Customer Reviews

Information Technology for Management: Transforming Organizations in the Digital Economy

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The book suffers from an over-abundance of references. Let me be clear that I can appreciate it when an author cites references, but when this is done too frequently and directly in the text, it breaks up the flow and makes the reading more tedious and un-interesting. So that you understand what I am talking about, consider that the author often cites independent studies. Sounds good, but I would be happy enough to hear about the results of the study rather than be forced to read detailed information about its authors, co-authors and dates of the study directly in-line with the text. This is how the text SHOULD read: "A recent study concluded that bla, bla, bla." The study could be referenced with a numbered footnote. Instead, this author might use: "In a study conducted by Anderson et al.(2002); Smith and Rupp, 2002; and Zhu and Kraemer, 2002; (see also Appendix 2A in this book) it was shown that bla, bla, bla." After reading the first 10 chapters, I actually began to count these endless references and taking chapter 10 as an example, there are approximately 114 instances of another author being referenced by name and publication date directly in the flow of the text! I am not kidding. The reader begins to get the feeling that nothing in the book actually came from its author(s) but from the other 114 dutifully cited references. Although this is certainly not the case, I cannot overstate the degree to which this becomes distracting and makes the text read somewhat like a legal brief! Most authors use a small superscripted number to refer to either a footnote or a bibliography, but that is not this author's style and the book is definitely the worse for it. An additional un-numbered reference section, typically spanning several pages, is also found at the end of each chapter! ENOUGH with the references!

My next specific fault with the book has to do with examples. Yes, examples. I once thought that you couldn't have too many examples, but the author borders on the ridiculous with perhaps as many as 10 examples of relatively minor points! This adds an element of redundancy that bores the reader.

The text also contain minor technical errors. As an electrical engineer with actual design experience of microprocessors on the circuit-level, I only notice those that fall into my area such as the mix up of mega-bytes and giga-bytes, and technical details of systems such as RFID. More errors would likely be noticed by other readers. In fairness to the author(s), these mistakes are minor and do not detract from the point being made, but they should be corrected by the 5th edition. Are my expectations too high?

Finally, the web-site for a book is an important consideration and holds the potential to significantly enhance the learning experience. The associated website for this book contains many things but is well below average.

Overall, I would not have given the book any stars, but the rating system wouldn't let me. While up-to-date, it is expensive, full of distractions and not of the caliber to which I am accustomed. It did not meet my expectations. Other readers with whom I am familiar seem to agree that the text seems to be written more as a display of the author's undeniable academic prowess than as a vehicle for learning. Sorry, NO STARS for that!

I bought this book as requirement for an MIS class. The book has good graphics, but the authors have tried to cram in a lot of information. As a result, things have'nt been explained systematically. One has to move to a later chapter to look for things discussed earlier. The quality of writing leaves much to be desired. In a nutshell, the book is only ordinary. It is much like a glossy story book for children, certainly not worth the price.

This is one of the best book in IT Management (for upper level undergraduage or graduate level course). I have found that the book has been very updated in the pace of the current trend, and is providing one of the best and balanced treatment (for very broad field, but with fairly in-depth coverages in each critical area of IS and IT management) with the solid managerial and profound organizational groundwork. Some of the chapters that I enjoy reading is Ch.3 (Strategic Information Systems), Ch.4 (Business Process Reengineering and Information Technology), Ch.6 (Electronic Commerce), and especially Ch.12 and Ch.13 (Planning for Information Technology and Systems, Information Technology Economics) for Managing IT. My appraisal about this book is its well-balanced and insightful critiques (to rescue and enpower many of the simple and naive, or stubborn, from many of the crafty propaganda, illustions and deceptions of today's "rise-and-die-quick" empty promises and sales pictchs in this field). This is one of the main reason that I have adopted this book for my students.

This book was used as a textbook. So I'm sure it's great, it's just, you know...required reading. I did learn stuff, but not really sure how well the book is against others in its subject matter.

This book was part of the reading list for my It University studies (Copenhagen). I was much surprised to open the very large book and find, that is is much more a high school level textbook, than an acedemic book. I does introduce a large number of it-vocabulary terms, both concerning it-managemet and it-governance; but this I could have found just as easy, and cheaper, on wikipedia. Not a great fan of this book, sorry.

If you want make a decision whether you apply a new Information System or not to your organization, buy this book. There are lots of real world examples and reasons to go to IT. It is an excellent book for all those who are in the any level of management position with little or no IT background. If you are going to develop a software product and be a multimillionaire, buy one. It will inspire you. It is also a marvelous book for IT professionals who want to know real world of business and its relationships with what they are doing. As usual, every good thing has it own short falls. This book is not organized well enough to balance with the weight of subjects it discusses. For example, Chapter 2.1 INFORMATION SYSTEMS: CONCEPTS AND DEFINITIONS does not have any concepts and definitions of IS. Rather, you can find them in Chapter 1 (page 17). It also contains same concepts in different places and repeat similar explanations.

I shipped this item standard and got it well before the quoted time frame! Plus the comment warned of some general "shelf wear" but to my surprised, the condition looked brand new! I was VERY happy with this buy and will definitely be back!