Information technology in operations management: A theory-of-constraints approach

The theory of constraints (TOC) has recently gained much success in its application to industrial and service organizations. This paper applies the TOC principles to the management of information technology (IT) in the organization. The paper creates a four tiered model for the application of the TOC to IT, starting with TOC's throughput-driven business policy; on with the seven step resource management methodology; through the cost/utilization capital investment technique; and concluding with the drum-buffer-rope production activity procedure. We draw a framework and a methodology showing how IT can be more effective using the TOC way of management. In order to systematically explore the location of the organization’s constraints we adapt to the TOC a synthesis of three established management frameworks: Stakeholder analysis, the value chain and Boston Consulting Group's portfolio analysis model.