Managers Divided

Identifies and analyzes the social, political and problematic nature of systems and the use of IT in contemporary society. Considers the growing complexity of IT management issues, the changing profiles and organization of the IS profession and the dominant rise of a user relations problem within modern systems development. Features a detailed, case study of a major systems project--from the early decisions involving desirability and design to launch and initial assessment. Analyzes the shift from a technological-led to a strategic and marketing-led use of IT. Organizational Politics and Theories of Technological Change.

The Social Construction of Technology as Political Process.

Responses to Complexity: Developments in IT Management andUse.

The IS Specialism: Organisation, Development and Culture.

Looking into User Relations.

Business Application Software: Masculinity and the Making ofSoftware.

Building Computer Systems at Pensco: The Pensions Project.

Separate Realities: Pensco's Different Pensions Projects.

The Politics and Pain of Managing Information Systems.

Constructing Technology Context at Pensco: Systems, Staff andSystems Practices.

The Politics of User Relations: The IS Division.

Conclusion.

References.

Index.

David Knights is a Research Professor at the University of West of England, UK, and a Guest Professor at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. He also holds Visiting Professorships in Management at the Universities of Stockholm, Sweden, and Lancaster, UK.

Fergus Murray is the author of Managers Divided: Organisation Politics and Information Technology Management, published by Wiley.

Recent years have seen a radical upheaval in use of IT in the service and financial sectors. The turbulent conditions created by economic deregulation, political re-regulation and privatisation have produced considerable challenges to the effective and efficient management of IT. Managers Divided is concerned with the use and development of IT in commercial organisations. Its particular focus is on the major shifts that are taking place in the management and use of IT in organisations struggling to come to terms with a rapidly changing market and regulatory environments. It examines the deeply political nature of IT management, innovation and change. The authors analyse the shift from a technology-led to a strategic and marketing-led use of IT. They study the use and development of IT through detailed localised studies of management practice that are understood to be influenced by, and have consequences for, broader socio-political, economic, organisational, and technological conditions. Graduates and undergraduates studying corporate and strategic management, management information systems, work and employment gender research, organisation studies and finance will find this book an invaluable asset. Information Systems specialists and practitioners in financial services will find the book a useful source of information.