Using the Managerial Enterprise Structure Stakeholders (MESS) Model to examine the effects of organisational politics and structure upon the cost of Information Systems development

As organisations are driven to maintain profitability in a global market, Information Systems (IS) must deliver projects that return on their investment. Managers are faced with greater complexity in their rapidly changing business environments The Managerial Enterprise Structure Stakeholders (MESS) model developed in this paper allows the user to build a rich picture to show the relationships between information politics, organisational structure, managerial control, communication methods, and the cost of systems development. The MESS model aims to improve management of key projects in large organsiations. The paper provides an overview of the model and describes how the model was refined. This was done through action research and field observations in over 12 high impact projects in a variety of large organisations in the public and the private sector The action research shows why the MESS model is useful to project managers.