Politics and Pain in Managing Information Technology: A Case Study from Insurance
通过保险公司的案例，研究IT投资策略和系统开发优先级中的职业与资源竞争政治，揭示管理层的权力斗争如何导致痛苦后果。
Drawing on case study material, this paper explores the politics of career and resource competition that is a medium and outcome of IT investment strategies and system development priorities. This is achieved by examining the manner in which different managers and operating divisions in the case study organization perceive and pursue distinct IT priorities. This they do by involving particular constructions of 'markets', 'technology', and 'organization'. The paper argues that the difficulties encountered around the development of IT systems in the case study company are symptomatic of tensions which are a condition and conse quence of struggles over resource allocation and career advancement within management. These activities necessarily generate considerable political activity which has potentially painful consequences for actors tied into power/identity relations in the modem organization.