Apr. 4 Goal-Setting; Networks; Network Computing

Although dated work, Thompson and McEwan’s 1965 article sets a stage for contemporary discussions about organization networks and network computing. When you read it, please focus upon the following (and relationships among them): the environment, goal-setting (rather than goals per se) as a dynamic and continuing process, and alternative strategies (competition, bargaining, etc.) for dealing with forces in the environment. Identify where enactment is especially relevant (for example, reinterpretation of goals?)

• Goals vs. goal-setting—how are these different issues (or variables)?• Difference btn. Private and public organizations vis-à-vis goal setting; complexity of

environment; (in)tangibility of outcome• Which of the four alternatives for dealing with the environment do or don’t appear

workable for effective networks? Why or why not?

A life-long public manager encounters numerous “reforms”—some of which last while others are passing fads. But regardless of their merits, all proposed reforms in the public sector (like virtual agencies) need to be “sold” politically. Thus, Fountain’s Ch. 2 shows how the idea of network computing was part-in-parcel of the sales pitch in the 1990s to “reinvent” and improve government. Fountain’s last subheading “ Vision (or pitch) and Reality” is particularly telling

• The role of information technology in the National Performance Review (NPR)• “The sell:” that the internet can create “virtual agencies by surpassing organization

boundaries; can provide the impetus for reformulating traditional hierarchies and bureaucratic cultures.”

• “Vision and reality”—where do you suppose the idea of “enactment” fits in here?

Apr. 4 Goal-Setting; Networks; Network Computing

Following on her discussion of reality, Fountain ticks through various attributes of information technology (IT) in public organizations in Chapter 3:

• Affects the economics of information in organization—how? Why is this significant?• creates “sunk costs:” what does this mean? Implications?• Is enacted to support existing, dominant societal values—does the same innovation

have the same affects in different cultures?• Simultaneously centralizes and decentralizes (“what’s up” here? What does this

mean?)– What does “compression” mean? Examples?

• The performance issue– How does “enactment” come in here?– Can IT determine performance? If not, why and what can it do?– Any tie-in with Gormley&Balla Ch. 1 (and 7)?

• Questions for discussion

– It’s usually assumed that more information equips people better for making decisions. How could it be that more information provided by information technology and computer networks actually de-skills people in organizations? Can you think of an example?

– Relevance of database/domestic violence article