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Users of information technology (IT) commonly encounter exception messages during their interactions with application programs. Exception messages are an important element in accounting application controls which address exposures within specific computer application programs such as payroll, sales processing, and cash disbursements. Exception messages are similar in purpose to the warning messages that appear on consumer products and equipment (e.g., cigarettes, power tools, etc.), in various work environments (e.g., around machinery), and on chemicals. This manuscript reviews the normative elements and information that are included in product, chemical, and environment warnings and proposes that these elements and information should also be included in IT and application control exception messages. It is argued that including these elements will increase the effectiveness, informativeness, and consistency of exception messages. Additionally, we report the results of an experiment carried out to determine if IT and application control exception messages designed to conform to the normative elements, by specifically including descriptive icons, improves user interactions. The results of the experiment confirm that user’s behavioral compliance increases when interacting with a system that incorporates iconic-based exception messages.

Keywords: Application controls, exception messages, habituation

Data Availability: Data are available from the authors; however, requests for data should specify the intended use.

07-09 September 2007

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Users of information technology (IT) frequently encounter “exception messages” during their interactions with computing systems. Exception messages are important points of communication with users of IT and are similar in purpose to warning messages that appear on consumer products and equipment (e.g., cigarettes, power tools, etc.), in various work environments (e.g., around machinery), and on chemicals. This study reviews the normative elements and information that are included in product, chemical, and environment warnings and proposes that these elements and information should also be included in IT exception messages. Also reported are the results of an investigation of a sample of exception messages to determine their degree of compliance with the proposed elements. Results indicate that, relative to normative prescriptions established in the literature on warnings, IT exception messages lack descriptive content.

Keywords: Exception messages, warnings

Data Availability: Data are available from the authors; however, requests for data should specify the intended use.

07-08 September 2007

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Should decision makers respond to uncertainty by increasing or decreasing flexibility? Can simple decision rules outperform sophisticated ones? Is the maximization of net present value the correct decision rule for all levels of uncertainty? How are uncertainty, flexibility, and performance related? Heiner’s new theory of decision making under uncertainty can answer these questions. Whereas traditional decision making approaches, such as decision analysis and financial theory, consider uncertainty arising from imperfect information, Heiner’s theory considers uncertainty arising from both imperfect information and imperfect behavior. The inclusion of imperfect behavior explains much about product development. This paper introduces Heiner’s theory to the product development literature. After explaining Heiner’s theory, we demonstrate its usefulness to theory and practice, by deriving 10 principles for improving product development.

NOTE: For copies of this paper, please contact Chris Scherpereel at Chris.Scherpereel@nau.edu.

07-07 July 2007

This paper analyzes net domestic migration which occurred between 1995 and 2000 at the county level for the 4-Corners Region (Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah.) Regression techniques were used to explain approximately 70 percent of the variation in net migration rates within the region for all counties whose populations exceeded 10,000 persons at the beginning of the period. The results of the study suggest net migration rates in the region are a function of both economic and non-economic characteristics existing within each county. Initially, a number of amenity-related, recreation and socio-demographic variables were considered along with traditional economic indicators; however, only a few of the traditional variables were correlated with migration activity to and from this region. Further research is needed in order to explain the differences in migration rates for these locations compared with results discovered in other regions.

An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 38th Annual Meetings of the Mid-Continent Regional Science Association Kansas City, Missouri June 2007

07-06 July 2007

What characteristics of a business system ensure success? We answer this question by first considering how business systems affect the decision-making process. By comparing two manufacturing systems, MRP II and JIT, two broad categories of business systems are exposed, Outside-In and Inside-Out. Outside-In systems address decision problems by calculating the best solutions and pushing those solutions into the business process. Outside-In systems embrace complexity and give decision-makers many degrees of freedom. When a decision error is made, Outside-In systems respond by addressing the error in the next round of decision making. Inside-Out systems ease decision making by structuring and guiding decisions with rules and tools. This simplifies the decision-making environment and constrains decision making. If errors are made, rules and tools are adjusted or added to prevent the mistake from being repeated. Heiner’s reliability theory and our comparison suggest that Inside-Out systems are superior in many cases. Given this conclusion, we then briefly consider two Inside-Out product development systems, Lean and Agile. We conclude by applying the Inside-Out approach to change management and suggest how managers can improve their product development systems.

NOTE: For copies of this paper, please contact Chris Scherpereel at Chris.Scherpereel@nau.edu.

07-05 July 2007