A review of a selection of text books on Management and Information Systems
Why this page is the way it is
This page began as a simple list of textbooks for the Management Information Systems course that I taught at the University of York. Later I found that people were using it as a way to find text books for other Information Systems courses. Then, when I moved from York to Marseille and began to teach a Information Systems and Strategy Course, I thought I might as well update it and use the same format for a new audience.
Choosing a suitable book
Firstly, any of the books below are suitable for the courses I teach - Management Information Systems and Information Systems and Strategy - however, just because they are suitable for my courses does not necessarily mean they will be suitable for somebody else's.
The choice of which book(s) you should choose will depend on the content of the course and your own background, experience and personal interests. I have listed each of the books that I use (in alphabetical order) together with a short review which is intended to help you decide which book is the most suitable for you. If you want to know more about a particular book, I have used links to the UK version of Amazon to provide additional information. If you have any comments on this page, please send me an e-mail.
Description
The emphasis of the book is on strategy rather than technology or management, although it does cover the management of IT/IS resources in detail. It takes a traditional approach to strategy and technology management and includes a number of well written case studies that are more detailed and comprehensive than will be found the other books on this page. The general approach of the book is more scholarly than Laudon and Laudon and less theoretical than Boddy, Boonstra and Kennedy. Like Laudon and Laudon this book has a slight cultural bias towards the United States.
Description
The book covers some of the areas that Laudon and Laudon no longer include in their books (e.g. systems analysis and the detail of systems design methodologies) and has a good selection of European (mainly UK) examples. It also contains is quite a lot of low-level detail and consequently the coverage of certain points is sometimes superficial.
Description
This book is written from a particular viewpoint, that the difference between success and failure depends on managing the context as a whole, not just the technological aspects. It is written from a European perspective and is very effective at stressing the need to manage the context as a whole; it also makes the point that the outcome is not always easy to manage or predict, however, it does not go into much detail about the technology itself.
Description
This book is essentially a reference book. Its approach is broad and encyclopedic; its content is balanced and factual but its principal focus is on the technology. It is up to date, well produced, contains a number of vignettes and case studies. The book does not attempt to put forward any particular theoretical framework; however, it does have a strong cultural bias towards the United States and does not go into much detail about the human aspects of technology.
Description
Like Boddy, Boonstra and Kennedy this book has a strong emphasis on European issues. Also like Boddy, Boonstra and Kennedy, it takes a critical view of information systems, looking not only at the positive side of IS but also paying attention to some of the more negative aspects. As with Applegate, Austin and McFarlan, it places a lot of emphasis on IS and Business Strategy although the approach is more "down to earth" and pragmatic than theoretical, however, the writing style is somewhat dense and there are fewer colourful illustrations and case studies than found in some of the other books.
Description
This book has a clear emphasis to the idea of the "Information Systems Professional" and does a very good job of placing IS in a wider context. The coverage of topics is through and comprehensive although, for an international edition, most examples are taken from the US or Japan. There is slightly more emphasis on technical detail than Laudon and Laudon.
Make your own selection
Finally, if none of the books above meet your needs, you can always try searching on Amazon.
Reviews of Management and Information Systems Books
(4th Edition). Prentice Hall, 2008.
(3rd Edition). Prentice Hall, 2008.
(10th Edition). Prentice Hall, 2007.
(2nd Edition), Financial Times, 1997.
(International Edition). Delmar Cengage Learning, 2007.