Some Information Systems Requirements in View of Organizational Sustainability in an Information Society

Abstract

The importance of information in the world and the so-called information society places information systems in the center of organizations sustainability. The authors are all both producers and consumers of economic information, there aren't any owners of it and there isn´t any real domain over economic information systems, infrastructures and technologies and particularly over communications. Organizations and economic agents are pieces from a dynamic “puzzle” that adjust itself according to the requirements of consumers and users of information and communication technologies, promoting new developments in markets and society. These challenges display the relevance of all who assume the responsibility for management of information and technologies systems which can affect the normal functioning of markets and economic organizations. Sustainability questions focus themselves on the articulation from several economic agents, on the management of information and technological resources and on the efficiency of markets, aiming to grant a peaceful and consolidated continuity of society. Beyond several factors which can be considered relevant to achieve organizational sustainability in the frame of information and knowledge society, there are some nuclear pillars in which managers and organizations need to develop competences. In this theoretical approach, supported in a focus group research, the authors aim to propose and evaluate a group of key elements to be measured for a proper evaluation of organizations sustainability in the context of information society, taking in view future empirical studies and the application of the concept in management tasks. This article is a development, made by invitation of the scientific committee, of the investigation presented in the “Centeris 2012 International Conference” held in Vilamoura (Portugal).