The MIT Center for Information Systems Research (CISR) is a research center at the
MIT Sloan School of Management founded in 1974. MIT CISR's research focuses on the use of information technology and management in complex organizations. Its mission is to "develop concepts and frameworks to help executives address the IT-related challenges of leading increasingly dynamic, global, and information-intensive organizations."
The Center for Information Systems Research has done groundbreaking research in the areas of managerial computing,
executive support systems,
critical success factor Critical success factor (CSF) is a management term for an element that is necessary for an organization or project to achieve its mission. To achieve their goals they need to be aware of each key success factor (KSF) and the variations between the ...
s,
IT governance,
IT portfolio management,
operating model, and
enterprise architecture.
History
The Center for Information Systems Research (CISR) was established in 1974 by the MIT Alfred P. Sloan School of Management. Its initial mission was described as: ''To conduct research on the effective use of computer-based
information systems, and in particular concern itself with helping
manager
Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business.
Management includes the activities o ...
s deal with questions of information system effectiveness''.
[Alfred P. Sloan School of Management, Center for Information Systems Research (1974) ]
Statement of Purpose, Structure and Research Goals
'. REPORT CISR-1. SLOAN WP 749-74, November 1, 1974 Among its first scientists were
John F. Rockart
John Fralick (Jack) Rockart (1931 – February 3, 2014) was an American organizational theorist, and Senior Lecturer Emeritus at the Center for Information Systems Research at the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Biography
Born in New York City, ...
,
Norman Rasmussen
Norman C. Rasmussen (November 12, 1927 – July 18, 2003) was an American physicist.
Biography
Rasmussen was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He grew up on a dairy farm as the fifth of six brothers. He attended public school in Hershey, Pennsyl ...
,
Peter Chen,
John J. Donovan
John J. Donovan (born February 12, 1942) is a former management professor at MIT, and the former president and chief executive of the Cambridge Technology Group, an executive training company. On May 3, 2022, Donovan Sr. was convicted of a doze ...
,
Stuart Madnick
Stuart E. Madnick (born 1944) is an American computer scientist, and professor of information technology at the MIT Sloan School of Management and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology school of engineering. He is the director of Cybersecurity ...
, Henry D. Jacoby, Peter G.W. Keen, Charles B. Stabell, Steve Alter and Michael J. Ginzberg.
Over the years the Center for Information Systems Research has published a series of about 400 working papers, and has held many seminars and conferences. Together with other early IT research centers, such as the Management Information Systems Research Center at Minnesota (established in 1968), they helped to shape the young information systems discipline.
Professor
Michael Scott Morton
Michael S. Scott Morton (born 25 August 1937 in Mukden in Manchuria) is a business theorist, and is the Jay W. Forrester Professor of Management (Emeritus) at MIT Sloan School of Management, known for his contributions to Strategic information syst ...
was the first director, from 1974 to 1976. The first long standing director of the Center for Information Systems Research was
John F. Rockart
John Fralick (Jack) Rockart (1931 – February 3, 2014) was an American organizational theorist, and Senior Lecturer Emeritus at the Center for Information Systems Research at the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Biography
Born in New York City, ...
, who managed the center from 1976 to 2000. He was succeeded by
Peter Weill
Peter Weill (born c. 1955) is an Australian computer scientist and organizational theorist, Professor of Information Systems Research at the MIT Sloan School of Management, and chairman of the MIT Center for Information Systems Research (CISR).
...
, who was succeeded in 2008 by the current director
Jeanne W. Ross
Jeanne Wenzel Ross (born ca. 1952) is an American organizational theorist and principal research scientist at MIT Sloan School of Management and the MIT Center for Information Systems Research (CISR), specializes in Enterprise Architecture, ICT ...
. Peter Weill is currently the chairman of MIT CISR.
Other researchers and (former) faculty members associated with the Center for Information Systems Research are
John F. Rockart
John Fralick (Jack) Rockart (1931 – February 3, 2014) was an American organizational theorist, and Senior Lecturer Emeritus at the Center for Information Systems Research at the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Biography
Born in New York City, ...
,
Dale L. Goodhue
Dale Louis Goodhue (born ca 1944) is an American Information systems researcher, and Professor Emeritus at the Management Information Systems Department of the University of Georgia, known for his work on enterprise systems and data management in l ...
,
Stuart Madnick
Stuart E. Madnick (born 1944) is an American computer scientist, and professor of information technology at the MIT Sloan School of Management and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology school of engineering. He is the director of Cybersecurity ...
,
JoAnne Yates,
Wanda Orlikowski,
Peter Weill
Peter Weill (born c. 1955) is an Australian computer scientist and organizational theorist, Professor of Information Systems Research at the MIT Sloan School of Management, and chairman of the MIT Center for Information Systems Research (CISR).
...
,
Jeanne W. Ross
Jeanne Wenzel Ross (born ca. 1952) is an American organizational theorist and principal research scientist at MIT Sloan School of Management and the MIT Center for Information Systems Research (CISR), specializes in Enterprise Architecture, ICT ...
,
Cynthia Beath
Cynthia Mathis Beath (born 1944) is an American economist and Professor Emerita at the Department of Information, Risk and Operations Management at the McCombs School of Business, and
Shoshana Zuboff
Shoshana Zuboff (born 18 November 1951) is an American author, Harvard professor, social psychologist, philosopher, and scholar.
Zuboff is the author of the books ''In the Age of the Smart Machine: The Future of Work and Power'' and ''The Suppo ...
.
Selected publications
Working papers, a selection:
* Alfred P. Sloan School of Management, Center for Information Systems Research (1974)
Statement of Purpose, Structure and Research Goals'. Report CISR-1. Sloan WP 749-74 (1974)
* Keen, Peter G. W
Information systems and organizational change' CISR No. 55 Sloan VJP No. 1118-80 (1980)
[Republished as: Keen, Peter GW. "Information systems and organizational change." ''Communications of the ACM'' 24.1 (1981): 24-33.]
* Dickson, Gary W; Rockart, John F.
The role of information systems research centers' CISR No. 62 Sloan WP No. 1158-80 (1980)
* Bullen, Christine V., and John F. Rockart.
A primer on critical success factors'' CISR No. 69. Sloan WP No. 1220-81 (1981).
Other publications:
* Rockart, John F., and Christine V. Bullen. ''The rise of managerial computing: the best of the Center for Information Systems Research.'' Dow Jones-Irwin, 1986.
References
External links
*
{{Coord, 42.363518, -71.079037, type:edu_globe:earth_region:US-MA, display=title
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Computer science institutes in the United States
Information technology research institutes
Research institutes in Massachusetts
Research institutes established in 1974