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Faced with the common problem of dissatisfaction with the outcome of investments in information systems (IS), the IS community has long sought ways to improve information systems development (ISD). This paper reports on action research (AR) that sought to improve the effectiveness a UK university’s student record system (SRS), which had exhibited persistent problems. Critical systems thinking (CST) is seen to have value for ISD and was used to guide the AR. In the first stage of this research, the issues with the initial design of the SRS were identified to have largely resulted from insufficient elicitation of the underlying assumptions about, and perspectives on, complex organisational issues. The second stage centred on examining the situation from an “ought” perspective analysing what should be done and how, in order to develop creative solutions to the problems uncovered. The third stage involved recommending solutions to address the problems identified in order to improve the effectiveness of the SRS. Overall, the AR indicates that CST enables those involved to view the design and implementation of the SRS as a holistic system, critically reflect upon broad and complex human, technological and organisational issues from different perspectives, and thereby identify creative solutions. The main contribution of this research is in generating support for an ISD intervention guided by CST. The results of, and the understanding developed from, this intervention are likely to be relevant to the problems that frequently occur in similar situations.

This paper is about an intervention that was initially concerned with physical processes but which required consideration of information flows and culture. The investigation was intended to improve the processing strategy and operations of an organization in the East Slovakian Coal Industry. Simulation modelling was used to help the debate, and it helped reveal issues of misunderstanding within the organization and poor communication that led to misallocation of resources. New ways of approaching the process were proposed that would lead to significant reductions in coal waste.

This study draws on relevant literature from Europe and the USA to show that there have been a number of reported failures of Executive Information Systems (EISs) in practice over the last decade. Design concerns, such as data access, ease of use, and graphical presentation, have been emphasised, but there is no consensus in the literature as to what may be critical to EIS success. The results of a survey of UK executives is used to suggest that the central focus of EIS design and implementation should be on the scanning of corporate external environmental information and the provision of meaningful strategic information.

The results of a survey of UK executives is used to suggest that the central focus of EIS design and implementation should be on the scanning of corporate external environmental information and the provision of meaningful strategic information.

Business-process reengineering (BPR), like computer information systems development (ISD), deals primarily with process and contains only weak facilities for addressing structure and culture. Manufacturing and ISD have strong roots in the functionalist traditions of natural science, and in a cultural environment their engineering stance deals poorly with obstacles to change. While the structured, or “hard,” engineering approaches have given rise to successful developments, they have not always proved effective. In ISD, the hard engineering methods have a tendency to redefine information systems problems as problems of technical development, and similarly in engineering contexts, BPR risks becoming too focused on technical processes. However, failure to gain commitment and a sense of ownership in new processes is a cause of failure in both BPR and ISD. This article explores a case study where both technical and human issues must be addressed—the extension of student record processing within a university. In this study, the BPR requirement is seen to arise from the users of the information system rather than as an imposed managerial imperative. The use of total systems intervention (TSI) and interactive planning (IP) enabled the immediate technical problems to be separated from underlying BPR requirements and from the need to gain commitment to change. Thus, unnecessary technical effort and the risks of failure from resistance to change were avoided. From the findings of this intervention, it is argued that the wider application of TSI provides a framework within which managerially perceived needs can be translated into a grassroots commitment.

Information systems (IS) are growing in importance within the tourism industry, where one key application is database marketing. Evidence from the IS domain suggests systems failure may be due, at least in part, to concentration on technical rather than human issues in the development process. Through an empirical study of visitor attractions in the United Kingdom, the need for a more human-centered approach to IS development is supported, and an example of such an approach is outlined. Both in-depth focus group analysis and a broader questionnaire survey are used and lend weight to the human-centered arguments.From the analysis of a failed tourism database marketing information system, and from evidence of similar successful systems, the value of technology-enabled database marketing within the sector is demonstrated, but its success is seen to rest on participative, human-centered approaches to development.

This paper is an account of a case intervention, undertaken at a National Health Service hospital outpatients department. The intervention utilised a soft systems approach, to address gaps between the customers' and providers' expectations, and simulation was used within this framework. A procedure to reduce unexpected non–attendance of patients has been implemented. Patient bookings are now scheduled according to simple rules, with the result that in–clinic waiting times have been reduced. A model of the intervention process has been accepted by the key stakeholders as a sensible framework for continuing investigations. More widely, the participants increased their knowledge of their own systems. The results from the case suggest that the time spent following this approach may be worthwhile in some interventions, but there are concerns relating to the time needed, and the cost of such an approach. The paper provides a critique of the framework and the intervention, and concludes that this approach is probably viable in unpaid, collaborative, investigations where there is little or no cost. However, time and cost may prove prohibitive in the case of paid consultancy.

Total Systems Intervention (TSI) is an approach to intervening in problem situations which has much to offer where complex interacting issues need to be addressed by the complementary use of intervention methodologies. That such an approach has much in common with Action Research (AR) has been recognized, with much recent effort being devoted to the relationship between AR and Critical Systems Thinking (CST), the theoretical endeavor underpinning TSI. This paper further develops this line of debate and relates AR or Human Inquiry (HI) more directly to TSI, using an information systems intervention to enhance the study. The outcome is a demonstration of how TSI implicitly uses techniques informed from the field of Action Research, and how a more thorough synthesis of HI with TSI might serve to improve the overall intervention process.

In this paper, information systems (IS) strategic planning is assessed from a theoretical perspective, and related to organizational change. Based on the proposition that information systems is a domain which spans both the interpretivist and functionalist paradigms, an IS strategic planning framework is developed whereby the debating and design issues necessary to the success of IS strategy may be combined, and the whole aligned with corporate strategy. A complementarist approach to IS strategy formulation, and future development based on critical social theory is recommended. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The effective and efficient provision of out-patient services may be assisted by the appropriate use of discrete event simulation. Resource use must be carefully monitored and suitable control actions must be taken, if service level and quality are to be maintained, whilst keeping cost increases to a minimum. In itself, simulation provides no means by which system activities may be identified. The use of soft systems methodology as a tool to aid in activity identification for simulation modelling is being explored.The investigation focuses on the effects the participative nature of soft systems methodology has on the acceptability of a simulation model. This case study forms part of a research objective of developing a generic approach to link soft systems methodology and simulation. Its aim is to provide analysts and managers with a process which may assist in planning strategies for health care.

Nearly 40 million people worldwide are living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS), with just 12% of those who urgently need treatment receiving it. South Africa has one of the highest cases of HIV infections in the world. Intervention efforts have not kept pace with the spread of HIV/AIDS, and a knowledge divide has been identified as a major factor in this. An initial empirical investigation suggests that HIV/AIDS organisations are working individually to address the problems, but there is no overall coordination between them, no system to share knowledge, and the organisations compete for the same funds. The result of this could be wasted resources and a systematic and systemic approach may assist in achieving better results. As mentioned above, a knowledge divide has been identified, and knowledge sharing between HIV/AIDS organisations is at best unplanned and at worse simply does not happen. Given these things, knowledge management would appear to be able to offer some ways forward. Combining systems thinking with knowledge management offers a powerful approach to addressing these issues. By using a hierarchy of systems complexity it may be possible to identify where approaches and possible solutions to problems have been incorrectly specified because they are addressing the wrong level. In this context, the right level refers to approaches of information technology, information systems and knowledge management. This chapter explains the background to HIV/AIDS in South Africa and the issues involved in addressing the management of HIV/AIDS programmes. The chapter outlines how these may be approached by using the concepts of knowledge management, systems thinking and the seven wastes of lean.

The previous chapter provided a broad introduction to knowledge management. As you might imagine, this is a complex area. This chapter begins to peel away the layers bit by bit to examine knowledge management in greater depth. Knowledge management has various approaches and definitions according to the perspective and discipline of the individual or organisation that engages with the concept. These include management, individual and organisational learning, communications, information systems and technology, artificial intelligence, intellectual assets, and so on. Each discipline approaches KM with a different perception, for example, computer science focuses heavily on technology, human resources takes an individual and organisational approach emphasising learning and reward factors, and intellectual assets focus on the explicit capture and registration of knowledge.

This paper is about determining the context and scope of an information systems study and choosing an intervention strategy based on the findings. At the core of this is a process of boundary setting, for which an approach which enables boundaries to be determined through critical participant analysis is recommended and described. Alternative potential intervention strategies are then discussed, and a description of how the choice of strategy was informed within a recent intervention is given. The paper concludes with a discussion of the findings, and a summary and critique, both theoretical and practical, of the approaches available to enhance such studies in the future.

This chapter seeks to cast light on the commonly encountered ‘human-centred’ versus ‘technology’ debate in information systems (IS: Clarke and Lehaney, 1998; Clarke and Lehaney, 1999; Lehaney, Clarke et al., 1999). It takes as its starting point a view which sees information systems as complex, adaptive, human activity systems, enabled by information technology (IT). Two approaches dominate in trying to understand such systems. The first redefines them as purely technical systems, for which a fixed and definable objective can be determined: from this point, the problem becomes one of design. The second approach sees the whole system through the views of the human participants: here, the problem initially is one of debate, aimed at determining a consensus view of the system of concern before moving on to designing relevant solutions. The technical view outlined above might be seen as an attempt to reduce the system’s complexity, by removing the voluntaristic, probabilistic behaviour which the human actors bring to the system. Once this is done, more technologically focused IS managers are on comfortable ground, having redefined the system as one which is highly deterministic, and for which a solution can be achieved through the design of a new or improved system. Similarly, the human-centred view may be seen as excluding technical considerations in order to reach agreement on the part of participants before proceeding further.

Information Systems as Constrained Variety - Issues and Scope Topological Transformations - the Co-Construction of an Open System "Excellent" Systems Analysts - a Grounded Theory of Approach to Qualitative Research Bottom-Up Management and System Design System and Training Design for End-User Error Evaluating the Effectiveness of Web Sites Vulnerability and the Aware IS Practitioner - a Reflective Discourse on Unfinished Business Enabling Technology for Collaborative Working - a Socio-Technical Experience Information Systems as Wicked Problems A Measuring of Task-Technology Fit for Computer Mediated Communication The Metaphorical Implications of Data Warehousing.

Early information systems development (ISD) was firmly rooted in the functionalist traditions of the natural sciences. This history has given rise to a problem-solving, reductionist focus which is still in evidence today, but which in the 1980s and 1990s has been challenged by alternative soft approaches. These soft methods treat information systems as human activity systems, and concentrate on interpretation of the problem situation from the viewpoint of those involved in and affected by the system.

Computer information systems development has grown out of the functionalist traditions of natural science. Whilst the structured or ‘hard’ approaches resulting from this have undoubtedly given rise to successful developments, increasingly in the last 20 years or so concentration has been on those problem contexts in which a functionalist, problem-solving method has proved least effective; contexts categorised primarily by the ‘soft’ issues of human activity.

Although informed approaches from an interpretivist perspective have been widely promoted over the last two decades information systems development is largely informed by a functionalist perspective, into which human-centred or interpretivist issues are incorporated as they are seen to be required. By treating such developments as critically informed social systems, this paper offers an alternative viewpoint. Firstly, a theoretical justification for such an approach is offered, drawing on developments in Critical Management Science, themselves based on a strand of Critical Social Theory. Secondly, an action research-based intervention is detailed, demonstrating the practical applicability of such an approach, an applicability that has hitherto been questioned. The outcome is a synthesised approach to operational and strategic information systems development, within a critical framework, which, it is argued, offers a greater potential for success than the currently promoted approaches.