Common Frustrations

What are the two most frequently experienced causes of frustration of IS professionals and users while working on an IS plan?

So before I answer the question I will just share some ideas about what are those common frustrations of IS professionals and users while working on an IS plan.

Use of technology often has unpleasant side effects, which may include strong, negative emotional states that arise during interaction with computers. Frustration, confusion, anger, anxiety and similar emotional states can affect not only the interaction itself, but also productivity, learning, social relationships, and overall well-being. This paper suggests a new solution to this problem: designing human–computer interaction systems to actively support users in their ability to manage and recover from negative emotional states. An interactive affect–support agent was designed and built to test the proposed solution in a situation where users were feeling frustration.

The agent, which used only text and buttons in a graphical user interface for its interaction, demonstrated components of active listening, empathy, and sympathy in an effort to support users in their ability to recover from frustration. The agent's effectiveness was evaluated against two control conditions, which were also text-based interactions:

1. Users’ emotions were ignored,
2. Users were able to report problems and ‘vent’ their feelings and concerns to the computer

Behavioral results showed that users chose to continue to interact with the system that had caused their frustration significantly longer after interacting with the affect–support agent, in comparison with the two controls.

These results support the prediction that the computer can undo some of the negative feelings it causes by helping a user manage his or her emotional state. Some problems stem from the users’ lack of knowledge, poor training, or unwillingness to read instructions or take tutorials. Often frustration results that from flaws in the computer hardware, software, networking, troubling interactions among components supplied by diverse manufacturers, or the result of malicious actions by other users.

A number of preliminary research steps are necessary to guide developers who are working on the goal of making computer usage less frustrating for users. A first step is to gain a better understanding of what frustrates users of computers. Then taxonomies of frustrating experiences can be developed and means to measure their severity and frequency can be identified. These three steps should lead to solutions with enough supporting evidence so that requests for improvements will be well received by all parties involved. Computers can be valuable tools, and networked resources via the Internet can be beneficial to many different populations and communities.

Many e-commerce and e-business firms today are turning to systems planning and systems analysis. Such analysis provides a broader view of organization catering to system development. System development activity aids in producing information systems solutions and provides a platform for resolving organizational problems using information systems. The paper puts light on objectives, management challenges faced by an organization, and road map indicating direction of systems development.

Another thing working on information systems plan takes patience and perseverance. In order to have a good outcome, IS professionals should do profound analysis and must consider a variety of factors. Without a thorough understanding of the problem and organization’s need the IS plan is intended to solve, and without knowledge of the best practices for organizing the required data, the implemented IS plan becomes an unwieldy beast that requires constant attention. Developing an IS plan is never an easy task. That is why there are methods that IS professionals try to follow and standards they try to thrash out. IS plan should serve the company and the users the way it is expected. Learning from my experience from the previous semester, IS professionals’ task does not end with a scrutiny of the information systems. Indeed, they must evaluate the entire message in terms of coherence, the quality of hanging together in the IS plan. To achieve its purpose, statements must be organized appropriately. They must be ordered in a logical manner and should support the business plan of the organization so that the transition between each one contributes to the overall objective of the plan. After answering the first question, my next purpose is to respond to the next question, “What are the two most frequently experienced causes of frustration in IS professionals and users while working on an IS plan?”

According to Freud, it is not simply the nature of the frustrating incident that determines how people will react to it. Rather, there is interplay between the situation and the psychological characteristics of individuals. The level of maturity of the individual also plays a part in the reactions to frustration (Barker, Dembo, & Lewin, 1965). With maturity, there is an increase in the variety of responses to a situation employed by individuals, in the control of the environment, and in their ability to employ problem-solving behavior and plan steps to obtain the goal. It would appear that learning, which is culturally determined, is a major factor in developing socially acceptable responses to frustration.

Frustration occurs when there is a condition, which interferes with or stops the realization of a goal. It makes us feel useless or worthless. Any interruption to our action or task can be very frustrating. Level of frustration experienced by an individual clearly can differ depending on the circumstances surrounding the frustrating experience and on the individuals themselves. There could be so many causes that lead an IS professional to frustration. Same thing happened to me. I made a list of my goals, when and how to attain those goals. I made my own schedule to help me budget my time and succeed in attaining the goals. But then the outcome was in contrast to what I had expected. I thought if I took those actions then all things would go right. This time, I should say that I am not a good planner but I will still keep on trying. I made a realization that the failure was not because I failed to plan and not because I planned to fail but there was something missing and I have to find out what it was. I learned from that experience and I should do the right thing next time.

Going back to the question, I need to identify the causes of frustrations not the frustrations itself. Similar to my experience, IS professionals fail to have a good plan. It might be because they are only focusing on one factor and others are taken for granted. Since we are dealing with information systems, that is why IS planning requires profound analysis and should consider all factors and all the necessary things that would contribute to the improvement. IS professionals may get tired of the unending revisions of IS plan, they should never ignore themselves be dominated by the feeling instead they should keep on working and let the perseverance power over.

My second idea on frequently experienced causes of frustration in IS professionals and users while working on an IS plan is the lack of support from the management or from the personnel. Without the support, the IS professionals efforts would end up in frustration.

New technologies are emerging and old ones are outdated. Many major technologies can have a life expectancy of less than five years. These pressures have resulted in a drive for new approaches to planning and managing information technology (IT) services. That is why many of the organizations right now are having a greater investment in IT and information systems (IS). This is now the moment that organizations would try to hire IS professionals to have analysis and improvement on their information systems to help them compete in the market.

Design systems by IS professionals could also frustrate users in the workplace. Users find it hard to understand and use the implemented system. This frustration can affect workplace productivity, user mood, and users’ interactions with other co-workers. It also can affect their emotional state. These frustrating experiences also harm organizations by undermining productivity, lowering quality, and raising stress levels. Improving user interface design is one clear opportunity and it would benefit many users. To build better interfaces, more user involvement is needed in the interface design process. Designers should follow the interface guidelines that exist. User training will also help, especially if it addresses problem solving strategies that will help build self-efficacy. Even small changes in the interface can make a big impact on user satisfaction. IS professionals should also be better situated as the intermediary and be able to get better information between users and vendors when understanding frustration in the workplace.

Frustration is a natural feeling after all. Even none IS professionals experience being frustrated. It happens all the time when we fail to take the action and/or fail to attain our goals. Our response to it should be adaptive. Adaptive responses are constructive and are implemented to solve the problem that is blocking goal attainment. They may include preemptive efforts to avoid the problem, or once the problem is encountered, problem solving strategies to overcome or circumvent the problem.

And also strategic planning must be inclined with the business plan. Strategic planning is an organization's process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy, including its capital and people. Various business analysis techniques can be used in strategic planning, including SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) and PEST analysis (Political, Economic, Social, and Technological analysis) or STEER analysis involving Socio-cultural, Technological, Economic, Ecological, and Regulatory factors. According to other source, strategic plan is a document used by an organization to align its organization and budget structure with organizational priorities, missions, and objectives. It is also a process of comprehensive, integrative program planning that considers, at a minimum, the future of current decisions, overall policy, organizational development, and links to operational plans. And according to the project management club, strategic planning is a basic document for planning of different projects and their sub-projects. It is based on the content of the Financing Memorandum (FM) and the Monitoring and Evaluation Matrix attached to the Financing Proposal and translates the two documents into detailed operational terms. A satisfactory strategic plan must be realistic and attainable so as to allow managers and entrepreneurs to think strategically and act operationally. In align with that, strategic plan must be reliable and suitable for the need of the company.

In doing a strategic plan, it is not really known to everyone that there are frustrations that may trigger. Frustrations in a way that it may cause depression and stress to the professionals and users that are doing it. In doing an Information Strategic plan, it is really a must that the user and the professionals doing it must first determine the company’s background and other facts and information that can help and then again be a useful tool for the planning.

Computing systems this era raises high in a short period of time. Though our country is a 5 year behind than those countries abroad, still using internet is a common tool for someone like in communications. And more likely in a business, it is also a trend of using internet and intranet in their operations since it can help progress their company. Now a day, an even small scale business also acquires using internet and computers for their daily routine. That is because it can help them improve their skills and at the same time it can lessen the work load since using computers doesn’t requires much time. Relatively, why I’m discussing those computer trend marketing in such a way, since that industry now a days is a computer based industry, lot of professionals and users must be aware of using computer in such a way that it is one of the basic tools for doing the planning.

As what I have stated in the first question of this slide, during our Management Information Systems 1, we did a strategic planning in one of the pronounce company in the city today. Not only here in Davao this company well known, also to the other sites of the city. During our discussions with the group, we have decided to have each an individual task. From that then, we can focus on our topic. But that was one of the problems we have encountered.

Misunderstanding between tow parties is also one of the frustrations that IS professionals encounter. That is one of the frustrations we have. We didn’t know what to do and on the other side we don’t know the topics of our other group. At the end of the compilation, the report of one is not related to the report of the other one, and in vice versa. We then realize our mistake after we have compiled the technical paper. So how can we let ourselves give the technical paper to the company we have if there and else we don’t understand what we did, how much more to them. If such case, we are then called to be the professionals who done lousy approach to the planning for the company we are required to have the plan. Then the user also, such a way that there were the people involved in that strategic plan, are then also approach us lousy for the mistake of some persons. Like what I said above, strategic plan must be reliable so that the company must excel in accordance to era.

Another frustration that may trigger in the planning of this IS plan is the time. Time problem is not only for this kind of situation. Even in our other subjects, we do have difficulty in time management. Stress may occur if we hear the word “deadline”. That can cause cramming that can cause also mistakes. Time management may not be a frustration if and when it was been managed accordingly. But also time management requires more budget than of any other. Since this planning is suitable and a provider for the company, there is also a satisfaction that it can really cost big. Like our technical paper before. By committing mistakes, another big cost is at stake.

That frustrations I have stated is only my point of view. Since I have encountered strategic planning before, I have then encountered such frustration things like that. And that frustration I have encountered might then encountered by those professionals.

These are all my opinion about the question so let’s discuss about what I have interviewed which is the Davao Light and Power Company, as what we have interviewed he told us that frustrations based on his experience is that communication, if there is no proper communication its hard to make an IS plan. If no good communication between the management and the IS professional its hard to make a good IS plan. He also told that budget is also a factor if no budget allocation it’s hard to make an IS plan. Time is also a frustration as what he told us that time is gold indeed. So basically, those were the frustrations that he identified and discussed.


References:
Wikipedia.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frustration