Managing Computers in Large Organizations
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<strong>Manag<strong>in</strong>g</strong> Microcomputers <strong>in</strong> <strong>Large</strong> <strong>Organizations</strong><br />
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/167.html<br />
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MANAGED INNOVATION CONTROLLING END-USER COMPUTING IN THE<br />
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT<br />
Managed Innovation Controll<strong>in</strong>g End-User<br />
Comput<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the Federal Government<br />
Ray Kl<strong>in</strong>e*<br />
In 1982 the General Services Adm<strong>in</strong>istration (GSA), respond<strong>in</strong>g to the<br />
long-awaited microcomputer revolution, convened a small group of<br />
knowledgeable people <strong>in</strong> government to help determ<strong>in</strong>e what the federal<br />
government's policies should be <strong>in</strong> this emerg<strong>in</strong>g area. The group met every two<br />
or three weeks to look at various aspects of the problem and to see what might<br />
be done. The quandary it faced was change versus control—the government's<br />
need to be responsive to technological change and the need to ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong><br />
management control.<br />
In the area of computer technology, of course, change is essential and<br />
<strong>in</strong>evitable. Decades ago the federal government was <strong>in</strong> the vanguard of<br />
automated data process<strong>in</strong>g and related technologies. Today it lags beh<strong>in</strong>d.<br />
Studies dur<strong>in</strong>g the Ford adm<strong>in</strong>istration (1974–1976) placed government about<br />
10 years beh<strong>in</strong>d the private sector. By 1983 the Grace Commission reported that<br />
the gap was only 6.7 years. It is possible that by 1990 we will have caught up<br />
with or even surpassed the private sector. However, the driv<strong>in</strong>g force to <strong>in</strong>itiate<br />
change is not merely to keep up with the private sector but to improve the<br />
efficiency of government and to <strong>in</strong>crease the productivity of the federal worker.<br />
President Reagan has impressed upon his entire cab<strong>in</strong>et the need to cut<br />
government<br />
*<br />
Ray Kl<strong>in</strong>e is act<strong>in</strong>g adm<strong>in</strong>istrator of the U.S. General Services Adm<strong>in</strong>istration.<br />
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