Andrew Dorac-Kakabadse - Creating Futures: Leading Change Through Information Systems

Nada K. Kakabadse and Andrew K. Kakabadse

First published 2000 by Ashgate Publishing

Reissued 2018 by Routledge
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Copyright Nada K. Kakabadse and Andrew K. Kakabadse 2000

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ISBN 13: 978-1-138-73858-4 (hbk)
ISBN 13: 978-1-315-18469-2 (ebk)

Professor Alexander Kouzmin

Graduate School of Management, University of Western Sydney, Nepean, Australia

For our parents, Elfrieda and George Kakabadse and Mila Lisa and Dmitar Korac, with heartfelt love and respect.

Very many thanks to Pauline Thomas and Alex Britnell for all your help, support and dedication to preparing this manuscript for publication.

Open virtually any text in the management, strategy and public administration field and the word 'change' is likely to be liberally distributed throughout each document. Change is no new phenomena, but is a normal, if not poorly integrated, experience of our daily lives. However, regular exposure to change does not necessarily assist in appreciating the nature of the prime drivers of change, their impact and limitations. How many could answer the following questions? In organisational terms, has the breakdown of the vertically integrated enterprise allowed the human resources department to become a prime strategic influence on the progress of the organisation through its potential to impact on the development of people? Is the information business and its accompanying technologies driving through change in the organisation, or, is it in reality, just another set of tools that conveniently facilitates change processes to occur in organisations? Have IS (information systems) professionals substantially impacted on the organisation, repositioning it to be more effective in its prospective markets or community, or acted more as technological junkies, being operationally clever, but strategically inept?

In addressing these questions, this ten chapter volume focuses on the influence of, and additionally explores the value adding contribution of, information systems and related technologies on the development of society and private and public sector enterprises. The chapters are 'stand alone units' representing the research work and thinking of the Cranfield School of Management husband and wife team, Nada and Andrew Kakabadse in conjunction with the Australian thinker and researcher, Alex Kouzmin, University Western Sydney-Nepean, The initial opening chapters of the book examine the impact of IS/IT (information systems/information technology) on society and organisations. As the book progresses, attention is then given to exploring the effect of IS/IT on individuals within the information arena and more broadly within varying walks of life.

explores the impact of government IT policies on society at large. Introducing the metaphore 'harem', which originates from the Islamic haram, forbidden, as opposed to 'halal', permitted, conveying the idea of secret or separated from the rest of the world highlights that at the societal level, the impact of IS/IT applications are promoting, or inadvertently giving rise to, particular invisible barriers in society, especially so in terms of the poverty divides in the world, the inequitable technology transfers taking place between societies and the snooping and fast growing political surveillance applications of information technologies. The overall conclusion is that the balance between being an enabler of social development rather than a disabler of quality of life improvements, is that the disabling nature of information technology based applications is gaining precedence.

Continuing with the theme of information technology's societal impact, examines how E-democracy is likely to be affected by IS/IT. Exploration of the nature of democracy is undertaken, highlighting that the present day disillusionment with democracy is the result of developments in society rather than a problem with democracy per se. The conclusion reached is that technology is likely to have a mixed impact on communicating the sentiment of citizens to policy levels in government. Certainly, technology will enable citizens to have more direct access to their political representatives. However, technology is equally likely to provide even greater opportunities for powerful, minority lobby groups, to strongly press home their point(s). Such a development would mean that the mass of citizens would not be able to resist the overtures of the influential few, due to the lack of organisation of the many. The current disillusionment with politics and democracy, as much due to the influence of unrepresentative, strong lobby groups, is likely to increase, as these groups, through the use of up to date information systems, are likely to gain the upper hand in the battle of voicing those opinions that will eventually become societal practice.

In keeping with the theme of information systems and their impact on society, alternative is to enhance the existing societal gaps, thus extending the gap between the rich and poor and threatening a broad destabilisation.

Stepping down from the societal level of analysis to that of organisational processes and functionings, provides analysis of how IT enabled communication supports greater organisational effectiveness. The nature of communication is analysed, as are its impact and its benefits. The overall conclusion, obvious to some, is that groups and individuals now have greater choice in terms of selecting a variety of communication media, with one proviso, not only are the electronic channels here to stay but are likely to dominate the scene.

Whereas explores, in considerable depth, the nature of current trends: E-information, E-communication and E-commerce. Originally considered in the 1960s as an information system capable of surviving nuclear attack, the Net has grown into an extremely complex network connecting millions of sites, with a projected membership, in the USA alone, of 137.5 million, within the next two years. The services provided through the net cover almost every aspect of life, now turning cyber services into a bizarre bazaar. How the Net will be developed is the intriguing question, for as it currently stands, it is the ultimate unregulated democracy.