Date of Award

11-1-2003

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

First Advisor

Dr. Pamela Specht

Abstract

This study focuses on the merger process of Information Technology (IT) departments within local government. The research that exists indicates that local government mergers, in general, have a high rate of failure. In addition, the political, managerial, cultural, and behavioral aspects that impact these mergers are ignored. The importance of computers to the departments/agencies housed within local government has made the IT departments a critical part of the local government structure. This study looks at the problems faced by the merging IT departments within local government in order to gain a better understanding of this process and to increase the success rate of these types of mergers. A case study of a merger between a county IT department and a city IT department within a mid-western local government structure was performed. In addition, a nationwide survey was distributed to IT Directors of local government units. A model was tested using five variables that may have an impact on a successful local government IT merger. The tests revealed a revised model: variables “commitment of appointed/elected officials” and “employee support from appointed/elected officials” are related to “quality of the decision-making process”; and “quality of the decisionmaking process” is related to “perceived merger success.”

Comments

A Thesis Presented to the Department of Information Systems and Quantitative Analysis and the Faculty of the Graduate College University of Nebraska In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science In Management Information Systems University of Nebraska at Omaha. Copyright 2003, Angela Patton

Download

Files over 3MB may be slow to open. For best results, right-click and select "save as..."

COinS