Increases in employee autonomy and the formation of teams often result from reengineering and process innovation efforts, as do moves to "downsize" or "flatten" organizations. Information systems departments have not been insulated from these trends. In spite of the rising interest in these initiatives, little is known about their impact on the systems development process. Past research in blue-collar contexts suggests that teams produce improvements in performance, while anecdotal evidence in the IS industry suggests that such improvements may never materialize. This paper reports on research conducted with 231 IS professionals from 27 systems development teams across 13 organizations. The results indicate that, while autonomy may lead to increased levels of satisfaction and motivation, the level of team development and an organization's learning capacity may be more important in achieving improved work outcomes.
Over the past 15 years, the Society for Information Management (SIM) has periodically surveyed its members to determine the most critical issues in IS management. Again in 1994-95, SIM institutional and board members were asked to consider what they felt were the most critical issues facing IS executives over the next three to five years. Signaling an evolutionary shift in IS management, this study shows that business relationship issues have declined in importance compared to technology infrastructure issues. For IS executives and general managers, the key issue framework suggests some general directions for emphasis and provides a coarse measure for benchmarking their own concerns against those of their peers. The results of this study also impact educational missions in teaching and research to the extent that they need to be sensitive to the views of practicing IS executives.