IT planning in India: implications for IT effectiveness

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Kanungo, Shivraj^; | Chouthoy, Madan

Affiliations: Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology, Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110 016, India Tel.: +91 11 656389; Fax: +91 11 6862 37 | Woodward Governor (India) Limited, NOIDA, UP, India

Note: [] Corresponding author.

Abstract: Organizational context plays an important role in how organizations develop and implement IT strategies and plans. Since, in developing nations like India where, in the presence of highly skilled based of technical manpower, embedded organizational and cultural issues exert a strong impact on strategies adopted by organizations, it becomes important to identify organizational attributes that determine IT effectiveness. In this paper we investigate the critical nexus between IT planning and IT effectiveness in the Indian corporate milieu with the aim of identifying strategies and practices that could result in effective IT usage in spite of organizational and cultural constraints. Empirical support was provided for this study by in‐depth interviews conducted with systems managers and, in some instances, CEOs. Results indicate that the majority of the organizations do not use IT effectively. Moreover, some of these deficiencies can be linked to planning and strategic aspects of IT management. Results are discussed in the light of existing conditions and the main outcome that emerges is that if organizations in India do not develop and implement strategies to use IT for both incremental as well as radical organizational improvements, they are not likely to experience significant IT‐related benefits.

Journal: Information Technology for Development, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 71-87, 1998