US federal government CIOs: information technology's new managers - preliminary findings

The Clinger-Cohen Information Technology Management Reform Act of 1996 (Clinger-Cohen Act) had the potential to change the dynamics of how U.S. federal government agencies view and manage their information technology. The mandated provision for chief information officers (CIOs) was intended to provide agencies with information change agents and technology "watchdogs." To observe how agencies are reacting to employing CIOs, the author conducted field studies via e-mail with eight agencies to discover the successes and the challenges of this new information initiative. The Clinger-Cohen Act mandated four of the agencies contacted and four were non-mandated. The results of this study depict varying levels of agency compliance and commitment to the Clinger-Cohen Act as it relates to the agency CIO position. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.