Management of open information technology and systems (ITS) architectures in the Australian federal government: development of a perspectival model for information systems management

This thesis looks at the limitations of current ITS management objective (normative) theory and develops a new Perspectival ITS Management Model so as to supplement this theory and overcome some of its limitations. The proposed Perspectival ITS Management Model is an approach to reconciliation/integration of object/subject from a phenomenological viewpoint. The development of the Perspectival ITS Management Model has been heavily influenced by the work of John Haynes (2001a). In order to investigate the applicability of the Perspectival ITS Management Model a constructionist epistemological stance is taken in the thesis, which describes an overview of current objective ITS management theory, that is analysed and focussed through a normative ITS Management Model (developed by the candidate in the early stages of the thesis). The thesis goes on to develop the objective theoretical view of the management of open systems architectures and uses this to investigate the subjective case study accounts of the management of open systems architectures from 1993-1996 in the Australian federal government. These cases are used to highlight how the Perspectival ITS Management Model can be utilised to enhance, extend and transform our understanding of ITS Management in ways that the current body of theory does not. A postscript has also been developed to illustrate how the Perspectival ITS Management Model can also be applied to the ITS management landscape (whole-of-government ITS outsourcing) of the Australian federal govenment (1996 - 2001) after the initial open systems case study period (1993-1996).