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A major goal of information systems management is to improve the efficiency of the software development process. However, the history of software development is filled with failures, late deliveries, cost overruns, and user dissatisfaction. Ongoing efforts are being made to enhance the processes and techniques used in the management of software projects, but despite the gains that have been made in the past decade, we still lack an understanding of the modern software development process, especially in the area of management and control of environmental resource dependence. The objective of this research has been to study and model the general management strategies, processes, and techniques used in managing software projects from a resource dependence perspective. A survey of the literature and a survey of computer professionals were conducted to gain insight into the problems and opportunities in managing software development projects. Based on the literature and the survey findings, an integrated model for software project management was developed. This model was tested against data collected from a large software development project at a major corporation. Software project management trends were further explored by reviewing the latest development in software project management tools. From the findings of the model test and the review of software tools, a set of opportunities for future research in software project management were suggested.

Contemporary businesses compete in a highly reactive marketplace that demands a new breed of sophisticated knowledge workers. Managing these valuable people requires understanding the effects of their work environment on productivity. Frequent interruptions are an integral part of the knowledge worker's day. In this laboratory study, two attributes of interruption, frequency and length, are examined in conjunction with two levels of task complexity. A 2 x 2 x 2 factorial design with a control group for each level of task complexity resulted in ten unique treatments. Using personal computers, 122 student subjects from undergraduate courses in production management, took a practice, multiple-choice examination (the primary task) over course material. All subjects were allowed exactly 45 minutes to work on the primary task. Interruption episodes of trivia questions were generated at random intervals. Subjects were interrupted either two or six times with interruption lengths of either 30 seconds or 120 seconds. Performance on the primary task is measured using a point scoring system. A post experiment questionnaire was used to validate experiment manipulations. Using a multiple regression approach to analysis of covariance, approximately 70% of variance in performance is explained. Final models include a covariate for prior classroom performance. Four significant conclusions emerged from the analysis: (1) In the high complexity version of the primary task, short interruptions result in an average performance reduction of 44% relative to control subjects. (2) For the low complexity task, long interruptions result in an 11% average performance improvement over control subjects. (3) Performance in long interruption treatments is significantly better than performance under short interruption treatments for both levels of task complexity. (4) No consistent effects for frequency of interruption occur at the levels used in the study.

The need for personal financial planning has increased in the past few years because of deregulation of the financial industries. Expert system development has begun to emerge as a tool for many industries to increase their access and manipulation of information and data. This research looks at the domains of personal financial planning and expert systems technology by combining them with the systems development methodology. The qualitative and quantitative sides of financial planning have not been previously combined in an expert system for financial planning. Experts from the five main areas of financial planning and one hundred and ninety-one financial planning companies were included in the study. The expert system developed was evaluated in a 2 by 2 factorial design with the presence of the expert system on one axis and the presence of the expert planner during the process on the other axis. Eighty-five of the companies had the system installed at their site for two months of everyday use on the job and measurements were taken during the last two weeks. Fifteen hundred and sixty-seven plans were developed and analyzed. Data was collected from the files and the plans generated by the expert system or by the existing system. It was also collected from questionnaires filled out by both the planners and the clients before and after their use of one of the systems. The data were analyzed with respect to twenty-one hypotheses using statistical analysis, primarily ANOVA. The results indicate that the expert system can significantly increase the information processing capacity of financial planning companies. The process used for financial planning by the expert system was more comprehensive than existing systems which tend to focus on only one area of financial planning. The organizational structure was changed as a result of introducing the expert system into the financial planning process as witnessed by the increase of expertise for both the expert planners and the non-expert clerks.

This study provides further evidence regarding the predictive value of quarterly earnings for improving the forecasts of annual earnings. Using an analytical model, it is shown that for a specific class of time-series models, the predictive values are determined by the time-series properties, as measured by parameter value, of quarterly earnings. In particular, the model demonstrates that the accuracy of annual earnings forecasts increases as additional quarterly reports become available, and that the time-series model parameter value is positively related to both total improvement and the first quarter's relative improvement in annual earnings forecasts. These theoretical predictions are empirically tested using a sample of 235 firms over a five year period from 1980 to 1984. Empirical results are consistent with the theoretical predictions. First, annual earnings forecasts become increasingly accurate as additional quarterly reports are available, suggesting that quarterly earnings are useful for improving the forecasts of annual earnings. Second, there are cross-sectional variations in the degree of the improved accuracy in forecasts. More importantly, time-series properties (parameter value) of quarterly earnings are an important determinant of the variations in both total and relative predictive values. This result is robust with respect to different time-series models, forecast error metrics, and statistical methods.

The approach typically taken in expertise research has used audit experience as an expertise surrogate, but the nature of "experience" varies among auditors and among firms. One systematic difference in an auditor's experience is the level of "structure" incorporated into the employing firm's audit process. The schemata developed through experience with a structured audit technology may differ from an unstructured technology. It is hypothesized that when performing a task in a "typical" audit situation, auditors experienced with a more structured audit technology will demonstrate higher audit effectiveness compared with auditors who receive less structured audit technology experience. On the other hand, in "atypical" audit situations it is hypothesized that the unstructured firm's experienced auditors will perform better. The experiment used auditors from two Big Six accounting firms: a structured firm and an unstructured firm. The experimental task consisted of two cases. The "atypical" audit case was identical to the typical case except for the inclusion of fraudulent sales. The results support the prediction that in atypical audit situations experienced auditors from unstructured firms perform better than experienced auditors from structured firms. The results indicate that structured firms should consider developing training programs and procedures to ensure that auditors have compensating learning experiences and to provide quality audit service.

Prior research suggests that beliefs are affected by the order in which information is processed. However, the empirical evidence with respect to this "order effect" is itself anomalous in that the direction of the bias is inconsistent across studies. This study examines and attempts to reconcile the theory of belief perseverance, which predicts primacy, and the contrast-effect theory, which predicts recency. An "integrated" theory of belief revision is presented which proposes that belief perseverance (the contrast effect) is an increasing (decreasing) function of confidence in beliefs. The theory is formalized by expanding Hogarth and Einhorn's (1992) belief-adjustment model to include the proposed effect of confidence on belief revision. The model's predictions were tested in a field experiment in which subjects received a series of information regarding a hypothetical audit client's internal controls and were asked to assess the likelihood that controls would prevent or detect material misstatement. Half of the information in each series was "positive" (describing internal control strengths), while the other half was "negative" (describing internal control weaknesses). The order of information presentation (positive-negative versus negative-positive) was manipulated between subjects. Confidence was manipulated by varying two factors: task experience and amount of information. The experiment was administered to 50 undergraduate auditing students at The University of Arizona and 85 experienced auditors from two of the Big-Six accounting firms. Half of the subjects in each experience-level group received a "short" series of information, while the other half received a "long" series. Confidence assessments were elicited from subjects in each of the four (experience-level/amount-of-information) subject groups and used to form predictions about order-effect differences between groups. The model's predictions were supported for inexperienced subjects but not for experienced subjects, suggesting that confidence affects the direction of order effects only when task experience is low. Furthermore, when order effects were present for experienced-subject groups, they were in the direction of recency. This suggests that increased task experience may lead to a decrease in belief-perseverance proneness.

This dissertation reports the results of a field experiment comparing personnel assignments across measures of audit structure in high and low complexity environments. Objectives of the research included (1) testing relevant hypotheses derived from the auditing literature, (2) establishing the continuing existence of "structure" differences across large auditing firms, (3) describing how large auditing firms might allocate their human resources to audit a typical, medium-sized manufacturing client, and (4) providing partial evidence on the relative human resource input "efficiency" of structured audit approaches. Two versions of an audit case, representing high and low-complexity environments, were distributed to audit managers from four large public accounting firms. The primary experimental task solicited managers' judgments of experience levels required for the performance, and for the initial supervision/review, of a list of 19 judgment-oriented audit tasks. A secondary task solicited budgeted personnel assignments for staffing the hypothetical audit by audit area. Additionally, two raters analyzed the audit guidance materials of each participating firm to provide task-level structure ratings. Consistent with a "knowledge-sharing" role of structured approaches, managers from firms employing relatively more structured approaches for performing judgment-oriented audit tasks assigned less experienced auditors both to perform and to supervise/review those tasks than did managers from firms employing less structured approaches. Additionally, firms employing relatively structured approaches budgeted fewer hours for supervision/review, but not for performance, of audit procedures. Somewhat consistent with the notion that complex auditing issues require more seasoned professional judgment for their resolution, the high-complexity audit environment motivated the allocation of slightly more experienced personnel to perform procedures, but not necessarily to supervise/review them. However, managers budgeted significantly more audit hours both to performance and to supervision/review in the relatively complex environment. Finally, contrary to expectations related to a diminished structure/environment "fit" in the high-complexity case, the difference in experience levels budgeted between the two cases was generally greater within unstructured firms than within structured firms, indicating that unstructured firm managers generally responded to greater environmental complexity with a greater increase in required minimum experience levels than did structured firm managers.

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In South Africa, entrepreneurial ventures have a low survival rate as entrepreneurs start businesses but are unable to turn them into sustainable businesses (Foxcroft, Wood, Segal, Herrington and Kew, 2002: 14). Fatoki and Garwe (2010) note that most new SMEs in South Africa do not move from the first stage (existence) of growth to other stages such as survival, success, take off and resource maturity. As such, it is believed that many of these SMEs do not survive in their first years of operation and thus, do not provide their benefits to society (Persson, 2004). Sutton (1984) is of the opinion that if business owners and managers are good at managing their businesses, then they will do extremely well in terms of ensuring their continuous survival of their businesses. For SMEs to survive and succeed in their business operations, it is pertinent that its owners or managers possess certain entrepreneurial characteristics (MacGregor and Varzalic, 2005; Westerberg, Singh and Häckner, 1997) and carry out specific business practices. For these reasons SMEs deserve much more attention, especially with regard to its business practices, which are often developed as part of the entrepreneurâs personal life strategies. These business practices and personal life strategies are used as a means of earning a living, which in turn is largely influenced by the entrepreneurâs personality characteristics (Littunen, 2000). Hence, an increase in the long-term survival of SME will result in sustainable job creation; poverty eradication and improved standards of living. The primary objective of this study was to investigate which entrepreneurial characteristics and business practices have a bigger influence on the long-term survival of SMEs, and the extent to which they do so. The argument of this study is that businesses in the SME sector all over the world are more prone to failure due to the specific qualities possessed by the businesses, their owners and managers (Bannock, 2005). It is necessary to establish an understanding of key entrepreneurial characteristics and business practices that can help in the understanding and promotion of SME long-term survival. Another objective was to find out the determinants of SMEs survival and determine the relationship between entrepreneurial characteristics and business practices. The empirical research was conducted by self-administered questionnaires to entrepreneurs in the Motheo district (Bloemfontein; Botshabelo and ThabaâNchu). The questions were developed through a modification of entrepreneurial self-assessment tools for entrepreneurial characteristics and through a review of the literature on business practices. A total of 353 questionnaires were issued, 218 questionnaires were received but only 200 questionnaires were considered in the study because they were those fully completed by the respondent and thus gave the study a response rate of 56.7%. The statistical analyses included descriptive statistics, frequencies, chi square, T-test, ANOVA and Pearson correlation. The Cronbachâs alpha was used as a measure of reliability. The results revealed that: In answering the question which entrepreneurial characteristics and business practices have a bigger influence on the long-term survival of SMEs, this study considered characteristics and practices that had a score of 50% and are above to be determinants for SMEs survival. A conclusion was made in terms of required and sufficient characteristics and practices. The required characteristics identified by this study were four characteristics; creativity, self-reliance and ability to adapt (83.8%); tolerance of ambiguity and uncertainty (81%); opportunity obsession (75.8%) and commitment and determination (71.5%) that influences the long-term survival of SMEs. The sufficient characteristics are need for achievement; risk-taking propensity; self-confidence; innovativeness and motivation to excel, that influences the long-term survival of SMEs. The required practices identified by this research are; marketing practices (84.3%); performance management practices (77.9%); strategic planning practices (72.7%) and teamwork (72%). No sufficient practices were identified that influences the long-term survival of SMEs. Seven variables: age; number of employees; net profit; equipments/ assets; number of business owners; business location and the office number, were considered determinants of SMEs survival. In establishing a relationship between entrepreneurial characteristics and business practices, it was observed that all the values for entrepreneurial characteristics and business practices were positive correlated with each other except for the correlation between team work and tolerance of ambiguity and uncertainty which are negatively correlated with value (-0.02). The recommendations included the need to improve the entrepreneurâs level of education and business knowledge skills through simplified training programmes and courses. The inclusion of these training courses will certainly foster the survival and growth of SMEs. Business support mechanisms should use the Life Styles Inventory (LSI) measures thinking styles and Brain profiling to identity the way entrepreneurs think and use the results to modify their teaching methods. HRM practices should be enhanced by encouraging SMEs owners to provide performance evaluation in place. In order to promote risk taking and risk management practices, entrepreneurs are encouraged to insure all their investments to enable them take appropriate account of the specific risk and return characteristics of their investment.