Improving ICT Management in Public Universities in Kenya

Improving ICT Management in Public Universities in Kenya

Wanyembi, G.N.W.

Looijen, M. (promotor)

Information Technology and Systems

2002-04-16

With the rapid infusion of information and communication technology (ICT) in Kenya in the recent past, organizations are now realizing the critical role that management, control and maintenance of ICT play in providing and improving ICT services to the user communities. Public universities as agents of technological transfer in the developing world are organizations that play key roles in the filed of ICT. Much is expected from them by other organizations to provide leadership in the management and utilization of the new technology in addition to scholarship and research in ICT. This thesis forms part of pioneering research work conducted in the area of ICT management, control and maintenance in public universities in Kenya and as part of a doctoral study program in the area in the Department of Information Systems and Software Engineering, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands. The thesis attempts to provide some answers to the problem associated with the management of ICT, arising from the rapid introduction and use of the new technology. Three case studies are examined, one in which the problem space was conceived and formulated, and the model solution developed, and two case studies where the model solution was applied. Conceptually, the model solution comprises four functions, i.e. depiction of the current situation, qualification of the current situation, definition of the future situation and transformation from current to the future situations. The proposed model solution was constructed from requirements formulated by the user community in the first case study and integrated with concepts of the management paradigm, which formed the core of the research. Building upon the success of earlier work in the field, the model drew from existing models and extended the concepts to include the four functions that form the hallmarks of the model solution. There are theoretical and some practical implications resulting from the application of the model in the two case studies. To make the model practical, its first three functions were developed into an automated tool. As an instrument the model provides the practitioners with a new and ready tool to use as they come to terms with the unfamiliar computing technology. For the theoretician the model opens new doors for further research and inquiry into new geographical areas and societies where wholly new challenges and problems previously unknown to the outside world may present. Partnerships in ICT management research should become the logical stage in dealing with these challenges to provide solutions to the problems that will no doubt increase with the increase in complexity and sophistication of new technology.

ICT management
management paradigm
transformation

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:ec2c4cce-1931-4c90-93ba-c085e33895a0

Delft University Press

90-407-2292-7

Institutional Repository

doctoral thesis

(c) 2002 G.N.W. Wanyembi