Technology and Urban Management

Abstract

for their helpful advice. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Society for Public Administration, Washington, D. C., April 1976. This research is supported by a grant from the RA NN Division of the National Science Foundation. This study argues that as automated information systems in local governments are more oriented to providing top management with information, top managers gain control vis-à-vis lower level managers and staff. clients, and lay policy officials. A measure of "management oriented computing" is developed which indicates the degree computing is oriented to serving top management. This index is related to both the hypothesized payoffs and the hypothesized preconditons of computing being oriented to serve the interests of top management. Survey response datafrom most of the larger U.S. cities and counties tend to support the power shift hypothesis and identify certain local government milieus most conducive to management-oriented computing. These milieus tend to be characterized by administrative reform values and top management control of computing decisions.

Information Technology and Administrative Reform

“…The empirical evidence suggests that the main impact of IT application has been to reinforce existing structures of communication, authority, and power in organizations, whether centralized or decentralized (Attewell & Rule, 1984;Danziger et al, 1982;Dutton & Kraemer, 1977, 1978George & King, 1991;King, 1983;Kraemer, 1980;Laudon, 1974;Pinsonneault, 1990;Pinsonneault & Kraemer, 1997Robey, 1981). This finding is consistent in research on computerization in both city and federal agencies.…”

“…In fact, IT is being applied widely in government with the full approval of all levels of the managerial hierarchy. Moreover, governments with professionalized administrations actually are more likely to adopt and apply IT (Danziger et al, 1982;Dutton & Kraemer, 1977). The issue is not that managers fail to understand the potential of IT; they understand that potential perfectly well when it comes to their own interests, and they exploit it aggressively in the pursuit of those interests.…”

Ubiquitous Eco Cities

“…Starting from late 1970s it is clearly accepted that automated information systems or intelligent management systems in local governments contribute significantly to the decision process of top policy-making and management teams by providing them with accurate information and decision directions (Dutton & Kraemer, 1977). In recent years, the growing need for an effective urban management approach led into the development of the notion of intelligent urban management.…”