The history of texaco's corporate information technology function: a general systems theoretical interpretation

  • Authors:

  • Jaana Porra;Rudy Hirschheim;Michael S. Parks

  • Affiliations:

  • C. T. Bauer College of Business, University of Houston, Houston, TX;E. J. Ourso College of Business Administration, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA;C. T. Bauer College of Business, University of Houston, Houston, TX

  • Venue:
  • MIS Quarterly
  • Year:
  • 2005

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Abstract

We attempt to use general systems theory (GST) to understand why the resources of Texaco's corporate information technology function consistently did not match its task during its 40-year lifetime. Our interpretation uses mechanistic, organic, and colonial systems metaphors, each with three components. The first is an analysis of a management action system made up of organizational indicators such as Texaco's revenues, profits, employee numbers, IT budgets, and IT personnel numbers. The second is a narrative of performance versus resource needs, which shows a gap between the resources and expanding responsibilities of Texaco's IT function. The third is a management perception system, which offers reasons why top management continually misinterpreted IT's performance as inferior. Our results show that the mechanistic, organic, and colonial interpretations converge. In addition, our GST-based interpretations show how top management might have remedied the situation.