It's not the Intel chip that does the key information processing. It's you, the human being.' DR. ALLEN S. LEE Professor of information systems, Virginia Commonwealth University (CLEMENT BRITT)

Lee sees human side of business systems

BY MCGREGOR MCCANCE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Sep 24, 2002

But in his eyes, many companies have not seen past the tangle of electronic equipment and wiring.

A mistake many make, Lee suggests, is failing to incorporate the human and organizational elements into an information system.

"People and the organization where they work interact with information technology to create a system that is greater than the sum of its parts," said Lee, an information systems professor at Virginia Commonwealth University.

He describes the result as a web of relationships, much like the web of relationships making up an ecosystem in a forest.

Ultimately, he says, managerial expertise becomes at least as important as computer expertise, maybe more important.

"And it's not the Intel chip that does the key information processing," Lee said. "It's you, the human being. You are truly the central part of a true information system."

Lee believes companies often fail to fully explore how changes in hardware, software or personnel will react with an information technology. Similar to introducing a new chemical into the environment, adding new technology to an organization can have "countless unknown ramifications."

"I submit it's the same thing when you introduce a new computer or network into a company," he said. "It has unpredictable ramifications. In the end, they can be counterproductive to the company."

But Lee also sighs. The business world doesn't always readily accept the views of academicians.

He admits it is a struggle to convey academic research into information that businesses will accept as practical solutions.

"Academic theory, if done properly, can shed important insights for the world of practice," he said.

A New York City native, Lee came to VCU in 1998. In addition to serving as an information systems instructor, he is an associate dean for research and graduate studies in VCU's School of Business.

Lee said academic research has largely focused on using scientific research methods to prove or disprove hypotheses in a laboratory-type setting.

But many times, the questions and answers have no bearing on what happens in a real workplace. That's especially true of business-school research, including information systems research, he said.

"Some do research for the sake of research," he said.

He includes himself among the scholars who embrace "qualitative case studies" that include field work at businesses.

Lee said he finds that academic researchers and business leaders often speak different languages even when talking about the same subjects.

Lee is former editor of Management Information Systems Quarterly, a journal directed at scholars.

To improve communication between academicians and business leaders, Lee co-founded MISQ Executive, which is aimed at professionals in the business world.

Richard L. Baskerville, chairman of the Department of Computer Information Systems at Georgia State University, expects Lee will have success translating academic language into business language and vice versa.

He and Lee have co-written papers and organized research conferences together over the years.

"He has a knack for piercing cloudy problems with straightforward thinking," Baskerville said, "and then being able to explain his solutions in terms his listener or reader can understand."

Lee said he simply hopes his work will make even a small difference to students and business executives.

"I would like to humor myself by thinking we are planting seeds that can create good change in the long run," he said.

Contact McGregor McCance at (804) 649-6348 or mmccance@timesdispatch.com