System effectiveness and operational effectiveness : can an optimal balance be obtained?

Organisations are increasingly investing significant resources, time and money, in complex information systems. In most cases there are important claims made concerning how these expensive systems will produce considerable improvements in the operational performance of the organisations. However there is evidence that shows many of these systems fail to deliver and often fail completely. This paper attempts to provide linkages between system effectiveness and operational performance that will enable managers to better understand the interaction between information systems and operational performance. Drawing on literature on both information systems and operational effectiveness this paper puts forward a model for further empirical investigation.