Towards User-Oriented Control of End-User Computing in Large Organizations

Control is a major issue in end-user computing. The migration of responsibility, resources and authority from IT departments to user departments is frequently seen as a loss of power by the IT departments and an erosion of cost control by senior management. Reactions to this situation tend to focus on technology and formal control mechanisms. This paper contrasts such an IT-oriented view with a proposed, alternative user-oriented view. An IT-oriented view of EUC focuses on the problems it causes, the technology it requires, the methods that should be used and the means of limiting, controlling and standardizing. An user-oriented view of EUC focuses on the problems it solves, the user’s task and the organizational environment. The paper advocates a shift in EUC research away from the technology and the IT issues towards the political, social and cultural issues associated with the users. EUC problems are, in the main, organizational problems requiring a research approach which addresses dynamic issues emerging over a period of time. As a basis for such research, the paper proposes a dynamic model for EUC in which the progression of EUC within an organization is visualized as a series of inference loops.