Factors Affecting IT Implementation

Factors Affecting Information Technology
Implementation
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 4
Research Questions..........................................................................................................6
Problem Statement...........................................................................................................6
Description of the Issues..................................................................................................8
Significance of Study.......................................................................................................9
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 11
General literature on factors affecting Information technology implementation ....11
Effect of environment on implementation.....................................................................16

Economy external environment ....................................................................................16
Social factors.................................................................................................................18
Government....................................................................................................................21
Technological.................................................................................................................22
Culture............................................................................................................................23
Political environment ....................................................................................................24
Technical factors..............................................................................................................25
Training..........................................................................................................................25
Infrastructure..................................................................................................................26
Expertise........................................................................................................................26
Inter organizational factors............................................................................................27

Business strategy ...........................................................................................................27
information strategy planning........................................................................................28
Behavior And Users.......................................................................................................31
Management factors e.g. managing change...................................................................33
Leadership......................................................................................................................36
Resources ......................................................................................................................39
Implementation stages or processes...............................................................................40
Research work in the field of IT implementation........................................................42
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 49
Introduction......................................................................................................................49
Basic Approach to the Research.....................................................................................51

Research Methodology..................................................................................................53
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Interview Questions.........................................................................................................56
Sample and Population....................................................................................................59
Statistical Analysis...........................................................................................................59
Limitations and Assumptions.........................................................................................60
CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS 62
Introduction......................................................................................................................62
Issues Categorization.......................................................................................................62
The IT Issues Database....................................................................................................65
Analysis of General IT Data............................................................................................66

Strategic Planning for IT................................................................................................68
Executive IT Expertise....................................................................................................72
Effectiveness of IT Planning and Implementation........................................................73

How to Improve the IT Planning Process......................................................................76
Perceived Role of IT in Organization............................................................................76
Analysis of Primary Data................................................................................................78

Analysis of IT Planning Process Issues.........................................................................78
Comparison of both sectors...........................................................................................80
Analysis of IT Procurement Process Issues...................................................................81
Analysis of IT development and deployment process Issues........................................83
Factor analysis..................................................................................................................86
Factor analysis pharmaceutical sector...........................................................................86
Planning.........................................................................................................................86
Procurement...................................................................................................................87
Implementation..............................................................................................................87
Factor analysis banking sector.......................................................................................89
planning..........................................................................................................................89
Procurement...................................................................................................................89
Implementation..............................................................................................................90
Summary...........................................................................................................................91
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CHAPTER 5: SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATION 93
Introduction......................................................................................................................93
Conclusions.......................................................................................................................93
Issues Related to IT Planning........................................................................................94
Issues Related to IT Procurement..................................................................................98
Issues Related to IT Implementation...........................................................................100
Recommendations and interrelations..........................................................................105

Pharmaceutical sector..................................................................................................105
Banking sector.............................................................................................................107
Recommendations for Further Study..........................................................................111
Summary.........................................................................................................................113
APPENDIX 114
Selected references.........................................................................................................115
Glossary..........................................................................................................................117
Description of issues.......................................................................................................119
List of companies surveyed ..........................................................................................123

List of Pharmaceutical companies surveyed................................................................123
List of banks surveyed.................................................................................................124
Interviews........................................................................................................................125
COCA-COLA BEVERAGES 126
BEACON HOUSE 127
High Noon.......................................................................................................................129
Olympia textile.............................................................................................................130
Issues Database...............................................................................................................132
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Chapter 1: Introduction
There is no single definition of information technology today that is universally accepted.
Often the term is applied to computers and computer-based systems. However, the roots
of the word technology suggest that it is a "means to an end." For example, using a book
of matches is a means to creating a fire. The end is fire itself. A bicycle is a means of
transportation. The goal of bicycle riding is to reach a destination, and perhaps also to get
some needed exercise....
Consequently, when we talk about the use of technology, we must always remember that
it is a means, not an end in itself. Technology in the broadest sense is the application of
modern communications and computing technologies to the creation, management and
use of knowledge.
The revolution in information technology (IT) has been likened to the industrial
revolution in terms of its potential scope and impact on society. Few other modern
advances in technology have had the capacity to affect so fundamentally the way people
work, live, learn, play, communicate, and govern themselves. As IT extends human
capabilities and takes over other functions previously performed by humans, it can even
affect what it means to be human
It is far from clear what the total effects of IT on society will be. More than 50 years ago,
"The world has arrived at an age of cheap complex devices of great reliability; and
something is bound to come of it." The question is, what has become of it? As with
automobiles and television earlier in the 20th century, information technologies can be
expected to have diverse and far-reaching effects on society-some good, some bad, and
many unanticipated.
The information revolution is not new. The United States began moving toward an
information-based economy in the 1960s, as information intensive services began to
grow. At that time, computers were used mostly in the research and development (R&D)
community and in the offices of large companies and agencies. In the past 20 years,
however, IT has become increasingly pervasive in society. It has spread to the point that
nearly everyone uses some form of IT every day. It has become common in schools,
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libraries, homes, offices, and shops. Corner grocery stores use IT for sales and electronic
transactions; automobile repair shops use IT to diagnose failures and search for parts. In
the past few years, the Internet and the World Wide Web in particular have contributed to
the rapid expansion of IT. Innovations in IT now directly affect nearly everyone—not just
the few in computer-intensive jobs.
Our society is being transformed by continuously evolving technologies that are changing
the way we do things at the most fundamental levels. This transformation is precipitated
by a number of trends: a shift from manufacturing to a service economy; the usage of
information as a resource, factor of production, and commodity; and the propulsion of
our economic growth through technical innovation and scientific discovery. On an
individual level, every aspect of our daily lives is subject to technological innovations.
We have become dependent on the flexibility, access, and services that they provide us.
Computers, fax machines, networks, cable television, fiber optics, and ATMs have all
played a pivotal role in the way we communicate, work, play, and do business. As the
information age progresses we increasingly owe more of our economic and technological
progress to the free flow of ideas and knowledge. Consequently, it becomes more
important that we have access to superior and timely information. As a nation our toehold
in the information age relies heavily on technological progress and scientific and
technical information. From an organizational standpoint, the information age is in full
swing and both public and private institutions are experiencing an increase in the use of a
variety of information technologies (ITs). Realistically, it has become nearly impossible
for an organization to operate without the use of one or more ITs. Since their inception,
ITs have been held up by many people as the cure-all for a variety of organizational ills,
and in many cases viewed as an antidote to poor performance—efficiency through the
miracle of automation. What is too often ignored or forgotten amidst all the discussion is
that although ITs can provide a number of solutions and benefits, they also introduce
their own special problems and concerns into the organizational setting. The
implementation and subsequent use of ITs is a process of interrelated steps. Faltering or
mis-stepping at any of the implementation stages may actually increase inefficiency,
ineffectiveness, and promote any number of additional uncertainties. ITs, in and of
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themselves, cannot solve all our problems (organizational or otherwise), nor will they
magically remove the variety of organizational and managerial ills that plague us. It is
only through careful design planning, acquisition, and implementation of ITs that we
may benefit from more effective operations and solutions to problems.
Research Questions
To get command of the many of issues surrounding the problem of IT
implementation in organizations, this study breaks down the
development and deployment process into three separate areas: IT
planning; IT procurement; and IT implementation, each with it’s own
set of issues. Although a number of them may prove to be similar in
nature, they must be addressed in the context of that part of the
process to which they are related.
The actual research questions for this study are broken down into
three distinct questions, which are based on the three levels involved
in successful implementation of information technologies.
• What are the most problematic issues facing organizations with
regard to IT planning?
regard to IT procurement?
regard to IT implementation?
Problem Statement
The problems facing organizations in their efforts to implement ITs are extensive and
varied. One of the ultimate and overriding problems is that there is no model for these
organizations to follow or consult that is tailored to their specialized issues and needs.
One of the first questions that comes to mind in relation to this problem is “Why is a
model for IT implementation is so important?” Obviously, no model can completely
address all of the issues each individual organization faces. Organizations are each subtly
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different even from those in the same arena. What a model provides is a framework
designed to address the issues and needs of a particular process which are related across
organizations of comparable circumstance. for all types of organizations across one
particular sector, it is doubly unwise to generalize a model for use in a different sector
entirely.
The time is right for the development of an IT implementation model for organizations.
These organizations have reached a point where information technology use has become
widespread and integral to almost all operations. IT knowledge levels are increasing
within these organizations, and the demand for efficient and effective use of ITs is high.
Organizations are more frequently making use of multiple ITs in their operations.
Hardware and software costs have decreased substantially, making it easier and more
feasible for organizations to afford superior ITs in greater quantity. This dissertation
focuses on Pharmaceuticals and banking sector and the myriad of issues they are facing
with regard to IT implementation.
At the organizational level, the specifics of how we will function in the information age
and what direction we will take have become increasingly important. At this time we are
at the crossroads of information technologies—so many choices, so little money, so much
confusion. Over the last decade and a half, competition and innovation have led to a
development that is somewhat unique to the area of information technology. IT has
improved exponentially while at the same time prices for technologies have continued to
drop.. Unfortunately, some of the same factors that have made this particular situation
possible have also produced an even greater problem—the rapidly changing nature of the
technologies themselves. Information technologies become affordable quickly but the
rapidity of change in the environment keeps small and medium sized organizations a step
behind. In essence, they can afford really great obsolete ITs.
In light of this and a number of other situations in the information technology arena, all
organizations who make use of ITs must pay special attention to the planning,
acquisition, and implementation of these technologies. They must be acutely aware of the
copious number of issues which play a part in the ability of the organization to effectively
implement ITs. The view of this study is that to do this effectively an in-depth knowledge
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of the issues affecting IT implementation must be reviewed with regard to organizations.

The problem that this study will specifically address is the rationale
that numerous and varied issues exist across multiple levels of the
process of implementation which are problematic to the IT
development and deployment process as a whole. In most cases, IT
implementation problems can be viewed in layers corresponding to each stage in the
overall process. One thing that all of the layers appear to have in common is that they are
all comprised of multiple issues that create or aggravate the problem. This particular
study will focus on these issues in order to determine which are the most problematic for
organizations with regard to the implementation of ITs. Furthermore, these issues will be
examined from the standpoint of their relationships and impacts. In addition it will
explore how the issues are perceived by the executives who must manage them in their
attempts to lead their organizations to effective implementation of ITs. Ultimately, the
information gathered here should prove useful to the development of an effective and
usable IT implementation model for organizations.
Description of the Issues
Organizational and management process issues encompass those factors that affect
control over planning, procurement, and implementation of information technologies. In
general these kinds of issues provide a window for viewing a variety of organizational
operations with regard to IT. For example: What degree of centralized or decentralized
control exists in the organization? Are different technologies controlled at different levels
or areas of the organization? Are technological distinctions relevant or is standardization
called for? How has the organization structure developed, by design or default? These are
just a few of the kinds of questions that are spoken of within the contexts of
organizational and managerial issues. At the outset it appeared that the broad umbrellas
of management processes and organizational processes were ideal for categorization of
the issues to be discussed. However, after careful review of the literature, it became clear
that more specific categorizations were necessary as a basis for better understanding of
the issues. To that end, this study will make use of the following issue types:
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management process issues, organizational environment issues, leadership issues,

technical systems issues, and personnel issues. Those characterized as management
process issues speak to the functional operations of organizations, such as: budgeting,
personnel, and general management. Issues characterized as organizational environment
will be broader, addressing factors which are less tangible and more difficult to define
such as: organizational culture, change, and behavior. Leadership issues refer to those
areas which require the interaction and direction of the organization executive such as:
interdepartmental coordination and administrative support. Technical systems issues are
primarily those related to the hardware and software considerations of information
technologies. Finally, personnel issues are those issues surrounding each individual in the
organization such as: individual expertise levels, staffing levels, and resistance to change.
IT Issues, Initial Categorizations
Leadership Management Organization Technical Personnel

Issues Process Issues Environment Systems Issues
Issues Issues
• Interdepartmental • Strategic • Organizational • Existing • Organizational

Coordination Planning Culture Systems Expertise
• Individual Support • Budgeting • Internal and • Standardizatio
• Organizational • Organizational External Politics n • Individual Expertise
Support Directives • Contracts • Compatibility • Internal Leadership
• Timeframes and • Written • Changing • Staffing
Scheduling Guidelines Technologies • Resistance to Change
• External • Training
Consultants
As discussed previously, the issues relevant to this study are broken down by issue type
and the specific part of the IT development and deployment process, which they affect. A
number of the issues are important factors in more that one part of the process.
Significance of Study
An in-depth understanding of the specific issues related to IT implementation is essential
for the establishment of appropriate principals and effective approaches with regard to the
management of information systems in an organization. Each individual issue is
important in it’s own context as well as producing multiple impacts which affect the
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organization and implementation of ITs within it. Subsequently, effective management of

ITs across the board can only take place when a more comprehensive understanding of
the myriad of issues is achieved.
This study is significant because it provides discourse on an area that is too often glossed
over or addressed with a standard formulaic approach. While many of the issues
represented in this study have been addressed individually they have not been adequately
viewed in the context of IT development and deployment processes, especially with
regard to the question of the needs and perceptions of professionals from the different
organizations. In response to these shortcomings, this study will provide an exploratory
look at the problematic issues surrounding IT implementation and how professionals
perceive them. More specifically, this study will provide the issues that have a direct
relationship to IT and organizational implementation needs;
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Chapter 2: Literature Review
General literature on factors affecting Information technology

implementation
Information technology is gaining more and more importance in the working of
organization Management information system is any system that provides people with
either data or information relating to an organizations operations. Management
information systems support the activities of employees, owners customers and other
people in the organizations environment either by efficiently processing data to assist
with the transaction work load or by effectively supplying information to authorized
people in a timely manner. The new form of information technology used in organization
is knowledge based system Because knowledge based systems have become day parts of
an organizations sub systems they are not considered to be in a separate subset of MIS
systems that mimic human decision making processes. (Parker C, Case T (1998))
Due to the importance of information systems in organization it is necessary that the
information system should be implemented properly with in the organizations. the
purpose of my research is to identify the factors which effect the implementation process
of information technology with in the organization .
Literature is full of factors identified which effect the implementation of information
technology. Cooper and Zmud defined IT implementation as “an organizational effort
directed toward diffusing appropriate information technology within a user community.”
They developed a six-staged model of IT implementation based on Lewin’s work:
• Initiation: Active and /or passive scanning of problems/opportunities.
• Adoption: Negotiations for backing IT application implementation.
• Adaptation: IT application and organizational procedures are revised.
• Acceptance: Organizational members are induced to commit to IT application
• Routinization: Usage of the IT application is encouraged as a normal activity.
• Infusion: Increased effectiveness obtained by using the IT.
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They also described five major contextual factors that impacted each stage in the process:
• User community (job tenure, education, resistance to change)
• Organization (specialization, centralization, and formalization)
• Technology being adopted (complexity)
• Task to which the technology is being applied (task uncertainty, autonomy)
• Organizational environment (uncertainty, inter-organizational dependence).
(Zolla G (1998))
The need for improved implementation of information technology strategy has been
emphasized in both empirical and prescriptive research studies. Researchers have
discussed various studies which effect the implementation of information technology in
an organization Gottschalk P (1998) has identified, ten content characteristics of formal
information technology strategy from the research literature as potential implementation
predictors. These are descriptions of: i) resources needed for the implementation; ii) user
involvement during the implementation; iii) analyses of the organization; iv) anticipated
changes in the environment; v) solutions to potential resistance during the
implementation; vi) information technology to be implemented; vii) projects’ relevance
to the business plan; viii) responsibility for the implementation; ix) management support
for the implementation; and x) clarity of the documentation.
To have a successful IT implementation organizations should identify different variables,
which effect the implementation of IT in an organization. Enns H et Huff S (1999)
suggested that studies of the success of Global information technology (IT) should
seriously considered the inclusion of broad categories of independent variables. These
include consideration of the economic, Technological, cultural, and political/ regulatory
Environments.
Several additional key elements have been repeatedly identified in the literature:
• "Buy-in" of the organization is important. All users must clearly see the need
for the change if they are to support it.
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• There must be a clear understanding that significant change occurs in multiple

stages, and that errors in any of the stages can have devastating consequences
• Local champions must actively and enthusiastically promote the system, build
support, overcome resistance, and ensure that the system is actually installed
and used .
• Senior management must be able to understand and address the challenges
ahead and capitalize on opportunities for quality improvement and cost
reductions.
It must be recognized that it can take at least 6 months of CIS usage before any decisions
about the success of the technology introduction (particularly in terms of individual
worker productivity) can be made. (Dr. Anderson L (1996))
Lewin created a three-step sequential model that describes how processes are changed.
The present behavior is “unfrozen”, and then it is “changed” to develop a new behavior
and finally “refrozen” to reinforce the new behavior. He also identified multiple forces
for change and for maintaining the status quo. Forces for change:
• New technology
• Better raw materials
• Competition from other groups - survival
• Supervisor pressures
• Forces that inhibit change:
• Group performance norms
• Fear of change
• Few external threats - member complacency
• Well-learned skills. (Zolla G (1998))
The importance of these factors is not same in all the organizations or even within the
same organization, the importance differ from time to time also organizations past
experience effect the implementation strategy of an organization After conducting the
case study in different organizations Caroline Chan had reached following conclusions
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Understanding IS implementation is an enormous task, due to the complexity of the

process.
The factors involved in IT implementation have varying degrees of influence on the
implementation Process. This depends on the type of organizations involved, as well as
on their initiatives. For example in manufacturing and retail organizations, customer and
supplier inter-relationships are crucial for the uptake of the initiative. In government
organizations, by contrast, the issue of public concern and the associated political issues
related to elections and party politics play important roles in the implementation process.
Although there were similar responses from all case participants (that is, business must
drive e-Commerce implementation) on the organization’s future approaches to
e-commerce initiatives, the organizations’ own experiences have formed their attitude
Toward their next initiative. For example, those organizations involved with EDI
Implementations tended to compare their EDI initiative(s) with their Internet-based
Initiatives and were rather more cautious in their hopes for the future.
Achievement of successful system implementation is not an easy task according to
Grimes J et al Zingg P, Hanley J (1999) the responsibility of meeting the implementation of
instructional information technology requirements of an institute is much like the
responsibility of exploring a new frontier. It is exciting; there are unknowns; there are
hazards, and success brings an adrenaline surge to advance the frontier even further
There is growing concern about the apparent widespread failure of information systems
(IS) and information technology (IT) to deliver real organizational and business benefits.
(Maguire S (2000))
Trade surveys have estimated that from 30% to 65% of IS development projects become
'runaways' – runaway projects are those which 1) fail to produce an acceptable system, 2)
grossly exceed initial budget/time estimates and, 3) seem to take on a life of their own
(Dr. Anderson L (1996))
Laudon and Laudon (1995) have tried to explain the failure of system development by
identifying major weaknesses in the system development life cycle. The conventional
development cycle is very costly. The time needed to develop a system through the life
cycle is often lengthy and prolonged;
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• Life cycle methodology is relatively inflexible;

• Life cycle methodology discourages change;
• Life cycle methodology is ill suited to decision-oriented applications
``The IS community faces a paradox: despite impressive advances in technology,
problems are more abundant than solutions; organizations experience rising costs instead
of cost reduction; IS misuse and rejection are more frequent than acceptance and use''
(Lytinen, 1987).The use of accepted methodologies for system development have not
guaranteed the successful implementation of information systems. There are still
weaknesses in the traditional methodologies. (Maguire S (2000)).
According to Sittig D (1999) Implementing an information system is always difficult. The
requirements to balance the multitude of trade-offs between the various factions involved
in the process puts senior leadership in a vital, but unenviable, position. One of the most
important lessons that pioneers in this field have learned is that people-based skills such
as cooperation, leadership, and creative thinking are just as important as the technology
itself. Finally, one should keep focused on the overall goal of IS implementation:
improving the quality of care delivered while lowering its costs. It is worth the effort
various evaluations of both successful and unsuccessful IS implementations conclude that
in order to be successful the IS must "match" the organization in relation to a variety of
technical (e.g., does the new IS work on the currently installed hardware?), social (e.g.,
does the IS provide all the features and functions required to replace the current
elaborately designed formal and informal communication networks?"), and
organizational (e.g., does the IS support the mission of the organization?) factors,
including the perceptions of key stakeholders (i.e., the clinical users of the system) and
organizational leadership.
Historically, IS developers have attempted to reduce the complexity of this organizational
change by primarily concentrating on the technical issues involved within the process.
System developers may need to widen their perspective on implementation to encompass
Lucas's (1994) wider definition, which includes: implementation terminates when the
system has been successfully integrated with the operations of the organization. Three
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conditions can be identified to moderate the extent of social control on system

development: dependence on constraints imposed by external institutions having control
over an organization's resources; unclear performance standards for the process of system
development; and interaction patterns during the development process. These conditions
set the context within which the process of system development operates and decisions
about system development are made. (Nicolaou A (1999))
In next sections literature regarding various factors is compiled, I have divided this
literature into three main sections, environmental factors, and technical factors and inter
organizational factors. Each section is then divided into subsections according to the
availability of literature on each subject.
Effect of environment on implementation.

Economy external environment
The external environment of an organization involves both a general culture
(technological, sociological, Economic, political and so on and a particular set of groups
with which the organization must interact. These groups usually include customers,
suppliers, competitors, labor supply, labor unions and governments. The external
environment is a major contingency variable for many reasons in order to survive and
evolve, an organization must adapt effectively to changes that take place in its
environment. The inability to adjust to environmental changes can erode the effectiveness
of an organization and threaten its continued existence. .( Parker C , Case T (1999))
Nicolaou A (1999) shows the importance of environment on the development of system
according to him Frameworks external to organizations provide models of organizational
arrangements from which organizational participants choose or to which they are
subjected. Organizational participants are viewed as being subjected to normative
pressures and cognitive constraints to embrace forms regarded as appropriate or
legitimate for organizations of the type to which they belong. From this perspective,
executives may not be designing their own governance Structures in the light of the
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particular problems confronted but rather choosing a structure from a menu providing a
set of options ... [a structure] is imposed on them.
Also economic environment of a country effects the implementation of information
system the economic environment of a nation has a clear impact on the short term and
long term success of IT implementation. The economy determines such things as the
availability of funds to pay for hardware, software, and technical support. The economy
also impacts the demand, in terms of a sustainable customer base, for new IT products
and services.
Enns H et al Sid L.Huff (1999) also discusses the effect of environment in developing
countries according to them in developing nations; the costs associated with IT
investments are typically very high, as compared to the cost of labor. This encourages the
use of more traditional, labor-intensive methods rather than the use of computer-based
systems. Governments in developing countries have been encouraged to invest in IT
infrastructure in order to contribute to economic growth and participate more fully in
global trade
Of course even with high IT planning can not always guarantee higher business
performance, extended external shocks outside a companies realm of influence can have
a negative effect on business performance despite a high information technology
orientation. For example the Asian financial crisis had a devastating effect on the
business of one European specialty chemicals company despite its high information
technology orientation
Enns H et al Sid L.Huff (1999) analyzed the effect of economic factors on a Mongolian
company named Datacom Mongolia’s economic conditions posed a large barrier to
Datacom’s ability to provide the Internet services desired by its customers. The
Mongolian economy was not strong in 1994. The Mongolian government initially had
limited capacity to assist Datacom in its quest for Internet access. Nor was the emerging
private sector in Mongolia able to commit investment in the project. Access charge also
the some of the economic factors had a positive effect on datacoms information system
implementation Initially, competition was virtually non-existent. This allowed Datacom
some time to become firmly entrenched as an ISP, and provided some first mover
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advantages. When competition appeared in the form of MONTEL, Datacom leveraged

their first mover advantages.
External dependencies can also effect the implementation of information system with in
an organization when dependencies exist on other organizations for critical resources, the
dependent firm experiences a constraint to conform to the norms and values advocated by
the dominant partners (DiMaggio and Powell, 1983, p. 154). For example, the
implementation of information systems to support efficient interchange of order and
invoicing data between an organization and a supplier can result in a significant
commitment of capital and human resources (Borthick and Roth, 1993). This relationship
can limit the gathering of information about alternative system solutions to those offered
by the existing supplier of such systems (Nicolaou A (1999))
Information technology affects the community in which organization works. The
strategic planning process is an essential vehicle for dispensing information to the
community about current operations, achievements, and constraints of the information
technology enterprise. There is likelihood that members of the community will pay
greater attention to this kind of information during a planning exercise because it is
provided in the context of goals that are important to them. CAUSE/EFFECT 1998
Volume 21, Number 1, pp. 18-23
Social factors
The increasing concentration on social issues with regard to IS development may lead to
a different focus in the future. The writer contends that their needs to be a further
realignment whereby methodologies become even more business-led and a situation is
created where information systems are introduced rather than implemented within
organizations. Unfortunately some authors still have a narrow view of what is entailed in
the system development process referring to it as the structuring of hardware and
software to achieve efficient processing this thinking leads to decreased productivity of
information systems (Maguire S (2000))
It is necessary to distinguish the social part of planning from technical one it is our
contention; there are two distinct aspects of strategic technology planning. One is
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socioeconomic and the other is pragmatic/technical. The traditional focus on the creation
of a planning document tends to merge these aspects and obscure the distinction, often
leading to confusion and frustration. The differences between socioeconomic objectives
-- which are essentially strategic -- and technical goals -- which are primarily operational
-- are non-trivial: while the former need to be stable and comprehensive, the latter need to
be agile and responsive to rapid changes in technology and in users' needs. We believe
strategic planning for technology is not an oxymoron, yet a failure to appreciate the dual
character of technology planning can make it seem that way. Many technology officers
with whom we spoke intuitively recognize the essence of good planning and achieve
impressive outcomes with a minimum of frustration (CAUSE/EFFECT 1998 Volume
21, Number 1, pp. 18-23)
Fish M et al Jon A. Turner (2000) has conducted the study of implementation of information
technology in five settlement houses in New York City. Settlement houses are the
primary way that social services are delivered to community members of inner cities. The
goals for the IT implementation are to enable the settlement houses to improve the
efficiency of their administrative operations and to provide better service to their clients.
To increase efficiency, to lessen the burdensome information processing. Their
observation regarding the social aspect of the implementation are as follow.
Their observation concerns the change in emphasis among technical and social aspects of
the IT implementation as the project progressed. In the early stages of the project, the
implementation team focused its efforts almost exclusively on technical aspects of the IT
implementation. For example, the team initially focused on such tasks as evaluating
alternative WAN architectures and technologies, evaluating PC software and devices, and
analyzing the existing LANs in the houses. There is little doubt that this work was
necessary to design a technically efficient and cost-effective IT infrastructure. However,
little systematic thought was given early in the project as to how the IT infrastructure
might affect the existing work procedures, job responsibilities, employee satisfaction, and
organizational structures in the settlement houses. This lack of emphasis on the social
aspects of IT is somewhat ironic considering that the settlement houses are essentially
social service organizations.
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According to Nicolaou A (1999) the choice, design and development of an information

system. The process itself may be affected by concerns for legitimacy as well as by
concerns for effectiveness in supporting organizational tasks.
Social control is exerted by social institutions in a firm's context and is manifested
through symbolism and the institutionalization of the system development process as well
as its outcomes. Technical/rational goals are therefore not the sole controlling factors in
organizational processes, but are complemented by institutional forces and symbolic
means of control in a firm's environment
Nicolaou A (1999) has tried to explain the effect of social institutions by dividing the
influence into three different categories The symbolic functions of institutions are
imposed upon organizational form and action through three regulatory mechanisms
and/or processes. These regulatory mechanisms and processes have been identified by
institutional theorists as coercive isomorphism, mimetic isomorphism and normative
isomorphism (DiMaggio and Powell, 1983). These mechanisms aid in explaining why
institutionalized procedures and practices across organizations tend to become similar
over time.
Coercive isomorphism
The first mechanism promoting similarity is called coercive isomorphism. Coercive
isomorphism refers to the external pressures placed on an organization to conform to
rules and practices that are considered important within an industry.
Mimetic isomorphism
The second mechanism that encourages similarity has been labeled mimetic
isomorphism. Mimetic isomorphism, or ``follow the leader'', is driven by the desire to
reduce uncertainty, minimize risk, ensure survival and gain legitimacy by choosing to
select and implement systems used by the most prestigious, visible members of an
industry.
Normative isomorphism
The third and final mechanism fostering similarity is known as normative isomorphism.
Normative isomorphism or ``learning'' refers to the complex network of educational
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Implementation
institutions and professional associations by which Information organizational

participants learn ``the ropes to know'' or acceptable norms of practice
(Nicolaou A (1999))
Social implication of implementation should be kept in mind before planning for
information technology implementation.
The motivations for strategic technology planning that are most frequently mentioned are
the socioeconomic ones of:
• Aligning technology with other institutional priorities;

• Disseminating knowledge about technology needs and
constraints;
• Building alliances with key decision-makers;
• Lobbying for (and obtaining) financial and other resources;
• Addressing existing technology needs; and
• Keeping an eye on the leading edge (CAUSE/EFFECT 1998
Volume 21, Number 1, pp. 18-23)
Government
Government agencies might often require specific forms and content of reporting;
imposing specific IS structures that are required for compliance. Trade and industry
associations as well as major trading partners of an organization might also impose
certain information processing requirements, data access, and set standards for inter
organizational communications and external reporting of information. (Nicolaou A
(1999)).
Fish M (2000) after conducting the research study of information technology
implementation in settlement houses had following observation regarding the effect of
government on implementation practice. Influences from the environments of the
settlement houses have significantly impacted IT implementation efforts. For example,
the social service programs in the settlement houses are funded in large measure by
government contracts. Just prior to the initiation of implementation efforts, a shift to
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Implementation
Republican leadership occurred in the U.S. Congress, as well as in New York State and
New York City governments. As a result, the funding for social service programs was
curtailed by all three levels of government which seriously effected the implementation
of information system (Middleton C (1996))
Technological
Technological factors, such as the sophistication, or even the very existence, of needed IT
infrastructure, are important considerations in the implementation efforts of information
technology. ( Sakaguchi C (1998))
Caroline Chan (1999) conducted case study of nine organizations and the findings
indicate that compatibility is the major technological issue – and that it is a critical
variable for successful information technology implementation. In one of his case studies
Trading partners (both within Australia and overseas) were currently using a variety of
different standards and platforms, which increase not just the cost of the implementation
but also the complexity of the process to overcome this issue Caroline Chan has suggested
two possible solutions, which currently being used by cases:
• Ensuring that right decision is made on technology, so that there is no difficulty
with later
• Integration issues (integration of the new technology with prior initiatives)
• Multiple ways to interact with and service a range of different technologies.
For many reasons, over emphasizing on technical details in a strategic planning process
can be counter-productive. As mentioned above, it dampens the interest of vital
participants; it tends to obscure, rather than illuminate, genuinely strategic issues; and its
relevance diminishes quickly when the planning process looks at a horizon of more than a
few months. The issue of whether to provide network access to residence halls is
strategic; the decision of whether to achieve this by installing copper, fiber, or wireless
transponders is not. (CAUSE/EFFECT 1998 Volume 21, Number 1, pp. 18-23)
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Implementation
Culture
Culture is also an important element in implementation success. Enns H (1999)
differentiated between national culture and organizational culture, and noted that both are
relevant to implementation studies. They suggested that national culture is an important
moderator of the relationship between organizational culture and characteristics of the
technology on one hand, and the effectiveness of technology transfer on the other hand.
The way in which people think and behave is strongly influenced by the social
environment or culture to which they are accustomed. Thus an information system that
worked successfully in New York or Toronto may not be as effective in Mexico City or
Tokyo. Cultural factors and values should not be overlooked in MIS design and
development. (Roberts T (1995))
According to Marchand D et al Kettinger W, Rollins J, (2000) in an organization
characterized by integrity, people believe in and share a set of key principles that outline
appropriate conduct in the company they feel they have a duty to act within the accepted
boundaries of ethical and appropriate behavior. People with integrity will present what
they know about reality candidly and fairly by not hiding bad news or glossing over
important but discomforting facts or concerns.
Lind argued that computer applications are culturally bound, and that national culture has
a direct impact on implementation failure. Lack of sensitivity to national cultural issues is
likely to increase project failure risk and lead to ineffective utilization of IT.
National culture was also an important success factor in the Mongolian context.
Mongolia was the first among the former Council on Mutual Economic Assistance to
moves towards a free market economy. In addition, Mongolia was the first country in the
region to establish free trade with all of its trading partners. Thus, the Mongolian culture
was open to other Western-originated innovations, such as the Internet and this made the
implementation practice successful in Mongolian organizations. (Enns Harvey et al
Huff S (1999))
According to Scott (1994), institutions are social constructions made up of three
elements: meaning systems and related behavioral patterns; symbolic elements, including
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Implementation
representational, constitutive and normative rule systems; and regulatory processes that
are used to enforce reified and legitimated actions.
Systems of shared meaning are indispensable for collective activity in a social context. In
their seminal article, Meyer and Rowan (1977) emphasized the role of rationalized belief
systems in providing a structure for meaningful interactions and acceptable patterns of
behavior. Symbolic elements of institutions are contained in socially constructed systems
of shared meaning and it is through these elements that social control is exerted on
organizations The existence of social expectations, norms and dependencies, bridges the
individual and organizational levels of analysis. Social context is not determined by
individual needs and wants but is determined by what people take for granted, and
consider legitimate (Nicolaou A (1999))
Culture defines the way in which communication will take place in the organization. The
components of an environment that encourages participatory and strategic governance
include a culture of trust and communication, and widespread agreement with the
principle that teaching and learning processes must drive technology planning
(Grimes J et al Zingg P, Hanley J (1999))
Enns Harvey et al Huff S (1999) found in their case study that Datacom’s organizational
culture, which centered on enthusiasm for technical work, and persistence in the face of
obstacles, was consistent with the Internet and VSAT initiatives. The cultural factors
helped them to become first to establish such services as the countrywide PC-Mail
network. And due to cultural effect they showed a great deal of persistence in training
themselves in the necessary hardware and software technologies and make the
implementation of Internet successful
Political environment
The political environment of a developing country is also important from an
implementation perspective. If the country’s government severely restricts an
organization’s operations, this has negative implications for successful implementation of
IT. On the other hand, government policies can create a positive environment for
implementation. For example, India’s commitment to develop its telecommunications
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Implementation
sector provides an environment conducive to successful implementation efforts. At the

same time the regulatory environment impacts the amount of competition in sectors such
as telecommunications. Deregulation leads to increased competition, increased services,
and decreased costs for consumers in many countries.
Enns Harvey et al Huff S (1999) in their analysis of Datacom Company of magnolia the
political environment in Mongolia facilitated successful IT implementations. The
Mongolian government’s move towards a market economy, the institution of democracy,
and privatization laid the groundwork for success. Also, the deregulation of the
telecommunications industry allowed Datacom and the Pan Mongolia initiative the
latitude to operate relatively unencumbered.
Technical factors
Training
Prior training, whether formal or on-the-job, of individuals involved in an IT
implementation project is also seen as a critical element for success. Enns Harvey et al
Huff S (1999) found this to be a significant factor in the successful implementation of an
IT system in Sudan. Furthermore, Roche indicated that inadequate technical skills in host
countries are significant barriers to implementation in developing countries.
Proactive behavior is not an accident: high information oriented companies build it up
systematically over years onto only though training but by reinforcing the behaviors and
values that lead to this disposition in people integrity reality control transparency and
sharing.Training must be continued to encourage user inputs for changes that can be
made. Rewards must be given to those who significantly contribute to the successful
implementation of the innovation (Roberts T et al Middle Jr (1995))
What training is required for technical staff and users? You must factor this effort and
cost into your decision. Don’t forget that training also includes post-installation
coaching, training manuals, and support. Find out what’s included in the offer.
(Gadwall Group (2000))
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Implementation
How people learn is an important consideration when building or upgrading computer

systems. Many organizations have found that training people on hoe to use new
technologies is gobbling up an increasing share of the computing dollar for this reason
training may become a high priority. (Parker C , Case T (1999))
Infrastructure
The availability of infrastructure is very important for the successful implementation of
information system. The existing infrastructure could enhance or hamper the efforts for
system implementation. Enns Harvey et al Huff S (1999). Conducted the case studies in
Mongolian organizations.
Mongolia’s climate hinders certain wireless Mongolia’s existing infrastructure was
unable to support the Internet and VSAT network initiatives. The Mongolian government
did not have the financing or capacity to install better land-based infrastructure within the
time frame that Datacom faced. So lake of proper infrastructure produced many problems
for system implementation in Datacom technical complexity of a system can also affect
the acceptance of system within the organization people are more prone to reject the
systems, which are more difficult to use and understand.
Zolla G (1998) found the same problem in Naval Postgraduate Schools. The Naval
Postgraduate School’s initial application was a complex, technically sophisticated system
that was resisted by some users because it replaced a legacy system that was well liked. It
did not create the broad base of user support for future intranet applications. NPS has
improved their enterprise telephone and email directory program, responded to user’s
suggestions and is moving closer to achieving the critical mass needed for enterprise-
wide intranet development.
Expertise
Organization behavior researchers who study the factors that influence the work
behaviors of individuals and groups have recognized that many on the job behaviors are
affected by the skills and abilities that workers possess. These skills and abilities are
usually described as being relatively stable physical and intellectual characteristics that
determine an employee’s capability to perform job tasks. Lack of appropriate abilities
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Implementation
and skills can limit workers productivity. For example if a clerk typist does not have the
manual dexterity to master the fundamentals of typing or keyboard entry, his or her
performance is likely to suffer. . ( Parker C et al Case T (1999))
Employee’s skills helped the Mongolian based organization in the implementation of
information system. Enns Harvey et al Huff S (1999) conducted the cases study in
Datacom a Mongolian based organization.
Datacom had developed important skills in handling the poor telecommunication
infrastructure in Mongolia. The domestic electronic mail system PC-Mail was designed
to transfer messages over poor quality telephone lines. Due to the skills developed for
working with the poor infrastructure Datacom was able to develop other initiatives,
which further enhanced their expertise, such as their approach for transmitting
international faxes via the (SITA) network.
Inter organizational factors

Business strategy
One of the most important tasks in managing any organization is strategic planning, the
act of plotting the general long-term direction of the firm. Strategic plans often determine
the context or back drop for other managerial decisions that are they are one o the factors
that influence daily decisions that managers must make. In general managerial decisions
should be consistent with a nod supportive of the organizations strategic plans thus while
strategic planning is most identified with top level executives knowledge of the strategic
plan and the strategic planning process can be useful to mangers and workers at any level.
( Parker C et al Case T (1999))
Information strategy could not be formulated in isolation. For information technology to
be effective in significantly transforming higher education at the institutional level, it
must be seen as merely one parameter, albeit an important parameter, within a more
comprehensive academic planning process. (Sakaguchi T (1998))
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Office of management and budget emphasizes the importance of organizational

strategy in the development of successful system development according to them
organization should:
• link strategic planning to the organizations mission goals and customer needs.
This includes developing long-term general goals, setting specific annual
performance targets, and annually evaluating actual performance against these
targets.
• develop mission-related IT measures that link the IRM strategic plan with the
organizations strategic plan. For example, mission goals should be translated into
objective, results-oriented measures of performance, both quantitative and
qualitative, which can form the basis for measuring the impact of information
technology investments.
• Determine whether the function to be supported by the investment should be
performed in house or outsourced.
• Determine whether the agency proposing to perform the function is the most
appropriate agency.
• Examine the work processes involved to ensure they are efficient, effective, and
will take full advantage of the proposed automation.
• Use mission benefit, not project completion on time and within budget, as an
important measure of success for any IT project.
• Identify all major existing or planned information systems and define their
relationship to one another and to the agency's mission.
(Office Of Management And Budget (1995) )
information strategy planning
Formal IT strategy was defined as "a written plan comprised of projects for application of
information technology to assist an organization in realizing its goals", while IT strategy
implementation was defined as "the process of completing the projects". (Galliers, 1996,
p.3). Brancheau and Wetherbe (1987), Galliers (1993a, 1993b, 1994b), Galliers et al.
(1994a) and Watson et al. (1997) all found that improving IS strategic planning was and
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is ranked the top issue among key information systems management issues identified as
being important and problematic. .
Planning of strategic IS does not ensure its implementation (Earl, 1993; Kearney, 1990;
Lederer and Sethi, 1988, 1992; Levine and Rossmoore, 1993; Premkumar and King,
1994a, Ward and Griffiths, 1996). Lederer and Sethi have supported this observation in a
survey (1988) and in a study by Gottschalk (1995a). (Gottschalk P (1999))
But according to Gottschalk P not only planning of the information technology can be
sufficient “despite a belief in its importance, in the past decade many organisations have
developed perfectly sound IS strategies that have been left to gather dust, or have been
implemented in a half-hearted manner”. Taylor (1997, p.336), too, found that “all too
often strategies remain ‘on the page’ and are not implemented”.
Office of management and budget presents following guidelines for the development of
information technology strategy. That could help ensure the proper implementation of
plan:
• Define a portfolio that includes IT projects in every phase (initial concept, new,
ongoing, or fully operational) and for every type (mission critical, cross-
functional, infrastructure, administrative, and R&D) of IT system.
• Develop levels of review, documentation requirements, and selection criteria
appropriate to the phase and type of IT system.
• Define dollar thresholds that can be used to channel projects to the appropriate
agency decision levels to best accommodate organization wide versus unit
specific impact. Most important is the use of a consistent set of investment
decision practices throughout the organization. Some best practice organizations
submit projects to thorough investment reviews when costs exceed between 0.5
and 2 percent of the organization's IT budget.
• Develop criteria for identifying projects of a critical nature that fall below the
dollar threshold but should be included in the investment review process.
• Each attribute contributes to properly implementing the three phases of the
investment process. Senior managers and those helping to install the investment
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Implementation
process in each agency should keep these elements in mind during review of the
details of the selection, control, and evaluation phases. (office of management
and budget (1995)).
Performance standards for some types of system development are relatively clear. An
example is when a system is developed to support a specific new product or service. This
type of system can be evaluated based on well- specified and crystallized outcomes, such
as improved profitability or productivity in a specific service area. Here, the choice is
driven less by an inclination to conform or imitate and more by a desire to improve
specific results. Other types of system development, however, are made in situations
where beliefs about cause-effect knowledge are incomplete, decision criteria are
ambiguous, decision quality requires a long time to establish, and the success of a
decision cannot be evaluated autonomously but depends upon other decisions, the results
of which may not be accurately predicted or controlled. (Nicolaou A (1999))
The vast majority of technology officers, however, devote a considerable amount of time
and energy to strategic and financial planning. In most cases, their efforts follow the
traditional model of institutional planning; that is, a committee or task force gathers
information, conducts interminable discussions about what the institution needs, and
ultimately drafts a huge document that meets with overwhelming approval by the three
people who actually have time to read it. The relevance of the document to day-to-day
operations, the quality of services, and the implementation of new initiatives are often
questionable, although, oddly enough, few people seem to be concerned about this. There
is something about the development of a strategic plan for technology that makes it
worthwhile despite these shortcomings.
Technology organizations that enjoy the greatest success are those whose agendas clearly
serve the priorities of their institutions. Without a strategic planning process for
technology, it may be difficult to identify the connection between technology initiatives
and the institutional goals they are designed to support.
(CAUSE/EFFECT 1998 Volume 21, Number 1, Pp. 18-23)
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Implementation
Some technology officers and a surprising number of chief academic officers believe
technology planning fails because technology evolves too rapidly, there will never be
enough resources to satisfy technology demands, or users have no way of knowing what
they will need in the future.
Many of the researchers, however, provided a different set of answers. They blamed, for
example:
• Failure to tie technology to institutional mission and priorities,
• Failure to get the right people on board,
• Excessive focus on technical detail, or
• Lack of suitable leadership.
It's critical to remember that a plan is a statement about priorities and their
implementation, given our best knowledge at planning time, and that all kinds of events
will cause the unfolding of history to differ from the plan. Kenneth L . Kraemer has tried to
generalize the process of information technology planning according to him there are
some common practices that contribute to healthy technology planning processes,
regardless of the size and type of institution. The following ten-step method is an effort to
fuse these practices into a comprehensive approach Step 1 – Review institutional
objectives. Before initiating any Step 2 – Establish a framework of strategic technology
objectives Step 3 – Prioritize objectives. Even in a small institution, the list Step 4 –
Invite key group review. Before the framework of strategic Step 5 – Disseminate
strategic technology framework. The Step 6 – Translate objectives into operational
goals. In an ideal Step 7 – Discuss operational goals with key people. The annual list
Step 8 – Disseminate operational goals. The list of operational Step 9 – Enable
continuous input. Members of the community Step 10 – Conduct retrospective
assessment. Progress toward (Kraemer K et al Talon P (2000))
Behavior And Users
Information systems are often referred to as socio technical systems. That is they are
composed of technology related products and concepts that can only be fully understood
within the context of the people and organization that use those products systems.
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Implementation
developers should make sure that people and behavioral factors carefully considered
when designing and implementing information systems. Many systems have failed
because implementers overlooked the importance of human and organizational factors.
The people component of a management information system is often overlooked or under
considered .a long list of cases exist in which on the drawing board it appeared that
proposed information systems would work successfully however when implemented
these systems failed miserably . ( Parker C et al Case T (1999))
Marchand D et al Kettinger W, Rollins J, (2000) says that companies must do more than
excel at investing in and deploying IT. They must combine those capabilities with
excellence in colleting organizing and maintaining information and with getting their
people to embrace the right behaviors and values for working with information
Chan Caroline (1995) has found after conducting the case study in nine organizations that
In all cases, commitment has been suggested as the most important factor for
implementation success. Two aspect of this commitment refers to the commitment of
organizations on system initiatives, which is needed to support the process of
implementation (was refer to a more specific way: resource commitment) and trading
partners (or clients) commitment. Developing a sound business plan and achieving sign
off have been suggested for gaining these commitments.
Marks P et al Mccoy S, Polak P (2001) has discussed the knowledge sharing behavior of
different individual in organization and their effect on implementation. Knowledge
sharing may be considered unnatural in many organizational cultures where holding on to
unique and potentially valuable knowledge is a source of power (Goodman & Darr,
1999). In these organizations, simply sharing knowledge with peers utilizing traditional
methods (e.g., face-to-face, telephone conversations, etc.) can represent a significant
challenge., three factors were identified which effect the sharing behavior within the
organization, managerial control , social identification, social value orientation.
According to Marchand D et al Kettinger W, Rollins J (2000) companies that incorporate
a people centric, rather than merely techno centric, view of information use and that are
good at all three information capabilities will improve their business performance.
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Implementation
Opportunistic and need scanning must be continuous. Individuals should be assigned

from a central computer department to continuously conduct opportunistic and need
scanning. Active innovation identification will empower the organization to stay at the
forefront of innovation, reducing inefficiency and heterogeneity of solutions. Centralized
evaluation of innovation leads to standardization and better diffusion. Ensure the end-
users are involved in the match between innovation and need. Do not create a match just
to experiment with a new technology. There should be a need.
User support is the key to adoption. Demonstrate how this solution will benefit the user
(easier, better, more fun). If it does not, it is not a good solution. Adequate resources must
be committed to training and maintenance of the project. The champion must be visible,
creditable and enthusiastic. Network bandwidth and reliability must also be adequate.
(Zolla G. (1998))
As Land (1985), points out, `ìt is not possible to redesign a robust, effective information
system incorporating significant amounts of the technology, without treating it as a social
system''. Even though the technology has improved over the last 30 years there are still
too many examples of failed system implementations
There is a need to appraise critically the way we carry out computer systems
development. It should not be seen as purely a series of formalized technical processes.
Computer system design appears to have become structured and formalized leading to a
problem-solving philosophy accepted uncritically by computer professionals. This
philosophy views the system development process as being a purely technical process
aimed at solving problems which are then defined in largely technical terms (Mumford
and Weir, 1979). This partial and Mechanistic bias within the system development
process may be a major factor leading to information system failure (Brooke and
Maguire, 1998). (Maguire S (2000))
Management factors e.g. managing change

According to Marchand D et al Kettinger W, Rollins J, (2000) good information
management should constantly focus on the decision contexts of managers and
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employees. Because it is people who use information thinking about information needs
should be part of every ones job leaving the responsibility for good information
management to information specialists or IT staff may give temporary peace of mind.
Chan Caroline (1995) has pointed out that one of the important issues during system
implementation is related to managing change to as to ensure system acceptance. This
issue has often associated with education and training and was recognized as a partly
controllable factor (Winston and Dologite 1999). Although the organizations are aware
that a broader approach, such as resources allocation planning needs to be used, such a
change in approach has been extremely difficult due to the popularity of the current
business process with the company’s customers.
Middleton Catherine (1999) conducted research on implementation of IT in five different
settlement houses the project had following observations about co-ordination between the
team members during a project Early in the project, implementation activities were being
pursued in a disjointed fashion, with little forethought given to the ways in which these
activities inform and constrain each other. For example, one of the team members was
helping the houses to assess their needs for additional PC hardware and software, while
another team member was simultaneously refining budget allocations for PC
expenditures. Inadequate coordination between these team members resulted in confusion
on the part of settlement house managers concerning the alignment of their computing
needs and budget allocations.
Maguire S (2000) presents two ways of managing information system development
IMPLEMENTAION
Hardware Problem
theory solving
techniques
Softwar
e theory File design
File structure
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Implementation
Information system forced into organization
User
Change
reaction
managemen
Use of
Education t information in
Impact of I.S
and organization
on
training organization
Information system Return
Evaluatio
Decision on
n &
making Review investme
nt
Flexibilit Environmental Project

Information system introduced into organization y of I.S scanning manageme
nt
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Implementation
In the first case information system is forced into the organization and most of the
emphasis is on technical aspects of the implementation this is referred to as the hard
approach. In the second figure information system is introduced into the organization
keeping in mind its effect on users and how this will effect the environment of the
organization.
Based on data from several specific cases of runaway projects, we believe runaways are a
form of organizational decision-making failure. Consider this scenario: a development
project encounters some problems, which may be serious enough to cause the project to
fail. The decision maker(s) responsible for the project have two choices: continue the
project or abandon it (either terminate it or radically redirect it). If the decision maker
consciously chooses to continue committing resources to the project or never consciously
considers abandonment, the behavior represents an escalation of commitment or
escalation, for short the factors identified for escalation are. Independent Variables from
Project Management
• Poor Planning
• Poor Monitoring
• Poor Control
• Poor Estimation
• Poor Analysis and Design (Dr. Anderson L (1996))
Leadership
The history of the world is rich with examples showing how individual leaders have
made a difference. Leadership is important to the study of MIS for a variety of reasons,
the changing role of MIS in may organizations is requiring different types of leadership
from MIS executives than what was expected in the past moreover since leaders are the
people who usually make a difference in an organization it is important for the systems
designer to identify leaders among users .MIS executives who are strong leaders often
able to have a significant impact on their organizations strategic plans and the overall
corporate perception of the MIS area. Strong MIS leaders can ensure that MIS concerns
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Implementation
are reflected in these strategic plans and that the MIS area will be able to help the
organization achieve its long term objectives. MIS executives the obvious leadership
qualities especially those with a vision for the role that the MIS area should play in the
future. Are likely to help develop and maintain a positive image for MIS throughout the
organization. (Parker C et al Case T (1999))
Dong L, Neufeld D (1995) propose that implementation effectiveness is determined by
implementation climate and innovation values fit, which are affected by transactional
leadership and transformational leadership which means that leader ship is the driving
factor behind the implementation model.
Much research has been done in an attempt to identify the key factors that predict system
implementation success. Over 150 factors have been identified, but only two "top
management support" and "user involvement" are consistently associated with successful
implementations (Sitting D Ph.D (1995) )
Office of management and budget has emphasized the importance of top management
support in the successful system development. Organizational processes should include
the following elements:
• Senior program managers, with authority to make key business and funding
decisions on IT projects, are continuously involved in the process.
• A disciplined and structured management forum is used to make IT investment
decisions, with the authority to approve, cancel, or delay projects, mitigate risks,
and validate expected returns.
• Program, Information Resource Management (IRM) , and financial managers
with clearly defined roles, responsibilities, and accountability for the success of
IT projects. (Office Of Management And Budget (1995))
According to Nicolaou A (1999) institutional pressures will force the leaders to become
prominent and drive the process of system implementation.. By virtue of what they deem
relevant, institutional pressures also prescribe specific skills and expertise as important,
helping to privilege those within organizations who hold such expertise and skills. Thus,
institutional pressures help to employ specific groups of individuals as system
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champions. System champions are at a fairly high level of the organization and take on
the responsibility of shepherding a project throughout the whole development process
(Beath and Ives, 1988; Beath, 1991). They also can effectively deter resistance from users
and promote change (Markus, 1984). The result is an implicit bias in system development
that reflects the ``champion's'' expertise and training as well as what they perceive to be
important or not important.
The goal of top management must be to provide leadership in the process of defining and
meeting campus-wide academic information technology requirements. The leaders must
be informed, engaged, and supportive and share a common vision and commitment to
assign resources and their personal attention to what the process develops and
recommends. It is essential that the leaders integrate planning and implementation in the
technology area with those that are occurring in all other areas of discourse relating to the
teaching/learning process of the organization. (Grimes J et al Zingg P, Hanley J, (1999)
Presidents and provosts must either set their own vision for the future of their institution
or they must advocate for a more collectively developed vision. In either case, they must
enable their institution to establish a clear understanding of the degree to which the
institution should invest in information technology. The purpose of such an
understanding is to address transformation and spending (Gurbaxani V et al Melville N,
Kraemer K, (2000))
Grimes J et al Zingg P, Hanley J, (1999) has discussed the responsibilities of chief
information officer (CIO), in a university context. The CIO responsibilities include
defining the information technology vision for the campus, providing the leadership to
insure successful implementations, and engaging the campus community in the planning,
prioritization, and assessment phases of initiatives and projects. The CIO must help the
campus develop, and then, promote a vision for the role of information technologies in
supporting the core functions of the University, including the direct use of IT in
instruction, the sustenance and improvement of the processes underlying program
support, and the development of a community of scholars.
Change management is another critical element in the successful CIO’s portfolio of
responsibilities, both as an agent of change from within the IT profession, and as one of
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Implementation
several campus leaders who must articulate how change is to occur, how it is to be
funded, if/where resources are a key to the change, and what are the essentials that need
to be supported at the professional and personal level from within all the constituent
stakeholder groups ( faculty, students, and staff). This is and will be a truly "engaging
and empowering role" that is most demanding as progress is made and obstacles to
progress intervene
Politics can not be eliminated from an organization, a strong leader can help an
organization over come the hurdles in implementation created by politics. Political
support must be generated for the innovation. A champion must emerge who has the
capability to allocate resources and the power to gather support for the new process. If
support cannot be gained, drop the project. Adequate resources must be committed to the
design team. In radical new technology, create a simple implementation first to create
support for later complex solutions. (Zolla G (1995))
A proper balance must be kept in leadership Strategic planning processes can suffer as
badly from too much leadership as they can from too little. Anecdotes abound of chief
technology officers who assume a mantle of techno-mysticism and exercise near-total
control over the planning process Each organization has a number of decision-makers
who can play a pivotal role in pushing technology plans forward or making them grind to
a halt. Unless such people are brought into the technology planning process in an
effective way, the process can be crippled (CAUSE/EFFECT 1998 Volume 21, Number
1, pp. 18-23)
Resources
Financial resources are critical to virtually all information technology efforts (information
technology is, unfortunately, an expensive business). Except in rare instances,
the strategic planning process is the primary way institutions identify their required long-
term funding levels for technology and obtain funding commitments.
( CAUSE/EFFECT 1998 Volume 21, Number 1, pp. 18-23)
Innovation is a new way of doing things. Mohr (1995) states that an organization must
possess and be willing to commit the resources needed to implement a new technology
39
Implementation
for it to be successful. He writes that “Innovation = Motivation times Resources”. (Zolla

G (1995)
In most companies the time attention and expertise of top quality IT people are in short
supply companies with high levels of information orientation understand this, they focus
their best IT resources on information capabilities that make them distinctive
Middleton Catherine (1995) conducted the research in five settlement houses and found
that lack of resources could hamper the planning and co-ordination of implementation
plan. Due to resource constraints early in the project, the implementation team was not
able to formulate a comprehensive implementation plan or institute project coordination
meetings. Eventually with the provision of resources coordination improved as team
members forged working relationships and adopted coordination mechanisms.
Grimes J et al Zingg P, Hanley J, (1999) has concluded in the case study of Cal Poly
University that a key factor for a successful process for providing information technology
resources is appropriate financial support. This will be realized if the three legged stool of
state support, student fees and tuition, and grants and private support is balanced and
delivers the critical mass of financial support and resources to advance the agreed to
agenda. At Cal Poly is investing considerable effort to insure that the annual budget is
"the arithmetic expression of the plan" and that, as such, it is clearly derived from the
initiatives which have been agreed to and which are core to the goals and strategies
developed within the plan. Accordingly, the budget must be open, available, and
thoroughly understood by the Chief Academic Liaison, the Chief Information Officer,
and Chief Academic Officer.
Implementation stages or processes

In this section I have tried to present different processes of information technology
implementation that have been discussed in the literature.
National Computing Center in Manchester defined the system development process as a
number of stages. Seven were identified: feasibility study; systems investigation; systems
analysis; systems design; systems development; implementation; and review and
40
Implementation
maintenance. These stages were later revised but are still generally viewed as the key
elements of the computer system (Maguire S (2000))
Chan C (1995) has presented the following processes for the implementation of IT
According to this model implementation takes place in three stages or processes
1. The change process describes the process of change, which results from the
introduction of a new technology or policy. Caroline Chan further divided the
change process into four stages.
• Initiation describes the initial process of implementation, which often includes
experimentation and a feasibility study. This follows the decision to adopt or not
to adopt the technology.
• Systems development describes the process of installation and development of the
systems and includes the systems study, systems design and systems testing.
• Routinisation relates to the process of utilizing or using the technology.
• Diffusion & expansion is the last stage of the process to diffuse the use of the
technology into the organization’s various business units, as well as expanding the
technology externally to trading partners.
2. Growth process describes the maturing use of the information systems within the
organization; implementation usually starts with a simple bilateral relationship on
a single application and moves toward more complex multi-lateral relationships.
3. Integration process is the process of integrating or incorporating the new
business process into existing business processes. The B2B e-Commerce
integration process of technologies such as EDI has been discussed in depth by
Swatman (1993). This study examined the process of EDI integration within a
number of Australian organizations and suggests four stages of the integration
process.
companies with high information orientation view information as having a life cycle with
discrete valuation points. These valuation decision are made continuously as people work
and they are reinforced through communication formalization of best practices and on the
job training (Marchand D et al Kettinger W, Rollins J, (2000))
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Implementation
According to office of management and budget (1995) the investment process, depicted
in below, consists of three phases: selection, control and evaluation. As Figure 2.1
indicates, the three phases of the investment process occur in a continuous cycle of
selection, control, and evaluation. Information from each phase flows freely among all of
the other phases with the exception of evaluation. The evaluation component of the
process has a unidirectional information flow to the selection component. The evaluation
component is used to verify or modify the criteria used during selection.
Figure 2.1
Research work in the field of IT implementation

in this section I have tried to compile some of the important research work done in the
field of information technology implementation in different organization
Catherine Middleton, York University, Canada has tried to find the effect of user
satisfaction on the success or failure of system implementation author conducted the case
study of two universities where information system has been implemented, the purpose of
the study was to find out the perception of the primary and secondary user about the
system and then to find out the effect of these perception on the success or failure of
system implementation the results of the survey are given in the table 2.1.
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Implementation
Primary Users' Secondary Users' Primary Users' Secondary Users'

Evaluation Criterion
Perspective Perspective Assessment Assessment
Was the project terminated? No No Success Success
Was it agreed that the project
No Uncertain Success Uncertain
was a failure?
Did the users resist the system? No Yes Success Failure
Were the users satisfied with the
Yes Uncertain Success Uncertain
system's scope?
Was the system designed to meet
Yes No Success Failure
users' needs?
Was the quality of the
Yes Not entirely Success Failure
information system acceptable?
Was the information produced
by the system of acceptable Yes Sometimes Success Failure
quality?
Was the information used? Yes Not always Success Failure
Did the information impact upon
Yes Sometimes Success Failure
management decisions?
Did the information impact Lack of info. had a
Yes Success Failure
organizational performance? negative impact
Did senior management support
Yes No Success Failure
the system?
Was the system able to evolve
with a changing organizational Yes Uncertain Success Failure
environment?
Table 2.1
The table 2.1 shows two vastly different assessments of the system. As expected, the
system designers and primary users considered the system to be a success on most
criteria. In stark contrast, the staff in the faculties and the marketing office viewed the
system as inadequate and unresponsive to their needs. From their perspective, the system
was a failure. Because users were led to believe that the system was technically complex,
they did not demand access to it immediately. The developers allowed users no access to
43
Implementation
system documentation, thereby perpetuating the myth of technical complexity and

discouraging users from learning the true capabilities of the system. The control that the
developers exerted over system access is indicative of a faulty design process. By their
refusal to accord users the necessary access privileges for effective system use, the
systems designers exhibited a Theory X view of the system users
(Middleton Catherine (1995))
Dong L, Neufeld D (1999) has tried to develop a model which could be used to find out
the effect of effective leadership on the implementation of information system in the
organization This research has combined the model of leadership with Klein and Sorra’s
theory of innovation implementation and combination gives us the following model
Transactional Implementation
leadership climate
Implementation Innovation
Transformation effectiveness effectiveness
Innovation
al leadership
value fit
Figure 2.2
The following results were derived regarding the effect of leadership on implementation
process.
Leadership Implementation climate Innovation value fit Implementation
effectiveness
Strong transformational Strong climate with Good Employee enthusiasm
and strong transactional clear vision committed and
consistent innovation
use
Neutral Employees enthusiasm
at best., likely exhibit
committed and
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Implementation
use
Poor Employee enthusiasm at
best, likely exhibit
committed and
use.
Strong transformational Weak climate with clear Good Employee frustration
and weak transactional vision and disappointment,
inadequate innovation
use
Neutral Employee frustration
and disappointment,
use or no use
Poor Employee frustration
and disappointment,
use or no use
Strong transactional and Strong climate without Good Employee enthusiasm,
weak transformational clear vision committed and
use
Neutral Employee indifference,
adequate innovation use
Poor Employee resistance, no
use
Weak transformational Weak climate without Good Employee frustration
and weak transactional clear vision inadequate innovation
use
Neutral Employee indifferent, no
innovation use
Poor Employee relief, no
innovation uses.
Table 2.2
Gottschalk P (1999) has tried to find that "What content characteristics of formal IT
strategy predict the extent of plan implementation?"
Thirty-five organizational practices of importance for IS plan implementation were
identified in the research literature. Ten predictor constructs were derived from the these
practices (Gottschalk, (1999)). For each of the ten predictors, one hypothesis was
formulated stating that the greater the extent of the content characteristic, the greater the
extent of plan implementation.
Content Full regression Full regression Stepwise Stepwise
characteristic as beta t_test regression beta regression t-test
information
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Implementation
predictor
Resources .078 .766
Users .158 1.665 .233 2.892
Analyses .019 .17
Changes .138 1.407
Resistance -.065 -.628
IT .015 .173
Relevance .048 .449
Responsibility .189 1.672 .298 3.692
Management -.071 -.599
Issues .145 1.408
Table 2.3
However, none of the content characteristics are significant implementation predictors.
When stepwise regression (Hair et al., 1995) was applied, two of the ten predictors have
significant Coefficients in the multiple regression equation. Firstly, the description of
responsibility for the Implementation was associated with the highest explanatory power
since it achieved the highest Beta coefficient. Next, the description of user involvement
during the implementation proved to be the other significant predictor. The adjusted R-
square of the stepwise model is 0.19. None of the remaining eight potential predictors is
significant. The most surprising result of this study, both from a theoretical and practical
perspective, is the relative lack of importance of management support.
Marchand D et al Kettinger W, Rollins J, (2000) has developed a measure of information
technology orientation of a company, which was called information technology
orientation which measures the capabilities of a company to effectively manage and use
information.
Information orientation (IO)

Measure the capabilities of a company to
effectively manage and use information
Information technology Information management Information behaviors and

practices (ITP) practices values
Capacity Capability Capability

The capability of a company to The capability of a company to The capability of a company to
manage information effectively instill and promote behaviors and
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Implementation
effectively manage appropriate IT over its life cycle values in its people for effective
applications and infrastructure in use of information
support of operational decision
making and communication
processes
• Sensing • Integrity
• IT for operational support • Collecting • Formality
• IT for business process • Organizing • Control
support • Processing • Sharing
• IT for innovation support • Maintaining • Transparency
• IT for management support • Proactive ness
Figure 2.3
Two banks were studied and their Level of information orientation was measured. The
comparison of bank A and bank B shows high IO companies excel at building systems
that support flexible decision making by managers and employees. Bank A’s goal for IT
systems development has been a straight forward one: provide the people in the branches
( The bank’s cornerstone) with the necessary tools to improve their decision capabilities
by analyzing risk monitoring market position , forecasting changes in business conditions
an providing information for proactive marketplace responses .High IO can help
companies get better results out of their IT implementation.
A customized model was created by Zolla G (1995) which consist of four stages through
which the organization passes while implementing its information technology the author
conducted case study of two organizations to measure the factors which effect the
implementation in each of these stages.
The model was designed by modifying Cooper and Zmud’s model as well as using an
approach adopted by Liu Sheng
Scanning/m Fit Adaptation Diffusion

atching
The four-step process includes:
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Implementation
A. Scanning/Matching
Opportunistic and need scanning must be continuous. Individuals should be assigned
from a central computer department to continuously conduct opportunistic and need
scanning. Active innovation identification will empower the organization to stay at the
forefront of innovation, reducing inefficiency and heterogeneity of solutions. Centralized
evaluation of innovation leads to standardization and better diffusion. Ensure the end-
users are involved in the match between innovation and need. Do not create a match just
to experiment with a new technology. There should be a need.
B. Fit
Political support must be generated for the innovation. A champion must emerge who has
the capability to allocate resources and the power to gather support for the new process. If
support cannot be gained, drop the project. Adequate resources must be committed to the
design team. In radical new technology, create a simple implementation first to create
support for later complex solutions. Ensure User involvement is incorporated at all stages
of the redesign.
C. Adoption
User support is the key to adoption. Demonstrate how this solution will benefit the user
(easier, better, more fun). If it does not, it is not a good solution. Adequate resources must
be committed to training and maintenance of the project. The champion must be visible,
creditable and enthusiastic. Network bandwidth and reliability must also be adequate.
D. Diffusion
Full-time advocates of innovation change must be assigned to the process. Change agents
must be encouraged to review all processes that could be enhanced by intranet
technology. Training must be continued to encourage user inputs for changes that can be
made. Rewards must be given to those who significantly contribute to the successful
implementation of the innovation.
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Implementation
Chapter 3: Research Methodology
Introduction
This chapter will provide an overview of the strategy, which will be used to conduct
the research and derive the data necessary to answer the following research questions.
The three main research questions for this study are as follows:
• What are the most problematic issues facing organizations with regard to IT planning?
• What are the most problematic issues facing organizations with regard to IT
procurement?
• What are the most problematic issues facing organizations with regard to IT
implementation?
The primary objective of this study is to identify and categorize the perceptions of
executives regarding which issues were most problematic to the information technology
implementation process. This study should assist in the future development of an IT
implementation model for organizations as well as provide an essential framework for the
future study of IT planning, procurement, and implementation effectiveness. The IT
implementation process is broken down into a simple system model for the purposes of
this particular study. The implementation process is viewed as a combination of three
integral parts, each of which involves a separate set of internal factors and processes.
Each part is necessary for the success of the following one yet each encapsulates it’s own
important process. As seen in this representation, IT planning has a direct impact on the
procurement process, and vice-versa—IT procurement and acquisition capabilities are
directly related to planning efforts. Procurement impacts implementation, which has a
direct impact on both the procurement and planning efforts.
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Implementation
IT IT IT
Planning Procurement Implementation
Simple IT Implementation Process

Figure 3.1
This study will address a fundamental problem of IT implementation. Primarily the

numerous and varied issues which exist across the multiple levels of the implementation
process. Such multiplicity makes the entire process problematic. Due to the nature of the
implementation process, each set of issues must be viewed in layers corresponding to the
distinct stages in the overall process. IT planning issues are different from IT
procurement issues and yet each individual factor is inherently important to the whole
process and must be viewed ultimately in that context. This study breaks down each stage
of the process into a separate part to better identify the issues, which are specific to that
stage. Until each distinct piece of the process is viewed as a separate unit, it is impossible
to understand where the whole process might conceivably break down and which
particular issue or set of issues might be to blame. In the implementation process
described in this study, planning is listed as the first stage. This is based on standard MIS
process models.
The planning process provides a basic stepping-stone from which the rest of the process
continues. From the planning stage the process moves on to procurement or acquisition
processes. This is the first part of the process where the ideas laid out in the planning
stage begin to take shape. Once all of the necessary facets of the IT plan have been
acquired, the plan can be formalized and implemented. Each stage is intimately related to
the others—failure to plan adequately impacts both procurement and implementation.
Conversely, a breakdown in implementation may inform future planning efforts or
require review and revisement of the original plan. Without the procurement portion of
the process, implementation would be impossible. The acquisition of the proper
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Implementation
technologies and budgeting for future acquisitions are integral to effective

implementation of IT. Each stage of the implementation process demands careful
consideration and foresight as they are all symbiotically related.
Basic Approach to the Research

At it’s most fundamental level this is a cross-sectional study designed to collect
descriptive data on the issues surrounding IT implementation. This study represents the
perceptions of executives in different organizations. The perceptions detailed here are
very important because in the volatile area of IT all involved individuals and
organizations are trying to make proactive headway. Public and private sector
organizations are involved in improving or changing their IT implementation strategies.
A cross sectional study is determined to be especially useful since the purpose is to gather
pertinent information on individual attitudes and explore areas for further research. The
data produced in this study is essentially a screening for variables, which may prove to be
worthy of further study. This study will be conducted in three stages and involved an in-
depth analysis and review of the issues, which exist for executives with regard to the IT
implementation process in their organizations. In stage one—a literature review is
conducted to identify the prevalent issues surrounding the development of information
technology. These issues were extremely important in that they provide a foundation for
current issues. The initial research conducted in the first stage of the study also included
the identification and observation of current trends relating to IT implementation. The
information garnered from this portion of stage one is reflected in the literature review,
description of the issues, and the issues database. Possibly the most crucial portion of
stage one involved the creation of an IT issues database which will be designed to
accommodate the information derived from a interviews conducted with executives from
different organizations. The issues derived from this portion of the study will be
categorized in the database for ease of use and updated throughout the process of the
study. This stage also provided the necessary background information to develop a basic
set of definitions and concepts which were then reviewed and updated based primarily on
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Implementation
responses from the initial interviews with respondents The second stage will consist of
interviews with IT professionals to aid in developing shared meanings and terminology,
as well as to determine additional concepts, factors, and ideas for the research. The
information. Garnered will be used to enhance the database created in stage one as well
as to serve as a framework for the design of the descriptive survey in stage three. From
the information derived in stages one and two a comprehensive survey will be developed
which will then sent to the target survey group
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Implementation
Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3
• Design “Issues • Define terms and design • Develop a

Database”. initial interviews. comprehensive
• Design initial • Interview IT survey to be sent to IT
Categorization of IT professionals to determine professionals in
issues for database. shared meanings, different organizations.
• Identify as many of the definitions, measures, and • Identify crucial
problems and factors which variables. variables (issues)
affect IT planning and • Reevaluation of database which impact
implementation as possible categorizations, definitions, IT implementation.
from the literature, general and issues based on • Second reevaluation
interviews, observation. interviews. of database
categorizations,
definitions, and
issues based on
survey information.
• Collect, analyze, and
create reports from
the data gathered in
the survey .
Research Methodology
The overall research design for this study is descriptive in that it made use of interviews
and surveys to solicit “expert” and practitioner opinion. The survey research sought to
identify the most problematic issues with regard to the implementation of information
technology in different organizations. After some common issues, descriptions, and
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Implementation
definitions were identified, a survey instrument is developed to help describe the most
problematic of these issues for executives in different organizations.
Stage One
The first stage of this study will consist mainly of the design of an “issues database”.
This database serves, throughout the course of the research, not only as an evaluation tool
by which to categorize the issues discussed specifically in this study, but also as a
continuous working foundation for more extensive research on a broader range of IT
issues. The initial categorizations for the issues were derived primarily from a review of
the literature pertaining to a number of areas crucial to information technology
management. A representative look at this literature can be found in chapter two of this
study. The original categorization system is made up of seven issue areas based on
interview responses and the initial literature review, these were:
• Ethics and legal issues (those issues related to ethical conduct, professional
responsibility, and legal mandates/rules);
• Architecture--hardware (hardware specific issues like compatibility, standards,
and platforms);
• Architecture--software (software specific issues like program standardization,
data export );
• Government records (those issues related to federal, state, and local records
requirements);
• management issues (issues relating to management styles, contracting, budgets,
and strategic planning);
• personnel issues (those issues pertaining to staffing, training, internal
organizational politics, modernization, and expertise or skill levels);
• And value issues (those relating to internal and external value systems,
competition and effectiveness).
Each of the issue was reviewed, categorized, and defined to fit appropriately into the
database. Over the course of this study the database was adjusted with new, more
appropriate categorizations based on subsequent findings. In addition, duplicate records
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Implementation
(and any information not related to IT implementation) were removed to make future
analysis less cumbersome. The information accumulated in the issues database will be
discussed later.
Stage Two
The second stage of this project provided a key bridge between the initial gathering of
general information with regard to information technology management and the final
description of the most problematic and fundamental issues to the specific process of IT
implementation. Stage two involved the design and conduct of a general interview. Much
of the design for this interview is garnered from the review of the literature, preliminary
interviews with interested professionals/practitioners, and issue identifications from stage
one. The interviews conducted for the study were, by design, structured and the questions
were open-ended.
These interviews will used to determine a common ground and basis for communication
of terminologies. This set of interviews will be informal and conducted in person . Each
respondent’s answers will be entered into a database for analysis and review.
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Implementation
Interview Questions
1. “Information technology” is defined as any equipment, services, applications, and
basic technologies related to information access, dissemination, collection, and storage.
ITs are commonly grouped as computers, multimedia, and telecommunications. Would
you agree with this definition, would you add to it or redefine it in any way?
2. What do you perceive as the “role” of information technology in your organization?
3. “IT implementation” is defined as a process (via a definite plan or procedure)

Employed in getting a new or significantly changed system in use for those for whom it
was intended. Would you agree with this definition, would you add to it or redefine it
in any way?
4. IT implementation process is broken down into 3 parts: IT planning, IT procurement,

and IT implementation. Would you agree with this categorization, would you add to it or
redefine it in any way?
5 Information technology implementation planning is broken down into two opposite

categories: (1) coordinated and comprehensive—which refers to a plan that includes
more than two departments in an organization, involves most of the functions of
organization, and is written down and agreed upon by planning participants, (2) insular--
which is any IT implementation plan made by a single department or individual within a
department written or otherwise. Would you agree with these definitions? Would you
redefine them in any way?
6. Have you developed a comprehensive plan to develop and implement ITs?
7. Do you have a comprehensive plan with regard to IT in your capital improvements

program or plan?
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Implementation
8. What are some of the written procedures and guidelines that you have to follow when
implementing ITs in your organization?
9. Do you see your organization as using more (1) coordinated and comprehensive or (2)
insular planning methods with regard to IT implementation?
10. Do you perceive your planning approach as being sufficient and effective with regard
to IT implementation? If not, what additions do you think would enhance your planning
process?
11. Have you done a comprehensive study of your IT needs and desires with the ultimate
intention being the development of a plan specific to IT implementation?
12. IT implementation deficiencies (failure issue) is defined as any instances where

problematic situations arise—anything from ineffectiveness and inefficiency to complete
and catastrophic systems failure. What kinds of instances or situations would make you
consider a particular IT implementation not completely successful or deficient?
13. What is the most recent instance of IT planning and implementation you have
undertaken?
14. Formal IT implementation model is defined as well defined guidelines which provide
for continuous, comprehensive, and coordinated planning and implementation with
regard to IT. The model should be duplicable and provide specific directives (similar to a
handbook). Would you agree with this definition or would you change it in any way?
15. Does your organization make use of any model (formal or otherwise) when planning
or implementing ITs? What made you choose this particular model?
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Implementation
16. Were there any particular examples that you followed when planning for or
implementing ITs? What were the sources of the models of planning and/or
implementation that you used?
17. How did you decide on your implementation process?
18. Does your organization make use of any consultants or consulting firms to aid in your
IT planning and implementation? What kinds of consultants are you using, are they from
private sector firms? What made you choose a particular consultant?
19. Did you look to any other governments or public organizations for examples of IT
implementation and planning? Did you use examples from the private sector?
20. What are some of the biggest problems you face when planning for IT
implementation?
21. What are some of the biggest problems you face with actual implementation of ITs?
22. What things do you see as setting you apart from other organizations in general, with
regard to ITs and IT implementation?.
Stage Three
The third and final stage of this study consisted of the development and conduct of a
survey instrument. The survey is designed to be more specific and detailed than the
interview conducted in stage two. The responses and issue information garnered from
both of the first two stages will be used in the production of this survey. This instrument
will be designed to provide a descriptive view of the perceptions of executives with
regard to information technology implementation in their organzations-- specifically the
problematic nature of certain issues in each of the three pre-defined stages of the IT
implementation process. The content validity of the questions used for this survey is
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Implementation
initially established by ensuring that the definitions and concepts addressed will be
grounded in fact or established theory as well as verifying through the stage two
interviews that there is a common understanding among this particular respondent group.
The survey is broken into two parts--general descriptive information, and process specific
issue information. In the first part of the survey respondents will be asked to identify the
kinds of ITs of which their organization makes use. In addition they will respond to
general questions about IT expertise levels and their IT implementation process.
In the second part of the survey each respondent are asked to rank how problematic an
issue is with regard to its place in the IT implementation process.
Sample and Population

Two sectors were selected for this study, pharmaceutical and banking sector, different
modes were used for getting the questionnaire filled and getting high return rate. (1)
Some of the questionnaires were mailed to different pharmaceutical companies and
banks. (2) Rest of the questionnaire were sent through e-mail, An e-mail format was
developed which could be filled on line by the respondents and returned back to the
sender, this format helped a lot in increasing the response rate.
Because there was no complete list available for pharmaceutical and banking sector, I
have to use non probability sampling. Questionnaires were sent to 115 pharmaceutical
companies and 67 banks. The response obtained from pharmaceutical sector was 30 and
from banking sector 20.
Statistical Analysis
The sample size employed in this study necessitate the use of descriptive rather than
inferential analysis techniques. In addition, the ordinal-level data collected by this study
also dictates the use of descriptive analysis. The objective of this kind of analysis: to
describe—in a systematic manner—the details and characteristics of a given population
factually and accurately is clearly laid out by the following points that the purpose of any
descriptive research, or survey study is:
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Implementation
• To collect detailed factual information that describes existing phenomena.

• To identify problems or justify current conditions and practices.
• To make comparisons and evaluations.
• To determine what others are doing with similar problems or situations and benefit
from their experience in making future plans and decisions.

This study will make use of all of these purposes to some degree, however items 1 and 2
best describe the primary motivations of this research. For the coding of data, reduction
and analysis, different software will be used ( e.g SPSS). The main statistical technique
employed involved frequency analysis. Interview and database data will be analyzed
using content analysis. Data from survey will be first analyzed for measures of frequency
in order to reveal how the issues could be clustered and what is typical about them. This
process occurred around both the individual parts of the implementation process as well
as the series of all three stages. In addition the analysis also centered on perceptions of
the planning and implementation process as viewed by the respondents.
Limitations and Assumptions

One of the inherent limitations in survey research is the subjectivity of each respondent.
No matter how carefully written or completely tested, each survey is vulnerable to
differing interpretations of the questions. Because of the descriptive purpose of this
survey and because the main focus of this research is to statistically prove relationships
between issues but to determine the most problematic ones, this particular limitation is
recognized and accepted in this study. In addition, it is possible that some responses will
be the result of defensiveness, apathy, or ignorance of a particular respondent. Another
limitation may be derived from distortion of the perceptions of individuals about
information technologies and their relationship to the given organization. In this
particular study it is impossible to assess the influences of organizational environments,
the personalities of the administrators, and any external factors. In addition, the utility of
the process of IT implementation does not lend itself to specific or accurate measures of
effectiveness. Individuals and their closeness or buy-in to the process may bias the
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Implementation
responses with regard to the perceptions of effectiveness in terms of IT implementation in

a given organization. The stage two interviews consisted mainly of open-ended questions,
which in one sense offer valuable insight into why individuals believe the things they do,
but the interpretation of those beliefs is at best problematic. This survey is very small and
there is a lack of validation of survey responses from a broader sampling across the
organizations. In any event, this study is diverse enough to derive some significant
conclusions with regard to IT implementation issues at the organizational level. The
survey instruments themselves suffer from measurement and sampling problems, which
may include: criteria, content, construct validity, and reliability of the instruments
themselves. Although there is some data to show that a causal relationship exists between
some of the variables, with a study of this size and nature it is impossible to show full
elimination of any rival independent variables.
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CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS
Introduction
This chapter will present the results of the data collected from the executives who
responded to the questions surrounding the problematic issues of the IT development and
deployment process. This analysis is organized around the descriptive research questions
posed in the first chapter and advanced methodologically in chapter three. Analysis of
data is provided for each part of this study, which included:
• A database of issues relating to IT implementation in organizations

• General IT related information with regard to respondents
• Issues specific to IT planning
• Issues specific to IT procurement
• Issues specific to IT implementation
This chapter will begin with a general discussion of how the issues were categorized in
order to facilitate analysis and enhance the understanding of the context of the issues
database. Included will be an account of the data collection effort. Following will be a
discussion of the data collected from the actual surveys. This chapter should provide a
bridge for the reader to chapter 5, which offers the conclusions and recommendations of
this study.
Issues Categorization
As discussed in chapter one, the initial categorization (prior to any in-depth research) of
the issues was very broad. All of the issues were viewed within one of two contexts—
either management or organizational processes. It became apparent, as the literature
review and initial interviews progressed, that the originally conceived issue
categorizations were insufficient. A more expansive picture of the spectrum of
organizational influences based on the issues was obviously necessary.
A preliminary version of the issues database provided a secondary group of
categorizations that more fully portrayed the arenas of effect for each IT implementation
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issue. This particular category grouping added the areas of architecture, federal
requirements, specific personnel issues, and value added issues. After careful review, a
final set of categories was designed which—when combined with the issues themselves
as a sub-category—provides a more complete and usable system by which to organize the
multitude of issues relating to the IT development and deployment process. The final
categorizations for use with this study are the issues pertaining to: Leadership,
Management Process, Organizational Environment, Technical Systems, and Personnel.
Leadership issues reflect those areas that require the interaction, commitment and
direction of the organization’s chief executive, such as interdepartmental coordination
and administrative support. This issue area reflects the premise that organizational change
occurs from the executive level down, necessitating the involvement of top management
in the IT development and deployment process. In a similar vein, those issues
characterized in the management process area relate specifically to administrators and
their role in the functional operations of organizations, as in budgeting, personnel
management, and general management: In essence, any issues which require specific
attention or directives from an administrator. The issues characterized as organizational
environment are broader, addressing factors, which are less tangible and more difficult to
define, such as organizational culture, change, and behavior. These are essentially issues,
which affect or may be affected by environmental factors, both external and internal.
Technical systems issues are primarily those related to the impact information
technologies have on organizations and individuals based on their specific nature. These
issues include hardware and software considerations as well as the compatibility and life
cycles of various information technologies. Finally, personnel issues are those factors
surrounding each individual in the organization, such as individual expertise levels,
staffing levels, and resistance to change. These issues are significantly impacted by the
human conditions related to interactions, personal feelings, and perceptions. In addition
to the breakdown of issues into the types just discussed, they were also separated by their
role in the IT development and deployment process that is, whether they were present
during planning, procurement, or actual implementation. Many of the issues impacted
two or even all three of these areas. Figure shows a simple model of the integrated nature
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of these issues on the IT development and deployment process. Essentially, this model
adds to the simple process shown in figure 4.1 and adds the surrounding issue areas to the
environment in which the process takes place.
To better represent this influence across the entire process, a third categorization was
developed referred to in this study as “dynamic nature.” In essence, issues which arose
in all three process areas were labeled “dynamic.” Those impacting two of the three
process areas were labeled “potential dynamic” and those found in only one area have
been called “specific.” As discussed previously, most of the issues have an impact on
more than one of the process areas. One of the more interesting findings shown in this
table can be seen among the management process issues. This particular issue type has
the broadest spectrum of issues impacting more than one process area. The greater
portion of which is “dynamic” affecting all three areas in question.
Figure 4.1
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The IT Issues Database

As discussed in chapter three, stage one of this study involved the creation of an IT
Issues database, which can be found in appendix. The initial categorizations for the issues
were derived from a review of the literature pertaining to a number of areas crucial to
information technology management, including but not limited to the following: general
management theory, management of information systems, information systems theory,
strategic planning, and systems design. The original categorization system was structured
around seven issue areas based on interview responses and the initial literature review,
ethics and legal issues, architecture hardware, architecture software, government records,
management issues, personnel issues, and value issues. For the purposes of this study, the
database was modified and expanded to make the information contained more
understandable and useable as a future resource for IT issues study. Contributors to the
database were asked to give a general categorization to the issue and then to describe it
more completely. For the purpose of this study a content analysis of the database was
performed, duplicate entries were removed, and non-IT related issues were deleted. One
of the most important findings from the analysis of the data contained in this database
was the formulation of a breakdown of IT issue types. These were then used as a primary
categorization tool. Sub-categories were derived from the separate IT development and
deployment process issues used in this study. (See table for category and issue
breakdowns.) The complete database can be found in Appendix.
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Issue type It planning IT procurement IT Implementation

Leader ship issues Interdepartmental coordination Interdepartmental coordination
Individual support Individual support Individual support
Organizational support Organizational support Organizational support
Time frame and scheduling Time frame and scheduling
Management process issues No strategic/formal plan No strategic/formal plan No strategic/formal plan
Fiscal/budgeting issues Fiscal/budgeting issues Fiscal/budgeting issues
Lack of planning model
Organizational directives Organizational directives Organizational directives
Written procedures/guidelines Written procedures/guidelines
Organizational environment Organizational culture Organizational culture Organizational culture
issues Politics internal/external Politics internal/external Politics internal/external
Rapidly changing technology Rapidly changing technology
Contracts
External consultants
Technical system issues Existing system Existing system
Standardization issues Standardization issues
Compatibility issues
Personal issues Organizational IT expertise
Individual IT expertise
Internal leadership
Personnel issues
Adequate staffing
Resistance to change
Training
Analysis of General IT Data

A number of the questions, which the executives were asked for a response to were
designed specifically to determine important background information about the
information technologies available at the organization and to ascertain some of the more
important situations which might shed some light on the issues being discussed.
Organizational IT Usage and In-House MIS Department The first of the background
questions dealt with what kinds of information Technologies each organization used. This
information is very useful in determining at what IT levels the organization is operating
at. All of the respondents from pharmaceutical sector reported the use of microcomputers
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in their organization, 87% had some form of LAN or WAN, only 20% organizations
made use of distributed systems, 12 of the organization are using some form of decision
support systems, no one used GIS or GPS technologies, only 2 organizations reported the
use of some form of cellular technologies, 26 (93%) had internet connections, 3% used
mainframes or minicomputers, 3% of the respondents reported making use of any kind of
expert systems.
.
Banking sector
Type of technology Percentage usage
Micro computer 100%

LAN WAN 85%
Distributed system 15%
Decision support system 40%
GLS or GPS 0%
Cellular Technology 40%
Intranet 40%
Main frame 45%
Ìnternet 80%
Scanner 85%
Expert system 0%
Pharmaceutical sector
Type of technology Percentage usage
Micro computer 100%

LAN WAN 86.7%
Distributed system 20%
Decision support system 46.7%
GLS or GPS 0%
Cellular Technology 6.7%
Intranet 46.7%
Main frame 3.3%
Ìnternet 93.3%
Scanner 53.3%
Expert system 3.3%
The major difference between pharmaceutical and banking sector was that of cellular
technology as compared to 0% usage in pharmaceutical sector, 40% respondents used
cellular technology in banking sector. Main reason for this is the use of online banking
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and use of ATM’s in most of the banks. Also 45% of the respondents in banking sector
used some form of mainframe computer to support their online banking or for the
communication of data between different branches where as only 3% of respondents in
the pharmaceutical sector used any kind of mainframe computers.
While this is certainly not a complete listing of the possible IT’s which could be used in
any municipality, it does provide a comprehensive view of the kinds of standard IT’s
which are being used today in organizations of all sizes. In addition to providing general
IT usage information, respondents was asked whether or not their organization had an in-
house MIS, IT, or data processing department. 27 of the 30 (90%) had a department
formalized around the management of information technologies in pharmaceutical sector.
Where as all the banks reported to have some form of IT department.
IT department
100%
90%
100%
50%
10% 0%
0%
pharmaceutical banking
yes 90% 100%

no 10% 0%
Strategic Planning for IT
Respondents were asked to address a set of questions with regard to their actual IT
planning process. The first of these questions dealt with whether or not their organization
made use of any kind of strategic planning process for the use, acquisition of, and
implementation of information technologies. 33% (10) of the respondents from
pharmaceutical sector stated that they used no strategic planning with regard to IT, while
20 of those surveyed, 66%, responded that they did make use of some sort of strategic
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plan. Those 20 respondents from pharmaceutical sector who answered yes to the usage of
a strategic plan were then asked to respond to whether or not their IT planning process
was formal or informal only 5 or 26% of these made use of a formal process while the
other 74% or 14 respondents used a more informal approach to planning for ITs.
Strategic planning
100%
100%
67%
80%
60%
33%
40%
20% 0%
0%
no 33% 0%
yes 67% 100%
formal stragegic planning
100%
100%
80%
60% 47%
37%
40%
17%
20%
0% 0%
0%
Did not have
no yes
strategic plan
pharmaceutical 47% 17% 37%

banking 0% 100% 0%
In addition, respondents from pharmaceutical sector were asked whether or not they
made use of any existing IT planning and implementation models—formal or otherwise.
Only one respondent responded that an existing model was used for this purpose. 96.7%
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or 29 respondents made no use of any models with regard to IT planning or

implementation.
In contrast to pharmaceutical sector all the respondents from the banking sector had
strategic planning and all of them had formal strategic planning process. This might be
necessitated by the minimum setup requirement of a bank, minimum scale requirement
for a bank is very high as compared to a pharmaceutical company this large scale
investment necessitate the formal planning process for the implementation of information
technology. No IT implementation model was used by the banks for the implementation
of information technology.
IT implementation model
97% 100%
100%
50%
3% 0%
0%
no 97% 100%
yes 3% 0%
Strategic planning for IT is extremely problematic. As discussed in chapter 1, no exact

model exists currently for organizations to follow as they undergo the IT development
and deployment process. This leaves these organizations adrift in a confusing and ever-
changing environment. Any IT planning that takes place at this level, formal or informal,
requires a huge outlay of energy and time in essence reinventing the wheel. Currently, a
best case scenario requires organizations to modify an IT implementation model which is
designed specifically for much different organizations. In light of the previous data:
expertise levels, planning, existing models it would seem that the next best option would
be the use of some kind of outside expert. Ideally, this would be an individual or
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organization who specializes in addressing the IT needs of organization. Respondents

were asked whether or not their organization made use of any outside consultants to aid
them during their IT planning and implementation process. This question produced
almost an even split between the respondents of pharmaceutical sector 40% made use of
outside consultants and 60% did not.
In case of banking sector most of the banks (19 out of 20) used outside consultants. This
is due to the complexity of technology used in banks as compared to pharmaceutical
sector. The inside IT expertise are not sufficient to handle the technicalities of IT
implementation.
Outside consultants
95%
100%
80% 60%
60% 40%
40%
20% 5%
0%
no 60% 5%
yes 40% 95%
The administrators were then asked whether or not their organization had an IT planning
and implementation committee. Twenty-seven (90%) from pharmaceutical sector
responded that they did not have any such committee in place. Only 3 (10%) stated that
they did have an IT planning and implementation committee, in banking sector no IT
committee was identified for planning purpose.
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IT committee
97% 100%
100%
50%
3% 0%
0%
no 97% 100%
yes 3% 0%
Executive IT Expertise
All respondents were asked to rate their own IT expertise level on a
scale of 0-5: 0
being least proficient, 5 being extremely proficient. For ease of
reference this data was
then collapsed into three groups: novice (0-1), proficient (2-3), and
experts (4-5).
personel experties
80%
80% 73%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30% 20%
15%
20% 7% 5%
10%
0%
novice user proficient user expert user

banking 5% 80% 15%
An equal number of the respondents from both the sectors labeled

themselves some where in middle as neither novice or expert users
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with regard to information technology— 22 respondents from

pharmaceutical sector, or 73.3%, viewed themselves as more middle-
of-the-road, proficient users. Same is the case with banking sector 80%
of the respondents labeled them as proficient users. Typically,
individuals who labeled themselves “proficient users” of ITs were
primarily focusing on microcomputer skills. It is only within the last 5
years that middle to upper level managers have begun to use other
information technologies to a degree where higher levels of proficiency
and general competency are being achieved. It is obvious considering
the preponderance of microcomputers in our organization, that a
relatively high number of executives consider themselves proficient
users.
Effectiveness of IT Planning and

Implementation
In the survey, executives were asked to address three questions
related to the effectiveness of their organization’s IT planning and
implementation process. These questions related to process
effectiveness and required all respondents to rate effectiveness on a
scale of 0-5, 0 being least effective, 5 being highly effective. For ease
of reference scaled data has been collapsed into three groups:
ineffective (0-1), somewhat effective (2-3), and highly effective (4-5)
The first of these questions asked respondents whether or not they
perceived their overall IT planning approach as effective. Most of the
respondents from pharmaceutical sector found their planning approach
to be some what effective (e.g. 2 or 3) , 24 respondents or 80% rated
it to be some what effective. In case of banking sector 65% of the
respondent rated their planning approach some what effective and
35% of the respondent rated their planning approach very effective,
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this high percentage of high effectiveness in banks as compared to

pharmaceutical sector might be due to use of more formal planning
approach in banks as compared to informal planning approach used in
pharmaceutical sector
IT planning effectiveness
80%
80% 65%
60%
35%
40%
13%
20% 7%
0%
0%
Not effective some w hat effective Very effective

banking 0% 65% 35%
again 73% (22) in pharmaceutical sector view their procurement

process as some what effective very few respondents marked it as
least or very effective. In case of banking sector 65% respondents
marked their procurement process as somewhat effective and 30%
respondents marked it as very effective.
IT procurement effectiveness
100%
73%
65%
50% 30%
10% 17%
5%
0%
Not effective some what effective Very effective

banking 5% 65% 30%
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The results of executives perceptions of their organizations IT implementation

effectiveness: almost 24 (80%) of the respondents rated their implementation process as
some what effective, 4% were seen as least effective, and only 2 (6.9%) of the
respondents rated their process highly effective. Again in banking sector 65% of
respondent rated IT implementation as somewhat effective and 35% rated their
implementation process as highly effective again this higher percentage of high
effectiveness as compared to pharmaceutical sector is an obvious outcome of effective IT
planning and procurement.
IT implementation effectiveness
80%
80%
65%
70%
60%
50%
35%
40%
30%
20% 13%
7%
10% 0%
0%
not effective some w hat effective very effective

banking 0% 65% 35%
As an additional source of information, respondents were also asked

how they might improve their organizations existing IT planning
approach—regardless of its perceived effectiveness. A content analysis
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was performed on the 26 responses (response rate on this question

was very low and only 26 respondents out of 50 , from both the
sectors, answered this question . The results of this content analysis
are found in table.
How to Improve the IT Planning Process
Improvement Approach Response

Frequency
Create an IT planning committee/group to facilitate and improve
3
the process.
Perform an IT needs analysis across the organization 4
Make use of external IT consultants and internal experts when
3
available
Facilitate better coordination across departments
4
Creation of a MIS or IT department.
3
Make use of formalized strategic planning for IT.
9
Perceived Role of IT in Organization
Respondents were asked to describe what they perceived to be the “role” of information
technology in their organization. Content analysis of the responses indicates that most of
those administrators surveyed viewed information technology as a tool for the
enhancement of organizational operations. The most common responses included
statements which pointed to enhanced communication across the organization and its
external environment as well as increased efficiency with regard to job/task performance.
A large number of the responses also included the role of IT as a tool for information
dissemination and sharing as well as for the provision of quick, efficient resources.
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Finally, IT was perceived by many respondents in the role of improving service delivery
to customers and as a decision making tool for administrators.
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Analysis of Primary Data

The three key research questions of this study focus on the determination of the most
problematic issues with regard to IT planning, procurement, and implementation in
organizations For each of the three questions respondents were asked to rate each issue
given on a scale of 0-5 with 0 being not at all problematic and 5 being extremely
problematic. For ease of reference the scale responses have been collapsed into three
categories where “Not Problematic” represents scales 0-1, “Somewhat Problematic”
represents scales 2-3, and “Highly Problematic” represents scales 4-5.
Analysis of IT Planning Process Issues

Respondents were asked to rate 19 separate issues with regard to information technology
planning. Of all of these, the issues of lack of strategic planning, politics, organizational
culture and rapidly changing technology were perceived by the largest number of
respondents as being highly problematic for planning in pharmaceutical sector lack of
strategic planning having a mean response of 3.87, politics having a mean response of
3.63, organizational culture having a mean response of 3.37 and rapidly changing
technology having a mean response of 3.07 other issues in this category also received
substantial response as being highly problematic lack of planning model received 50%
response rate as being highly problematic (having mean response of 3.07 ). Also 30%
respondent marked interdepartmental co-ordination as very problematic (having mean
response of 2.63 ).
In case of banking sector inter departmental co-ordination was considered to be most
problematic with a mean response of 3.75, 70% of the respondents considered inter
departmental co-ordination as highly problematic. Rapidly changing technology was also
considered to be highly problematic by 55% of the respondents (mean response of 3.35),
politics was also marked as highly problematic by 50% (mean response of 3.15) of the
respondents. High problematic issues were almost the same for planning in the two
sectors with some difference of emphasis.
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It is interesting to note that the high problematic issue with regard to IT planning is the
rapidly changing nature of technology. An area, which has only become worse over the
last two years. It is probable that this issue exacerbates the problematic nature of the other
top issues in this area: lack of a formal plan, budgeting issues, and individual expertise.
As technology changes it becomes more and more difficult to keep up with the other
issue areas. Creating a long-term plan, which makes use of technologies, which change as
frequently as every six months may prove to be nearly impossible. The likelihood of an
executive level organizational administrator keeping up with this technology is equally
unlikely.
PHARMACEUTICAL SECTOR
Issue Not problematic Some what Highly Mean response
problematic problematic
Inter departmental co- 23.4 46.6 30.0 2.63
ordination
Strategic planning process 3.3 26.7 70.0 3.87
Organizational directives 46.6 46.7 6.7 1.87
Individual IT expertise 23.3 66.7 10 2.00
Written procedure guidelines 50.0 40.0 10 1.73
Budgeting issues 43.3 50.0 6.7 1.87
Lack of planning model 20.0 30.0 50.0 3.07
Internal leadership 30.0 36.7 30.0 2.47
Contracts 60.0 30.0 0.0 1.17
Time frame scheduling 56.7 33.3 10 1.60
Politics 0 43.3 56.7 3.63
Individual support 60.0 36.7 3.3 1.40
Existing system 56.7 33.3 10 1.63
Organizational culture 3.3 46.7 50 3.37
Standardization issues 70.0 30.0 0.0 1.33
Rapidly changing technology 16.7 33.4 40.0 3.07
Personnel issues 63.3 30.0 6.6 1.57
Organizational support 53.3 36.7 10 1.80
BANKING SECTOR

Inter departmental co- 0.0 30.0 70.0 3.75
ordination
Organizational IT expertise 75.0 25.0 0.0 1.25
Individual IT expertise 25.0 15.0 60.0 2.95
Written procedure guidelines 40.0 60.0 0.0 1.60
Budgeting issues 10 60.0 30.0 3.00
Lack of planning model 20.0 20.0 60.0 3.05
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Contracts 20.0 50.0 30.0 2.55
Time frame scheduling 40.0 30.0 30.0 2.20
Politics 0 50.0 50.0 3.15
Existing system 70.0 30.0 0.0 1.30
Organizational culture 5.0 70.0 25.0 2.90
Rapidly changing technology 0 45.0 55.0 3.35
Organizational support 35.0 60.0 5.0 2.35
Comparison of both sectors
Issues T value Sig. (2-tailed) Mean
Difference
Inter departmental co- -3.691 .001 -1.12

ordination
Strategic planning process 3.121 .003 .97
Organizational directives -.287 .775 -8.33E-02
Organizational IT expertise 1.244 .219 .25
Individual IT expertise -2.970 .005 -.95
Written procedures .515 .609 .13
Budgeting -3.469 .001 -1.13
Lack of planning model .043 .966 1.67E-02
Internal leadership -1.154 .254 -.43
Contracts -5.178 .000 -1.38
Time frame and scheduling -1.823 .075 -.60
Politics 1.845 .071 .48
Individual support -1.510 .138 -.40
Existing system 1.312 .196 .33
Organizational culture 1.638 .108 .47
Standardization issues 1.843 .072 .28
Rapidly changing technology -.749 .457 -.28
Cut out value of mean difference >1 is used for this analysis
In case of IT planning the major difference is found in the importance of budgeting,

budgeting is considered to be far more important factor in banking as compared to
pharmaceutical sector (with mean difference of 1.13 between the responses of two
sectors). This difference between the two sectors is understandable. Information
technology in banking sector requires far more capital lay out than pharmaceutical sector,
this is due to two reasons (1) size of a typical bank is larger than a pharmaceutical
company in terms of capital (2) nature of technology used in banks is far more
complicated than used in pharmaceutical company.
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The second major difference was in the issue of inter departmental co-ordination.
Number of departments in a typical bank are more than pharmaceutical company e.g
cash, foreign exchange, loans, e.t.c. Boundaries between these departments are more rigid
so its very difficult to coordinate the requirements and demands of these departments
during the IT planning process. That’s why executives in banking sector considered inter
departmental coordination more problematic than executives in pharmaceutical sector.
Although the largest difference between the means was in case of contracts (1.38) even
than contracting did not crossed the threshold of being a problematic issue in either of the
sectors surveyed.
Analysis of IT Procurement Process Issues
In case of pharmaceutical sector all of the issues with regard to this
part of the implementation process were viewed as at least somewhat
problematic, however the bulk of the executives responding viewed
lack of strategic plan as highly problematic (having a mean response of
3.20). Politics is also viewed as highly problematic with a mean
response of 2.92.
in case of banking budgeting was considered to be most problematic
issue , 80% of the respondents marked it as highly problematic (mean
response of 3.90) , the second main issue was that of political
influence 60% of the respondent marked it as highly problematic
(mean response of 3.35 ) rest of the issues where not considered as
very important. So the only difference between two sectors was that of
budgeting. Budgeting is more important in banking sector because of
higher layout of capital in regard to information technology in banks as
compared to pharmaceutical sector.
It appears from this data that the procurement process is not as
problematic as the other
areas in the IT development and deployment process.
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Politics 13.3 50.0 36.7 2.93
BANKING SECTOR
Politics 5.0 35.0 60.0 3.35

Issues T value Sig. (2-tailed)
Mean
Difference
Strategic planning process 2.233 .030 .60
Organizational directives -.629 .532 -.13
Budgeting issues -8.977 .000 -1.90
Written procedure guidelines 1.289 .204 .27
Politics -1.209 .233 -.42
Individual support -1.129 .265 -.22
Organizational culture .000 1.000 .00
Organizational support -.525 .602 -.12
Again the major difference between the perceptions of executives from

the two sectors was found in the issue of budgeting.
Rests of the issues were considered to have same intensity of being
problematic.
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Analysis of IT development and deployment

process Issues
The final data set derived from the studies survey deals with 21 issues
surrounding the IT development and deployment process. As with the
other two areas, all of the issues were perceived by the respondents as
being at least somewhat problematic with regard to implementation.
Again internal politics and organizational culture received highest
ratings , having mean response of 3.43 and 3.40. 47% respondents
(mean response 3.03) marked resistance to change as highly
problematic and 43% respondent (mean response 3.20) think of
training as highly problematic issue
In banking sector the most problematic issue was considered to be
resistance to change with 90% (mean response of 4.05) of the
respondents labeling it as highly problematic. 70% of the respondents
marked training as highly problematic (having mean response of 3.90 )
this might be due to high resistance to change and people resistance
to get them self trained. Inter departmental co-ordination also got
substantial importance with 60% of highly problematic response rate
(mean response 3.85). 85% respondent’s marked politics as highly
problematic (mean response 4.0) and 65% marked organizational
culture as highly problematic issues (mean response of 3.90). 75% of
the respondent marked adequate staffing as highly problematic (mean
response 3.85). 60% marked rapidly changing technology as highly
problematic (mean response 3.35) so the only difference between two
sectors was that of adequate staffing. This is due to more complex
technology used in banks as compared to pharmaceutical companies,
which necessitate the hiring of competent personnel to manage this
technology
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Inter departmental co-ordination 13.3 40.0 46.7 2.93
Politics 3.3 46.7 50.0 3.34
Organizational support 53.3 36.7 10 2.00
Compatibility issues 63.3 32.4 3.3 1.57
Adequate staffing 70.0 30.0 0.0 1.40
Resistance to change 13.3 43.3 43.3 3.03
Training 13.3 43.3 43.3 3.20
External consultants 56.6 33.3 10.0 1.67
BANKING SECTOR
Issue Not Some what Highly Mean
problematic problematic problematic response
Inter departmental co-ordination 0.0 30.0 70.0 3.85
Politics 0.0 15.0 85.0 4.00
Compatibility issues 25.0 65.0 10.0 1.95
Adequate staffing 0.0 25.0 75.0 3.85
Resistance to change 0.0 10.0 90.0 4.05
Training 0.0 30.0 70.0 3.90
External consultants 55.0 15.0 30.0 2.05
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Issues T value Sig. (2-tailed) Mean Difference
Inter departmental co ordination -2.700 .010 -.92
Lack of strategic planning 1.401 .168 .47
Organizational directives -.448 .656 -.12
Organizational IT expertise .000 1.000 .00
Individual IT expertise 1.525 .134 .47
Compatibility issues -1.414 .164 -.38
Budgeting issues .955 .344 .28
Rapidly changing technology -.445 .658 -.15
Training -2.316 .025 -.70
External consultants -1.018 .314 -.38
Resistance to change -3.454 .001 -1.02
Time frame and scheduling -.674 .504 -.25
Politics -2.168 .035 -.57
Individual support .291 .772 6.67E-02
Existing system .273 .786 6.67E-02
Organizational culture -1.750 .086 -.50
Standardization issues 1.758 .085 .48
Organizational support -.776 .441 -.25
Personnel issues -4.323 .000 -1.40
Internal leader ship -.220 .827 -6.67E-02
Adequate staffing -11.162 .000 -2.45
Once the IT development and deployment process reaches the implementation stage the
most problematic issues shift to those dealing with personnel—training and resistance to
change. At this level the success of implementation relies on the individuals working
within the system. Adding to the difficulties surrounding individuals is the overall
environment of the organization, which has a major impact on the effectiveness of the
deployment process.
The major difference between the two sectors was in case of adequate
staffing (difference of 2.45 in means of two sectors)
personnel issues were also considered to be far more important and
problematic in banking sector than in pharmaceutical sector. Banks are
normally overstaffed as compared to pharmaceutical sector and it’s
very difficult to get expert IT professionals into the organization or
replace those employees whose knowledge regarding IT has become
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obsolete. So the only option left is to train the old staff each time new
technology is implemented.
Resistance to change is more is case of bank than in pharmaceutical
sector (difference of 1.02 in the means of the two sectors) this is due
to the fear that new technology will replace them or decrease their
importance.
Factor analysis
A cutout value of 0.5 or above is used for the factor analysis
Factor analysis pharmaceutical sector

Planning
Following factor were created from the data collected from pharmaceutical sector.
Factor one
Factor one consisted of following components
Weights
1. Inter departmental co-ordination
.604
2. Organizational IT expertise
.588
3. Individual IT expertise
.718
4. Internal leadership
.616
5. Politics
.615
6. Personnel issues
.701
7. Organizational support
.680
.
Factor two
Factor two consisted of following components
Weights
1. Inter departmental co-ordination -.596

2. Organizational IT expertise .783
3. Individual support .508
4. Organizational culture -.533
.
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Factor three
Factor three consisted of following components
Weights
.565
.781
Weights
1. Politics
2. Personnel
Factor four
Factor four consisted of following components
Weights
1. Lack of strategic planning .738

2. Lack of planning model .622
Procurement
Factor one
Weights
1. Organizational directives .869
3. Organizational support .649
Factor two
Weights
2. Budgeting .715
Implementation
Factor one
Weights
2. Individual IT expertise .539
3. Compatibility issues .725
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4. Budgeting issues .520

5. External consultants .618
6. Time frame .603
8. Existing system ` .810
9. Standardization issues .659
Factor two
Weights
1. Individual IT expertise -.607
2. Rapidly changing technology .533
3. Resistance to change .619
4. Politics .562
5. Organizational culture .581
6. Personnel issues .547
7. Internal leadership -.522
Factor three
Weights
2. Training .696
5. Organizational support -.642
Factor four
Weights
1. Inter departmental co-ordination .601
4. Training .532
Factor five
Factor five consisted of following components
Weights
1. Politics -.546
2. Adequate staffing .582
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Factor analysis banking sector

planning
Factor one
Weights
1. Inter departmental co-ordination -.733
2. Organizational IT expertise -.797
3. Individual IT expertise -.612
5. Internal leadership .904
6. Time frame .803
7. Politics .572
8. External system .582
9. Personnel issues .568
factor two
Weights
3. Written procedures guidelines -.777
4. Budgeting .580
5. Contracts .626
Factor three
Weights
Procurement
Factor one
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Weights
3. Budgeting issues .697
4. Written procedure and guidelines .633
Factor two
Weights
Factor three
Weights
1. Written procedure guidelines .666
2. Politics .670
Implementation
Factor one
Weights
3. Budgeting -.89
4. Training .890
6. Time frame .654
Factor two
Weights
2. Compatibility issues .690
3. Budgeting .683
4. Time frame .651
5. Existing system .831
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Factor three
Weights
1. Internal departmental co-ordination .562
4. Politics .828
5. Standardization issues .547
Factor four
Weights
3. Adequate staffing .603
Factor five
Factor five consisted of following components
Weights
Summary
This chapter looked at the issues specific to each part of the IT
development and deployment process. The data suggests that IT
planning and its effective implementation are at least somewhat
related. A significant portion of the respondents revealed that their
organizations made use of only limited (informal) planning processes if
any were used at all. Subsequently, the majority of these respondents
also perceived their IT implementation process as being less than
effective. Obviously these results do not demand the immediate
initiation of long range strategic IT planning for organizations but it
does point to a need to further investigate the question of planning’s
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impact on IT implementation. The data reported in this chapter also

points to significant problems in the area of implementation with
regard to the nature of technology and resistance to change within the
organization. As chapter one and two first suggested, individual
responses to technology can prove to be problematic—especially on
implementation; the respondents to the survey reported this as a
primary problem within their organizations. Resistance to change is an
individual response intensified by a number of factors, not the least of
which include: lack of individual expertise, need for extended training,
and the existing organizational culture.
This chapter has revealed the perceptions of the respondents with
regard to a variety of factors surrounding the IT development and
deployment process. Chapter five will expand on the information
gathered here and discuss some of the more striking aspects of
the data.
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Chapter 5: Suggestions and recommendation
Introduction
The importance of information technologies with regard to
organizations is undeniable. Within just the past five years, awareness
and usage of IT in organizations has increased dramatically. IT has the
capacity to change the way organizations operate in the most
fundamental ways. Each and every function is impacted by some form
of technological innovation. In addition, ITs are changing the ways that
executives approach the development of their operations and service
deliveries. Finally, information technology provides new ways of
approaching the relationships between organizations and the
customers that they serve. Considering the role which organizations
play in our lives, the significance of these and other impacts must not
be ignored. This chapter will provide some conclusions on the most
problematic issues with regard to IT planning, procurement, and
implementation. Each area will be addressed briefly for the purpose of
answering the three main research questions laid out in chapter 1.
In addition this chapter will provide a more complete discussion of
these issues and their
interrelations in the context of recommendations for a holistic view of
the IT development and deployment process.
Conclusions
The primary focus of this study was to determine what issues
executives perceived as being the most problematic with regard to IT
planning, procurement, and implementation. Each stage in the
development and deployment process was viewed individually with
regard to its fundamental issues in order to better ascertain the
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singular impact of each one on the process. Following is a brief

discussion of the findings of this study with regard to the three main
research questions.
Issues Related to IT Planning

Issues having mean response of 3 or more are considered to be
problematic.
• Lack of a Strategic/Formal Plan
• Organizational culture
• politics
• Rapidly Changing Technology
• Lack of a Planning Model
BANKING SECTOR
• Inter departmental co-ordination
• Rapidly changing technology
• Politics
• Lack of planning model
• Budgeting
Strategic, or formalized, planning is an important process for any
organization, regardless of its ultimate goals. The benefits of this kind
of planning include: more effective strategies for current and future
operations, clear and concise priorities for the expenditure of scarce
resources, a high probability of improved decision making based on
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learned information from the process, improved management of

change, a clearer picture of possible consequences, and overall
increased performance of the organization. In the end, strategic
planning provides a framework for understanding and addressing
complex issues in a particular organizational context. The nature of
technology plays a key role when viewed in the context of strategic
planning for IT. Information technology, in essence, is constantly
evolving—one of the difficulties is that it does so quite rapidly—making
it very difficult to get a handle on.
The issue of rapidly changing technology was viewed as being highly
problematic by 40 % of the respondents in pharmaceutical sector and
55% of the respondents in banking sector in this study. Technology by
its very nature is in constant flux. New developments are steadily
replacing or enhancing previous innovations. The whole reason for the
existence of information technologies is to make continual
improvements in the way we communicate and function. Change and
constant design improvements drive technology and the timeline is
very short. The window for opportunity on the new and innovative is
extremely short. In another sense, IT is self perpetuating—constantly
generating needs for new hardware, software, and systems.
Fundamental breakthroughs in this arena occur at the astonishing rate
of 18-24 month intervals. (Brynjolfsson E (1994))
The nature of technology, then, has serious ramifications for long
range strategic planning. The primary dilemma being: How does an
organization plan for constantly changing and the often-unknown
future of information technologies?
One of the top issues of obvious importance to this particular area was
the lack of a Strategic plan for information technology. As discussed in
chapter 4, 70% of the respondents perceived this issue as highly
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problematic in pharmaceutical sector and by only 20% of the

respondents in the banking sector. This low percentage in banking
sector might be due to extensive use of formal planning in banking
sector, which made this issue less problematic in banking sector. As
might be expected, the lack of a formalized strategic plan for IT makes
the planning process more problematic. The key here is the formalized
nature of the plan. The results of the survey showed that while 66% of
the respondents did have some sort of IT plan, only 26% of those made
use of a formal or strategic plan in pharmaceutical sector, in contrast
to this in banking sector all the respondents used formal approach for
planning information technology. Lack of a plan or use of a purely
informal plan provides little or no concrete directives for the acquisition
or implementation of information technologies within an organization.
Considering the nature of ITs and the problems, which users and
managers face regarding them, it stands to reason that lack of a plan
merely aggravates an already difficult situation.
Fiscal/budgeting issues are particularly problematic to the planning
process, especially in the banking sector 30% of the respondents rated
it as highly problematic, from a number of standpoints. To begin,
information technologies generate a variety of expenses. At the outset
their purchase can prove to be quite expensive, often out of the range
of smaller organizations. This necessitates acquiring technology over
an extended time-line, which in turn creates a whole host of
compatibility, upgrade ability, and standardization issues. In addition,
expenses accumulate due to the very nature of the ITs and their
learning curve. Two key budgeting issues along these lines are training
and maintenance. Considering the complexity and volatile nature of IT
planning, it is no surprise that the lack of an existing planning model
for this process is perceived as a key problematic issue for the study’s
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respondents. Currently there is no IT planning model for organizations

to follow or consult, 96% of the respondent in pharmaceutical sector
said that they do not use any IT model and almost 50% of the
respondents rated lack of information technology model as highly
problematic. In banking sector 100% of the respondents did not used
any IT model that is tailored to their specialized issues and needs and
60% respondents rated it as highly problematic. While it is certainly
true that no model could completely address all of the issues each
individual organization faces, a general model would provide a
framework for organizations from which to start without having to
reinvent the wheel. (Hinks J (1998)) If nothing else, such a model would
provide a viable place from which to ask the right questions about
needs, processes, and possible problems.
Finally, interdepartmental coordination was rated highly problematic
with regard to IT planning by 66 % of the survey respondents in
pharmaceutical sector and 30% of the respondent in the banking
sector. This issue is especially important to the planning process
because of the impact ITs have on the organization as a whole.
Strategic planning for IT demands a holistic view of the organization,
its IT needs, IT expertise levels, existing systems, and desired
technological applications (just to name a few). A lack of
interdepartmental coordination could result in any number of
ineffective outcomes ranging from duplication of systems to all out
incompatibility. Effective IT implementation, which enhances the
organization’s operations, demands an approach to IT planning which
is coordinated at all levels of the organization.
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Issues Related to IT Procurement

problematic.
• Lack of a Strategic/Formal Plan
• Politics
BANKING SECTOR
• Budgeting issues
• Politics
Most of the issues presented in the survey were not perceived as being
highly
significant within the procurement stage of the IT development and
deployment process.
Lack of a strategic plan and internal politics were the only issue seen
as being highly problematic in the pharmaceutical sector and, even
then, only 40% of the respondents felt strategic planning was a
problem. In effect, the key to IT procurement is a solid strategic plan.
Once a plan is laid out, the acquisition of technologies should be
relatively straightforward. As long as the plan fully considers fiscal and
budgeting issues, acquisitions of ITs should not prove to be
extraordinarily troublesome. It would appear from the data presented
in this study that IT procurement is tied symbiotically to the planning
process and derives most of its problematic nature from situations
arising from poor or insufficient planning.
36% of the respondents in pharmaceutical sector and 60% of the
respondents in the banking sector considered internal politics as highly
problematic, this might be due to absence of any proper procurement
process as 67% respondents had no proper procurement process, and
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lack of proper information technology model, 97% respondents had no

IT implementation model. The absence of proper process might start a
conflict between different individuals or groups for the authority of
purchasing information technology equipment and consideration for
suitability and performance might be set aside, implementation of
proper procurement process could decrease the political pressures by
making the procurement process more clean and logical and leave the
decision for purchase in the hands of proper people.
Budgeting was considered to be highly problematic by 80% of the
respondents in the banking sector. It is due to huge outlay of capital
for information technology in the banking sector as compared to
pharmaceutical sector and use of complex technology which make the
budgeting of information technology very difficult.
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Issues Related to IT Implementation

problematic.
• Politics
• Training
• Rapidly Changing Technology
• Resistance to Change
BANKING SECTOR
• Resistance to change
• Politics
• Training
• Interdepartmental co-ordination
• Adequate staffing
• Rapidly changing technology.
The most problematic issues with regard to IT implementation are all
interrelated, and with regard to organization, looks as though they are
primarily affiliated with personnel issues. Training was listed by 43 %
of the respondents in pharmaceutical sector and 70% of the
respondents in the banking sector as being highly problematic for IT
implementation. Part of the problem with training is that, to be
effective it must be a continuous and ongoing process. In addition,
individuals within the organization are typically at different levels of
individual expertise, thus making the training process difficult to
organize. The actual training process is extremely complex, regardless
of the size and scope of the organization. In many cases, especially for
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organizations the size of a typical organization, IT training must be

outsourced through external consultants or operations. This adds an
additional expense, planning problems, and serious logistical problems
for management with regard to timeframes and scheduling. Training is
truly the linchpin of effective IT implementation. Without the support
and expertise of individual end users, no system can achieve its full
potential.
Rapidly changing technology is problematic for IT implementation in
the same way it is for the planning process. This was viewed as a
highly problematic issue for 47 % of the respondents in pharmaceutical
sector and 60% of the respondents in banking sector. The crux with
regard to this part of the process is the inevitable time lag between
planning for ITs and actual implementation. A typical strategic plan
runs the course of a 3-5 year timeline. As discussed previously, this is
an eternity in technological terms—new, major developments in IT may
occur in 8-12 months. By the time planned-for technologies are
actually introduced in the organization, they may be well into their
obsolescence. This creates problems not just for physical hardware and
software implementation but also for the human side of the process—
this issue has a significant impact on training, individual expertise
levels, and individual resistance levels. In addition, costs of the
technologies themselves change rapidly, thereby making fiscal
planning a difficult proposition. While the constantly decreasing prices
of ITs is a boon for individuals or private sector consumers—a number
of public sector organizations continue to find themselves locked into
purchasing contracts with specific vendors. Ultimately those
organizations that find themselves in a mandated contracting situation
end up paying higher, outdated prices for obsolete systems.
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Resistance to change is an issue, which is particularly problematic with

regard to any discussion of information technology. In this study, 44 %
of the respondents in pharmaceutical sector and 90% of respondents
in banking sector found it to be a very difficult issue for IT
implementation. One of the biggest roadblocks in this area is that
information technologies often represent completely new—in some
instances global—changes for the organization and its individuals.
Human beings typically reach a certain comfort level with regard to
their abilities and work processes. For most people new technologies
represent a daunting learning curve and possible downsizing of their
jobs. This perception introduces fear into the implementation process
and creates significant resistance to change. Changes as simple as a
microcomputer upgrade can cause serious backlash from resistant end
users. Effective training and internal leadership are keys to alleviating
much of the change resistance inherent in IT implementation. Users
must reach new comfort levels and develop the expertise needed to
make use of new technologies. Nothing can destroy the
implementation process faster than disgruntled users. (Marchand D,
Kettinger W, Rollins J, (2000))
After all, most ITs do not function independently of human interaction.
Training can serve to increase individual expertise levels if it is
approached properly. Just as important as training to this equation is
internal leadership. Management must achieve levels of IT
understanding and expertise, which will allow them to steer their
organizations towards a
more complete and effective use of technology. Without a foundational
understanding of
IT, it is impossible for administrators to understand and deal with the
problems and subsequent resistance inherent in technological change.
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Based on the findings of this study, following figure shows a

representation of the IT development and deployment process, its key
problematic issues, and the ultimate expected results for the process.
The model shows the progression of the process, ending in the
expected or desired results. Each part of the process (seen in the first
section of the model) provides for a necessary function; these stages
exist as part of their own system—that of the development and
deployment process. Once the process begins it feeds into a set of
issues, which are problematic and must be addressed within the
context of IT development and deployment. If the key issues are
successfully addressed the process should yield the expected/desired
results. These results, whether positive or negative, should enhance
future IT development and deployment activities.
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Process Key Issues Expected results
IT Planning
Generating the overall context of
• Rapidly Changing
Technology
IT in the organization by aligning
it with organizational directives, • organizational culture
goals, missions, and strategies. • Lack of a
(i.e. designing the systems, Strategic/Formal Plan
involving users, etc.) • politics
• Organizati
IT Procurement • Lack of a onal
Investment analysis, risk Strategic/Formal enhancement.
assessment, cost/benefit analysis, Plan • Improved
life cycle planning, and systems • Politics service delivery.
acquisitions. • Budgetin • Improved
effectiveness.
IT • Training
Implementation • Rapidly
Changing Technology
Putting the systems into practice,
managing change, developing • Resistance to
Change
• Lack of strategic
planning
• Politics
• Organizational
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Recommendations and interrelations
Pharmaceutical sector
Pharmaceutical sector in Pakistan is not very much organized, that’s why Information
Technology in this sector is used in an in formal fashion. Most of the firms are small with
little or almost no IT usage. In most of the cases use of IT is only limited to personal
computers, which are mostly, used for data storage and retrieval.
IT Planning
The most problematic issue in this phase was found out to be strategic planning. The
problem in the pharmaceutical sector is not the absence or presence of planning but
whether the planning is formalized or not, as discussed earlier 66% of the respondents
had IT planning process in place abut only 26% of them used formal process for planning
of IT. To be more effective pharmaceutical sector must adopt a more formalized
approach for strategic planning for making their IT implementation more successful. This
is why 70% of the respondents in pharmaceutical sector perceive it as highly problematic.
Another way to solve this problem is the use of planning model in pharmaceutical sector
a proper planning model will guide the executives to follow the formalized path.
Politics and organizational culture were perceived to be highly problematic in
pharmaceutical sector (with a mean response of 3.63 and 3.37 respectively). Both these
variables are highly interrelated, because high political activities in the pharmaceutical
sector originate due to the prevailing cultural values with in these organizations where
keeping the decision power in ones hands are highly valued.
Such a kind of culture should be changed and value for sharing the information should be
created. By creating the desired culture political pressure with in the organization will be
reduced.
Rapidly changing technology is also considered to be highly problematic with a mean
response of 3.07; this is because of rapid advances in technology coupled with low
resources available in pharmaceutical sector for information technology. Proper need
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analysis in first place could save the pharmaceutical companies from changing the
technology again and again.
IT procurement
Again strategic planning and politics were considered to be highly problematic during the
procurement of information technology equipment. This is an obvious outcome because
once IT planning is not done properly and no proper need analysis is conducted then it is
not possible for IT managers to procure the information technology equipment which are
desired by the organization. Presence of proper procurement process might solve this
problem; data shows that only 33% of the pharmaceutical companies have a defined
procurement process.
While procuring IT, different suppliers are to be chosen for providing the information
technology equipment. So the person, in the absence of procurement process, purchasing
the equipment could provide favors to these suppliers and also due to lack of a proper
procurement process suppliers could easily put pressure on the officials to tilt the
purchasing decision in their favor. Under these circumstances the group who is politically
strong could get the decision power for purchase of the equipment.
IT implementation
Most of the prominent issues in this category are interrelated. The most problematic issue
in this category is politics and organizational culture, which are both interrelated.
Implementation of IT in pharmaceutical sector might endanger the power of those who
are not good at using this technology. This behavior originates from the cultural value of
not sharing the information with others, which is prevailing in our country. This behavior
leads to resistance to change; this resistance is worsened with the rapidly changing
technology, which makes the learning of new skills more difficult for the personnel
working in the pharmaceutical sector.
There are two ways of avoiding this resistance to change; one is to change the cultural
values prevailing in the pharmaceutical sector, which is difficult, but a permanent
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solution to this problem. The other one is training, which have also been pointed out by
the pharmaceutical executives as highly problematic, having a mean response of 3.20. By
conducting the training properly the level of skills of personnel could be increased which
will automatically decrease the resistance to change and have long term impact on the
cultural values of pharmaceutical sector.
Banking sector
IT planning
It is surprising to note that strategic planning is not considered as highly problematic
issue. This is due to formalized nature of banking sector as compared to pharmaceutical
sector the formal nature of banking sector could be imagined from the fact that 100% of
banks had strategic planning and all of them are having formal strategic planning process.
Under these circumstances strategic planning could not produce any kind of problem for
the banking sector. But even than it is being perceived by the respondents, from
pharmaceutical sector, that IT planning model could further enhance the performance of
the bank (IT planning model having mean response of 3.05).
Because there are large number of departments in a typical bank as compared to
pharmaceutical sector e.g. cash, foreign exchange, loans e.t.c, an obvious problem is that
of coordinating all the departments together while planning for IT implementation. That’s
why inter departmental co ordination had a mean response of 3.75. All the departments
should be involved in planning process to reduce co ordination problem.
Rapidly changing technology produces same kind of problem for banking sector as it
produces for pharmaceutical sector. The rapid technological advances like online banking
could produce problem for small banks due to huge amount of capital outlay reqired for
banking technology as compared to pharmaceutical sector technology. This problem is
more important in banking sector. Because banks are becoming more technology
oriented, having latest technology e.g. online banking, ATM e.t.c are becoming symbol
of success, in this situation banks are forced to compete on the basis of advanced
technology adaptation.
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In banking sector politics scored a mean response of 3.15. The nature of political pressure
in banking sector is different from the pharmaceutical sector. Pressure might not be
exerted from external suppliers because of the complex technology used in banking
sector and limited number of suppliers for this technology. But political pressure is
exerted from groups internal to the organization; this pressure is exerted to retain the
powers they had before the implementation of information technology.
An obvious issue in the banking sector is that of budgeting which was not present in
pharmaceutical sector. This issue is more important in banking sector because of heavy
lay out of capital for IT as compared to pharmaceutical sector. Because of this huge
outlay of capital budgeting becomes an important part of IT planning. Special emphasis
should be given to decide the sources and use of funds, which are allocated for IT
implementation; other wise planning efforts will never reach their goal.
IT procurement
Politics was marked as highly problematic with a mean response of 3.35, this political
pressure is not due to choice of supplier or giving some vendors a benefit as is the case
with pharmaceutical sector but political pressure is exerted by internal groups because of
the fear that new technology will replace them or in some way reduce their importance
with in the organization. So most of employees will favor the purchase of technology,
which they are more comfortable to use regardless of its utility for the organization.
Budgeting is an obvious concern, having mean response of 3.90, when actually
purchasing the technology. Now is the time for the banks to actually use the sources of
funds, which have been decided in the planning phase, it might not be possible to get the
same amount of funds from planned sources and lack of funds might hamper the
implementation efforts of the organization. To overcome these problems sources of funds
should be carefully chosen and evaluated before time, so that any inconvenience at the
time of procurement should be avoided.
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Implementation
Like pharmaceutical sector most of the issues which emerge while implementing IT are
interrelated.
Resistance to change was marked as most problematic issue with a mean response of
4.05, as explained earlier this resistance originate from the fear that new technology is
going to replace them. This fear gives rise to political behavior with in these banks.
Organizational culture, having a mean response of 3.90, also alleviate this fear of
replacement with technology. Organization culture poses same kind of problems to
banking pharmaceutical sector because culture of both the organizations is influenced by
the national culture in which they are working. So like in pharmaceutical sector to over
come this resistance cultural values of the bank should be changed, so that people
become more receptive to changes that are taking place in their organization.
One way to reduce this resistance to change is to train the employees in the use of new
technology. Employees can easily accept the technology, which they can use comfortably
and don’t fear to be replaced by more adept IT professionals. Training was perceived to
be very important by most of the respondents from the banking sector (mean response of
3.90).
Inter departmental co ordination (mean response of 3.85) was also perceived to be
important for making IT implementation successful.
One factor that elevates all the above-mentioned factors is rapidly changing technology.
This factor makes the implementation of all the above-mentioned suggestions very
difficult. Rapid advances in technology make it very difficult to train employees for the
use of new technology. Lack of training shows it self in increased resistance to change for
accepting the new technology and increased political pressure. Unfortunately this factor
is out of control of IT professional with in the organization and not much could be
suggested to solve this problem. This is some thing on which executives should keep a
close eye, other wise their organization will become technologically obsolete.
One factor that does not emerge in the pharmaceutical sector is adequate staffing (mean
response 3.85), banks in Pakistan are normally over staffed as compared to
pharmaceutical sector. This makes the implementation very difficult because IT will
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force the organization to reduce the staffing level. Executive should check the staffing
level before the implementation of any technology is undertaken. Checking the staffing
level or changing it at the time of implementation will increase the resistance for the new
technology.
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In the information age the manager must understand the thrust of

technology and devise effective strategies for adapting the
organization to it Brynjolfsson E (1995) proposes that a paradigm shift is
necessary to enable managers and organizations to meet the “highly
competitive challenges” of the future
Table shows a typical approach to the management of IT and a new

updated approach.
Old Approach New Approach
• IT operations/processes are a • IT is an integrated part of

backroom function. organizational operations and
• IT personnel are techno-geeks planning.
with little knowledge of public • IT personnel are technically
administration operations. proficient and posses an
• Each department owns its own understanding of the operations
data and ITs. of local government.
• Users receive training for new • Data is an organization wide
specific applications. resource and ITs are designed
with the whole organization in
mind.
• Users are trained to make better
use of IT.
Recommendations for Further Study

The research model used in this study has proven to be extremely
helpful in determining the primary issues which are problematic to the
IT development and deployment process. In addition it has allowed for
the creation and future use of an IT issues database which may serve
as background material for subsequent research in this area. However,
further refinement or redesign of this model in future research might
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allow for additional important insights regarding the implementation of

information technologies in different organization. Based on the
research completed for this study, the following questions have been
generated for future research possibilities.
• What is the best approach to strategic planning for information
technologies in organization
• What is the impact of training on IT implementation effectiveness?
• What is the impact of strategic planning on IT implementation?
• Does the use of a model enhance the effectiveness of IT
implementation?
• What should an IT implementation model for organization look like?
• Does individual expertise level has an impact on IT implementation
effectiveness?
In addition to the questions proposed above, some technical

differentiations might be useful in making this kind of study more
representative and generalizable. During the course of this research it
was determined that better definitions needed to be developed for the
problem areas. For example, the question of novice, proficient, and
expert user proved to be much too open to individual interpretation.
An extension of this would be expanded discussions (and possible
terminology specific) of concepts like effectiveness of implementation
and successful IT planning. Finally, for future study, it might prove
preferable to engage in individual interviews with each respondent as
opposed to a standard, mailed survey. The nature of the information
seems to require detailed explanation and a degree of “drawing out”
the respondent.
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Summary
The area of IT development and deployment is extremely problematic
and complex. It is a process that involves all the individuals who make
up the organization, from top level administrators to clerical staff. In
addition, it requires a significant portion of the resources available
within the organization, from human to fiscal. Any approach to IT
development and deployment, which hopes to be ultimately
successful, must take into account both the technical and social
systems, which make up the organization. This study has addressed a
number of the dilemmas that are ingrained in IT implementation and
management. It has been shown that a multitude of integrated issues
exist which have an impact on organizations ability to effectively plan for and
implement information technologies. These issues must be studied individually—within
the context of IT development and deployment—in order for organizations to meet the
technological needs of their customers.
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APPENDIX
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Selected references
[1] Chan Caroline (1995) “Management And Business Issues For B2B E-Commerce
Implementation” . Deabin University , School Of MIS, Australia.
[2] Enns Harvey, Huff S (1999) Implementation Of Information Technology In Developing
Countries Experience Of Mongolian Internet Service Provider Ivey School Of Business , The
University Of Western Ontario 1999
[3] Middleton Catherine, “A Tale Of Two Systems? Success And Failure In A Single Information
System Implementation” , York University , Toronto, Canada.
[4] Fish M And Turner J “Understanding The Process Of Information Technology
Implementation” Center For Research On Information Systems, Stern School Of Business ,New
York University
[5] Marks P, Mccoy S, Polak P (2001) “Contributing Valuable Knowledge To A Dnowledge
Management System.” Seventh American Conference On Information System.
[6] Dong L, Neufeld D “Modeling Top Management Influence On Information Technology
Implementation Effectiveness” Seventh American Conference On Information System.
[7] Gottschalk P (1999) “Content Characteristics Of Formal Information Technology Strategy As
Implementation Predictors In Norwegian Organizations”, Norwegian School Of Management
Department Of Information Management,
[8] Zolla G (1998), “Information Technology Diffusion : A Comparative Case Study Of Intranet
Adoption” , Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey.
[9] Sitting D, Ph.D. The Importance Of Leadership In The Clinical Information System
Implementation Process
[10] “Evaluating Information Technology Investment”. Office Of Management And Budget
[11] Nicolaou A (1999), “Social Control In Information Systems Development”. University Of
Piraeus, Department Of Business Administration, Greece
[12] Gadwall Group (2000) “Information Technology Procurement The Successful Acquisition
Of Products And Services”.
[13] Jackson M, “The Computerization Of Work: A Communication Perspective” Reviewed.
[14] Marchand D, Kettinger W, Rollins J, (2000) “Information Orientation :People Technology
And The Bottom Line.” Sloan Management Review.
[15] Grimes J, Zingg P, Hanley J, (1999) “User Empowered Process For Information Technology
Planning And Implementation “ Educause Conference.
[16] Gurbaxani V, Melville N, Kraemer K, (2000) “The Production Of Information Services , A
Firm Level Analysis Of Information System Budget”. Information System Research , Vol 11, Pp
159-176
[17] Maguire S (2000), “Towards A Business Led Approach To Information System
Development.” Information Management And Computer Security 8/5, Pp 230-238.
[18] Hubona G, Kennick E “A Re-Examination Of The Technology Acceptance Model”
[19] Ringle M (1998) “Is Strategic Planning For Technology An Oxymoron?”
CAUSE/EFFECT Volume 21, Number 1, Pp. 18-23
[20] Dr. Anderson L (1996) “Guidebook For Developing An Effective Instructional Technology
Plan” Mississippi State University.
[21] Gupta M , Mustafi S, “Assessing Return On Information A Framework And Case Study”,
South Asian Journal Of Management , Vol 6, No 3&4.
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Implementation
[22] Hinks J (1998) “A Conceptual Model For The Interrelationship Between Information
Technology And Facilities Management Process Capacity” , MCB University Press, Facilities,
Vol 16, Pp 233-245.
[23] Brynjolfsson E (1994), “The Procuctivity Paradox Of Information Technology : Review And
Assessment”, Center For Coordination Science MIT Sloan School Of Management Cambridgem
Massachusetts, Japan Management Research.
[24] Karake Z (1994) “Relative Information Technology Index (RITI): It Performance ,
Company Control. And Governance”. Logistic Information Management, Vol 7, Pp 6-14.
[25] Dasgupta S , Sarkis J (1999) , “Influence Of Information Technology Investment On Firm
Productivity : A Cross Sectional Study”. Logistic Information Management , Vol 12, Pp 120-129.
[26] Gurbaxani V, Kraemer K (1996) “An Economic Analysis Of Information Systems Budgets”,
Center For Research On Information Technology And Organizations University Of California,
Irvine.
[27] Sakaguchi T (1998) “Measurement Of The Intensity Of Global Information Technology
Usage: Quantitizing The Value Of A Firms Information Technology” Industry Management And
Data System Vol 8, Pp 380-394.
[28] Michalak S, Facelli J (1999) “Decentralized Information Technology Requires Central
Coordination” Cause And Effect , Vol 22.
[29] Kraemer K, Talon P (2000) Performance Benchmarks For Information Systems In
Corporations. University Of California , Irvine.
[30] Roberts T, Middle Jr (1995) “Training During SDM Implementation” Tennessee
State University.
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Glossary
The field of information technology is full of terminology, which may be unfamiliar to the
layperson. The rapidly changing nature of IT makes the task of keeping up with the jargon very
difficult. The use of acronyms to describe everything from specific hardware to integrated
systems makes the task even more complex. In addition many of the terms and definitions vary
widely depending on the nature of the literature or source and the time period in which they are
discussed. Following is a list of the terminology and acronyms as they are used in this proposal.
Action Research
Action research is a methodology that allows the researcher to develop knowledge and
understanding as part of on-going practice. In situations where other methods fall short, action
research provides new and innovative ways of approaching problems.
Automation
Viewed as a trend of the 60s and 70s, which entailed redesigning clerical work to be
accomplished via computer. This included the use of databases and data entry. Automation was
not just about moving everything from paper to computer but also entailed consolidating some
work process to be done more efficiently by the computer.
Chief Information Officer (CIO)
A title most commonly used in the private sector to identify the manager of an organization’s
information systems. In one sense the title of CIO stands as recognition of the importance of
information technologies as a major resource requiring a special type of executive. On the other
hand, the introduction of a CIO into an organization requires significant changes in the existing
management processes in order to make the addition effective and meaningful.
Decision Support System (DSS)
An information system and/or analytical model which is designed to aid managers and
administrators in making more effective decisions. Normally based on personal computer
software that accesses databases of information related to a specific topic or organizational area.
DSS is not generally about specific technology: instead emphasis is placed on the exploitation of
all-available technologies and resources.
Distributed Systems
A distributed system within an organization links a central or “host” computer to decentralized
personal computers or workstations, many of which may be “off-site” locations. A system of this
sort distributes the processing workload.
Host Computer
Often used instead of mainframe or server to describe the computer, which provides services to a
number of workstations.
Implementation
A standard dictionary definition of implementation states that it is a means employed to achieve a
given end, to provide a definite plan or procedure to ensure the fulfillment of.... Implementation
of information technology is more complicated because the implementation process may be long
and drawn out, and in many instances may have vague boundaries. In the most simplistic sense,
implementation is the process of getting a new or significantly changed, system in use for those
whom it was intended.
Information Age
A term generally used to describe a future state where information will be readily and universally
available electronically. Currently this term has proven to be very vague, as there is much
disagreement over what future conditions are being described.
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Information Systems (IS)

Another term for management information systems (MIS).
Information Technologies (IT)
Up until the 1980s computers made up almost all of what was considered information
technologies. Currently information technology has become an umbrella term used to describe a
rapidly expanding group of equipment, services, applications, and basic technologies. Often ITs
are grouped as computers, multimedia, and telecommunications. For the purposes of this proposal
information technologies are any of the above.
Management Information Systems (MIS)
A term used to describe an integrated system which makes use of any number of varied
information technologies. It is common for MIS to be referred to as information systems or in the
public sector: information resource management (IRM); or public management information
systems (PMIS).
Management Processes
Regularized cycles of activities (formal or informal) which bring people within organizations and
between organizations into interaction in order to work through the performance of some function
or the solving of some problem.
Planning
A standard dictionary definition of planning states that it is any detailed scheme, program, or
method worked out beforehand for the accomplishment of an objective. A proposed or tentative
project or goal. A systematic arrangement of details, in most cases (and for purposes of this
project) a drawing, diagram, or written representation which shows the structure or arrangement
of a specific aim or purpose.
Strategic Planning
In its simplest form strategic planning is described as “a process by which an organization
attempts to control its destiny rather than allowing future events to do so”. More specifically, it is
a systematic and formal process wherein an organization anticipates and plans for its future.
Strategic planning is really a process and a product, in other words, it provides a well-organized
way of examining organizational processes and then facilitating decision-making.
Telecommunications
Electronic movement of information no longer just refers to phones, telex, and fax. Now it
includes not only voice but also digital (computer generated data) and analog (modems convert
digital data to analog so that it can be transmitted over telephone networks) communications as
well.
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Description of issues
Interdepartmental Coordination
This issue relates to the degree an organization is able to coordinate it’s IT implementation
process across departments. With the rise in use of microcomputers, information systems
management has become increasingly decentralized. In organizations this often means that IT
planning, procurement, and implementation may not be coordinated across departments thus
perpetuating duplication, lack of standardization, and difficulties with formalized planning,
among other problems. Interdepartmental coordination is related to organizational structure,
planning, standardization, duplication of work/resources, and internal leadership.
Lack of a Strategic/Formal Plan
This issue has become one of the more problematic with regard to IT implementation. Pressure
for quick solutions to very complex IT problems has only served to work against strategic
planning in organizations. Strategic planning is viewed by many as “the heart of effective IRM”.
The successful implementation of nformation technologies in an organization depends heavily on
the strategic analysis of organization needs and objectives. Organizations, which do not make
use of formalized planning with regard to IT, may find themselves without direction in a rapidly
changing environment. Lack of a strategic/formal plan issues is related to organizational
directives, organizational support, internal leadership, interdepartmental coordination,
standardization, and planning models.
Lack of a Planning Model
This issue speaks to the availability and use of standardized models with regard to the planning
and implementation of ITs. There has been many debates on the ability of planning models to
enhance the success of project implementations. Currently, no organization have an IT
implementation model that addresses their specific needs and issues. Lack of a planning model
relates to strategic planning, written procedures and guidelines, and rapidly changing technology.
Organizational Directives
This issue refers to the missions, objectives, and plans which a particular organization may
possess for the implementation of IT. Directives serve as guidelines for future plans and actions
of the organization. These directives must be strategic and well defined in order to facilitate
effective IT implementation throughout the organization. Organizational directives relate to
planning, organizational support, organizational IT expertise, fiscal concerns, and rapidly
changing technologies.
Organizational IT Expertise
This issue refers to the overall technological savvy of the organization. In addition, it could also
refer to how progressive in its nature the organization may be. That is, whether or not this is an
institution that has focused resources to enhance ITs ability to stay on the cutting edge of
technological developments. Organizational IT expertise is related to organizational support,
organizational culture, individual IT expertise, individual support, existing systems, and rapidly
changing technology.
Organizational Support
Successful and effective implementation of ITs relies on the ability of an organization to change
and adapt in order to exploit the uses of advanced technologies. This issue refers to an
organization’s predilection toward supporting strategic vision and planning at all levels--which in
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turn will allow it to make use of rapidly changing technologies. The organizational support issue
includes: fiscal concerns, organizational directives, organizational culture, and individual support.
Organizational Culture
This issue is particularly hard to explain because the culture of an organization is mainly a
perception. However, for IT implementation to be effective the right kind of culture or
environment is required. In most cases this means an organization must consistently find a
common ground between individuals and systems within the organization. Organizational culture
issues include: organizational support, politics internal/external, organizational directives, and
organizational IT expertise.
Individual IT Expertise
The issue of individual IT expertise speaks to the technological savvy of each person within the
organization. It is typical for a locality to employ individuals with a very diverse range of IT
competence. It is also typical that some of these individuals will have a willingness and desire to
learn more about technology and how to use specific ITs, and others will be quite resistant to
adapting to new technologies. This issue is related to training, resistance to change,
organizational support, and internal leadership.
Written Procedures/Guidelines
This issue refers to any mandates which affect organizations with regard to information
technology and it’s planning, procurement, and implementation. In addition it may also refer to
any written procedures specific or internal to the organization This issue includes fiscal concerns,
contracts, outside consultants, and politics.
Fiscal/Budgeting Issues
Information technologies are expensive at a number of levels. This issue refers to the myriad of
problems facing administrators with regard to budgeting and the fiscal impact of ITs. Fiscal
concerns for IT require definition and measurement of operating costs, investment costs, and the
possible/achieved benefits of technologies. This issue includes organizational support, rapidly
changing technology, existing systems, standardization, and planning.
Rapidly Changing Technology
This issue refers to the difficulties of managing technology due to its rapidly changing nature. ITs
are developed and enhanced so swiftly that an organization may find their planned--for
acquisitions are obsolete before the ink on the purchase orders are dry. The nature of technology
in general is a primary cause of a multitude of IT management conflicts from development to
implementation. Rapidly changing technology issues are related to fiscal concerns, timeframes,
standardization, existing systems, training, individual and organizational IT expertise.
Timeframes and Scheduling
Timeframes and scheduling are very important to the effective implementation of ITs in an
organization. Most IT-related planning in organizations must take place in a multi-year
framework due to a variety of factors, not the least of which is financial resources. IT
implementation also carries with it varying degrees of post implementation lag times necessary
for training and “burn-in” of the equipment. Scheduling difficulties are expounded by the rapidly
changing nature of the technologies themselves. This issue is related to rapidly changing
technology, internal leadership, organizational support, individual support, training, and IT
expertise.
Politics, Internal/External
This issue is inherent in any organizational activity and IT implementation is no different.
executives and IT professionals alike must recognize and address the political ramifications of IT
implementation within their organization and the external environment. Technological activities
in general are political by nature (i.e. privacy, security, confidentiality, and data collection). This
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issue includes personnel issues, interdepartmental coordination, organizational culture, and

external consultants.
Individual Support
This issue refers to the support of key individuals within the organization whether in favor of IT
planning and implementation or against. Ordinarily this issue refers to those individuals in top
management positions. However, people at all levels of the organization have an impact on IT
planning and implementation--the more support available throughout the ranks, the more
effective the implementation process will be. Individuals can hinder progress at a number of
junctures in the process. It is therefore, essential to recognize the importance of this issue with
regard to IT implementation at the outset. The individual support issue includes resistance to
change, training, politics, leadership, and support.
Existing Systems
The existing information systems within an organization may have a profound impact on the
ability of an organization to plan for, acquire, and implement new technologies. Systems already
in place may require upgrades or may not function in connection with new systems at all. In
many cases the stakes are very high with regard to existing systems. An organization often has a
significant investment in hardware and software. In addition, these systems may be storehouses of
irreplaceable data, which for compatibility reasons cannot be transferred to new systems without
incurring extensive costs. The issue of existing systems is related to standardization,
computability, resistance to change, rapidly changing technologies, and interdepartmental
coordination.
Standardization
Without some standards across information technologies, planning for future uses and
acquisitions would prove nearly impossible. Setting standards within an organization can be
problematic enough--standardization between organizations can prove impossible. Standards
make communication possible and lend consistency and efficiency to information systems.
Standardization is made substantially more difficult due to the technology industry itself and it’s
own standardization problems. Standardization issues are related to existing systems,
computability, politics, and rapidly changing technology.
Compatibility Issues
Compatibility issues refer to the ability to interact, communicate, and share information across
networks and between software. Without systems and software compatibility data exchange
would be impossible. It is very important that newly proposed systems be compatible with
existing systems and that compatibility be addressed early on in the planning process.
Compatibility issues are related to existing systems, politics, standardization, contracts, and
personnel issues.
Personnel Issues
These are issues related to the management process of human resources. It does not matter how
well designed an organization is or how well developed general procedures are if the institution in
question does not have the personnel it requires to fully develop, manage, and ultimately use ITs.
This is one of the most important issue areas and in many cases one that is chronically ignored.
Personnel issues include resistance to change, fear of technology, training, recruitment, and
retention of quality employees.
Adequate Staffing
In one sense, this issue is tied to general personnel issues in that it requires the recruitment and
training of individuals for IT and support staff positions within the organization. More
specifically, it deals with the need for enough of these types of employees to make IT
implementation feasible and effective. Adequate staffing is a quantity and quality issue. Adequate
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staffing issues relate to number of qualified staff, employee/individual IT expertise, recruitment,

and training.
Internal Leadership
This issue relates to various levels of leadership within the organization with regard to IT
implementation. One of the problems with technology and the workplace is that not everyone is
ready or willing to become part of a technologically based workforce. In many situations,
leadership from managers and co-workers can help to enhance effective implementation of ITs.
Managers especially can promote IT implementation by example. Internal leadership issues
include training, individual expertise, organizational support, personnel issues, and resistance to
change.
Contracts
This issues refers mainly to the acquisition of ITs in an organization. In some organizations
specific requirements exist with regard to available and accepted hardware and software vendors.
Some organizations must adhere to state sanctioned contracts for purchase of supplies and
equipment. Others may have entered into long term contracts for equipment and services. The
contracts issue is related to external consultants, adequate staffing, written procedures/guidelines,
fiscal/budgeting, internal/external politics, and individual/organizational expertise.
Training
This issue is of particular importance regardless of the level of technology currently existing
within an organization. As ITs become an even greater part of our operations, it has become
crucial to make sure that adequate training is provided for all employees. Lack of training can act
as a powerful restraint to effective IT implementation and overall organizational success.
Training issues include: resistance to change, fear of technology, rapidly changing technology,
retaining quality employees, decision-making and individual/organizational IT expertise.
Resistance to Change
This issue is generally seen as a human resources issue. Part of resistance is couched in fear: fear
of the technologies; fear of being displaced by technology; and fear of the unfamiliar. Many
individuals (especially those in support staff positions) have a pervasive fear that automation of
their particular work process will render them unnecessary to the organization. Even more
predominant in today’s organization is the fear of change. Individuals are often put off by the
extra work and effort required in learning new software or a whole new operating system.
Resistance to change includes training, individual expertise, standardization, existing systems,
individual and organizational leadership.
External Consultants
This issue has become particularly important to organizations who often do not have the adequate
and expert staff to address IT issues within their organizations. Outside consultants are typically
hired to act as advisors on various issues as well as to provide the hardware and software for the
organization. An important factor to consider in the use of external consultants is what the role of
that consultant will be. In other words, will the individual or firm in question be asked to act as an
advisor or a complete IT service provider. The use of external consultants must be reviewed in
the context of the whole organization’s directives as well as the planning of ITs and their
implementation. The external consultant issue is related to individual/organizational expertise,
organizational directives, IT planning, IT implementation, existing systems, and standardization.
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List of companies surveyed
List of Pharmaceutical companies surveyed
COMPANY NAME CITY
1. Abbott Laboratories (PAK) LTD Karachi

2. Arsons Industries Lahore
3. Albro Pharmaceuticals Lahore
4. Remington Pharmaceuticals Lahore
5. Pulse Pharmaceuticals Lahroe
6. Basic Pharmaceuticals Rawalpinidi
7. Don Valley Pharmaceuticals Lahore
8. Brookes Pharmaceutical Laboratories Karachi
9. Farhat Ali Pharmaceuticals Lahore
10. Epoch Pharmaceuticals Karachi
11. Aventis Pharmaceuticals Karachi
12. Scharper Pharmaceuticals Lahore
13. Harman Pharmacetical Laboratories Lahore
14. Consolidated Chemicals Lahore
15. Ideal Pharmaceutical Industries Lahore
16. Bio Fine Pharmacueticals Pvt Ltd Multan
17. Fiza International Pvt Ltd Lahore
18. Humza Pharmaceuticals Multan
19. Himont Pharmaceuticals Pvt Ltd Lahore
20. Highnoon Labortaries Ltd Lahore
21. Consolidated Chemicals Lahore
22. Geofman Pharmaceuticals Karachi
23. Novarits Pharmaceuticals Lahore
24. Glaxowellcome Pakistan Limited Lahore
25. Ashraf Laboratoreis (Pvt) Ltd Multan
26. Life Pharmaceutical Company Multan
27. Pfizer Karachi
28. Mular & Phipps Pakistan Pvt Ltd Lahore
29. Babar Medicine Company Lahore
30. Efroz Chemical Industries Lahore
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List of banks surveyed

1. Habib Bank (Pvt) ltd
2. Sonnery Bank
3. Standard Chartered
4. UBL ( United Bank Limited )
5. Union Bank Limited
6. Platinum
7. Bolan Bank
8. Askari Commercial Bank
9. City Bank
10. MCB
11. Prudential Bank
12. ANZ Grindlays
13. ABN Amro Bank
14. Allied Bank Limited
15. Bank Of Punjab
16. Prime Bank
17. National Bank Of Pakistan
18. Faisal Bank
19. Metropoliton Bank
20. Doha Bank
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Interviews
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Coca-Cola Beverages
1. Totally agreed with the definition find categorization of IT
2. IT is basically used communication e.g. local area and wide area networks, data
storage, control of user access level, reporting of data in different forms,
integration of information between different department.
3. It is not to change the existing system entirely but to enhance the existing system,
which has been previously done manually.
4. After procurement stage, another stage, testing stage should be added also called
prototyping
5. Totally agreed
6. Yes
7. To a very limited extent.
8. Software documentation SCALA
9. No documentation is used for implementation purpose, co-ordinated and
comprehensive
10. Sufficient because of the use of co-ordinated approach, no need of written
procedure and guidelines
11. Yes, last year when we were implementing mail server, LAN and SCALA.
12. Inefficiency and lack of effectiveness will make me consider a system as
complete failure.
13. SCALA module has been implemented, stock control and purchase control
14. Totally agreed
15. No
16. Cokes own internal experiences regarding the implementation of IT.
17. Through co-ordinated efforts.
18. Three types of consultants are used hardware; software and networking
consultants are used. Outsourcing is used when implementation is done.
19. No, internal models are used.
20. Departmental co-ordination
21. Lack of individual support and politics.
22. We don’t have to look at our plant, but have to see the worldwide network.
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Beacon house
1. Yes I totally agree with your definition, because it covers all the aspects of
information technology.
2. Information technology helps the managers and employees in the following ways.
 Provides the email service through lotus notes. It is also helpful in
scheduling the meetings.
 Provide the Internet access to search the material in order to search the
material for completing the day-to-day jobs especially for the academics
department.
3. No, basically IT implementation is a process to save your time, to increase the

efficiency and effectiveness of your human resources and provide ease to work
for them.
4. Totally agreed with this classification.
5. These two classifications can be further subdivided into intermediate categories.
6. To some extent but still this plan is not new because the project is new.
7. No not yet.
8. Guidelines
- Mentally prepare the employees for automation.

- Provide the training to use new technology.
- When they are able to adopt and work then implement.
9. More co-ordinated and comprehensive.

10. No, but if proper budget is allocated to the department empowered then it would
be better.
11. Need analysis is still in process, but a comprehensive analysis will be done.
12. Following condition will cause the failure
 Not properly persuaded the user.

 If Users were not properly trained.
 If the advantages expected form IT are not clearly defined.
13. Trained the users about the lotus notes.

14. Yes this definition of IT model is right.
15. No formal model is used
16. .
17. I have discussed it with the key departments and also with the CEO to decide the
process of implementation.
18. Yes, we are contracting with private sectors firms to implement corporate level
information system.
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19. No
20. The biggest problem is to persuade the people about its utility.
21. Limitation of resources
22. We are implementing lotus notes email that is very safe and fast.
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High Noon
1. Yes I agree with this definition of IT.

2. Providing basic information to the internal customer of the organization.
3. Totally agree with the IT implementation definition.
4. There should be sub categorization of IT implementation process.
5. Yes this classification is right.
6. Yes
7. Yes IT expenditures are considered when capital budgeting is done.
8. Guidelines
 Feasibility study.
 Cost
 Benefits
 Requirements
 Improvement in system
9. Have coordinated and comprehensive plan.
10. More efforts are required for training of employees.
11. Yes comprehensive need analysis of the IT is done.
12. Either of the two, inefficiency or ineffectiveness would cause me to consider
implementation a failure.
13. Installation of intranet and mail server.
14. It’s not necessary to for a model to give specific directions. Successful model
should provide general guidelines.
15. No particular model is used.
16. Past experience of IT professionals in other organizations were used as examples.
17. No specific implementation process is there different kinds of implementation
need different kind of process.
18. Yes consultants are used for the purpose of software development, which are from
private sector.
19. No examples from other organizations were taken, but experience of employees
was used.
20. It is very difficult to plan before hand the purpose of using the technology.
21. Its very difficult for the employees to accept the new technology, also cost is a
consideration.
22. Comprehensive database of the doctors is developed.
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Olympia textile
1. IT is not so bound. Its area of concentration is more than that. Along with
these. IT deals with virtual management as well.
2. IT is working as change agent in my organization.
3. IT is process of change; it’s a sequential process, which ultimately leads
towards automation.
4. Its basically management process, planning, organizing, leading, monitoring.
5. I totally agree
6. Yes.
7. Yes.
8. Implementation process consists of some formal procedures you have to
follow.
-Analysis
-Designing and development
-Testing
-Quality assurance
-Review and feedback
-Deployment
9. More coordinated and comprehensive.
10. Ok, it’s not optimal but satisfactory. There is always room for improvement,
secondly technology changes at a very fast pace.
11. Yes you can say up to some extent we try to find out where we are and where
we should be.
12. Inefficiency and ineffectiveness both will cause me to consider IT
implementation a failure.
13. We are now establishing our own mail server and website.
14. I totally agree with this definition.
15. We have no model but we have proper system for IT, you can say its Think
Tank and before going to deploy, we review its pros and cons.
16. Yes we do benchmarking, take a few examples of industry leader and other
published sources and further consult with IT consultants.
17. After brainstorming, IT authorities finalize that what alternative is feasible.
18. Yes we consult with firm as well as individual consultants. According to our
requirement.
19. It’s a right approach to move forward, we make comparative analysis with
public and private both, we see what new implementations are taking place and are
they feasible for us.
20. In Pakistan there are two main constraints. IT market is not so much
developed, Linkages are weak, mean and end problem integration problem.
21. People are not aware of the benefits IT could provide
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Factors Affecting IT Implementation

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Factors Affecting Information Technology

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 11

General literature on factors affecting Information technology implementation ....11

Effect of environment on implementation.....................................................................16

Inter organizational factors............................................................................................27

Implementation stages or processes...............................................................................40

Research work in the field of IT implementation........................................................42

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 49

Basic Approach to the Research.....................................................................................51

Sample and Population....................................................................................................59

Limitations and Assumptions.........................................................................................60

CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS 62

The IT Issues Database....................................................................................................65

Analysis of General IT Data............................................................................................66

Effectiveness of IT Planning and Implementation........................................................73

Analysis of Primary Data................................................................................................78

CHAPTER 5: SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATION 93

Recommendations and interrelations..........................................................................105

Recommendations for Further Study..........................................................................111

List of companies surveyed ..........................................................................................123

COCA-COLA BEVERAGES 126

BEACON HOUSE 127

of the issues affecting IT implementation must be reviewed with regard to organizations.

management process issues, organizational environment issues, leadership issues,

Leadership Management Organization Technical Personnel

• Interdepartmental • Strategic • Organizational • Existing • Organizational

organization and implementation of ITs within it. Subsequently, effective management of

Chapter 2: Literature Review

General literature on factors affecting Information technology

• There must be a clear understanding that significant change occurs in multiple

Understanding IS implementation is an enormous task, due to the complexity of the

• Life cycle methodology is relatively inflexible;

conditions can be identified to moderate the extent of social control on system

Effect of environment on implementation.

advantages. When competition appeared in the form of MONTEL, Datacom leveraged

According to Nicolaou A (1999) the choice, design and development of an information

institutions and professional associations by which Information organizational

• Aligning technology with other institutional priorities;

sector provides an environment conducive to successful implementation efforts. At the

How people learn is an important consideration when building or upgrading computer

Inter organizational factors

Office of management and budget emphasizes the importance of organizational

Opportunistic and need scanning must be continuous. Individuals should be assigned

Management factors e.g. managing change

Information system forced into organization

Flexibilit Environmental Project

for it to be successful. He writes that “Innovation = Motivation times Resources”. (Zolla

Implementation stages or processes

Research work in the field of IT implementation

Primary Users' Secondary Users' Primary Users' Secondary Users'

system documentation, thereby perpetuating the myth of technical complexity and

Information orientation (IO)

Information technology Information management Information behaviors and

Capacity Capability Capability

Scanning/m Fit Adaptation Diffusion

The four-step process includes:

Chapter 3: Research Methodology

Simple IT Implementation Process

This study will address a fundamental problem of IT implementation. Primarily the