Managing Microcomputer Technology As an Organizational Resource - Hardcover

Khosrowpour, Mehdi; Amoroso, Donald

9781878289070: Managing Microcomputer Technology As an Organizational Resource

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1878289071 ISBN 13: 9781878289070

Publisher: Igi Global, 1991

Organizations now recognize microcomputer technology resources as a major asset that can change the overall posture of the firm. With this widespread acceptance of microcomputers as an organizational resource, managers must focus attention on the issues that have the potential to affect the way a company functions, competes, and grows.

This book examines the important issues surrounding microcomputer technology resources and how these changes directly affect the management of an organization. Managers will better understand how to deal with such issues as: training needs, software evaluation, data integrity and security, and disaster preparedness. Khosrowpour and Amoroso provide a valuable source book about microcomputer technology which will greatly help managers appreciate the important role of this organizational resource.

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About the Author:

Mehdi Khosrowpour is currently an Associate Professor of Information Systems at Penn State Harrisburg. He is the editor-in-charge of the Information Resources Management Journal, the annals of Cases on Information Technology Application and Management in Organizations and Information Management and consulting editor of the Information Technology Newsletter. In addition, he also serves on the editorial review boards of six other international information systems journals and has authored/edited 10 books and more than 30 articles published in various scholarly and professional journals.

The advances in information technology in our lifetimes has been nothing short of incredible. Perhaps a better word would be amazing. The microcomputers, scarcely two decades old, has truly revolutionized our society, our businesses, and individual participants. This phenomenal pace of change initiated by microcomputers has been both upsetting to organizational planners while also beneficial to corporate managers, work teams and organizations as a whole. The emergence of end-user computing, an environment where a computer suer can utilize information technology to develop an application or to enhance the effectiveness of a task, has furthered the need for microcomputers in business in the next decade. Although end-user computing has been pervasive within organizations in the 1980s, it has not been concentrated in one location or functional area. The distributive nature of the microcomputers has given each user a high degree of autonomy and independence. Individuals have reported increases in efficiency, effectiveness and productivity. In the past 10 years there has been a shifting of emphasis from using the microcomputer to improve efficiency to increasing effectiveness.

With the increase in independence has come the linking of users, forming work groups. Interdependence among users of information technology has created the need to develop organizational strategy and reshape organizational structures to accommodate the variety of growing systems. All areas of organizational management have been impacted by the microcomputers, including the full spectrum of functional areas. Approaches to managing the microcomputers and the areas affected by it, have ranged from creating an information center to establishing policies to govern purchases and data administration.

There appears to be a common thread running through the literature in past years, namely that of recognizing microcomputer technology as an organizational resource. That is, microcomputer technologies are recognized by managers as providing an extraordinary value to the organization. With that realization follows the need to address a variety of issues in order to more effectively manage these resources.

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