Passion & IT Governance

An exploratory study has been conducted of two case studies to try to understand how senior management influences IS projec t success. The cases were analysed using frameworks proposed by McGolphin and Ward (1997), Alter (1999), Cooke-Davis (2002) and Akkermans and van Helden (2002) and also comparing with other case studies in the IS literature. A significant component of the analysis relate to IT governance issues. It appears that senior managers effectively influence success by committing time to be made aware of issues and actively participating to resolve conflicts effectively. The cases suggest that the Board should take the role of monitoring to ensure that the benefits promised are actually delivered and they have the responsibility to terminate failing projects. It is proposed that the “passion” of key stakeholders for a project is the key indicator of success.

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