The Management of End User Computing.
John F. Rockart, Lauren S. Flannery · 1981
Gibson provided the information systems (IS) community with a stage theory for IS management (Gibson & Nolan, 1974). Despite an initially small research base (and some concomitant academic jeers), the model rang true to practitioners. Since 1974, it has served as a useful tool for many IS managers. They have used it as a means to describe the current status of computer use in their organizations and as a basis for future information systems planning. The model postulates four stages of IS development. In stage I, the initiation stage, a few basic well-structured applications, typically accounting, are successfully automated. This success leads to a proliferation of application development giving birth to stage 2, the contagion stage. Unfortunately, while widespread penetration of the new technology is achieved during this stage, it is most usually "too much, too fast. " Inexperienced programmers having too much to do produce poorly documented, inept, and expensive systems, often much behind schedule. To ensure adequate management of information systems, stage 3, the control stage, begins. Controls are put in, standards developed, and the frantic pace of new application development is slowed to a walk. Finally, now being able to computerize in a managed, controlled manner, the company enters stage 4, the integration stage. New development once again begins and the company moves ahead with its use of computers into advanced applications.