IS/IT as a tool to achieve goal alignment

Knowledge workers are present in several industries and professions, including law, accounting, academia and health care. One important area of concern, is the management of knowledge workers; in particular, how to align the goals of the knowledge worker with those of the organization in which he/she works. This issue becomes of greater concern in instances of organizational flux, since the organization is in the process of undergoing changes, and formulating new goals. It is important for the organization, that its knowledge workers be aligned to these new goals. The organization does not want its knowledge workers to continue to pursue old, inappropriate goals. In addition, it does not want its knowledge workers to determine alternative goals, that they may deem appropriate to pursue, but are in fact, unsuitable for the organization as a whole to follow. The following discusses a role for IS/IT in the achievement of goal alignment, in the case of the knowledge worker: the role for IS/IT in the alignment of goals between PCPs and the HMOs for which they contract. © 2000 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.