Effect of Information Technology Strategies on Organization Effectiveness A Case Study of United States International University-Africa

A Research Project Report Submitted to the Chandaria School of Business in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirement for the Degree of Masters in Business Administration (MBA)The purpose of this study was to determine effects of Information Technology strategies on United States International University-Africa’s organization performance. The study sought to establish how blackboard affects learning efficiency, library information systems affect academic research output and how enterprise systems integration affects productivity at United States International University-Africa. The study considered quantitative methods and descriptive statistics features predominantly in the collection and analysis of data. Descriptive statistics addresses the research questions through empirical assessments that involve numerical measurements and statistical analysis. The variables identified in the research topic were organization performance as the dependent variable and information technology strategies as independent variables. The study sought to establish the relationship between the chosen variables and to what extent each variable affects the performance of United States International University-Africa. The population of study was 392 staff at the university. Sampling technique chosen for this study was stratified random sampling technique using a sample of 137 respondents, approximately 35% of the target population. A structured questionnaire was formulated using the research questions in the study and was self-administered and sent to constituents through email and drop and pick hard copies method. In this study, the descriptive statistics such as percentages and frequency distribution was used to аnаlyze the demographic profile of the participants. In order to describe the data, the study used means of each variable and correlation аnаlysis between the independent and the dependent variable. The findings revealed that Blackboard e-learning is aligned to the mission of the university and the institution encourages its use to support learning. The study established that Blackboard makes it easy to organize course-learning outcomes and has improved course content delivery. The second objective revealed that there was uncertainty on number of scholarly publications at the university have increased since the introduction of library information systems. In addition, the Online Public Access Catalog search engine has easy to use features. The third objective revealed that enterprise system integration has contributed to a reduction in labor costs due to streamlined operations and better decision making. The findings revealed that integrated systems reduce the orientation and training effort and allows university employees to work and resolve issues from a single workstation. It is recommended that the university needs to encourage production of more literary material conveniently using the Online Public Access Catalog s. There is a need to educate the employees on the benefits of Blackboard considering the amount of investment made. Students should be encouraged to use of Blackboard to support peer learning. Secondly, the university needs to create awareness on increased number of scholarly publications at the university’s library information systems. Lastly, the university needs to maintain enterprise system integration to reduce labor costs because of streamlined operations. Data security needs to be enhanced to safeguard the institution’s data. Further studies need to be undertaken in other private and public learning institution to be able to compare and generalize the findings. Other studies should also be done to determine student’s perception and use of the internet as a hub for learning and the effect of modern technology on students’ performanc