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Research and Advances Feb 1 1986

Organizational power and the information services department: a reexamination

In a recent application of the theory of strategic contingencies in three large multinational firms, Lucas found that information services departments were perceived by others as having low levels of power and influence and suggested a variety of reasons for the results. This note continues the application of the theory of strategic contingencies to the information services department by describing a study of intraorganizational power that uses basically the same procedures as the Lucas study and obtains similar results. In an effort to stimulate future power-related research in the information systems area, this note concludes by suggesting several reasons, beyond those given by Lucas, for the levels of power attributed to information services departments.
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Research and Advances Feb 1 1986

Complexity and parallel processing: an interview with Richard Karp

In the following interview, which took place at ACM 85 in Denver, Karp discusses the relation of his work to leading-edge computing topics like parallel processing and artificial intelligence. Tracing his experience as a pioneer in highly theoretical computer science, Karp describes how the decision to go against established wisdom led to the work for which he is best known and how a colleague's findings led him to see links between two previously unrelated areas. Throughout, he stresses the exchange of ideas with colleagues that helped yield fundamental insights.
Research and Advances Jan 1 1986

Understanding the effectiveness of computer graphics for decision support: a cumulative experimental approach

A total of 840 junior and senior-level undergraduate business students particpated in three experiments that compared computer-generated graphical forms of data presentation to traditional tabular reports. The first experiment compared tables and bar charts for their effects on readability, interpretation accuracy, and decision making. No differences in interpretation accuracy or decision quality were observed for the two groups, although tabular reports were rated as "easier to read and understand" than graphical reports. The second experiment compared line plots to tables for their effects on interpretation accuracy and decision quality. Subjects with graphical reports outperformed those with tables. There were no meaningful differences in interpretation accuracy across treatment groups. The third experiment compared graphical and tabular reports for their ability to convey a "message" to the reader. Only in situations in which a vast amount of information was presented and relatively simple impressions were to be made, did subjects given graphs outperform those using tables. This program of cumulative experiments indicates that generalized claims of superiority of graphic presentation are unsupported, at least for decision-related activities. In fact, the experiments suggest that the effectiveness of the data display format is largely a function of the characteristics of the task at hand, and that impressions gleaned from "one shot" studies of the effectiveness of the use of graphs may be nothing more than situationally dependent artifacts.
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Research and Advances Jan 1 1986

Data quality and due process in large interorganizational record systems

As societies have become more dependent on information systems to conduct and record transactions between organizations and individuals, interorganizational computer systems have become a widely used method of coordinating the actions of independent organizations. This article examines the quality of data in one important interorganizational system—the criminal-record system of the United States.
Research and Advances Dec 1 1985

Selecting MIS projects by steering committee

Steering committees have recently gained vast acceptance in organizations as the mechanism used to select management information systems (MIS) projects. Because of their widespread adoption and their differences from other selection mechanisms with respect to orientation, steering committees were chosen for study. Data from 92 projects selected from 32 organizations were analyzed. As hypothesized, projects selected by steering committees were found to differ significantly from those chosen via other selection mechanisms. The implications of this result for organizations using steering committees to select MIS projects are presented.
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Research and Advances Oct 1 1985

A probability model for overflow sufficiency in small hash tables

For hash tables in which a strict physical separation exists between primary storage and storage for overflow records, with bucket capacity at least three, a complete probability model is described. A measure of hash table efficiency is introduced, called the table sufficiency index (TSI), and defined as the probability that the overflow space is sufficient assuming that the set of hashed keys has a uniform distribution. The constructed probability model may be used to compute the TSI for hash tables with parameters chosen from a restricted domain. The TSI is advocated as a tool for making decisions about the parameters of small hash tables.
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Research and Advances Jul 1 1985

Environmental and institutional models of system development: a national criminal history system

This article tests two competing theories of system development referred to here as environmental and institutional models. These models form the basis for most explanations of why systems are developed and utilized. We will examine both models in detail and apply them to a single set of data concerned with the emerging national computerized criminal history system (CCH). A hybrid model, which combines elements of environmental and institutional approaches, is also developed and tested. A substantive result of this new model will alter our understanding of why a national CCH system is being developed. At the theoretical level, we conclude that a hybrid model is more powerful than either an environmental or an institutional model taken separately and that future research must take this into account.

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