Information Technology For Management: Digital Strategies For Insight, Action, and Sustainable Performance 10Th Edition (Ebook PDF
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CONTENTS
Digital Technology Trends Transforming 4.3 Collaboration and Communication Technologies 127
Part 1 4.4 Sustainability and Ethical Issues 130
How Business Is Done
Case 4.2, Business Case: Google Maps API for Business 139
1 Doing Business in Digital Times 1 Case 4.3, Video Case: Fresh Direct Connects for Success 140
Case 1.1, Opening Case: McCain Foods’s Success Factors:
Dashboards, Innovation, and Ethics 2
5 Cybersecurity and Risk Management 141
Case 5.1, Opening Case: BlackPOS Malware Steals Target’s
1.1 Every Business Is a Digital Business 6
Customer Data 142
1.2 Business Process Management and Improvement 15
5.1 The Face and Future of Cyberthreats 144
1.3 The Power of Competitive Advantage 19
5.2 Cyber Risk Management 152
1.4 Enterprise Technology Trends 25
5.3 Mobile, App, and Cloud Security 163
1.5 How Your IT Expertise Adds Value to Your Performance
5.4 Defending Against Fraud 166
and Career 27
5.5 Compliance and Internal Control 169
Case 1.2, Business Case: Restaurant Creates Opportunities to
Case 5.2, Business Case: Lax Security at LinkedIn Exposed 177
Engage Customers 31
Case 5.3, Video Case: Botnets, Malware Security, and Capturing
Case 1.3, Video Case: What Is the Value of Knowing More and
Cybercriminals 179
Doing More? 32
2 Data Governance and IT Architecture Support Winning, Engaging, and Retaining Consumers
Long-Term Performance 33 Part 2
with Technology
Case 2.1, Opening Case: Detoxing Dirty Data with Data
Governance at Intel Security 34 6 Attracting Buyers with Search, Semantic, and
2.1 Information Management 37 Recommendation Technology 181
2.2 Enterprise Architecture and Data Governance 42 Case 6.1, Opening Case: Nike Golf Drives Web Traffic with Search
2.3 Information Systems: The Basics 47 Engine Optimization 182
2.4 Data Centers, Cloud Computing, and Virtualization 53 6.1 Using Search Technology for Business Success 186
2.5 Cloud Services Add Agility 62 6.2 Organic Search and Search Engine Optimization 198
Case 2.2, Business Case: Data Chaos Creates Risk 67 6.3 Pay-Per-Click and Paid Search Strategies 203
Case 2.3, Video Case: Cloud Computing: Three Case Studies 69 6.4 A Search for Meaning—Semantic Technology 205
6.5 Recommendation Engines 209
3 Data Management, Big Data Analytics, and Case 6.2, Business Case: Recommending Wine to Online
Records Management 70 Customers 217
Case 3.1, Opening Case: Coca-Cola Manages at the Point That Case 6.3, Video Case: Power Searching with Google 218
Makes a Difference 71
3.1 Database Management Systems 75 7 Social Networking, Engagement, and Social
3.2 Data Warehouse and Big Data Analytics 86 Metrics 221
3.3 Data and Text Mining 96 Case 7.1, Opening Case: The Connected Generation Influences
3.4 Business Intelligence 99 Banking Strategy 222
3.5 Electronic Records Management 102 7.1 Web 2.0—The Social Web 225
Case 3.2, Business Case: Financial Intelligence Fights Fraud 108 7.2 Social Networking Services and Communities 235
Case 3.3, Video Case: Hertz Finds Gold in Integrated Data 108 7.3 Engaging Consumers with Blogs and
Microblogs 245
4 Networks for Efficient Operations and 7.4 Mashups, Social Metrics, and Monitoring
Sustainability 110 Tools 250
Case 4.1, Opening Case: Sony Builds an IPv6 Network to Fortify 7.5 Knowledge Sharing in the Social
Competitive Edge 111 Workplace 255
4.1 Data Networks, IP Addresses, and APIs 113 Case 7.2, Business Case: Social Customer Service 259
4.2 Wireless Networks and Mobile Infrastructure 123 Case 7.3, Video Case: Viral Marketing: Will It Blend? 261
vii
viii Contents
8 Retail, E-commerce, and Mobile Commerce 11.4 Geospatial Data and Geographic Information
Systems 384
Technology 264
Case 11.2, Visualization Case: Are You Ready for Football? 387
Case 8.1, Opening Case: Macy’s Races Ahead with Mobile Retail
Case 11.3, Video Case: The Beauty of Data Visualization 387
Strategies 265
8.1 Retailing Technology 268
8.2 Business to Consumer (B2C) E-commerce 271
Managing Business Relationships, Projects,
8.3 Business to Business (B2B) E-commerce and Part 4
and Codes of Ethics
E-procurement 277
8.4 Mobile Commerce 279 12 IT Strategy and Balanced Scorecard 389
8.5 Mobile Transactions and Financial Services 286 Case 12.1, Opening Case: Intel’s IT Strategic Planning
Case 8.2, Business Case: Chegg’s Mobile Strategy 293 Process 390
Case 8.3, Video Case: Searching with Pictures Using MVS 294 12.1 IT Strategy and the Strategic Planning
Process 392
12.2 Aligning IT with Business Strategy 397
Optimizing Performance with Enterprise 12.3 Balanced Scorecard 400
Part 3
Systems and Analytics 12.4 IT Sourcing and Cloud Strategy 403
Case 12.2, Business Case: AstraZeneca Terminates $1.4B
9 Effective and Efficient Business Functions 297 Outsourcing Contract with IBM 409
Case 9.1, Opening Case: Ducati Redesigns Its Operations 299 Case 12.3, Data Analysis: Third-Party versus Company-Owned
9.1 Solving Business Challenges at All Management Offshoring 410
Levels 302
9.2 Manufacturing, Production, and Transportation 13 Project Management and SDLC 412
Management Systems 306 Case 13.1, Opening Case: Keeping Your Project on Track, Knowing
9.3 Sales and Marketing Systems 312 When It Is Doomed, and DIA Baggage System Failure 413
9.4 Accounting, Finance, and Regulatory Systems 315 13.1 Project Management Concepts 417
9.5 Human Resources Systems, Compliance, 13.2 Project Planning, Execution, and Budget 421
and Ethics 323
13.3 Project Monitoring, Control, and Closing 428
Case 9.2, Business Case: HSBC Combats Fraud in Split-second
Decisions 329
13.4 System Development Life Cycle 432
Case 13.2, Business Case: Steve Jobs’ Shared Vision Project
Case 9.3, Video Case: United Rentals Optimizes Its Workforce with
Management Style 436
Human Capital Management 330
Case 13.3, Demo Case: Mavenlink Project Management and
10 Strategic Technology and Enterprise Planning Software 437
Systems 331
Case 10.1, Opening Case: Strategic Technology Trend—
14 Ethical Risks and Responsibilities of IT
3D Printing 332
Innovations 438
Case 14.1, Opening Case: Google Glass and Risk, Privacy, and
10.1 Enterprise Systems 337
Piracy Challenges 439
10.2 Enterprise Social Platforms 341
14.1 Privacy Paradox, Privacy, and Civil Rights 442
10.3 Enterprise Resource Planning Systems 346
14.2 Responsible Conduct 448
10.4 Supply Chain Management Systems 352
14.3 Technology Addictions and the Emerging Trend of
10.5 Customer Relationship Management Systems 358
Focus Management 453
Case 10.2, Business Case: Avon’s Failed SAP Implementation:
14.4 Six Technology Trends Transforming Business 454
Enterprise System Gone Wrong 364
Case 14.2, Business Case: Apple’s CarPlay Gets
Case 10.3, Video Case: Procter & Gamble: Creating Conversations
Intelligent 458
in the Cloud with 4.8 Billion Consumers 365
Case 14.3, Video Case: Vehicle-to-Vehicle Technology to Prevent
11 Data Visualization and Geographic Information Collisions 459
Systems 367 Glossary G-1
Case 11.1, Opening Case: Safeway and PepsiCo Apply Data
Visualization to Supply Chain 369 Organizational Index O-1
11.1 Data Visualization and Learning 371
Name Index N-1
11.2 Enterprise Data Mashups 377
11.3 Digital Dashboards 380 Subject Index S-1
PREFACE
Business strategy and operations are driven by data, digi- to capture customer loyalty and wallet share and justify
tal technologies, and devices. Five years from now, we will significant investments in leading IT.
look back upon today as the start of a new era in business
More Project Management with Templates. In response
and technology. Just like the way e-business started with
to reviewers’ requests, we have greatly increased cover-
the emergence of the Web, this new era is created by the
age of project management and systems development
convergence of social, mobile, big data, analytics, cloud,
lifecycle (SDLC). Students are given templates for writing
sensor, software-as-a-service, and data visualization tech-
a project business case, statement of work (SOW), and
nologies. These technologies enable real-time insights,
work breakdown structure (WBS). Rarely covered, but
business decisions, and actions. Examples of how they
critical project management issues included in this edition
determine tomorrow’s business outcomes are:
are project post-mortem, responsibility matrix, go/no go
• Insight. Combining the latest capabilities in big decision factors, and the role of the user community.
data analytics, reporting, collaboration, search, and New Technologies and Expanded Topics. New to this
machine-to-machine (M2M) communication helps edition are 3D printing and bioprinting, project portfolio
enterprises build an agility advantage, cut costs, and management, the privacy paradox, IPv6, outsource rela-
achieve their visions. tionship management (ORM), and balanced scorecard.
• Action. Fully leveraging real-time data about opera- With more purchases and transactions starting online
tions, supply chains, and customers enables managers and attention being a scarce resource, students learn how
to make decisions and take action in the moment. search, semantic, and recommendation technologies func-
• Sustainable performance. Deploying cloud services, tion to improve revenue. The value of Internet of Things
managing projects and sourcing agreements, respect- (IoT) has grown significantly as a result of the compound
ing privacy and the planet, and engaging customers impact of connecting people, processes, data, and things.
across channels are now fundamental to sustaining Easier to Grasp Concepts. A lot of effort went into mak-
business growth. ing learning easier and longer-lasting by outlining content
• Business optimization. Embedding digital capability with models and text graphics for each opening case (our
into products, services, machines, and business pro- version of infographics) as shown in Figure P-1—from the
cesses optimizes business performance—and creates Chapter 12 opening case.
strategic weapons.
In this tenth edition, students learn, explore, and analyze Engaging Students to
the three dimensions of business performance improve-
ment: digital technology, business processes, and people. Assure Learning
The tenth edition of Information Technology for
Management engages students with up-to-date cover-
What Is New in the Tenth age of the most important IT trends today. Over the
Edition—and Why It Matters years, this IT textbook had distinguished itself with an
emphasis on illustrating the use of cutting edge business
Most Relevant Content. Prior to and during the writing technologies for achieving managerial goals and objec-
process, we attended practitioner conferences and con- tives. The tenth edition continues this tradition with more
sulted with managers who are hands-on users of leading hands-on activities and analyses.
technologies, vendors, and IT professionals to learn about Each chapter contains numerous case studies and
their IT/business successes, challenges, experiences, and real world examples illustrating how businesses increase
recommendations. For example, during an in-person productivity, improve efficiency, enhance communica-
interview with a Las Vegas pit boss, we learned how tion and collaboration, and gain a competitive edge
real-time monitoring and data analytics recommend through the use of ITs. Faculty will appreciate a variety
the minimum bets in order to maximize revenue per of options for reinforcing student learning, that include
minute at gaming tables. Experts outlined opportunities three Case Studies per chapter, including an opening
and strategies to leverage cloud services and big data case, a business case and a video case.
ix
x Preface
Strategic
gic
directional
4. Strategic Imperatives, Strategies, & Budget for
statements
Next Year. Develop next year’s priorities, road
map, budget, & investment plan. Annual budget
approved.
egic
Strategic
plan
5. Governance Decisions & IT Road Map. The
budget guides the governance process, including
supplier selection and sourcing.
Throughout each chapter are various learning aids, At the end of each chapter are a variety of features
which include the following: designed to assure student learning:
• Learning Outcomes are listed at the beginning of each • Critical Thinking Questions are designed to facilitate
chapter to help students focus their efforts and alert student discussion.
them to the important concepts that will be discussed. • Online and Interactive Exercises encourage students
• The Chapter Snapshot provides students with an over- to explore additional topics.
view of the chapter content. • Analyze and Decide questions help students apply IT
• IT at Work boxes spotlight real-world cases and inno- concepts to business decisions.
vative uses of IT.
• Definitions of Key Terms appear in the margins
throughout the book.
Details of New and Enhanced
• Tech Note boxes explore topics such as “4G and
5G Networks in 2018” and “Data transfers to main- Features of the Tenth Edition
frames.” The textbook consists of fourteen chapters organized
• Career Insight boxes highlight different jobs in the IT into four parts. All chapters have new sections as well as
for management field. updated sections, as shown in Table P-1.
Preface xi
TABLE P-1 Overview of New and Expanded IT Topics and Innovative Enterprises Discussed
in the Chapters
Enterprises in a Wide
Chapter New and Expanded IT and Business Topics Range of Industries
TABLE P-1 Overview of New and Expanded IT Topics and Innovative Enterprises Discussed
in the Chapters (continued)
Enterprises in a Wide
Chapter New and Expanded IT and Business Topics Range of Industries
TABLE P-1 Overview of New and Expanded IT Topics and Innovative Enterprises Discussed
in the Chapters (continued)
Enterprises in a Wide
Chapter New and Expanded IT and Business Topics Range of Industries
Barin Nag, Towson University research and development of graphics for Chapter 7.
Luis A. Otero, Inter-American University of Puerto We are fortunate and thankful for the expert and encour-
Rico, Metropolitan Campus aging leadership of Margaret Barrett, Beth Golub, Ellen
John Pearson, Southern Illinois University Keohane, and Mary O’Sullivan. To them we extend our
Daniel Riding, Florida Institute of Technology sincere thanks for your guidance, patience, humor, and
Josie Schneider, Columbia Southern University support during the development of this most recent ver-
Derek Sedlack, South University sion of the book. Finally, we wish to thank our families
Eric Weinstein, The University of La Verne and colleagues for their encouragement, support, and
Patricia White, Columbia Southern University understanding as we dedicated time and effort to cre-
Gene A. Wright, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee ating this new edition of Information Technology for
Management.
We are very thankful to our assistants, Samantha
Palisano and Olena Azarova. Samantha devoted many
Linda Volonino
hours of research, provided clerical support, and con-
Greg Wood
tributed to the writing of Chapter 6. Olena assisted with
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Digital Technology Trends Transforming
Part 1 How Business Is Done
Chapter
Doing Business
1 in Digital Times
Learning Outcomes
1. Describe the use of digital technology in every facet of 4. Describe enterprise technology trends and explain how
business and how digital channels are being leveraged. they influence strategy and operations.
2. Explain the types, sources, characteristics, and control 5. Assess how IT adds value to your career path and per-
of enterprise data, and what can be accomplished with formance, and the positive outlook for IT management
near real time data. careers.
3. Identify the five forces of competitive advantage and
evaluate how they are reinforced by IT.
Chapter Snapshot
Make no mistake. Businesses are experiencing a digital Think how much of your day you have your phone
transformation as digital technology enables changes nearby—and how many times you check it. Nearly
unimaginable a decade ago. High-performance organi- 80 percent of people carry their phone for all but two
zations are taking advantage of what is newly possible hours of their day; and 25 per cent of 18- to 44-year-olds
from innovations in mobile, social, cloud, big data, data cannot remember not having their phone with them
analytics, and visualization technologies. These digital (Cooper, 2013).
forces enable unprecedented levels of connectivity, or As a business leader, you will want to know what
connectedness, as listed in Figure 1.1. steps to take to get a jump on the mobile, social, cloud,
1
Big data are datasets whose
size and speed are beyond An estimated 15 billion
the ability of typical database devices are connected to
Over 1 million websites
the Internet—forecasted
software tools to capture, to hit 50 billion by 2020
engage in Facebook
e-commerce.
store, manage, and analyze. as more devices connect
Examples are machine- via mobile networks.
generated data and social
media texts.
More data are collected in
Data analytics refers to the Over 200 million social a day now than existed in
use of software and statistics Figure 1.1 We are in media users are mobile the world 10 years ago.
the era of mobile-social- only, never accessing it
to find meaningful insight Half of all data are in the
cloud-big data that from a desktop or laptop. cloud and generated
in the data, or better under-
shape business strate- Mobile use generates 30% by mobile and social
stand the data. gies and day-to-day of Facebook’s ad revenue. activities—known as big
data.
Data visualization (viz) tools operations.
make it easier to understand
data at a glance by display-
ing data in summarized big data, analytics, and visualization technologies that will move your businesses
formats, such as dashboards forward. Faced with opportunities and challenges, you need to know how to lever-
and maps, and by enabling age them before or better than your competitors.
drill-down to the detailed In this opening chapter, you read about the powerful impacts of digital technol-
data. ogy on management, business, government, entertainment, society, and those it will
have on the future. You learn of the latest digital trends taking place across indus-
tries and organizations—small and medium businesses, multinational corporations,
government agencies, the health-care industry, and nonprofits.
COMPANY OVERVIEW You most likely have eaten McCain Foods products (Figure 1.2, Table 1.1). McCain
is a market leader in the frozen food industry—producing one-third of the world’s
supply of french fries. The company manufactures, distributes, and sells more than
2
CASE 1.1 Opening Case 3
Business challenges The frozen food industry faced tough challenges from health
and nutrition trends that are emphasizing fresh foods. Industry
is highly competitive because it is expected to experience slow
growth through 2018.
Voisin/Phanie/SuperStock
FROZEN FOOD McCain Foods had to deal with three major challenges and threats:
INDUSTRY CHALLENGES
1. Drop in demand for frozen foods. McCain operated in an industry that was
facing tougher competition. Health-conscious trends were shifting customer
demand toward fresh food, which was slowing growth in the frozen foods
market.
2. Perishable inventory. Of all the types of manufacturing, food manufacturers face
© DustyPixel/iStockphoto
MCCAIN FOODS’ The McCain brothers, who founded the company, follow this simple philosophy:
BUSINESS AND IT “Good ethics is good business.” McCain prides itself on the quality and conve-
STRATEGIES nience of its products, which is reflected in the It’s All Good brand image. The It’s
All Good branding effort was launched in 2010 after surveys found that customers
were concerned about the quality and nutrition of frozen foods. Since then, many of
products have been improved and manufactured in healthier versions.
Managing with Digital Technology McCain had integrated its diverse
sources of data into a single environment for analysis. Insights gained from its data
analytics helped improve manufacturing processes, innovation, and competitive
advantage.
McCain Foods invested in data analytics and visualization technologies to
maximize its capability to innovate and gain insights from its huge volumes of data.
The company tracks, aggregates, and analyzes data from operations and business
customers in order to identify opportunities for innovation in every area of the busi-
ness. The results of data analytics are made available across the organization—from
CASE 1.1 Opening Case 5
executive boardrooms to the factory floors—on dashboards. Dashboards are data
visualizations (data viz) that display the current status of key performance indica-
tors (KPIs) in easy-to-understand formats (Figure 1.5). KPIs are business metrics
used to evaluate performance in terms of critical success factors, or strategic and
operational goals.
Better Predictions, Better Results The CEO, other executives, and managers
view their dashboards from mobile devices or computers. They are able to monitor
operations in factories and farms around the globe. Dashboards keep management
informed because they can discover answers to their own questions by drilling
down. Data are used to forecast and predict crop yields—and ultimately combine
weather and geopolitical data to predict and avoid food shortages. By integrating
all of its data into one environment and making the results available in near real
time to those who need it, the organization is increasing its bottom line and driving
innovation.
© Delices/Shutterstock
CHAPTER XVII
T HE cook could not get along with Jenny. Jenny gave notice and acted
upon it promptly, deaf to remonstrance, because her young man was
going to get her a place as waitress so she wouldn’t “have to lower
herself” doing housework. The laundress was ill with influenza and the
substitute laundress did not wash the baby’s clothes clean. That was why
Mrs. Warner, coming into her daughter’s house one morning in January,
found Cecily herself in the laundry bending over a tub of diapers. Cecily
was disheveled and a little defiant at her mother’s protest.
“I don’t see what else there is to do. If I can’t get help, the children have
to have clean clothes, don’t they?”
Mrs. Warner, looking as incongruous in the laundry as a person possibly
could, shook her head, simply implying that some things like washing
diapers were quite impossible.
“You shouldn’t do things like this. You ought to manage somehow.”
“But how, mother?”
“Send the clothes over to my house. Get another laundress.”
“There isn’t one to be had for two days, and to send a bundle of clothes
across the city is really too silly.”
“Make your cook do them.”
“And have her leave! No, that would be the last word. I’m through now.
Wait until I hang these up and let’s go upstairs.”
“Let’s—by all means.”
Mrs. Warner led the way upstairs and gazed around the house. It was
very orderly, but Cecily looked very tired.
“What does Dick say to all this?”
“Dick protests, but that doesn’t solve the servant problem.” There was a
little edge in Cecily’s tone. “Dick doesn’t like domesticity anyhow if it
interferes with his amusements.”
“I wouldn’t talk like that. It’s not like you.”
Cecily flushed. “Lots of things that didn’t use to be like me are
becoming normal. A little more Billingsgate in my manner is only natural
after doing the washing, isn’t it?”
Her mother did not smile. She looked worried.
“You are tired.”
“Please don’t say that, mother. Of course I’m tired. Why shouldn’t I be
tired? But it isn’t lack of sleep or work that tires me as much as—other
things.”
“What things?” Mrs. Warner’s questions came not curiously, but
reluctantly as if she did not want confidences and was forcing herself to ask
for them.
“People’s point of view.” By people she meant Dick, and Mrs. Warner
knew it. She did not go on.
“Dear Cecily, I’m so sorry to overburden you with another worry just
now, but some one else will tell you if I don’t. You are bound to hear it
about town in a day or so. And Leslie and I wanted to know what you
thought about it before we decided finally what our attitude should be.”
“What has happened?”
“I had a letter yesterday from Walter. It seems he is married.”
“Walter—at college—married? But he’s only twenty.”
“Twenty-one to-morrow.” Such sorrow in poor Mrs. Warner’s voice as
she reflected on that birthday.
“But are you sure? To whom?”
“To a girl he met in the town there. He wrote me simply that he was
married and that he hoped we’d like Della. She is very pretty.”
“But why marry her this way, mother? Why——” She stopped with a
possible answer flashing through her own mind.
“He wrote your father, too. I didn’t see that letter. Leslie said it was
confidential, but he seemed to think Walter had done the only thing. He
compromised the girl in some way. It seems they were out all night in an
automobile—and there was talk.” Neither woman spoke for a moment.
Delicacy, fine distaste put an end to the conversation. Cecily’s face grew
harder than her mother’s.
“Poor mother, poor mother.”
“But I’m glad he married her, Cecily. It’s not so bad for him as the other
thing would have been. I couldn’t have borne the other thing. I saw enough
of that once. This shows at least that he has—conscience.”
Cecily stood, meditating harshly on a probable Della.
“Where did he meet her?”
“At some dance in the town. She seems to be just an ordinary girl. And
of course I don’t know anything against her. We must think nothing.
Probably she was only as foolish as many girls are nowadays. Your father
thinks we must accept it and bring Walter and his wife home.”
“Walter didn’t say anything about this at Christmas time.”
“No. I don’t believe he contemplated anything of the sort then. It was
sudden—as much so to him as to us, perhaps.”
“Mother, you seem so excusing, so tolerant! Do we just have to accept a
situation like this? Can the girl expect to be treated like the wife of your
son? This girl who let herself be compromised.”
Mrs. Warner gave again that queer impression of treating her trouble as
if it had happened to some one else. In contrast to Cecily’s protest she drew
back a little.
“She is your brother’s wife, Cecily.”
“She has no right to such a title!”
“I was afraid you’d take it like this. You mustn’t be so hard, Cecily. You
must be tolerant.”
“I’m tired of tolerance for laxity. I’m tired of moral laxity, of cheapness
of ideals. Why should those of us who are decent do the work for the ones
who aren’t decent?”
“Work?”
“Work. Have the children and try to keep them clean and healthy and
fine, while the women who won’t have children, who won’t work, won’t do
anything but play, get the real interest of every one?”
“They don’t; they don’t get the real respect of people. There may be a
kind of attraction, but it’s hardly skin-deep.”
“You’re wrong, mother. You’re wrong. It’s the so-called respect that’s
skin-deep. Men will tell you that the ideal woman is the good wife and
mother, but you try being a good wife and mother and you’re pretty soon a
deadly bore; while the little half moral Dellas and Flisses are the women
men give up things for and like to be with.”
Mrs. Warner forced herself to a question. She did not answer Cecily’s
tirade, but struck at the root of it.
“Is anything seriously wrong between you and Dick?”
“No. Nothing seriously wrong, I suppose. I suppose I wanted marriage to
get deeper and better. It’s getting thinner and almost tawdry. I wanted Dick
to be content with it and me. And he’s restless. He likes all this excitement
and all these noisy people that I don’t like. He doesn’t want to stay home
with me and the children.”
“Surely he doesn’t neglect you, dear.”
“Ah, it’s not so tangible. It’s simply that I don’t satisfy.”
“Cecily, darling, aren’t you imagining all this?”
“I thought so, mother. Then I didn’t think so, but I tried to think so. Then
I knew that I wasn’t. You see, mother, I’m growing up. I’m trying to live by
the ideals I was taught were the ones to live by, but I can’t find any one else
living by them. At first I thought Dick thought as I did—wanted to live as I
do. He doesn’t. Secretly he thinks I’m stupid.”
Her mother tried to laugh reassuringly. “That’s so foolish. You know
better than that, Cecily. I can’t see that you’ve any real grievance. You’re
going through a hard period now. But the babies will grow older and all this
——”
“Suppose I have more babies.”
Mrs. Warner hesitated. “Are you quite strong enough now, I wonder?”
“Oh,” cried Cecily, “you are evading me, too. Are there no rights and
wrongs? Why was I brought up to believe in right and wrong? Is everything
compromise? Babies, marriage, Dellas?”
Fine lines stood out in Mrs. Warner’s face. “I never had your
fundamental courage or strength,” she said, “but there was a time when I
did believe in very black wrong and very white right. That was when I
married your father. He was a brilliant man and I loved him, not as I love
your dear stepfather, but differently. I don’t let myself remember that first
part of my love. I can’t, even yet. But your father was a poor husband; he
was a poor father; he was not honest with me; he was not even faithful.
When I found that out—he told me—I said that I would not let it kill me,
but it nearly did. The first had seemed so beautiful that to find it was not
even real——” Her voice dragged, weighted even now with the horrible
discovery. Cecily, her eyes half closed in imagining the pain, listened.
“Since then I have believed that most things are compromise. All the
happiness in my life, the real happiness, has come through compromise. All
the pain through the lack of it. You have so much more than I had with your
father. Dick is good. I know he loves you. I know he is faithful to you.”
“Oh, yes, mother—faithful,” Cecily shuddered at the words, “of course. I
didn’t mean——”
“My husband wasn’t,” said Mrs. Warner simply, and went on: “You have
much to learn about men and much tolerance to acquire.”
But the softening in Cecily was lost at that word.
“Don’t you see that I think all this trouble comes because we are so
tolerant? Tolerant of ideals! Why should I be tolerant of Walter’s wife? Of
Fliss?”
“Why do you bring in Florence Allenby?”
“Because she typifies all the things I’m struggling against. She seems to
invade this whole house with her ideas. I suppose she’s no worse than lots
of others, but she’s the specific example. Dick admires her.”
“Likes her, you mean.”
“Well——”
“Men are bound to like her. She’s the kind of woman that satisfies a need
of men, for flattery, for play.”
“She’s fun,” said Cecily, bitterly.
Her mother agreed.
“And because she’s fun and because Della is fun, Matthew is tied to her
for the rest of his life and poor Walter at twenty-one is tied to his Della.”
“But Matthew and Walter are happy.”
“They shouldn’t be happy like that! It’s unworthy!”
Mrs. Warner stood up. “We’ve talked a lot and I’m not convincing you.
Perhaps I won’t ever convince you that I’m right. You’re strong, Cecily.
You don’t know yet how strong. But when you were a little thing I could
see the will in you, underneath the dreaming and the softness. I think now
that your father’s laxities have turned in you to rigors. Just now you’re tired
and upset by your problems and your household and inclined to group all
your troubles into a very destructive point of view. You mustn’t. Walter is
married. Gerald writes that he thinks it is all right. He likes Della, too. His
father and I want to bring Walter home and to make the most of the
situation. If Della is possible material to form into the sort of woman we
would like to see Walter have for a wife, it is our privilege to do it. Your
example will be necessary and helpful. You’re young, and you’re a happy,
married woman.”
She smiled at Cecily and Cecily smiled back through a mist of tears.
“Please help me with Della by being tolerant of her. Think what it will
mean to Walter to have his mistake, if it is a mistake, turned to good
account—to have us receive his wife instead of being hard on her.”
“You’re so fine and wise and beautiful,” sighed Cecily. “I am foolish;
haunted by chimeras. But I feel so glad, mother, to have said it all.”
“It isn’t ended in the saying. But it has helped us both to have talked a
little. Shall we go to see the babies before I go?”
They were themselves again—the beautiful, passive woman and the
lovely, eager girl, hiding again their depths and the disturbances in them.
Mrs. Warner smoothed over the surface as well as the depths. She sent her
housemaid to stay with the children and insisted that Cecily and Dick come
to her house for dinner, where the case of Walter and Della was discussed
and so much the best made of it that the tragic part was fairly smothered in
hopes.
Three weeks later, after a wedding trip financed by his father, Walter
brought Della home. The family in Carrington were thoroughly adjusted to
the blow by that time and a few newspaper notices and careful statements of
Mrs. Warner and Cecily had made it clear to their friends and acquaintances
that Walter was not to return as a prodigal, but to a very genuine welcome.
Yet at the first glance at Della, Cecily felt her heart sink.
It would have been so much easier if Della had been flagrantly
impossible, if she had been chewing gum or wearing lace veils and jockey
perfume, but showing a diffidence and teachability that they could work
with. Cecily had seen so many Dellas, she thought as she looked at her.
Della was small and pretty and stylish. Stylish without imagination,
wearing the “latest” in everything; a kind of fashion book model with
fashion book curves and a manner that was reminiscent of the stories in the
fashion books. She came into the Warners’ big drawing-room behind
Walter, a kind of pertness and determination to demonstrate that she was as
“good as anybody else” most apparent in her greetings. Mrs. Warner’s
kindness and Cecily’s welcome excited no gratitude. She was going to deal
with Walter’s family without making any concessions. Walter’s slight
evident excitement and sensitiveness, his response to what his people were
offering him were lost on her. She giggled a little and talked about how cold
it had been in the sleeper and how she guessed everybody on the train knew
they were “newly-weds” and how funny it was getting used to another
name. There was a trace of petulance in her manner towards Walter, too.
“I told him he just better hurry with his suit-case, that I wasn’t going to
pack it for him—break him in wrong,” she said.
Cecily, the memory of her own wedding trip coming back to her, with its
wonder of service, felt herself helpless.
“We’ve got to find a place to live now, I suppose,” was Della’s next
comment.
“But there’s no hurry surely. We want you to stay with us for a while
until we get acquainted,” said Mrs. Warner.
“That’s nice of you, but we’ll want a place of our own as soon as we can
find one and Walter goes to work. I suppose you people didn’t like his
leaving college.”
“A college degree is sometimes valuable,” said Mr. Warner, rather
grimly.
“Well, I don’t know. I wonder sometimes what good it does them. I’ve
always lived in a college town, you know, and been used to college men;
been used to lots of fun, haven’t I, Walter? Well, as I was saying, I don’t
know that finishing your course gets you any place especially. Sometimes
those who don’t, get ahead the fastest.”
They all refrained from comment. Walter had grown a little flushed.
“Can I take Della upstairs? She’s tired, I know, mother.”
“Isn’t he bossy?” from Della.
“Yes, dear, take her up to your own room. It’s ready for you.”
A little-boy, lonesome look came into Walter’s face for a moment. Then
he turned to Della and took her out of the room. Mrs. Warner looked at her
husband and then at Cecily.
“Did you say I was to be a model for her?” asked Cecily, with her new
grimness. “For her? Why, the girl scorns me.”
“She’s certainly going to make Walter stand around,” said Mr. Warner,
with a feeble attempt at jocularity. Then, at the sight of the tears in his
wife’s eyes he was beside her in an instant. “She’s not so bad,” he declared.
“Lots of energy and nerve in that small person.”
Lots of energy and lots of nerve there were. In the succeeding weeks
they all found out how much. Della, twirling on her finger the platinum and
diamond symbol that she was a Warner, knew how to have a good time and
how to get what she wanted. She was fond of Walter in her under-bred little
way. Though she scolded at him, she was always willing to have him
exhibit his affection in public, and in automobiles and theatres would curl
into his arms in a way that was unceasingly embarrassing to the people with
her.
Cecily, who had planned on winning her confidence, soon found that
confidence a thing to dread. Della’s easy, careless tongue ran away with
itself on most occasions. She wanted to tell Cecily intimate things that
Cecily could not bring herself to listen to. And when Cecily, trying to
impart an ideal or a vision, half opened her mind to Della, she found her
visions ignored or criticized.
“Cute kids, aren’t they?” commented Della. “But whatever do you do
with so many? It’s wonderful how you’ve kept your figure, though.”
That ended that lesson.
Dick was amused. He laughed above Cecily’s constant dismay.
“It’s a damned shame Walter married that chicken. But then, if he’s
satisfied! Did you see her try to vamp me?” And he was off in a gale of
chuckles.
Gradually, after a few weeks, they stopped trying to do things with
Della. She had her little apartment with its expensive furnishings paid for
by Mr. Warner and she and Walter kept an unceasing succession of
exploiting maids and dined out at public places at least half the time. Cecily
simply made the best of her. She was unceasingly busy at home. Ellen’s
vacation had lengthened. She had written most contritely that she could not
come back at once. “As soon as I can, but my cousin won’t have a nurse.
We are trying to find one that will do her.”
Cecily made determined efforts not to let her household weigh on her.
She told herself again and again that there must be ways to manage. She
interviewed nurses and cooks, bribed employment agencies, but even with
all her effort her mind could never escape from her house and her babies.
The little grudge against Dick that he could escape, that he could want, as
he so often did want, gayety and people, wore deeper in her.
CHAPTER XVIII
CHAPTER XIX
T HERE were many times when Cecily felt the absurdity of allowing her
life to be affected by her domestic machinery and the servants who
operated it. It wasn’t, she felt, dignified. She somehow could not find a
place in her philosophy of marriage for the cooks, the housemaids and the
nurses. They had to be if she wanted to escape the physical work in a house
spacious enough for her needs, but to have to regulate her life by them
bothered her. The cheap comedy of the whole servant problem affronted her
and to have to play a rôle in it herself was increasingly irritating. Her
mother helped her as much as she could by sending her servants, but the
presence of three babies was anathema to most of them and they would stay
a little while and drift off to a place with “two in the family and the highest
wages.” And now her mother had gone to California to avoid the wintry
spring of Carrington. Della and Walter were keeping that house open, and
coöperation was not in Delia’s line. It did not occur to her to help Cecily out
by lending her servants, as Mrs. Warner had sometimes done. Cecily paid
high wages, higher and higher, utterly disproportionate to the service she
was getting, but money of course inspired no loyalty. There were quarrels in
the kitchen between the maids—unpleasant hiatuses when Cecily washed
her own Wedgwood china and beautiful hand-made silver dishes. It was all
very absurd, but there it was; because there was an actual undersupply of
servants in Carrington and because so many women wanted servants and
were unable or unwilling to get their own meals and make their own beds at
any price, there was a situation which actually affected many a woman’s
health and had its influence on married happiness and undoubtedly on the
birth rate. What began as a joke had been treated as a joke too long, long
after it had become a really sinister influence.
With Ellen in her house it was unnecessary to count and to watch;
unnecessary to fear that the children’s food might be insufficiently or badly
cooked if she were out. Ellen liked to work, had a conscience about her
work and a respect for it that was unusual, and she managed the other
servants. Just as Cecily felt pride in her home and her children—felt
instinctively that, even if domesticity were out of fashion, it was not rightly
or permanently so—so Ellen felt her own pride in oiling the machinery of
Cecily’s house. They liked each other and understood each other. And as
Ellen watched the development of the children, saw Dorothea take her first
steps and graduate from cream of wheat to scraped beef, helped little Leslie
through the same formula of growth and watched and aided Cecily through
their illnesses—a real friendship, more fundamental than many a one
between so-called social equals, grew between the two women.
It was the day after Dick had talked to Matthew with such unusual
revelation. Cecily’s latest cook had proved herself in two days both insolent
and incompetent and, hunting up the forwarding address for Ellen’s letters,
Cecily decided to go to Ellen herself and see if in conversation they could
not find a way to take care of the unwieldy relative and let Ellen come back
to her. It struck her as she entered the apartment house that she had been
here before and yet the cracked, painted walls of the hall were not familiar.
She stood before the row of black tin mail boxes looking for Ellen’s name
and saw it at last written in lead pencil on a printed card stuck crookedly in
the name place. Ellen Forrest—and the card, Mr. Wm. H. Horton.
Cecily pondered the familiarity of the name for a minute before its
connection flashed upon her. Then she remembered. She had brought Fliss
to the door of this apartment house several times; this was where Fliss lived
before she had married. She hesitated, then rang the bell, and mounted the
stairs to the third floor. A voice called to her to come in, a high-pitched,
quite unpleasant voice and, entering, she saw a woman lying on a leather
sofa pushed up to a small library table. She recognized her in spite of the
disorderly hair and red bathrobe. It was Fliss’s mother. She had met her two
or three times at Fliss’s own house.
Mrs. Horton knew her also. She was a little embarrassed, but not
excessively so, being very simple in her ways in spite of Fliss.
“It’s Mrs. Harrison, isn’t it? Well, won’t you sit down? I’m real
embarrassed to have you find me looking so, but I’m not able to get about
much any more, you know.”
“I didn’t know you were ill, Mrs. Horton? Isn’t it a shame? Is it anything
serious?”
Mrs. Horton winced, although at the same time a glad consciousness of
the new visitor, to whom she could expound her ills, showed in her face.
“I don’t know. You know how doctors are. They say I’ve got a growth.
Now they want to operate on me, but I’m afraid of that and I don’t doubt
but that it’s all foolishness. I’m trying a new cure now—perhaps you’ve
read about it——” She droned on in the unceasing manner of the patent
medicine addict. Cecily listened. She had not yet had a chance to explain
her visit, and she was full of crowding thoughts. So this was where Fliss
had lived. No wonder it had been an escape to marry Matthew. This mother
—but the poor woman was very ill. There were terrible pain ravages on her
face. Hadn’t Ellen said cancer? But where was Ellen? And was it possible
that Fliss had bribed her to get her there? Or was there really a relationship?
Just at that moment Ellen came in. She looked astonished, but, like Mrs.
Horton, was too simple to be much disturbed.
“Why, Mrs. Harrison!”
Cecily shook hands with her. “I didn’t know that Mrs. Horton was your
cousin, Ellen.”
“No; I guess I didn’t happen to mention it,” said Ellen.
Not a word of Fliss. There was no need.
“I do hope you haven’t come to try to get Ellen back,” said Mrs. Horton.
“I don’t see how I could get along at all without her.”
“We all need Ellen,” Cecily answered.
“Well, of course, being a relative and all, I’d sooner have her with me
than a nurse. Those trained nurses are awful high and mighty. And of course
Ellen don’t really need to work out at all now. Now that Fliss is married, I
tell her she could always have Fliss’s room.”
“You must miss your daughter.”
“Well, Fliss always was a great one to go. I don’t know as I saw much
more of her than I do now, when she was living at home. Of course she
don’t have much time to come here with her social doings and all.”
They talked for a few minutes and then Ellen took things into her own
hands.
“I’ve got to go to the market now,” she said, “if I’m to get anything fresh
for dinner. I’ll walk down with you, Mrs. Harrison.”
Cecily rose in spite of Mrs. Horton’s protest.
“I know you’ll beg Ellen away from me. I don’t want to be mean about
it, but being as I’m her own cousin, it seems as if I couldn’t get along. If I
could get my friend Mrs. Ellis, who’s a widow, I might.”
“Now don’t you fret, Carrie, and get your fever up. No one’s going to
leave you. There’s just a few things that Mrs. Harrison and me would like to
discuss private.”
She wore her neat blue suit and as they came out of the apartment house
together no trace of servility or embarrassment clung to Ellen.
“You see,” she said, “with Mrs. Allenby—Fliss—being at your house so
much and all, I thought it was just as well not to tell you we was related. I
asked her not to mention it, too.”
“So foolish. I wish she had insisted. But you aren’t the least bit like one
another. I never would have guessed.”
“No; there’s no noticeable resemblance. How’s little Leslie, and
Dorothea, and the baby?”
“They miss you and they don’t get along as fast as they should with so
many strange people taking care of them. Can’t you come back, Ellen? I’d
like you to come back as housekeeper—take general charge. Couldn’t you
do that?”
“You mustn’t think I was the least bit dissatisfied, Mrs. Harrison. I liked
working for you. It was true every word I said. You see Mrs. Horton don’t
want a nurse. She’s terrible fussy just now.”
“Is she very ill?”
“She’s going to die, I’m afraid. It’s going awfully fast. We’ve been sort
of letting up on the operation question because the doctors don’t hold out
much hope for her anyhow. Of course she don’t know how bad she is.”
“Does her daughter know?”
“Yes, Fliss knows.”
“Poor thing.”
“I would like to come back to you, Mrs. Harrison. I’ve been thinking
that if that Mrs. Ellis comes I could. I’d really have to, since they haven’t
room for more than one of us. And this Mrs. Ellis is closer to Carrie than I
am myself; she knew her when she was a bride. I tell you what I’ll do. I’ll
find out and let you know on Sunday. Is that all right with you?”
“Yes, indeed. I don’t want you to leave your poor cousin, but if this other
friend of hers is coming and you aren’t really needed——”
“I know. We’ll try to do the best by all,” answered Ellen, following the
line of thought of John Stuart Mill instinctively.