higher level of influence but this influence stems from their technical expertise. Advantages of User Participation There has been a lot of debate on user participation in development of information systems (Bosman, 2000). As a result there has been extensive research on the topic with many different studies being conducted on different aspects of user participation in developing information systems. The complexity of the topic however has been the main hindrance of providing a conclusive piece of evidence on the topic therefore there are still differing opinions on user participation in development of information systems. The increase in user participation over the years has been however both due to need and advantages. If we analyze the advantage of user participation in Information system development, we come up with the following three main advantages: User participation greatly increases the knowledge of the environment. Thus the developer has more information about the system, need etc. One of the major difficulties in developing and implementing Information systems is the resistance to change. Once however the employees for example are involved in the process of development the resistance to change is greatly reduce. This primarily happens because the increased knowledge about the new system reduces the resistance. The involvement in development of information system increase the sense of power and thus the user feels more involved and empowered. Constraints There are many different types of issues which have surfaced from increased participation of users in the information system development process. The increased problems and hindrances however by now way outweigh the benefits. Therefore these issues should be taken as challenges. The increased participation of the higher management can create problems in the designing process. This mostly happens because senior management people are not well tuned in the technical aspects of the information system design. Their focus thus lies not on the efficiency of the actual information system design but rather on the efficiency of the information system design process. The dynamic business environment is another huge challenge for user participation in information system designs. As the demands of employees continue to evolve and change it becomes difficult for designers to keep up. The biggest constraint to user participation in the information system design process is out sourcing. The leaner organizations mostly prefer outsourcing most of the technical functions. Therefore it becomes more and more difficult for employees to be effectively involved in the process. The outsourced software are much cost efficient. In a very competitive environment the management has no choice but to emphasize on lower costs. References Bosman, M., (2000). Measuring the user participation construct. University of Twente Barki, H. and Hartwick, J. (1989). "Rethinking the Concept of User Involvement" MIS Quarterly Henri Barki, Jon Hartwick, (1994) “Measuring User Participation, User Involvement, and User Attitude”, MIS Quarterly Gro Bjerknes, Tone Bratteteig, (1995) “User Participation and Democracy: A Discussion of Scandinavian Research on System Development”, Scandinavian Journal of Information Systems Cavaye, A. L. M. (1995) “User Participation in System Development Revisited,” Information and Management (28), DeLone, W.H. & McLean, E.R. (1992). Information systems success: The quest for the dependent variable. Information Systems Research Hirschheim, R.A., (1985). "User Experience with and Assessment of Participative Systems Design", MIS Quarterly, December Hunton, J.E. & Beeler, J.D. (1997,). Effects of user participation in systems development: A longitudinal experiment. MIS Quarterly Ron G. Thorn, Mark I. Hwang, (1999) "The effect of user engagement on system success: a meta-analytical integration of research findings", Source Information and Management archive Read More