3 gupta - a study of it effectiveness in select government organization in india

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A Study of Information TechnologyEffectiveness in Select Government

Organizations in IndiaM P Gupta, Shivraj Kanungo, Rajesh Kumar, and GP Sahu

Achieving Information Technology (IT) effectiveness in government offices is a dauntingprospect. This is because the bureaucratic structure, perceived (and often actual) laxity in theworkplace, weak accountability and responsibility relationships, and cumbersome and conflatedwork processes act as serious inhibitors of IT effectiveness. There are many indirect influencers

of IT effectiveness.The broad working propositions for this study have been formulated keeping in mind the

working environment of the government organizations and the past studies that have looked

at government organizations in the context of IT. In some of the organizations, the methodologyof IT use is simple, while in some others, it is tedious and complicated. IT projects are oftenfraught with cost overruns and delays. Once deployed, many systems fail to meet functional

requirements or are too complex to be feasible for many organizations. Hence we should expectto find that government organizations, in general, do not use IT effectively .

This study specifically examines the effects of IT use, user satisfaction, organizationalculture, top management, and IT management on the effectiveness of IT in government

organizations in India. Further, the enablers for IT use are identified that enhances theorganizations performance. A questionnaire survey was employed among the users in Indiangovernment organizations situated in Delhi and surrounding areas for the collection of data.

The descriptive and inferential statistical analyses result into the following conclusion: User satisfaction is the indicator of system success and the users like a friendly system. The users are influenced more by the information systems (IS) staff in comparison to non-

IS staff. Top management involvement is relatively high in IT-related problems resulting in

higher budget for IT, which in turn plays a positive role in increasing the satisfaction ofusers.

However, the initiative to motivate IS staff is not enough and the computer training givento the users fails to take care of the latest needs. The users are required to be familiar with thelatest technology and therefore be given the latest training for better IT use. The difficulty ineffective IT use is also due to some resistance experienced from the employees of the organiza-tions. This is further compounded due to the existence of workers union problems. Correlationand regression analyses reveal that:

the independent variables (viz., IT use, user satisfaction, top management, IT manage-ment, and organizational culture) have significant positive effect on the dependentvariable, i.e., IT effectiveness.

leadership, managerial awareness of costs and benefits, centrality of IT business

strategy, top management support, higher position of IS manager, easy accessibility tocomputer, enhanced connectivity capability, favourable cost performance trends, ven-dor push, and competitive pressure were found to be the IT enablers.

The future scope of research lies in extending the study to all government organizations

of India and also comparing state government organizations with those of the centralgovernment.

KEY WORDS

Privatization

Indian Banking

Efficiency

Performance

ExecutiveSummary

R E S E A R C H

includes research articles thatfocus on the analysis and

resolution of managerial andacademic issues based on

analytical and empirical orcase research

KEY WORDS

Information TechnologyEffectiveness

GovernmentOrganizations

User Satisfaction

Organizational Culture

VIKALPA VOLUME 32 NO 2 APRIL - JUNE 2007 7

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Difference between the public and the private

sector organizations is well acknowledged.

Another sector the government sector is

equally large and has assumed a special importance in

India particularly due to the large number of employ-

ment provided by this sector. There are many criteria

based on which these three sectors can be compared.

Despite historical difficulties, recent pressures onreducing public expenditures have made it essential for

the public administrators to continue their search for

identifying various ways of increasing productivity while

simultaneously enhancing the responsiveness to the

citizens needs (Karwan and Markland, 2005). One of the

most visible criteria for comparison is productivity in

the workplace (Gupta and Jana, 2003). Anecdotal evi-

dences and observations often result in simplistic con-

clusions that put private sector productivity levels higher

than that of the public sector. In such a comparative

framework, government sector productivity always

seems to appear in the lowest rung. The relationship

between Information Technology (IT) and productivity

has been studied extensively in the initial stages of

computer applications in organizations. However, re-

cent surveys concluded that, despite extraordinary ef-

forts, this area of research still offers conflicting findings

about the productivity benefits of IT (Brynjolfsson and

Hitt, 1993; Smith, 1996; Willcocks, 1992; Wilson, 1995).

Since IT is a major determinant of organizational

productivity, it is reasonable to believe that higher levelsof IT diffusion would also result in higher levels of

productivity. Past studies have shown that in terms of

IT infusion, private organizations have been most agile

in introducing newer and appropriate forms of IT. Public

sector organizations, on the other hand, also have a

profit orientation, or at least a cost minimization orien-

tation, and therefore tend to introduce IT albeit in a

delayed framework (Kumar, 2002).

In general, as indicated in some other literature

(Dewett and Jones, 2001; Gupta and Sanjay, 2004), IT is

understood to offer substantial information efficienciesand synergies to an organization. It does not just allow

access to prior knowledge, as might result from a know-

ledge codification, but in fact enables the employees to

search for and absorb new knowledge that is relevant

to a problem at hand. They also suggested many useful

properties of IT that can affect organizational efficiency.

IT facilitates efficient communicationthe ability to

communicate more easily and less expensively across

time and geographic location. It also improves the

decision-making efficiency including the ability to store

and retrieve large amounts of information more quickly

and inexpensively. Moreover, it enhances the motiva-

tional effects of cultural values that are supportive of

efficiency or innovation (Trice and Bayer, 1993). They

indicated that by using IT, an organization can make

available to employees a slew of supportive messagesand statements, often contained in an organizations

mission and vision, corporate goals, strategies, and

operating procedures.

The government organizations can be characterized

as those, which handle or subsist on public funds and

are focused on providing public services and also sup-

port other internal government machinery. These or-

ganizations are generally characterized by their bureau-

cratic set-up in which decision-making tends to be

phlegmatic. The lack of urgency in decision-making is

more apparent in the case of decisions typified by

uncertainty and specialized knowledge (Gupta, Kumar,

and Bhattacharya, 2006).

Since IT is a fast moving area and a typical govern-

ment office lacks the requisite expertise for taking de-

cisions related to IT, an extended committee approach

is often adopted. Eventually, such decisions get delayed

and organizational ambiguities tend to manifest them-

selves in almost all stages of the information systems

life cycles, starting from project conceptualization to

implementation and use. Consequently, it is not surpris-ing to hear that of the three sectors, the government

sector is the least advanced in introducing IT in its

organizational working. As a corollary, the productivity

impacts of IT use in government organizations is also

among the least of all the three groups.

In the Indian context, given the nature of the Indian

economy and the political history of the nation, the

government organization has been, is still, and will, for

a long time, continue to be the greatest direct influence

on the life of the common man. This is because the

government organizations constitute the largest employ-ment base in India. Their public dealing offices cater to

a myriad of direct public requirements (like taxes, driv-

ing licenses, health services, etc.). This implies that minor

productivity improvements can result in large-scale and

widespread public benefits.

Since IT is an important enabler of organizational

productivity and hence that of organization effective-

ness, it is crucial to understand the sources of produc-

8 A STUDY OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY EFFECTIVENESS IN SELECT GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONS IN INDIA

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tivity increase in government organization vis-a-visIT.

We address the set of issues that involve attitudes to-

wards IT and motivation to use such technology across

various levels in various organizations. We also need

to understand the impediments, which may be cultural,

organizational, procedural, structural, administrative or

social with respect to the adoption of IT.

STUDY DESIGN

The aim of this research is to empirically assess the level

of IT use in government organizations, and study the

role of top management, IT management, user satisfac-

tion, organizational culture, and IT use through descrip-

tive and inferential statistics. The following research

questions are posed which have been subsequently

translated into working hypotheses:

How effectively is IT used in the government or-

ganizations?

What are the factors that affect IT use in government

organizations?

What are the relationships between IT use and

departmental attributes?

What is the role of top management for effective IT

use in the organizations?

What is the relationship between IT use, user ex-

pectation, and satisfaction?

The enablers, inhibitors, and indicators of IT effec-

tiveness have also been identified.

The model considered to examine the effects of thesefactors and effectiveness of IT is shown in Figure 1. The

variablestop management, IT management, user sat-

isfaction, organizational culture, and IT use are consid-

ered as independent variables while IT effectiveness is

the dependent variable in the model. A brief description

of these variables is given below.

Top Management

Top management involvement in the IT-related projects

provides guidelines and directions for the IS profession-

als and users. It also provides better communicationamong the users and produces better results while taking

decisions. Better understanding of the projects by the

top management facilitates information systems in the

organization. Lack of training and understanding of

information systems among the top management is the

biggest problem in the effectiveness of IT in the organ-

izations. The involvement of top management also

supports the change process, that is, involving employ-

ees at all levels and increasing the confidence among

employees. Top management also helps in satisfying the

users in their expectations. They also suggest a positiverelationship between leadership and commitment which

in turn leads to job satisfaction in users.

IT Management

An efficient IT management helps an organization in

increasing its operational efficiency, solving the unstruc-

tured decisions, and also in strategic planning. It affects

the productivity of the organization and users relation-

ship with other officials of the organization. Moreover,

it helps an organization become a low cost leader and

differentiate products by incorporating appropriatetechnology. Advancement in IT management is very

useful in taking timely decisions and resolving problems

associated with the information systems.

Figure 1: The Model

Top M anagement

User Satisfaction

IT M anagement


IT U se

IT Effectiveness


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User Satisfaction

User expectations affect user satisfaction and hence it

becomes very essential to find out the expectat ions of

the users in order to attain user satisfaction. The involve-

ment of users in system development is positively cor-

related with their desire to be involved. User satisfaction

along with the usage of information system has been

used as a measure of IT effectiveness. The users are

influenced more by the IS staff as compared to the non-

IS staff. Users are also more influenced by the internal

sources of the organization as compared to the sources

external to the organization. The user satisfaction with

IT use is important for the organization for its produc-

tivity, efficiency, and accuracy in the reports. IT effec-

tiveness in the organization is positively correlated with

user satisfaction.


Organizational culture depends on departmental affi-

liation of employees, employees specialization, strate-

gy, and technology. IT effectiveness requires the man-

agement of organizational culture and mechanisms of

the supply and distribution of information. IT effective-

ness in an organization is also related to the ability of

its culture to ease the adoption and diffusion of new

technologies. The management of the organization plays

an important role in establishing and shaping the culture

of the organization. The IT professionals are also affect-

ed by the culture of the organization, mostly by the

formal structure of the organization, top management,

IT management, work processes, and general organiza-

tional behaviour.

IT Use

There was a high resistance from the union leaders and

the employees of the government organizations at the

time of introduction of computers. The employees feared

that the recruitment of IT staff would lesson their control,

and that they would not be able to tamper with the data

as well as the reports after the implementation of IT in

the organizations. Later, however, they realized that IT

implementation had reduced the burden of the organ-

ization and improved the output and quality of reports

produced by the organization. Computer training also

enhanced the system utilization and users commitment.

Training and education in computer-related software,

proper maintenance, proper documentation, and sup-

port from the vendor increased IT effectiveness.

RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

The broad working hypotheses for this study are for-

mulated keeping in mind the working environment of

the government organizations. In some of the organi-

zations, the methodology of IT use is simple, while in

some others, it is tedious and complicated. Therefore,

hypotheses are formulated to test them empirically in

the Indian context.The top management in government organizations

expects higher and better impact of information systems

for future planning and implementation. For IT effi-

ciency, better documentation, planning, and procedures

are required. Hence,

Hypotheses I: Government organizations, in

general, do not use IT effectively.

For IT effectiveness in the organizations, the users

should be involved in IS-development projects; their

attitude should be favourable towards IT-related prob-

lems; their background should be technically sound with

regard to IT; and the work and culture of the organi-

zation should also motivate the users. Hence,

Hypotheses II: A major source of IT inefficiency

arises from the existing work methods.

For better IS projects and effectiveness of IT, IS

managers should be given more powers in taking de-

cisions; top management should motivate the IS person-

nel; and there should not be any undue interference by

top management in IT-related projects. IT effectiveness

mainly depends on the structure of the governmentorganizations. Hence,

Hypotheses III: Organizational size and users

attitudes contribute significantly to IT effective-

ness.

For success of IS in the organization, it should meet

the users satisfaction with IT. Literature also suggests

that user satisfaction regarding computer information

systems have been used as a surrogate measure of system

effectiveness. Hence,

Hypotheses IV: The nature of responsibility and

accountability across the board hinders proper

growth of IT in government organizations.

QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN

The scope of the study is limited to the Indian govern-

ment organizations situated in New Delhi and the sur-

rounding areas. In order to achieve good results, it is

necessary to select better representation of the popula-

tion. Purposive sampling technique was considered for


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the research. A questionnaire was developed and dis-

tributed among the employees of the government organ-

izations, including the top management, IT personnel,

and the IT users.

The questionnaire was structured along the guide-

lines given by Franz and Robey (1986), and some other

relevant literature. It incorporated questions regarding

the independent and dependent variables user sat-isfaction, IT use, organizational culture, and information

systems performance along with the enablers and inhibi-

tors of IT use. The issues regarding top management

and IT management were also included in the question-

naire. The Likert scale was used in formulating the

questionnaires, in which the respondents were asked to

state their preference on a continuum no effect, low,

medium, high, very high, and none, very little,

little, and moderately. The answers for the categories

were thus mutually exclusive so that the respondent had

to state only one choice against an item. An attempt was

also made to minimize the bias in the language of the

questionnaire.

The questionnaire along with a covering letter

mentioning the objectives of the study was administered

in the organizations adjacent to New Delhi area. Per-

sonal visits were made to the offices situated in New

Delhi and followed up personally or through phones to

collect the filled questionnaires. A total of 22 govern-

ment organizations were approached to participate in

this study.Seven hundred and fifty sets of questionnaires were

used to collect data from 15 organizations. The half-filled

questionnaires were not considered in the study. The

response rate of the data used in the study is shown in

Table 1. The data were selected only from those organi-

zations where the response rate was higher than the

effective response rate which was found to be 40.4 per

cent. On the basis of the response rate, 14 organizations

were chosen for this study.

A pilot study, conducted on three governmentorganizations, was used for finalizing the questionnaire

items. The heads of information systems as well as the

users and the top management of the organizations also

critiqued the questions. Their suggestions were incor-

porated to meet their expectations and satisfaction.

DATA VALIDATION

The three phasespre-test, pilot test, and reliability test

tested the validity of the data.

During the pre-test, all items in the draft instrument

were qualitatively analysed to test their validity. Ran-

domly, individuals from different organizations were

requested to fill out the original version of the question-

naire. They were then requested to participate in differ-

ent in-depth unstructured interviews. The interviews

were conducted over a period of two weeks and con-

tained critiques of individual questionnaire items and

suggestions for improvement. The information thus

obtained allowed us to review the questionnaire and

make substantive changes to improve the overall format.

Qualitatively, content validity was established by ob-taining a consensus on each of the questionnaire items.

We collected data from three government sources

Table 1: Response Rate of Data

S.No Organization Sent Received Response Rate (%)

1 Directorate of Income Tax (RSP&PR) 50 27 54

2 Registrar General of India 50 24 48

3 National Sample Survey Organization 50 21 42

4 Ministry of Labour 50 25 50

5 Ministry of Power 50 20 40

6 Ministry of Water Resources 50 23 46

7 Ministry of Railways 50 26 528 CSO, Ministry of Planning 50 24 48

9 DGET, Ministry of Labour 50 24 48

10 National Informatic Centre 50 24 48

11 Union Public Service Commission 50 24 48

12 Ministry of Finance 50 23 46

13 Ministry of Human Resource Development 50 22 44

14 Ministry of Agriculture 50 21 42

15 Controller of Accountant General(CAG) 50 2 4

Total 750 328 40.35


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namely the Directorate of Income Tax (DIT), the Director

General of Employment and Training (DGET), and the

Office of Registrar General of India (RGI). The results

were examined and tested statistically using Statistical

Package for Social Sciences and were found to be sig-

nificant.

The internal consistency of the data was measured

using reliability measures. For instance, reliability wasassessed using Cronbachs alpha. High values of

Cronbachs alpha indicate high internal consistency of

the multiple items measuring each construct, thus sug-

gesting high reliability of the individual construct. The

reliability coefficients of more than the cut-off value of

0.6 is recommended as acceptable for empirical research

of similar nature. The reliability coefficient of the inde-

pendent variablesuser satisfaction and IS usewere

found to be significant (alpha = 0.8004). Also, the reli-

ability coefficient of the variables of top management

and IT management were found to be significant (alpha

=0.7768, and alpha = 0.7710 respectively). Similarly, the

reliability coefficients of the variablesorganizational

culture for managerial and non-managerial categories

have been found to be significant (alpha =0.8142, and

alpha = 0.7386 respectively). The reliability coefficient

of the dependent variables of IT effectiveness was also

found to be significant (alpha =0.6097). In view of the

above, we conclude that the data is significantly reliable

and can be used for final analysis.

The frequency tables, along with charts of regres-sion as well as correlation analysis wereprepared as per

the requirement of the study using SPSS. Since the

respondents were from the various government organi-

zations in India, it was presumed that all of them were

qualified and familiar with information system.

DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICAL ANALYSIS

The objective of descriptive statistics was to provide

summary measures of data contained in all the elements

of the sample. In doing so, we used the frequency tables,

mean, percentage of data scored by the elements/var-

iables, and standard error. The relevant tables were

generated for the variables under study, i.e., IT use, top

management, IT management, user satisfaction, and

organizational culture.

IT Use

Government organizations, in general, are now found

to be increasing IT usage though the trend is slow. As

per the results depicted in Figure 2, frequent system

users account for about 62.6 per cent. However, a near

similar number (61.3%) of respondents are light users.

This result indicates that system usage is frequent but

less, implying that use of computers has not become a

habit as yet (negligible standard error, i.e. 0.027).

User Satisfaction

User satisfaction with system is also increasing. This is

clear from the results (Figure 3) as the system use is high

in meeting the original expectations (31%); the system

also assists them in performing their jobs (40.5%). Users

are using the reports provided by the system (27.9%).

The reports are in a format desired by the users except

for a few cases where some corrections are required. The

analysis indicates that the jobs would improve after

implementation of the new system (The standard error

is negligible).

The organization plays an important role in satis-

fying the users. 38.7 per cent of the users are of the

opinion that their expectations are considered in the

development of their projects; 35.6 per cent are influ-

enced by the IS staff as compared to the non-IS staff;

and 35.9 per cent are of the opinion that computer train-

ing and IT use increased their confidence.

It is thus clear that the system assists the users in

performing their jobs though not adequately. The rising

expectations of the users also play an important role in

considering the users satisfaction which in turn is foundto be the best indicator of IS success. The trained users

are more confident and when used by them, the effi-

ciency, productivity, and accuracy of the system also

gets enhanced. However, there is still scope of improve-

ment.

Figure 2: Usage Frequency of the System

I

Frequently

Infrequently


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Top Management

Top management involvement is very crucial for the

success of IT projects.

In the government organizations in India, the trend

is improving35 per cent of the respondents feel that

top management takes deep interest in increasing the

IT usage. However, while decisions are taken by con-

sensus (39.5%), training programmes related to IT are

not adequate. Budget allocation for IT is also increasing.

The inter-departmental communication flow is high

(35.6%) in the organization and although management

is clear about its policy making it relies more on external

help and consultancy. The management is interested in

measuring the cost-benefit of IT systems that are imple-mented and proactive in the IT-related decisions (33.1%).

IT Management

The contribution of IT management should improve the

effectiveness on IT in the organizations.

Although 32.2 per cent of the respondents preferred

consensus mode in IT-related decisions, decision-mak-

ing is slow. The management takes active part in IT-

related decisions (35.3%), which increase the effective-

ness of IT in the organization. The employees, however,

resist management taking these decisions as they (35.0%)fear that IT will take away their jobs.


An organizations culture plays an important role in

accomplishing success of IT project. The government

organizations are hierarchical, procedural, and result-

oriented. They are not sociable and structured, but are

pressurized and ordered, established, cautious, trusting,

and power-oriented. These organizations thus offer little

opportunity for innovation and risk-taking.

IT Effectiveness

IT effectiveness is adjudged by improved effectiveness,

improved communications, improved decision making,

improved organizational responsiveness, and informa-

tion systems on the whole. The users felt that there wasimprovement in all of these (Table 2).

IT-related Issues

IT related issues considered in the study are at five

levels: managerial, technical, organizational, personnel,

and infrastructure.

The users were of the view that the performance

evaluation of the IT staff, flow of authority and infor-

mation, centralization, and planning of goals were high

in the organization while control and audit capability

of IS were medium. Further, the quality of hardware/

software and IT obsolescence were high but vendor

back-up and technology absorption were medium. This

shows that in government organizations, the hardware

and software that have been installed are of good quality

while vendor support is poor.

The users were of the opinion that users capability

(48.8%) and job satisfaction of the IS staff (40.5%) were

high while the redundancy and conflict of authority

were medium in nature. The need for training is high.

Moreover, the quality of connectivity, power, space, andfunds are of concern while operating costs is generally

found high in the government organizations. These

issues according to their significance are summarized

in Table 3.

Figure 3: User Satisfaction

Ver Hi hHihM pderaeLittleVer LittleNot Al

Coun140

120

100

80

60

40

20

0

Table 2: Rating of Organizational IT

Q. No. Attribute Met All Expectations( %)

F1

Mean:2.59

S.E.: 0.069 Improved effectiveness 40.2

F2

Mean:2.71S.E.:0.059 Improved communications 36.8

F3

Mean:2.85

S.E.:0.054 Improved decision-making 25.2

F4

Mean:2.83

S.E.:0.060 Improved organizational responsiveness 33.7

F5

Mean:2.56

S.E.:0.055 IS on the whole 42.0

Does this system assist you in performing your job better?


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Significant IT Enablers/Inhibitors

There are many factors which, if used appropriately,

greatly help in enhancing IT use. Categorized as organ-

izational, technical, and environmental factors, they can

also be termed as enablers of IT. The users were of the

view that enablers of IT with a high score are leadership

in the organization, management awareness about the

costs and benefits of IT, centrality of IT strategy, and

awareness of IT applications, top management support,

position of IS manager, and easy accessibility of com-

puters. Also, in government organizations, the favour-

able cost performance trends, enhanced connectivity

capability, falling prices of computers, quality of final

work, and management assistance to make tasks easier

are the enablers of the IT. Further, the users were of the

opinion that the organization had high vendor push,

enough competitive pressure, and a higher depreciation

and other regulatory benefits (Table 4).There are a number of factors which inhibit the

growth of IT projects. The users found high managerial

resistance and high financial constraints in the govern-

ment organizations. The top management lacks in giving

a vision of IT and its benefits. There are excessive con-

trols and procedures to be followed. The organizations

do not have good computer training facility or pro-

grammes. The employees resisted IT-driven change. The

organizations are more centralized and there is often

conflict among the officials. There are also difficulties

in making cost-benefits analysis in the organizations.These are inhibitors of IT use in the government organi-

zations. The users are of the view that lack of good

quality hardware and technology obsolescence is rela-

tively higher inhibitors in the organization as compared

to lack in established standards and lack of good soft-

ware. Further, lack of good quality service to IT solutions

and poor back-up support by vendor are also big inhibi-

tors. The comparative analysis of the relatively signifi-

cant IT enablers and inhibitors is presented in Table 4.

INFERENTIAL STATISTICAL ANALYSISInferential statistics is meant to draw inference about the

data through investigative questions, model, and hy-

potheses. It is used to make judgment about the prob-

ability that an observed difference between the groups

is dependable or not. Inferential statistics make infer-

ence from the data to more general conditions. On the

other hand, descriptive statistics simply describes what

is going on in the data. Both correlation and regression

analyses were used for the testing of the hypotheses.

Correlation Analysis

Correlation analysis was performed for all the variables,

viz., top management, IT management, user satisfaction,

organizational culture, and IT use with variables of IT

effectiveness. The correlation between the variables of

IT effectiveness is tabulated in Table 5. The variables of

IT effectiveness were highly correlated with each other.

IT Use and Effectiveness

The results of the correlation of IT use and IT effective-

ness (Table 6) show a significantly positive relation ofthe variable using of system frequently with the var-

iables improved effectiveness and improved decision-

making.

Table 3: Grading of IT issues

Variables Medium High Very High

Managerial Control/Audit capability of IS Performance evaluation of IS staff

Flow of authority and information

Planning goals

Centralization/Delegation.Technical Vendor backup/Support Hardware/Software quality.

Technology absorption IT obsolescence

Organizational Business process re-design Structural changes due to IT in the organization

New products as a result of IT Effect on efficiency in the organization

Personnel Redundancy Job scope/Job satisfaction of IS

Authority conflict User capability Training needs

Infrastructure Connectivity

Power

Space

Fund constraints


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Table 4: Relative Significance of IT-Enablers/Inhibitors

Variables High Medium

ENABLERS Organizational Leadership Vision of integration through IT platform

Managerial awareness of costs and benefits

Centrality of IT to business strategy

Awareness of potential IT application

Top management support

Higher position of IS manager

Easy accessibility to computerTechnical Favourable cost performance trends

Enhanced connectivity capability

Falling prices of computers

Improved quality of the final work

Makes tasks easier to perform

Environmental Vendors push

Competitive pressure

Depriciation and regulatory benefits

INHIBITORS Organizational Managerial resistance Employees resistance to change

Financial constraints Difficulty in making a cost benefit analysis.

Lack of top management vision of IT

Centralized/Decentralized conflict

Excessive controls/Formalities

Lack of previous experience/Training

Lack of appropriate planning

Relatively lower position of the IT department

Technical Obsolescence of technology

Future reduction in cost performance

Lack of good quality of hardware

Environmental Lack of good quality service to organizational needs for IT solutions

Poor back up by vendor

Table 5: Correlation for Rating of IT Effectiveness Variables

Factor Improved Improved Improved Improved IT on the

Effectiveness Communication Decision- Organizational Wholemaking Responsiveness

Improved effectiveness 0 0 0 0.009 0.009

Improved communication 0 0 0 0 0.001

Improved Decision-making 0 0 0 0.028 0.038Improved organizational responsiveness 0 0 0.028 0 0

IT on the whole 0.009 0.001 0.038 0 0

Table 6: Correlation of IT Use and IT Effectiveness

Q. Factor Improved Improved Improved Improved IT on the

No. Effectiveness Communication Decision- Organizational Wholemaking Responsiveness

A1 How freguently system is used? 0.142* 0.106 0.145* 0.005 0.019

A2 Is the user light user of the system? 0.055 0.037 0.098 0.033 0.076

Note: *. Correlation is significant at 0.05 level.

User Satisfaction and IT Effectiveness

The details of the correlation between user satisfaction

and IT effectiveness are given in Table 7.

Drawing on the results, we can conclude that most

of the factors of the variable IT effectiveness were

correlated with the variables of top management. It was

found that the user actually uses the system as per the

expectations and that the system assists the users in

performing their jobs better. The jobs provided by the

system were found to be better than before; the system

was actually used less as compared to the total number

of people who could be using it; and user satisfaction


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was found to be an indicator of the system success.

Users expectations were also considered when assess-

ing user satisfaction; users were influenced by the IS

staff; organization played an important role in the sat-

isfaction of users; and training increased the confidence

among users. The results also indicated that improved

effectiveness and improved communication was affected

by the variables the system overloads you with more

data, and user is like to modify this system respec-

tively. Thus, overall, user expectations and satisfaction

was highly correlated with IT effectiveness.Top Management and IT Effectiveness

The correlation analysis of the variables of top manage-

ment and IT effectiveness has been tabulated (Table 8).

From the results shown in the table, we conclude that

the variable top management is highly correlated with

IT effectiveness. This proves that top management

provides help for IT effectiveness in the organization.

IT Management and IT Effectiveness

The correlation between the variables of IT management

and IT effectiveness has been tabulated (Table 9). From

the results, it is clear that the variable IT management

was highly correlated with the variables of IT effective-

ness. This also explains how the role of IT management

affects the effectiveness of IT in the organization.

Organizational Culture and IT Effectiveness

The results of correlation between organizational cul-

ture and the variables of IT effectiveness are shown in

Table 10. All the variables of organizational culture

were found to be significantly correlated with IT effec-

tiveness.

Regression Analysis

The details of regression analysis have been tabulated

using SPSS. Since there were five options for IT effec-

tiveness, viz., improved effectiveness, improved de-

Table 7: Correlation of Users Satisfaction and IT Effectiveness

Q. Variable Improved Improved Improved Improved IT on the


B1 To what extent does this system meet 0.005 0.112 0.030 0.149* 0.150*the original expectations ?

B2 To what extent does this system assist 0.098 0.064 0.156** 0.090 0.201**you in performing jobs better ?

B3 To what extent did you get better jobs 0.112 0.087 0.153** 0.210** 0.244**

with this system ?

B4 To what extent you actually use the reports 0.037 0.067 0.081 0.022 0.092provided by the system ?

B5 To what extent does data received from this -0.089 -0.103 -0.059 -0.006 -0.086system require correction ?

B6 To what extent does this system overloads 0.149* -0.027 -0.059 0.099 0.087you with more data ?

B7 To what extent does this system provide 0.069 0.028 0.102 -0.047 -0.013reports as desired ?

B8 To what extent would you like this system 0.060 -0.131* 0.030 0.102 0.140*modified/redesigned

B9 To what extent is this system actually used as 0.129* 0.125* 0.156** 0.059 0.213**compared to its potential use ?

B10 To what extent user satisfaction is an indicator 0.010 0.096 0.051 0.130* 0.159**

of system success ?B11 To what extent is user expectation considered 0.099 0.173** 0.134* 0.217** 0.131*

when assessing user satisfaction ?

B12 To what extent users are influenced by 0.195** 0.046 0.118* 0.177** 0.110IS staff/non IS staff ?

B13 To what extent organization plays an important role 0.163** 0.063 0.013 0.133* 0.101in satisfaction of user ?

B14 To what extent computer training 0.154** 0.069 0.050 0.168** 0.051increases confidence ?

B15 To what extent does this system assist 0.016 0.075 -0.002 0.064 0.101you with your job ?

Note: * Correlation is significant at 0.05 level.

** Correlation is significant at 0.01 level.


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cision making, improved communication, improved

organizational responsiveness, and IT on the whole,

IT effectiveness was calculated with the help of a weight-

ed matrix (Table 11).

The IT effectiveness variable is generated by mul-

tiplying these five factors with the eigen values and then

taking the average of the values. The variable generated

was used for the regression analysis as dependent

variable. The variables such as IT uses, top management,

IT management, user satisfaction, and organizational

culture were used as independent variables. The values

of R-square, F-ratio, and the significant values of prob-

abilities are tabulated (Table 12).

Table 9: Correlation of IT Management and IT Effectiveness



D1 To what extent is consensus the preferred mode 0.115 0.131* 0.163** 0.132* 0.161**of decision-making in IT decisions?

D2 To what extent is decision-making process is 0.055 0.142* 0.100 0.173** 0.117*used w.r.t to IT in the organization?

D3 To what extent is MIS the vision of the role of 0.126* 0.060 0.208** 0.218** 0.054IT in the organization?

D4 To what extent is IT effectiveness related with 0.082 0.085 0.064 0.114 0.087the managements decisions?

D5 How much active part does management take in 0.131* 0.212** 0.177** 0.043 0.020IT decisions of the organizations?

D6 To what extent does management play its role 0.191** 0.227** 0.220** 0.265** 0.185**in IT strategy and planning?

D7 How many employees resist the management in 0.169** 0.088 0.160** 0.265** 0.167**taking IT-related decisions?

D8 How much does management make IT-related 0.129* 0.081 0.043 0.131* 0.168**tasks easier to perform?



Table 8: Correlation of Top Management and IT Effectiveness



C1 To what extent is consensus the preferred mode 0.051 0.161** 0.172** 0.232** 0.286**of decision making in the organization?

C2 What is the extent of personal involvement of top 0.044 0.152* 0.215** 0.137* 0.041management in IT usage, in the organization?

C3 Are there any training programme from top 0.087 0.087 0.105 0.070 0.114

management w.r.t. to IT in the organization?

C4 How much was the quantum of investment in IT 0.062 0.001 -0.003 -0.060 0.021w.r.t to IT in the organization?

C5 To what extent does management measure the 0.069 0.070 0.162** 0.265** 0.055cost-benefit of the implemented IT systems?

C6 To what extent does top management give 0.124* 0.017 0.078 0.168** 0.004initiatives to IT persons?

C7 What is the extent of inter-departmental 0.144* 0.175** 0.156** 0.113 0.050management communication flow?

C8 How much is the top management clear about 0.151* 0.151* 0.069 0.245** 0.171**the role of IT in the organization?

C9 How much does top management get involved 0.005 0.131* 0.037 0.003 0.155*in budget allocation of the organization?

C10 To what extent does top management rely on 0.188** 0.157** 0.232** 0.163** 0.144*

external help in IT decisions?C11 How much is the top management role proactive 0.069 0.129* 0.134* 0.225** 0.204**

in IT-related decisions in the organization?

C12 To what extent is top management facing 0.241** 0.073 0.115 0.194* 0.077competitive pressure?




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The results show that the variables under study

have a significant positive effect on IT effectiveness.

Top Management

The standard error of the result varies from 0.043 to

0.049, which is very negligible. The regression analysis

of the variable top management with IT effectiveness(Table 13) reveals that top management relies on exter-

nal help and consultant for IT decisions. The value oft

was found to be 2.519, suggesting that the relation was

positively significant. This shows that the top manage-

ment was significantly related with IT effectiveness but

the variables of top management were not significantly

related except for the fact that the top management relied

on the consultant.

Table 10: Correlation of Organizational Culture and IT Effectiveness


No. Effectiveness Communication Decision- Organizational Whole

making Responsiveness

E1 Risk taking 0.041 0.045 0.166** 0.041 0.046

E2 Collaborative 0.107 0.106 0.087 0.020 0.033

E3 Hierarchical 0.009 0.026 0.073 0.071 0.108

E4 Procedural 0.065 0.078 0.069 0.213** 0.132

E5Relationship-oriented 0.090 0.052 0.069 0.057 0.011E6 Result-oriented 0.052 0.051 0.010 0.006 0.066

E7 Creative 0.103 0.046 0.077 0.017 0.069

E8 Encouraging 0.153 0.049 0.052 0.062 0.047

E9 Sociable 0.032** 0.014 0.019 0.168** 0.105

E10 Structured 0.003 0.018 0.066 0.020 0.034

E11 Pressurized 0.074 0.101 0.063 0.112 0.015

E12 Ordered 0.097 0.052 0.034 0.261** 0.130*

E13 Stimulating 0.041 0.015 0.002 0.029 0.053

E14 Regulated 0.095 0.050 0.145* 0.056 0.019

E15 Equitable 0.014 0.066 0.051 0.020 0.059

E16 Safe 0.056 0.029 0.069 0.007 0.012

E17 Challenging 0.082 0.029 0.124* 0.050 0.079

E18 Enterprising 0.120 0.010 0.023 0.034 0.062

E19 Established, solid 0.068 0.021 0.123 0.010 0.026E20 Cautious 0.033 0.020 0.046 0.078 0.178**

E21 Trusting 0.091 0.092 0.043 0.123* 0.114

E22 Driving 0.136* 0.044 0.175** 0.207** 0.104

E23 Power-oriented 0.209** 0.117* 0.124* 0.230** 0.099



Table 11: Weighted Matrix

Variables IT Use and Top Management Organization User IT Management EigenIT and IT Culture and Satisfaction and IT Value

Effectiveness Effectiveness IT Effectiveness and IT Effectiveness

Effectiveness

IT use and IT effectiveness 1 6 5 4 4 0.46

Top management and IT effectiveness 1/6 1 5 1/6 5 0.16

Organization culture and IT effectiveness 1/5 1/5 1 6 7 0.18

User satisfaction and IT effectiveness 1/4 6 1/6 1 1/7 0.09

IT management and IT effectiveness 1/4 1/5 1/7 7 1 0.11

IT Management

The regression analysis of the independent variable IT

management and the dependent variable IT effective-

ness was tabulated (Table 13). The standard error of

the results varies from 0.043 to 0.051, which is very

negligible. The variable IT management was found tobe positively significant with IT effectiveness, but the

options of this variable did not have significant effect

with IT effectiveness except the variable IT manage-

ment plays its role in IT strategy and planning. This

result was found to be positive at 0.05 level of signif-

icance. This shows that the management of the govern-

ment organizations in India has not been taking proper

interest in the effective implementation of IT.


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major source of inefficiencywas validated.

Bigger organizations have better results for IT ef-

fectiveness. The relationship between organizational

culture and IT effectiveness was found to have signifi-

cant positive results. The user satisfaction had signifi-

cant positive results with IT effectiveness. The expec-

tations of the users were considered when assessing

their satisfaction and the users were more or less sat-isfied in their demand. The analysis also indicates that

the system is actually used by the users. This would be

helpful in proving Hypothesis IIIthat the organiza-

tional size and users attitude contribute significantly to

IT effectiveness.

The management had excessive controls and cen-

tralization of power. The vendor back-up and technol-

ogy absorption were found to be medium. The manage-

ment also relied more on external help and consultancy.

This helped in validating Hypothesis IVthat the na-

ture of accountability structure also hinders the working

of IT in government organizations.

It was further observed that the system was not able

to meet all the expectations of the users. The system was

found to be moderately used in government organiza-

tions even though it assisted the users in their jobs and

helped in performing the jobs better. The users used the

system frequently but less. The vendor support and

technology absorption were also medium in the govern-

ment organizations.

The leadership quality, managerial awareness ofcosts and benefits, centrality of IT to strategy, awareness

of IT applications, top management support, higher

position of IS manager, falling prices of computers,

improved quality of the final work, making task easier,

and vendor push are the factors which should help to

increase the effectiveness of IT in the government or-

ganizations. The study also indicates that managerial

resistance, financial constraints, excessive controls and

formalities, lack of previous experience, appropriate

planning, lack of good quality hardware, and poor back-

up of vendor are the factors which reduce IT effective-ness.

Further, computer training increases the confidence

among users. The organization plays an important role

in the satisfaction of users and the system actually assists

the users in their jobs. The top management makes tasks

easier to take the IT-related decisions. IT effectiveness

has been related with the managements decisions. The

initiatives given to IT-professionals and providing train-

ing to them has been envisaged by top management. This

shows that IT effectiveness has been related with the

departmental attributes.The management allocates budget for IT invest-

ment, measures the cost benefits of IT system imple-

mented, gives initiatives to ITpersons, and holds train-

ing programmes related to IT. It also plays a major role

in formulating IT strategy and planning and makes tasks

easier to take IT-related decisions. In fact, IT effective-

ness is related with managements decisions. Thus IT

effectiveness could increase with the initiatives taken by

top management and IT management.

The results show that the system assisted the user

in performing their jobs better; the reports received by

the system were actually used by the users with few

corrections; user expectations were considered when

assessing user satisfaction; ITusage increased confidence

among the users; and user satisfaction was an indicator

of system success. This shows that ITuse has been highly

related with user expectations and satisfaction. It can

also be stated that the success of IT depends on the user

satisfaction.

The study concludes that the system use in the

organizations is not as effective as desired. The topmanagement relies on external consultant for technical

support with the internal IS-staff lacking training on the

latest technologies and feeling deprived and demotivated.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

Results suggest that user satisfaction is the best indicator

of IT. The trained IS staff is more confident in solving

the problems using IT. Although, the top management

encouraged training programmes for the IS profession-

als, they did not meet the requirement. They had to

therefore rely more on external help and consultants.

The employees in general resist the dominance of top

management in IT-related decisions.


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Franz, C R and Robey, D (1986). Organizational Context,User Involvement, and the Usefulness of InformationSystems, Decision Sciences , 17(3), 329-356.

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Gupta M P, Sanjay (2004). Information Technology Usage:The Indian Experience, Vikalpa, 29 (1), 83-91.

Gupta, M P, Kumar, P and Bhattacharya, J (2006). Govern-ment Online: Opportunities and Challenges, New Delhi:McGraw-Hill.

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Operations: The Case of the South Carolina DMV,Journal of Operations Management, In Press. Availableonline 19 September 2005.

Kumar, R (2002). A Study of Information Technology Use inSelect Government Organizations in India, UnpublishedDoctoral Dissertation, Indian Institute of Technology,Delhi.

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M P Gupta is the Group Chair of IT and the Coordinatorof the Centre for Excellence in E-governance at IIT Delhi.His research interest lies in the areas of IS/IT planning, E-business, and E-government. He has authored the muchacclaimed book, Government Online and edited two othersentitled, Towards E-Governmentand Promise of E-Government,published by Tata McGraw Hill, 2004. His research papershave appeared in national and international journals andconference proceedings. He was the recipient of theprestigious Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) fellowshipof Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute, Calgary (Canada), in theyear 1995-96 and a Visiting Fellow at the University of

Manitoba. He supervised the e-government portal GramPrabhat which won the IBM Great Mind Challenge Awardfor the year 2003. He is also a member of the InternationalProgramme Committee of the International Conference onBusiness Information System (BIS-2003 at Colorado) and(BIS-2004, 2005 and 2006 at Poznan).e-mail: [email protected]

Shivraj Kanungo is currently Associate Professor at theGeorge Washington Uinversity (USA). He is a successfulconsultant and has published extensively in research journals.He offers executive and practitioner-oriented workshops onsoftware cost modeling and estimation, software process

improvement, the use of Six Sigma approaches in processimprovement, and qualitative and management decision-making. His books include Making Information TechnologyWork (Sage Publications), Computer and Network Technologiesand Applications, (coauthored with with B. N. Jain from IIT-Delhi and published by Tata-McGrawHill,), and InformationTechnology at Work: A Collection of Managerial Experiences

(published by Hindustan Publishing Corporation). His latestbook, CMMI Implementation: Embarking on High MaturityPractices (coauthored with Dr. Asha Goyal from IBM andpublished by Tata-McGraw Hill) was released in 2004.e-mail: [email protected]

Rajesh Kumaris currently active in education sector throughan NGO. He received his Doctoral degree from the IndianInstitute of Technology, Delhi concluded under thesupervision of Prof. M P Gupta and S Kanungo. Earlier, he

has served in various central government departmentsbefore he took voluntary retirement to pursue an NGO inHaryana.

G P Sahu is a Senior Lecturer at the School of ManagementStudies, M N National Institute of Technology, Allahabadfor last seven years. He pursued his Doctoral work at theDepartment of Management Studies, Indian Institute ofTechnology (IIT), Delhi. His research interests are in theareas of MIS and E-government. He has published researchpapers both in journals and conferences proceedings. He hasalso coordinated an International Conference on Integrating

World Market-Living Excellence through Technology andBeyond.... (January 5-6, 2002) and has edited a book onIntegrating World Market in 2002. He has also edited a bookDelivering E-government in 2006. He is now the ProgrammeChair of the 5th International Conference in E-governance(ICEG 2007) in December at Hyderabad.e-mail: [email protected]


3 gupta - a study of it effectiveness in select government organization in india

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