The Use of Communication Technologies in the Urgen

SchoolWorkingPapersSeries2002SWP2002/44TheUseofCommunicationTechnologiesintheUrgentDecision-MakingProcess:ACaseStudyofaNewZealandPublicSectorOrganisationAuthors:KonradJ.PeszynskiandBrianJ.CorbittURL::ACaseStudyofaNewZealandPublicSectorOrganisationKonradJ.PeszynskiandBrianJ.CorbittSchoolofInformationSystems,DeakinUniversity,Melbourne,AustraliaEmail:[e-mail]:[phone]Email:[e-mail]:[phone]ABSTRACTWithintheliteratureondecision-making,informationandcommunicationtechnologies(ICT)andassociatedtheoriessuchastheInformationRichnessTheory(DaftandLengel,1986),thereislittlefocusontheurgentdecision-makingprocess,particularlytheroleofICTinthesesituations.ThisstudyexamineshowmembersofaseniormanagementteamintheNewZealandpublicsectormakedecisionsunderurgency.ThepurposeofthisstudyistoprovideabaseforfuturestudiesintheareaofICTandtheurgentdecision-makingprocess.Thisresearchwasdoneviaaqualitative,interpretivedesignutilisingCriticalIncidentInterviewingTechniqueandopencodingtoseeifandhowtheconventionaldecision-makingprocess(Robbins,etal.,1998;Watson,1987)differsunderurgencyandtoevaluatehowthecurrentcommunicationtechnologiesarebeingusedintermsofefficiencyandeffectivenessinthisurgentdecision-makingprocess.FourRegionalManagersgeographicallydispersedaroundNewZealandwereinterviewedeitherface-to-faceorviatelephone.Thisstudytentativelysuggeststhatonlythreefullstepsoftheconventionaldecision-makingprocessareusedintheurgentdecision-makingprocess.Participantsclaimedthatemailwouldbeusedrarely,ifatall,andthataudio-conferencinghadbeendroppedentirely.AlthoughICTisusedintheurgentdecision-makingprocess,methodstoimprovetheeffectivenessneedfurtherinvestigation.2INTRODUCTIONDisasterscanoccuratanytime,andtheresultcanplungemanyorganisationsintouncertainty.Forexample,whenaterroristbombrenderedworksitesintheWorldTradeCentreinNewYorkCityinaccessibleformorethanamonthin1999,itmadeitimpossibletoworkasabuildingcurfewkeptworkersfromrecoveringrolodexes,PCs,accounts,customerlistsandwork-in-progressfromdesktops(Nemzow,1997).WeonlyhavetolookatrecentmoretragiceventssuchastheSeptember11attackontheWorldTradeCentretoseethatsucheventsdooccurandthehavoctheycancauseontheworkingorganisation(thatis,theinabilitytocompletework).Wearenowinanerainwhichorganisationscanforfeitonemilliondollarseachdaytheydelayaproductorservicelaunch,andwherebeingsecondcanmeanfailure.Managersareunderpressuretomakeriskandopportunitydecisionsinlesstimethanever(SandahlandHewes,2001).Theorganisationsaffectedarethenputintoasituationofworkingunderurgencytoovercomesuchevents.Theydosobyusinganymeanspossible,butthisistypicallydoneviatheuseofcommunicationtechnologiestokeepincontactwiththeirteamtoworktogether.Employeesareunderconstantpressureand,duetounrealisticdeadlines,areworkingextendedhourstomeetstrictobjectives.Asaresult,tryingtoconductsynchronousmeetingsbecomesdifficult,asmembersarebusywithotherwork.Thisraisesthequestion,howdoorganisationalmemberscopewiththeseissues?Literatureexistsondecision-makingandinformationandcommunicationtechnologies(ICT)andassociatedtheories,suchastheInformationRichnessTheory(DaftandLengel,1986;Ross,2001;Bigelow,1999;Campbell,1997;Campbell,1999;Markus,1994;Lee,1994;NgwenyamaandLee,1997).However,veryfewstudieshaveexamineddecision-makingunderurgency,particularlytheroledifferentcommunicationtechnologiesplayintheseurgentdecisions.Thisstudyexaminestheurgentdecision-makingprocessandevaluatestheroleofcommunicationtechnologiesemployedinthisprocessbyaNewZealandpublicsectororganisation.Itaddressesthequestionhowdomembersofaseniormanagementteaminthepublicsectormakedecisionsunderurgency?ThiswillprovideabaseforfuturestudiesintheareaofICTandtheurgentdecision-makingprocess.3Thepublicsectororganisationbeingstudiedhasbeeninexistenceinitscurrentformforapproximatelyfiveyears.TheorganisationisgeographicallydispersedaroundNewZealandwithkeybranchesinAuckland,Hamilton,Wellington,ChristchurchandDunedinanditsHeadOfficeissituatedinWellington.Regionalmanagersmeetonceamonthface-to-faceinWellingtonforprogressreportsandplanning.Thesemonthlymeetingshaveproventobecostlyinbothtimeandmoney.Often,in-betweenthesemonthlymeetings,problemsarisethatrequiretheurgentattentionoftheRegionalManagersandGeneralManager.Thishasledteammemberstousedifferentcommunicationtechnologiestocommunicatewithoneanothereithersynchronously(viaaudioconferencing)orasynchronously(viaemail)tocometoaneffectivesolution.Urgentdecisionsaremadeapproximatelyonceafortnight.Theremainderofthispaperisorganisedasfollows.Thenextsectionreviewsthecurrentliteratureongroupdecision-makinganddecision-makingunderurgenttimeconstraints.Thisisfollowedbythejustificationofthemethodologyusedinthecurrentstudyandadiscussionofthedatacollected.GroupDecision-MakingandUrgency–AConceptualFrameworkEssentially,socialexistenceisdeterminedbydecisionsmadebyg