Top Management’s Role in Promoting Decision Support Systems Efficiency: An Exploratory Study in Government Sector in Saudi Arabia

Despite﻿overwhelmingly﻿positive﻿reviews﻿for﻿decision﻿support﻿systems,﻿the﻿IS﻿literature﻿has﻿produced﻿ inconsistent﻿results﻿regarding﻿the﻿role﻿of﻿top﻿management﻿and﻿the﻿effectiveness﻿of﻿these﻿systems.﻿IS﻿ researchers﻿are﻿concerned﻿with﻿there﻿being﻿a﻿widening﻿gap﻿between﻿research﻿and﻿practice,﻿leading﻿ to﻿the﻿current﻿study,﻿focusing﻿on﻿the﻿relevance﻿of﻿these﻿two﻿constituencies.﻿This﻿study﻿employs﻿the﻿ Delphi﻿methodology﻿in﻿relation﻿to﻿Saudi﻿Arabia﻿to﻿investigate﻿the﻿reality﻿of﻿the﻿decision﻿support﻿systems﻿in﻿governmental﻿organizations﻿and﻿the﻿diverse﻿issues﻿related﻿to﻿making﻿effective﻿use﻿of﻿them﻿by﻿increasing﻿the﻿role﻿of﻿top﻿management .﻿The﻿findings﻿revealed﻿that﻿there﻿is﻿an﻿absence﻿of﻿a﻿role﻿for﻿ IT﻿in﻿the﻿decision-making﻿process,﻿and﻿that﻿there﻿is﻿a﻿lack﻿of﻿robust﻿data﻿warehouse﻿systems﻿capable﻿ of﻿supporting﻿organizations’﻿top﻿management﻿with﻿high-quality﻿information.﻿The﻿study﻿revealed﻿ various﻿required﻿reforms﻿of﻿various﻿governmental﻿and﻿institutional﻿arrangements﻿and﻿obligational﻿aspects﻿of﻿the﻿efficiency﻿of﻿decision﻿support﻿systems.

Information-processing needs are also relevant to the organization because decision-making involves processing the required information-it is therefore difficult to separate informationprocessingneedsfromdecision-making.ArecentstudyconductedbyArefinetal.(2015)emphasized that the match between the decision-making organization and DSS success is determined by the correlationbetweenprocessandproduct.Thedecision-makingprocessismadeupofthemethods usedbytheorganizationinitsapproachtodevelopingtheinformationandintelligenceinfrastructure thatcanimprovebusinessperformancetosucceedintheglobaleconomy.Theoutputisinformation thatcanhelporganizationspredictthebehaviorsoftheirstakeholderswithsomedegreeofreliability. Table1summarizessomeoftheissues(reportedintheliterature)affectingtheTM'sroleinthe efficientuseofDSSs.

RESEARCH METHoD
ThispaperisfocusedontherealityofDSSsandontheantecedentconditionsfortheTM'srole in relation to the efficiency of DSSs in governmental organizations within the context of Saudi Arabia-the most rapidly developing country. The Delphi method, as a research approach, is

Even though BI is implemented in some major organizations, its role is very limited to the provision of some statistics but not to support strategic decisions.
Thepanelistsreportedthattherehadbeenadeep-rootedchallengetothebuildingup,integration, andaggregationoftheessentialdataforthedevelopmentofthedatawarehouserequiredforthe implementationofDSSs.Participant7indicated:

Third Round: Challenges to the Decision-Making Process in Saudi Governmental organizations
When the panelists were asked about the most relevant challenges hampering the quality of the decision-making process in Saudi governmental organizations, they reported various key issues. Theseincluded: 1. Thesoledecision-makerculture.Participant3explained:

TM tends to centrally control any strategic decisions when responding to any needs and issues that arise.
Basedonsuchculture,anotherissuestemmedfromeachdepartmentattemptingtofulfillitsown needs,problems,andopportunitiesinisolation.Participant8highlighted: a low level of consideration for organizational strategy.

Thelackaneffectiveoversightandaccountabilitysystem;Participant3mentioned:
The accuracy and integrity of the decision-making processes are not always crucial to the TM.
Saudigovernmentalorganizationsarenotfor-profitorganizations;therefore,themostimportant measuresofproductivityaremissingfromtheiragenda.Participant13explained: Government organizations lack Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to measure productivity; therefore, the current judgment system is ineffective in relation to TM efficiency and decision-making support systems.
3. Deficienciesaffectinggovernmentalorganizations,arrangements,andobligations.Thepanelists notedtheexistenceofgovernmentallegislativesystemsofregulation,rules,andprocedures-but wereoftheopinionthatthesecan,asParticipant6stated: at times, be conflicting, overlapping and ambiguous, or do not always offer public organizations an alternative model to help resolve emerging conflicts and tensions.

Inaddition,asParticipant9commented:
TM is periodically given the authority to overrule these systems.

Fifth Round: TM and Issues Related to the Effective Use of DSSs
The extent of the TM's understanding of the organization's core business, the organization's strategic objectives, the future of the organization, and the current and future, internal and external challenges of the organization. and,asstatedbyParticipant20: The TM's willingness to be transparent and open to the external environment.
TheparticipantsviewedtherelationshipbetweentheTMandtheinformationinfrastructureas akeyindicatorofthebuildingofeffectiveinformationinfrastructurecapabilities.Aspointedoutby Participant11: TM that considers the development of information infrastructure capability to be strategically important to the of the survival of the organization.
Thiswouldresultinanorganizationsuccessfullyimplementingandsubsequentlyassimilating theITsupportsystems.ThepanelistsalsostressedadirectcorrelationbetweenITsystemefficiency andtheTM'srelationshipwiththeITinfrastructure.Thepanelistsnoted(asParticipant16stated) thattherelationshipbetweentheTMandtheITinfrastructurecanbeunderstood: [As the] extent [to which] the TM looks at IT in the organization as a strategic asset to which the business processes should be aligned to achieve strategic business objectives.