Information Systems – serie

This book describes the experiences of four organizations who tried to introduce new computer systems in a humanistic manner so that human as well as business gains would be derived from the introduction of technology. All four paid a great deal of attention to identifying efficiency and job satisfaction needs and to design­ ing the technical system and its surrounding organizational context in such a way that these needs could be effectively met. Nevertheless, as with all major change, the change process was difficult and demanding and considerable management skill and insight was required before successful systems were implemented. The author set out to identify the extent to which the values of the different groups involved in the design process influenced the way in which computer systems were designed and implemented. She also wished to establish the extent to which the values of technical systems designers, user management and user clerks converged or diverged in the change process. It is hoped that the ideas set out here will contribute both to a greater theoretical understanding of the in­ fluences which affect technical change and to the practical design of humanistic computer systems. The research was carried out in three large government de­ partments, two industrial firms and an international bank. Two of the govern­ ment departments asked for their data to remain confidential and so these are not described in detail in the book. The book is in twelve chapters.

From 18th to 20th September, 1978, about forty scientists and practitioners from Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Great Britain, the United States and the Federal Republic of Germany joined in an international symposium entitled "Design and Implementation of Computer-based Information Systems" . This symposium was initiated by the invitation of the BIFOA (Betriebswirtschaft- liches Institut fur Organisation und Automation an der Universitiit zu Koln) as a part of the institute's research project IMPLAN (Development of Tools for the IMPLemen- tation of Computer-based PLANning Systems). This book includes the opening address, the papers presented at the symposium -revised by the authors after presentation-the chairmen's summaries of the various working group sessions, and an edited version of the concluding"Blue- print for Research on Implementation". Xl Acknowledgements The symposium was made possible by a federal grant from the Bundesminister fur Forschung und Technologie (BMIT), Bonn, reptesented by the Gesellschaftfur Mathe- matik und Datenverarbeitung (GMD), St. Augustin, who sponsored the whole IMPLAN research project and the symposium.We are extremely appreciative of their valuable cooperation and support; in this respect our special thanks go to Mrs. Katharina Gregor and Dr. J urgen Marock of the G MD. Our sincere thanks and appreciation are due to the authors for the many hours of work, for their contributions and for preparing and revising them after the symposium. We appreciate the valuable help of the chairmen for conducting the working sessions and preparing summaries of the sessions.