Relations between Computer Staff and User Management

WHEN management decides that a computer can contribute to the achievement of the organization’s objectives, it has to acquire — unless it is only using a service bureau — computer staffas well as a computer. It may train its own staff, instead of importing them, but it still has to create new types of jobs to service the computer. This means ‘that the impact of the computer on management’ is a shorthand for saying the impact of the computer and its staff upon management. The effectiveness of the computer will depend upon the use that is made of it, and the use that is made of its output. These, in turn, will depend, to a considerable extent, upon the relationships that exist between the computer staff and the managers who are the actual, or potential, users of the systems — hence this chapter.