The History of Texaco's Corporate Information Technology Function: A General Systems Theoretical Interpretation

We attempt to use general systems theory (GST) to understand why the resources of Texaco's corporate information technology function consistently did not match its task during its 40-year lifetime. Our interpretation uses mechanistic, organic, and colonial systems metaphors, each with three com...

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Bibliographische Detailangaben
Veröffentlicht in:MIS Quarterly. - Management Information Systems Research Center, University of Minnesota. - 29(2005), 4, Seite 721-746
1. Verfasser: Porra, Jaana (VerfasserIn)
Weitere Verfasser: Hirschheim, Rudy, Parks, Michael S.
Format: Online-Aufsatz
Sprache:English
Veröffentlicht: 2005
Zugriff auf das übergeordnete Werk:MIS Quarterly
Schlagworte:Systems theory Mechanistic systems Organic systems Colonial systems Historical research Interpretive research IT function success factors IT function failure Longitudinal study Punctuated equilibrium mehr... Radical change Organizational change Organizational alignment Applied sciences Business Economics Linguistics
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520 |a We attempt to use general systems theory (GST) to understand why the resources of Texaco's corporate information technology function consistently did not match its task during its 40-year lifetime. Our interpretation uses mechanistic, organic, and colonial systems metaphors, each with three components. The first is an analysis of a management action system made up of organizational indicators such as Texaco's revenues, profits, employee numbers, IT budgets, and IT personnel numbers. The second is a narrative of performance versus resource needs, which shows a gap between the resources and expanding responsibilities of Texaco's IT function. The third is a management perception system, which offers reasons why top management continually misinterpreted IT's performance as inferior. Our results show that the mechanistic, organic, and colonial interpretations converge. In addition, our GST-based interpretations show how top management might have remedied the situation. 
540 |a Copyright 2005 The Management Information Systems Research Center (MISRC) of the University of Minnesota 
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700 1 |a Parks, Michael S.  |e verfasserin  |4 aut 
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