98). IS downsizing is different from the process of organizational downsizing that is also sweeping through many large firms in the 1990s. The IS downsizing process encompasses change in both the way in which technology is used within an organization and the organization's structure. As is true with most new movements that lead to major shifts in the organizational use of technology and in organizational structure, downsizing has both its proponents and its doubters (LaPlante, 1993, pp. 22 23). This research study examined the feasibility of IS downsizing within the context of organizational characteristics.
The information environment in which organizations must function is changing. In turn, this environmental evolution demands changes in organizational structure and relationships. Peter Drucker (1988, p. 45) said the information age is leading to the creation of knowledge based organizations, wherein (1) the
size of management teams will be reduced, and (2) managerial relationships will be dramatically altered. These new manifestations are referred to as learning organizations (Byrne, 1992, p. 47).
Drucker (1988, p. 45) said that the "typical large business 20 years hence will have fewer than half the levels of management of its counterpart today, and no more than a third of the managers." In the information age, it has been discovered that "whole layers of management neither make decisions nor lead" (Drucker, 1988, p. 46). Drucker (1988, p. 47) added that:
Information based organizations need central operating work such as legal counsel, public relations, and labor relations as much as ever. But the need for service staffs that is, for people, without operating responsibilities who only advise, counsel, or coordinate shrinks drastically. In its central management, the information based organization needs few, if any, specialists . . . . Traditional departments will serve as guardians of standards, as cen...