Making IT Happen : Critical Issues in IT Management

Information technology presents many challenges to managers. Constant change, e-business, massive amounts of information, global operations, and building new alliances and capabilities are just some the transformations being driven by the use of IT in business today. As a result, no modern manager can afford to ignore IT or leave it to the professionals. Based on the real life experiences of senior IT managers in leading-edge businesses and incorporating thorough research, Making IT Happen separates fact from fad to show where managers can make a real difference, and deliver practical advice for coping in the fast-paced world of IT.

James McKeen is currently a Professor of MIS at the School of Business, Queen''s University at, Kingston, Canada and is the Founding Director of the Queen's Centre for Knowledge-Based Enterprises, a research think-tank for the knowledge economy. He received his Ph.D. in Business Administration from the University of Minnesota. His research interests include IT strategy, the management of IT, and knowledge management in organizations. His research has been published widely in many of the key academic Management and IS journals. Jim has been working in the field of IS for many years as a practitioner, researcher, and consultant. He is a frequent speaker at business and academic conferences.

Heather Smith is currently a Senior Research Associate at the School of Business, Queen's University, Kingston, Canada specialiszing in IT and Knowledge Management research. A former senior IT manager, she now works with organizations across North America to identify and document leading-edge practices to bring the best of academic research to practising IT managers. In addition to her work at Queen's, Heather collaborates extensively on research projects with a number of top international researchers in IT management issues. She is a Research Associate of the American Society for Information Management's Advanced Practices Council and Chair of the IT Excellence Awards University Advisory Council. Her research has been published in a variety of journals.

Since 1990, the authors have convened three industry forums on a regular basis - the IT Management Forum, the KM Forum and the CIO Brief. Each is designed to link academia and industry in order to jointly tackle important business issues. Management Challenges in IS: Successful Strategies and Appropriate Action (John Wiley & Sons, 1996) was based on their earlier work with the IT Management Forum.