The Impact of the Environment on the Management of Information Systems

The dynamic environment of an organization makes management difficult. This is especially true in information systems (IS) departments. A new theoretical model, based on structured interviews with IS executives, proposes ways that some dimensions of the environment create problems for IS management, IS managers develop coping mechanisms to attenuate or prevent these problems. They use these coping mechanisms either to resolve the problems directly or to influence the environment to prevent the problems. The new thoeretical model facilitates an organized study of the relationship between the IS department and its dynamic environment.