Contents

• Introduction
• Structure, System and Strategy perspective of organizations – Structure perspective, System perspective & Strategy perspective
• IS Implementation – Structure, System & Strategy perspective
• Critical systems theory
• IS Implementation – A critical systems approach
• Relation Between Structure, System, Strategy Perspectives and Critical Systems Theory
• Conclusion
• References

Description

Unprecedented developments in the field of information systems have brought about unprecedented changes the way organizations function since the late 20th century. Traditional management practices have given way to management practices that center around information systems or IS. IS has found a place even in the unlikely place such as hospitality and entertainment industry. There is a huge amount of dependency created on IS in almost all the industrial practices. Initially, IS was found to be useful in banking and insurance industries. But now literally almost all the medium and large scale companies use IS at least to some extent. Organizational changes are complex processes and entails alteration of values beliefs and rituals (Schein, 1987). Information system includes computers, hardware, software, people, and databases both in manual and automated processes. A good implementation and practice of information systems goes a long way in enhancing organizational efficiency and productivity. Needless to say that implementation of IS in an organization can cut down manpower costs and saves considerable amount of time. For example, in an organization with several departments like inventory, purchase, production etc. the implementation and practice of IS will cut down inefficiency due to manual data linkages between these departments. On the other hand the practice of IS improves efficiency by effectively connecting all the related information to a central database. The implementation and use of information system is not just one off event. The management of an organization should constantly be looking at ways to achieve increased productivity. So research of the effectiveness of the existing IS and steps to upgrade the current infrastructure and practices become utmost important if an organization has to derive value out of its IS investment. The paper discusses structure, strategy and systems perspective in view of IS implementation of organizations. The paper then discusses critical systems theory and how it relates to structure, system and strategy perspectives. It analyses as to how organizations apply these perspectives to better implement and manage information systems.