MANAGING THE INFORMATION REVOLUTION - LESSONS FOR BUSINESS FROM THE FRENCH-REVOLUTION

This article looks back to the French Revolution and forward to the next stages of the information revolution. It observes that the 'managers' of the French Revolution failed, first, to see what to do about the revolution's core issues; second, to properly manage the changes that were started; third, to manage expectations; and fourth, to provide committed and sustained leadership. Avoiding these four failures is also critical to managing the information revolution. But the new capabilities of information and communications technology are making it easier to do this. In their future strategy, top management need no longer be inhibited by ignorance of IT capabilities. Managing change can now be based on clearly differentiated roles of business and technical management. And, as understanding grows of the inherent uncertainties of system design, managing user expectations can become more effective.