Developing information systems (IS) strategies and choosing the right IS portfolio for an organization require, among other things, identifying the most appropriate IS projects, determining how best to organize the IS staff, and arranging for IS procurement. All of these actions involve decision-making. This paper analyzes IS strategic decision-making in organizations, with the Garbage Can Model (GCM) of decision-making providing the theoretical framework. Our findings show that IS strategic decision-making often happens through GCM processes, and while these processes are hard to control and predict, the decision quality tends to be high at the organizational level. At the individual level, however, Garbage Can processes tend to return low-quality IS strategic decisions.

This study adds to the body of knowledge in research of ICTs in organizations by exploring the relevance of alignment between ICT users and managers responsible for the ICT strategy and ICT project processes. Alignment research is usually conducted at an organizational analytical level, but this study explores alignment between individuals by addressing ICT managers and ICT users, considering both the organizational and individual perspectives. Data was collected by interviewing ICT users and the CIO in a Norwegian entrepreneur corporation. Using a grounded theory analytical approach, the findings provide support for an emerging User Management Alignment Model (UMAM) where the outcome is better ICT strategy and project processes.

Developing information systems (IS) strategies and choosing the right IS portfolio for an organization require, among other things, identifying the most appropriate IS projects, determining how best to organize the IS staff, and arranging for IS procurement. All of these actions involve decision-making. This paper analyzes IS strategic decision-making in organizations, with the Garbage Can Model (GCM) of decision-making providing the theoretical framework. Our findings show that IS strategic decision-making often happens through GCM processes, and while these processes are hard to control and predict, the decision quality tends to be high at the organizational level. At the individual level, however, Garbage Can processes tend to return low-quality IS strategic decisions.

This study adds to the body of knowledge in research of ICTs in organizations by exploring the relevance of alignment between ICT users and managers responsible for the ICT strategy and ICT project processes. Alignment research is usually conducted at an organizational analytical level, but this study explores alignment between individuals by addressing ICT managers and ICT users, considering both the organizational and individual perspectives. Data was collected by interviewing ICT users and the CIO in a Norwegian entrepreneur corporation. Using a grounded theory analytical approach, the findings provide support for an emerging User Management Alignment Model (UMAM) where the outcome is better ICT strategy and project processes.

Managing crisis challenges the ability to make numerous decisions under great uncertainty. This study address the decision-making process, and how the mix of involved individuals, prior knowledge, and available decision-makers forms the decisions made during a crisis. A large-scale exercise with a cyberattack scenario was chosen as the study’s case. The organization studied have highly skilled crisis management personnel; however, they are not used to manage a large-scale cyber-attack scenario. The garbage can model (GCM) of Organizational Choice with a few modifications is used as the analytical framework in the study.