Complexity and uncertainty have long been problems for organizations of all types. Organizational members do not do a very good job of dealing with the complexity and uncertainty as research shows that when faced with complex situations humans often turn to the same sources of information repeatedly (a practice that will eventually betray them), and/or reduce the amount of scanning that they do (Weick 1995; Boyd and Fulk 1996). Organizations often turn to information systems to help them deal with the complexity, but they often take a techno-centric view of knowledge that does not incorporate the human qualities needed for unstructured decisions (Malhotra 1997; Courtney 2001; Malhotra 2001). Additionally, there are times when the information systems that we are using may hinder the processes of dealing with the complexity (Weick and Meader 1993). Weick's (1995) concept of sensemaking is believed to help us to deal with this complexity. In his work with Meader (1993) he wonders what the effects of a sensemaking support system would have, but he does not have the answer because they state that it has not been asked. This dissertation answers the call of Weick and Meader as well as other scholars that have called for sensemaking and human intuition to be included in our information systems. This is accomplished by viewing sensemaking from an inquiring systems perspective (Churchman 1971) to develop a kernel theory that will be used in the context of design science to develop design requirements and principles for a sensemaking system. These design principles are then used to build an instantiation of the system in the form of SenseMan, a system designed to help a local government agency deal with complexity in the context of software updates. Finally the design is evaluated for its effectiveness in dealing with the complexity of in this context using both quantitative and qualitative methods.

Multiple related software development projects are often managed concurrently and systematically to deliver a complex software system. This approach of managing multiple interdependent projects together to achieve a common goal is called program management (Pellegrinelli, 1997). A software development program can generate the benefits that cannot be achieved by managing projects individually. The software product development program has the special characteristics such as complexity, uncertainty and interdependence (1995). A software product development program can play an active role in managing the uncertainty and interdependence in the software development process. This dissertation is designed to examine the external communication effectiveness of the program team on the interdependence between the program and the larger organizational context. In addition, this dissertation studies the inter-project coordination effectiveness on uncertainty within a program. Based upon organizational Information Processing Theory (IPT) and Resource Dependence Theory (RDT), theoretical frameworks are developed. The proposed research models are tested by surveying software product development programs across a range of industries. The results will contribute to the understanding of multiple-project communication in a program's context. The specific interactions between coordination/communication and the product development characteristics will provide a guideline for the industrial practices.

Many IT systems fail to realize their objectives because not enough attention has been paid to the business context in which the system functions. One reason expressed--an emphasized technical focus which tend to omit business and organizational issues germane to the organization's and the system's success. When an organization's information system is in line with, and provides support for its business strategy--strategic alignment--superior business performance is often the result. Within the Requirements Engineering (RE) community there has been several attempts to develop and utilize approaches which can illuminate business and organizational informational needs. In this dissertation, the DAGS framework is used to develop an integrated web-based requirements elicitation system which is based on Critical Success Factors (CSFs), Jackson's problem diagrams and organizational strategy analysis technique to represent and model an organization's IT requirements. This research employs the DAGS (multi-methodological approach consisting of Design Science, Action Research, Grounded Theory and System Development research methodologies) framework for Information System (IS) design to assist the Information Technology (IT) department in developing a collaborative user requirements system to assist in designing and constructing more effective information systems by incorporating the needs of various stakeholders in support of organizational goals while satisfying these varied needs. Top management's field of vision is represented in the CSFs which provide a compelling clarification of what is important to the organization. Failure to achieve a CSF directly affects the organization's ability to accomplish its mission; Research shows that alignment of IT systems with business strategy leads to superior organizational performance. Industry professionals have consistently considered alignment of IT with business strategy essential to their success thus requirements for an organization's information systems need to be aligned with the objectives of the business strategy that its stakeholders intend to support. This dissertation contributes to the literature on validating an organization's IT and Business Strategic alignment. It has also provided an example of research, grounded in theory but which is nevertheless relevant to business.

This study provides a test of the market valuation impact of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) enforcement actions for foreign firms. I examine the SEC enforcement policy towards foreign firms under its jurisdiction. In contrast to Siegel (2005) who examines earlier years, I find that the SEC's current (post-2002) enforcement intensity is considerable and has increased dramatically by comparison. I construct a novel test using the burgeoning series SEC enforcement events as changes to the legal environment that circumvents the issues associated with firm-level exchange-listing events (e.g. self-selection and simultaneous changes to firm traits). The tests focus on stock returns of foreign firms not targeted by the SEC during event windows surrounding SEC announcements of enforcements against foreign firms. This isolates the effect of a changing enforcement environment. I find that when the SEC takes action against a foreign firm, non-target foreign firms experience positive stock returns. Returns are amplified for firms from weaker home legal environments, suggesting that the returns are due to a perceived increase in SEC scrutiny. Finally, consistent with the market adjusting to the new enforcement regime, the magnitude of non-target firm returns declines with each sequential SEC enforcement action. The overall results provide evidence that SEC oversight plays a significant role in increasing the value of foreign firms, which supports the legal bonding hypothesis discussed in prior literature.

No description available.

No description available.

<p>The financial well-being of individuals depends on the appropriateness of their investment decisions. As the world is moving from defined benefit (DB) pension plans to defined contribution (DC) pension plans, the burden of making the right investment decisions has now shifted to employees. One implicit assumption about this global trend is that plan participants are capable of making sound decisions themselves. However, several studies have demonstrated that people often fall prey to various psychological biases and make flawed investment decisions.</p> <p>The use of computers in support of decision-making is not new. For several decades, the finance and investment sectors have extensively used different computing methods and technologies collectively known as decision support systems (DSS) to support investors. However, the type of support provided by such DSS has primarily been quantitative in nature. As such, existing investment DSS do not assist decision makers in overcoming the impact of their psychological biases, which have been shown to play a critical role in investment decision-making. The overall objective of this research is to investigate the potential for building a human-centered investment DSS that can provide qualitative support to investors.</p> <p>In this research, a theoretical framework of investment decision-making is proposed by using the psychological concepts of beliefs, preferences and attitudes. Major investment-related biases are identified and a taxonomy is suggested to classify them as cognitive, affective, and conative.</p> <p>An empirical study involving 119 subjects was conducted to verify the impact of cognitive biases in investment decision-making and to assess the effectiveness of decision aids in lowering the impact of such biases on the ability of investors to make sound investment decisions. In this study, feedback and graphical aids were provided as cognitive support in six investment decision-making tasks involving framing, representativeness, and ambiguity biases. A large majority of subjects exhibited the influence of these biases in their investment decision-making. Cognitive support was found to significantly improve asset allocation decisions for most subjects. Demographic variables collected during the experiment enabled several analyses leading to some additional interesting observations. Findings from this study indicate the usefulness of personalization in investment DSS.</p> <p>This research culminated with a vision toward the development of a human-centered investment DSS that may provide qualitative support to its users. Different philosophical inquiring systems were described as potential debiasing strategies for the proposed DSS. An architecture was suggested for implementing such a DSS with a detailed example illustrating the feasibility of the proposed system. The dissertation concludes with an outline of potential contributions of this study and directions for future research in this area.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

In a time when networks are so readily interconnected around the world, computer security is a paramount concern for information technology professionals. As users, we regularly log onto terminals that are configured and maintained by others, running software developed by others, using operating systems with publicly known flaws, over networks connected by others, using protocols that were never constructed with security in mind. We rely on systems that we are forced to trust, connecting to remote systems we do not know, and only a finite minority of users has even the slightest conception of how these systems handle their information. Availability is the ultimate goal in providing usefulness and utility with an information system, but availability is also a detriment to system security. Avenues of availability are also avenues of potential data attack from malicious users or hackers. A certain level of confidentiality within data systems is necessary to assure the privacy of personal information as well as the secrecy of proprietary data. Users and information systems must be able to authenticate one another's identification while insuring transmissions between them remain unaltered in transit. This thesis is a discussion of network security considerations and network attack methodologies with respect to availability, confidentiality, and reliability. Network administrators must consider balancing these aspects in securing information systems.

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Social Sciences

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1987. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 90-94). Also available in print.