Galliers Robert D. & Currie Wendy L. (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Management Information Systems. Critical Perspectives and New Directions

Oxford University Press, 2011. — 746 p.Management Information Systems (MIS) play a crucial role in an organization's operations, accounting, decision-making, project management, and competitive advantage. The Oxford Handbook of Management Information Systems - Critical Perspectives and New Directions takes a critical and interdisciplinary view of the increasing complexity of these systems within organizations, and the strategic, managerial, and ethical issues associated with the effective use of these technologies. The Handbook provides an introductory background to the discipline and a methodological and philosophical framework for discussion of key topics, before exploring the issues associated with MIS in practice and considering the broader context and future agenda of research in light of such concerns as sustainability, ethics, and globalization. Bringing together international scholars to focus on the theory and practice of MIS, this handbook provides a comprehensive resource for academics and research students in the fields of MIS, IS, Organizational Behavior, and Management in general.A Handbook is meant to provide concise and current coverage of essential topics in an area of knowledge. On these criteria, the Oxford Handbook of Management Information Systems succeeds admirably. This Handbook gives the reader an expertly guided tour through the contemporary management information systems (MIS) landscape — the leading social theories applied in studies of MIS, the major concerns of contemporary information management practice, and the larger social issues in which information technology (IT) is implicated at present. Even the weightiest handbooks have little space to spare for history, although this one starts with an in-depth look at the history of the Information Systems academic field. Therefore, it seems opportune to use this introductory chapter to comment on the evolution of the practice of information management. In the pages that follow, I briefly characterize three co-evolving trends in the practice of information management: the professionalization of management and information management, the externalization of IT work, and the transformation of in-house IT services. These trends are likely to continue unfolding for some years to come, leading to new opportunities and challenges for the field of MIS. information technology has contributed to the professionalization of management over the last fifty years. In addition, information management itself has been professionalized — a process supported and reinforced by the use of IT — significantly during the last two decades. As a result, whereas the practice of information management was originally a craft occupation with practices customized by individuals and organizations, its increasing professionalization gives information management a transorganizational character. Among other consequences, professionalism facilitates the movement of IT workers among IT-using organizations. It also promotes externalization. By externalization, I mean the movement of IT professionals out of IT-using organizations and into organizations that specialize in the provision of IT services.Part I Setting the Scene.Robert D. Galliers and Wendy L. Currie.Historical Reflections on the Practice of Information Management and Implications for the Field of MIS.
M. Lynne Markus.Tracing the History of the Information Systems Field.
Rudy Hirschheim and Heinz K. Klein.Part II Theoretical and Methodological Perspectives in MIS.Wendy L. Currie.The Truth, the Whole Truth, and Nothing but the Truth: High-Quality Research in Information Systems.
John Mingers.Systems Thinking and Soft Systems Methodology.
Peter Checkland.Structuration Theory.
Matthew Jones.Institutional Theory of Information Technology.
Wendy L. Currie.‘Everything is Dangerous’: Rethinking Michel Foucault and the Social Study of ICT.
Leslie P. Willcocks and Eleni A. Lioliou.Critical Social Information Systems Research.
Bernd Stahl.Hermeneutics and Meaning-Making in Information Systems.
Lucas D. Introna.Phenomenology, Screens, and Screenness: Returning to the World Itself.
Lucas D. Introna and Fernando M. Ilharco.Post-structuralism, Social Shaping of Technology, and.
Actor-Network Theory: What Can They Bring to IS Research?
Nathalie Mitev and Debra Howcroft.Part III Rethinking Theory in MIS Practice.Robert D. Galliers.Further Developments in Information Systems Strategizing: Unpacking the Concept.
Robert D. Galliers.Rethinking Business – IT Alignment.
Yolande E. Chan and Blaize Horner Reich IT-Dependent Strategic Initiatives and Sustained Competitive Advantage: A Review, Synthesis, and an Extension of the Literature.
Michael Wade, Gabriele Piccoli, and Blake Ives.Changing the Story Surrounding Enterprise Systems to Improve our Understanding of What Makes ERP Work in Organizations.
Erica Wagner and Sue Newell.A Multi-theoretic Approach to IT Governance: The Need for Commitment as well as Alignment.
Sue Newell and Cynthia Clark Williams.Rethinking Information Systems Security.
Amy W. Ray.Mobile IT.
Carsten Sorensen.A Review of the IT Outsourcing Literature: Insights for Practice.
Mary C. Lacity, Shaji A. Khan, and Leslie P. Willcocks.Part IV Rethinking MIS Practice ina Broader Context.Robert D. Galliers.Managing Knowledge Work.
Jacky Swan.Rethinking Gender and MIS for the Twenty-First Century.
Eileen M. Trauth.Green Digits: Towards an Ecology of IT Thinking.
Pierre Berthon, Philip DesAutels, Brian Donnellan, and Cynthia Clark Williams.Ethics and ICT.
Simon Rogerson IT, Globalization, and Human Development: A Personal View.
Geoff Walsham.Discourses on Innovation and Development in Information Systems in Developing Countries Research.
Chrisanthi Avgerou.From Instrumentality to Emergence in Information Systems.
Richard T. Watson, Pierre Berthon, and Leyland F. Pitt.