Computer in Business Organization - a Study of Twelve New Zealand Firms

Abstract

Much has been written about the computer and its probable impact on traditional accounting methods, and management and organization techniques of commercial and business enterprises. So much so, that several writers hazarded the opinion that the abundance in literature tended to lend to confusion rather than enlightenment on the subject. The initial emphasis was orientated towards heralding the computer as a cost and clerical saving device, and as a tool to hold in check the exploding "paper-mill". However, recent literature has tended more and more to concentrate on the profitable use of the computer. This shift in emphasis seems to be associated closely with the increasing realization that the true role of the computer in an organization lies elsewhere than in its use as a purely data processing tool. While nobody specifically defined the meaning of "profitable use", nevertheless, it seems to the writer, that this implies the utilization of the computer to areas of management planning, control and decision-making; its use as an operations research tool; and as the means to develop a more sophisticated and effective Integrated Management Information System. It is applications in these directions that the management of the organization can expect the greatest payoff from their investment in the computer; and not, as many top managers were led to believe from its use as a costs cutting tool.