A feedback loop is a closed path of causal relations among variables. Feedback loops usually represent the process of monitoring the state of the system, the effects of decisions in the system state, and future decisions.
Published in Chapter:
System Dynamics to Understand Public Information Technology
Luis Felipe Luna-Reyes (Universidad de las Américas-Puebla, Mexico)
Copyright: © 2008
|Pages: 17
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-59904-857-4.ch045
Abstract
Information technology development and implementation have been recognized as forms of organizational change (Doherty & King, 2003; Orlikowski, 2000). Public-sector organizations are interested in this process of change because of the expected benefits of using IT, such as cost savings, improved service quality, increased accountability, and public participation (Gil-Garcia & Helbig, 2006). However, IT fails to deliver the anticipated payback in many projects (Jackson, 1997; Keil, Cule, Lyytinen, & Schmidt, 1998). Some of such failures are the result of our lack of understanding about the relationships among IT components and organizational factors involved in the implementation process, producing mismatches or unintended consequences in the process: “[t]he computer hardware may perform correctly, and the software may satisfy its specification; but the results are not what was intended, and may be disastrous” (Jackson, 1997, p. 5).