ABSTRACT

Chapter one described information systems (IS) as a domain in which the demand from business organisations has traditionally been for ‘systems’ which show an objective return in terms of cost, efficiency and/or effectiveness, with systems developers being driven to provide low-cost solutions to perceived business problems. The management of IS under this model is governed by a need to design, develop and manage technological solutions to identified problems. In chapter one, however, this approach was challenged and support for an alternative enlisted from studies of systems failure, in which it has been found that up to 90 per cent of information technology (IT) investments do not meet the performance goals set for them

The limitations of technological approaches to IS gave rise, in the 1960s and 1970s, to the so-called ‘soft’ or human-centred methods, a primary purpose of which is to form a view of the system of concern through the eyes of participants, and to use this to manage the development process. Human-centred methods, it is contended, facilitate participation, help in generating consensus, stimulate creativity, and enlarge the designers’ conception of what can be implemented. But the analysis in chapter one goes further, highlighting how recognition of the merits and shortcomings of technological and human-centred approaches to IS gave rise, in the 1970s and beyond, to a number of methods of IS development which may be categorised as mixed; three of the most widely used of these have been ETHICS, multiview, and client-led design.