A comparative analysis of MIS project selection mechanisms
Pages 43 - 59
Abstract
MIS projects are selected by any of four different groups within organizations---top management, steering committees, user departments and MIS departments. Because of their inherent differences, each of these groups is likely to favor different types of MIS projects. That is, they exhibit different selection biasing. An investigation of the nature and extent of this biasing is examined in this research.Data were collected from 176 MIS projects selected from 60 organizations. Projects were categorized as being selected by top management, steering committees, user departments or MIS departments, and specific characteristics (size, risk, and organizational commitment) were measured for each project.As hypothesized, the research showed that projects selected by different groups did indeed differ significantly with respect to these characteristics. Projects selected by top management do not tend to be more strategic, profitable, resource consuming or risky, or more related to organizational well-being than those chosen by other project selection groups. These projects did, however, tend to experience the longest start delay and elapsed development time.Projects selected by steering committees tended to be larger and riskier, and to require more organizational change. Formal cost-benefit analysis is more predominant, but surprisingly, projects selected are not more cross-functional in scope.User department-selected projects, comparatively, are smaller, more quickly developed, and involve the fewest users, layers of management and business functions.MIS-selected projects have more of an integration focus and follow more logical sequences in development. Their projects experience fewer delays in deliberation and duration, and less concern is given to cost-benefit analysis.The paper concludes by presenting the implications of having each of these groups select MIS projects. Using this information, organizations can establish or assess the effect of using different mechanism for selecting MIS projects.
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Published In
Feb. 1994
53 pages
ISSN:0095-0033
EISSN:1532-0936
DOI:10.1145/188423
- Editors:
- James C. Wetherbe,
- Elizabeth Puryam
Copyright © 1994 Authors.
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Association for Computing Machinery
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Published: 01 February 1994
Published in SIGMIS Volume 25, Issue 1
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