Key Management Information Systems Issues. By Ganesh Kumthekar.

Topics to be covered Key MIS issues in developing nations.  Key issue ranks.  Other issues. Key MIS issues in underdeveloped nations.  Key issue ranks.  Other issues. Model of Global Information Technology Environment. Conclusions.

Key MIS issues in developing nations Countries which can be categorized as developing nations are Argentina, Brazil, India and Mexico. Using IT for number of years but still their level of IT sophistication and types of applications may be wanting in several respects. Many eastern block countries are coming out of closed and guarded environments.(1991)

Due to general trend towards globalization information is now available about the IT readiness of these countries. On one side there were giant centrally planned enterprises that emulated technological developments. While on other side there were little computer equipment either designed for or used by management and consumers.

Hence Russia and former Soviet Union countries made great strides in selected technological areas (space programs and aerospace industries). But lacked behind significantly in IT utilization. Russian IT issues are therefore characteristic of issues in developing countries.

Key Issue Ranks. The key issues in India were obtained by Palvia(1992). The key issues were based on data collection from top level and middle level Indian managers. These managers worked directly with computers and IS. These managers were also exposed to them by some other means.

Issues were first generated using the nominal grouping technique and brainstorming. Then ranking was done by participant managers in two seminars in India. A fully ranked list is displayed as follows:

Rank 1:  Understanding and awareness of MIS contribution is absent.  lack of knowledge for what MIS can do for their business.  need for computer based systems is not a high priority. Rank 2:  shortage of Human resources and personnel in MIS  emphasis on education is on technological aspects.  applications of IS concepts to business needs is neglected.

Rank 3:  inferior Quality of input data  lack of information literacy and information culture among workers.  less than adequate infrastructure for collecting data. Rank 4:  Educating senior managers about MIS as unaware of potential of information technology  IT can be used for building executive IS and strategic systems.  education must be supplemented with business cases and hands on training.

Rank 5:  User friendliness of systems is poor.  software and systems are imported from western nations  needs and cultural backgrounds of users in the importing nations are different. Rank 6:  continuing training and education of MIS staff should be undertaken for rapid advances in technology.  current training plans attempt to train a large number of people at the expense of quality.  lack of training available for MIS professionals in business functions.

Rank 7:  Problem in Maintenance of software and standards in hardware and software  suffer from inadequate supply of trained programmers  problems arise when hardware and software purchased from different vendors in different nations. Rank 9:  Data needs to be protected or it might be abused to the organizations’ detriment.  newer controls and security provisions which were not in manual systems should be built.

Rank 10:  Increased reliance on Packaged Applications software  software which meets the specific business requirements unique to developing nations should be developed.  Reliance on off the shelf packaged software should be reduced.

Other Issues: Main issue is Maintenance of hardware and alignment of MIS with the organization. Maintenance is a problem due to limited vendor presence and delays in procuring parts. organizational culture and philosophy itself has to change to accept the role of MIS.

Key MIS issues in underdeveloped nations: Underdeveloped or basic countries are characterized by  low or stagnant economic growth.  low GNP  high levels of poverty  low literacy rates  high unemployment  agriculture as dominant sector.  poor national infrastructure.

Countries included are:  Bangladesh  Cuba  Haiti  Jordan  Kenya  Nigeria  Iran  Iraq  Zimbabwe

Key Issue Ranks Two African countries Kenya and Zimbabwe are considered as examples of underdeveloped nations. Information was gathered from local trade publications and other secondary sources. In depth personal interviews were conducted with senior information systems executives From above information Key issue ranks were developed.

Problems faced by IS in underdeveloped countries were:  computing industry was influenced by government and a lack of hard foreign currency.  virtual absence of indigenous hardware and software production resulted in an inventory of outdated hardware and software.  IT was accorded a very low priority by the government.

Rank 1:  Obsolescence of computer equipment due to shortage of foreign currency.  efficiency and effectiveness of computers have suffered.  short-fall of computer equipment not only affects the private sector but also the public sector. Rank 2:  Obsolescence of software as inventory of software is quite dated.  acute shortage of foreign currency precludes firms from purchasing software packages.  No concept of integrated business systems for example in manufacturing and accounting.

Rank 3:  Proliferation of mixed vendor shops which causes severe problems if vendor selection not done carefully.  mixed vendor shops have added to the problems of IS management. Rank 4:  Availability of skilled MIS personal and professional development is absent.  shortage of people with computing and system skills.  should keep their programs constantly updated.

Rank 5:  Possible government intervention in the computer industry as economy is dominated by government control.  government issues import licenses to new local businesses but these firms sell it to existing large firms. Rank 6:  there should be establishment of professional standards  lack of professional standards threatens the entry of non-professionals and untrained people.  establishment of such standards will go a long way towards development of better quality IS products.

Rank 7:  Improvement of IS productivity as it is a concern due to lack of professionalism  there is a lack of access to state of the art productivity tools  problem of deteriorating hardware and software. Other issues:  existence of archaic hardware and software  inability to acquire modern resources.  IS not used for competitive advantage.

Global Information Technology Environment Model: In summary we can conclude that advanced nations are driven by strategic needs, developing countries by operational needs, underdeveloped countries by infrastructural needs. Based on these observations the above model is developed. There are limitations in understanding the complex global environment in this model.

Other elements are necessary for a deeper understanding of global IT environment. More elaboration and expansion are subjects of further investigation. This is achieved in further development of comprehensive model for global IT environment.

Proposed Comprehensive Model for the Global IT environment: In addition to level of economic growth additional factors are responsible for information technology adoption by firms. These include cultural and political systems. These are included in the new model

Conclusions  Reports of IS management issues in all parts of world help organizations to plan and implement IT applications.  Developing and validating sound models help to explain IT issues and planning IT applications.  Evaluate the predictive capability of models which will help in preliminary estimation of issues.  Use the model for focused research for example give stress on cultural components.

 Developing a comprehensive universal instrument and methodology that can applied globally to identify the key IS issues will be helpful in obtaining reliable results.  Developing specific practical implications and uses of the key issues results help in planning IS policies.

Thank you.