Cargo cult agile: Use of information technology by senior executives for decision making activities

Abstract

Cargo cult agile is a metaphorical notion for senior executives (SEs’) who have latest and costly information tools at workplace but their use for decision making is very limited. The study initiated to measure the use of information technology (IT) by senior executives for decision making activities. For this very purpose, territory of Islamabad, Pakistan were chosen for survey. Target population were top ranked officers or executives from the public organizations. Access to these executives were a big challenge, so the snowball sampling was the only technique which were employed in this study. A semi structured interview technique was used for data collection. This semi structured interview was divided into four portions. In first portion, simple and direct questions were asked about the routine tasks performed by senior executives while using their personal computers or laptops. Second portion consisted of questions related to hardware knowledge while the third portion have the questions about use of web, emails or blogs. The fourth and utmost important portion of this semi structured interview consisted of questions related to decision making activities. All responses were recorded on piece of papers in hard form and later transformed into percentages. It was found that most of the senior executives use their personal computers or laptops for drafting or for instant communication using internet. The real essence or tasks of these executives are impugned in decision making activities as per the title or resources they availed. But unfortunately, they have been stuck in minion jobs of IT which can be easily performed by their subordinates. The study highlighted and identified the cult of this modern era and urged the senior executives to effectively utilize the IT for decision making activities.