ABSTRACT:

Understanding top management's objectives is an important concern of MIS (management information systems) management. Fifty-seven top MIS executives participated in a survey examining the nature of this concern. The results suggest that intentional confidentiality by top management is a major obstruction to that understanding. They further suggest that management rely heavily upon communication after strategy formulation even though such communication is not a particularly effective means of promoting an understanding of the objectives. Participation in strategy formulation is, however, associated with the understanding of top management's objectives. The data do not support a proposed model, based on information systems managerial variables, predicting the extent of understanding or the severity of the problems.