Managing Computers in Large Organizations

Managing Microcomputers in Large Organizations
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/167.html
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INTRODUCTION 100
• How can an organization establish education and training goals for
introducing new technologies? What programs will ensure that these goals
are achieved effectively?
• How should concerns about data administration be addressed? What are the
organization's information resources? Where are these resources? Who is
responsible for them? How can security of information resources be
achieved?
• How can microcomputer components be acquired, maintained, and
operated most effectively?
The list only scratches the surface.
Difficult as these challenges are, managers in large organizations must
come to grips with them. The five case studies that follow present a variety of
large organizations and their efforts to manage emerging microcomputer
technologies. The organizations represent several major segments of industry—
manufacturing, insurance and financial institutions, state government, and the
military services. They also represent a broad spectrum of management styles,
ranging from overt central control to control through persuasion to a laissezfaire
approach. In each case senior management has addressed universal issues
and made particular decisions with respect to successful management in a given
environment.
The balance and movement between management and practice in the realm
of technology is intricate. Through these five case studies of successes, failures,
and lessons learned we catch glimpses of a common process. The process
encompasses analysis of the organization's culture; setting strategic goals in
concert with that culture; planning, organizing, and controlling to meet strategic
goals; and marketing the organization's approach to the entire work force. This
process, distilled from the maze of particulars, can contribute significantly to
management theory and, in turn, to management practice in large organizations
everywhere.
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