Research and Reality: Co-Exist or Co-Inhabit?

Sam Waters, George Bakehouse and Kevin Doyle
Additional contact information
Sam Waters: The University of the West of England (Bristol), School of Information Systems Faculty of Computer Studies and Mathematics
George Bakehouse: The University of the West of England (Bristol), School of Information Systems Faculty of Computer Studies and Mathematics
Kevin Doyle: The University of the West of England (Bristol), School of Information Systems Faculty of Computer Studies and Mathematics

Chapter 101 in Synergy Matters, 2002, pp 601-606 from Springer

Abstract: Conclusions Our ongoing empirical research compares leading technological organisations in four sectors of the UK economy; these are Banking (Citicorp), Construction (Kvaerner — Trafalgar House), Health (Frenchay NHS Healthcare Trust) and Transportation (LEX). This comparison identifies their stages of IS development, their relative timescales and costs (measured in terms of IS investment per employee per annum) and their information quality (indicated by the average number of defects suffered by each employee each day). A goal is to improve information quality control by back-tracking the causes of defects and evaluating their effects by forward-tracking, where possible. The underlying focus is to help organisations manage their information better. No attempt has been made to suggest “come listen I have found the holy grail”. The approach adopted focuses on the belief that it is possible to work within the bounds of theory and practise simultaneously, if successful, both areas will benefit. The authors have previously worked in practise for many years and fully appreciate the freedom and opportunity that action research offers as opposed to working within the bounds of a prescribed methodology. The freedom to experiment, adapt, adopt and develop theories with the added bonus that the results may make a difference in the real world (W2). Finally, our observational field research forces us to wade through mud, blood, grease and boardrooms wearing hard-hats, surgical greens, blue boiler-suits and city slickers so that we may try to understand the practical realities of information mismanagement. As one eminent IS Professor told us “...somebody has to do this work; I am glad it is not me!”. To answer the question in the title: Within the IS discipline there is scope for both coexistence and co-inhabitance, the authors believe the best results will be gained by a fully committed marriage between research and reality.

Keywords: Information Dimension; Soft System Methodology; General System Theory; Holy Grail; Swot Analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2002
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-0-306-47467-5_101

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/9780306474675

DOI: 10.1007/0-306-47467-0_101

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Springer Books from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().