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vital to organise training sessions for all members of the organisation who are interested in the web. The more
people who are involved and enthused by the World Wide Web the better, as they will be able to provide new
ideas for updating the company page. Training covering all aspects of server operations and web presentations
should be provided [Lanfear 1995] because such good training will contribute significantly to standardisation
and 'corporate image'. This idea is in line with company wide commitment and company wide introduction of
Total Quality Management principles.
Key Strategy 3 - Control But Do Not Over Control
In many organisations control of the web site can become a power tool for a division or department. Office or
organisational politics may cause serious conflicts over who has ultimate control. In some companies, divisions
that have been downsized, may see control of the web site as a way back into favour in the organisation. Other
divisions, for example computing services, may see the web design and maintenance as just another chore that
they have to do on top of their already busy schedule. A SPIDER (Strategic Planning for Internet
Dissemination, Evaluation and Retrieval) team can assist in such ventures [Lanfear 1995]. If different
departments of an organisation want to add pages to an organisation's web site, they need support in such works
but not complete control of every page that is added. Templates and guidelines can be circulated. Templates
are useful as they assist the different departments to quickly add a page and it helps if they feel that they are not
starting from scratch. The guidelines need to set out who has formal authority to approve pages. The USGS
(United States Geographic Service) enforces such detail as having USGS identification on all pages and links to
other USGS pages [Lanfear 1995].
Some large organisations, in particular universities, often find it difficult to exert control over web page
creation as questions of academic freedom and stifling of creativity arise. One methodology that often works
in such environments is insisting on design consistency down to the first two levels of pages in departmental
sites and then allowing freedom of design further down.
Key Strategy 4 - Monitor Results But Do Not Over Monitor
Once an organisation has a web site it is a simple matter to gather statistics of hits on the site. Some companies
favour visitor books or interactive forms. There is a danger of overkill on statistics. Web users tire of filling in
large forms unless there is some incentive for doing so. It is possible to allow a demon to measure the number
of hits. Each week, the service provider for Cyber.Consult emails the number of visits to the home page broken
down into the countries of origin of the hits and the domain names. Obviously if a company needs more
information interactive forms and visitor books will be necessary. In attempting to adhere to the principles of
Total Quality Management, the gathering of information from the 'customers' who 'hit' the organisation's page
can be used as a tool to ensure that the customer requirements are incorporated into the design and continuous
development of the site [Hill 1993].
Conclusion
Creating a presence on the World Wide Web can prove to be a daunting task for an organisation, particularly if
the organisation is a large one with management philosophies rooted in the 1950s. Companies need to take
advantage of the dramatic developments that have taken place in communications. They must act quickly and
decisively to put up a home page and explore ways to revitalise their business by taking advantage of the
phenomenon of the web - they must not over plan, over organise, over control or over monitor the development
of their web site but must take an evolutionary and flexible approach. If they adhere to the principles of Total
Quality Management, they will find establishing a presence on the web an exciting way to promote their
corporate image and do business in the future.