The art of defining computer system requirements: say what you need and need what you say

The task of defining computer system requirements often involves the consideration of an overwhelming number of complexly related factors. Therefore, before getting started, a project team assigned this task needs to get an overview and develop a clear understanding of the main objectives and the alternative methods it can use in carrying out its responsibilities. This article presents tips and techniques for achieving success in the requirements definition phase of a software selection process.     

You can pick your friends,and you can pick your nodes,but you can't pick your friends' nodes: misattributions of others'

One hundred and eleven managers from international organizations in Hungary selected success factors listed on cards by importance. The expressed preferences of non-Hungarians in this node selection task differed from the preferences attributed to them by the locals; the locals felt that the non-Hungarians did not care enough about the local environment, while the non-Hungarians - by their card selection - appeared to care more than the locals did about those issues. Several candidate explanations for the discrepancy are discussed, but all are eliminated with the exception of misattribution on the part of the locals. Implications of wide-spread misattribution, both for practice and for how management scholars go about their business, are discussed.     

‘Meeting need: Successful charity marketing’

Ian Bruce (ICSA/Prentice Hall (Charities Management Series), Hemel Hempstead, UK; 1994; ISBN 1 872860 58 3; 292 pp; paperback; £17.95; hot line ordering No. +1442 881883)     

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Abstract

Drawing on Parkin's [Marxism and class theory: A bourgeois critique. London: Tavistock Publications] concept of dual closure, this paper examines the attempt to secure the regulation of the accountancy profession in post-unification Italy. The state's establishment of a class of ‘expert accountants’ in 1865 represented an imperfect closure of the profession. In consequence, a chain of closure attempts ensued. These ventures involved shifting constructions of dominant and subordinate occupational groups and the deployment of diverse strategies to achieve usurpationary and exclusionary forms of closure. The study reveals that the achievement of state regulation of the profession in 1906 reflected the successful pursuit of usurpationary closure by a subordinated group within the accountancy field. However, it also points to the failure of the profession's efforts to make incursions into the jurisdictions of higher status occupations, especially lawyers, who wielded considerable sociopolitical power in newly unified Italy. Consistent with the findings of previous studies, the paper confirms the complexity and uncertain outcomes of closure projects in the accountancy profession.