Lecture 19 Chapter 10 Leading the IT Function

Project Turn in 1.Hard copy (in class Thursday) 2.Soft copy (by to 2

Leadership of the IT Function Key Learning Objectives for Chapter 10: 1.Understand the different roles that IT can play in organizations and recognize that this role can change over time 2.Understand why IT role transitions may create organizational tensions and conflict. 3.Understand why it is valuable to match the leadership approach to the role that IT is expected to fill in the business

Analyzing the Role of IT in an Organization

The four quadrants 5 1.Support 2.Factory 3.Turnaround 4.Strategic Each requires different leadership approach

Transitions 6 Turnaround Factory Strategic All of these require different management skills and approaches. All lead to different tensions

Managing Tensions 7 1.Execution-innovation 2.IT-business relationship

8 Organizing and Leading IT Introducing new technologies Maintaining old technologies Balancing maintenance with innovation Defining roles

9 Organizational Issues Tension between innovation and control –Depends on firm willingness to take risks Is IT supposed to create or reduce risks? Tension between IT staff and business users –Users want short term fulfillment –IT want standardization, mastery of technology Balance is easy to get wrong See table

10 IT vs. user dominance

11 Drivers toward user Dominance Pent-up user demand Need for staff flexibility Growth in IT services industry Users’ desire to control own destiny Fit with organization

12 Drivers toward centralized IT structure Staff professionalism Standard setting and ensuring system maintainability Envisioning possibilities and determining feasibility Corporate Data Management Cost estimation and analysis

13 Coordination and Location of IT policy: IT Responsibilities 1.Develop and manage long-term architectural plan 2.Develop process to establish, maintain and evolve company standards in –Telecommunication protocols and platforms –Client devices and client software configurations –Server devices, middleware and database management systems –Programming and configuration languages –Documentation procedures and formats –Data definitions, especially for widely used data elements –Storage redundancy, backup and disaster recovery procedures –Information security policy and incident response procedures 3.Establish procedures that consider outsourcing options when new IT projects are proposed –Ensure outsourced projects meet company standards

14 Coordination and Location of IT policy: IT Responsibilities 4.Maintain inventory of installed and planned systems and services –Evaluate value of these ongoing 5.Identify career paths for IT staff –Horizontal/vertical 6.Establish internal marketing efforts –Users understand challenges and costs, updates 7.Incorporate RFP process for new hardware/software 8.Identify and maintain relationships with preferred vendors 9.Establish education programs for business users 10.Set up process for ongoing review of legacy systems to determine upgrades, redesigns

15 Coordination and Location of IT Policy: User Responsibilities 1.Seek to understand scope of all “IT activities supporting business users Charge-back system, IT pressures, activity based overhead allocation 2.Develop realistic estimates of the amount of user personnel investment required for new projects both during development/deployment and in ongoing operation and use 3.Ensure comprehensive user input for all IT projects that support vital aspects of the unit’s operations. 4.Ensure nature of staffing interfaces is consistent with a new technology’s strategic relevance to a business unit. How strategic project is should correspond to staffing 5.Periodically audit system reliability standards, communications services performance and security procedures 6.Participate in developing and maintaining IT plans that set new technology priorities, schedule the transfer of IT among groups, and evaluate projects in light of overall company strategy

16 Coordination and Location of IT Policy: Management/Policy Responsibilities 1.Ensure an appropriate balance between It and business users 2.Maintain comprehensive corporate IT strategy 3.Manage inventory of hardware and software systems and services Corporate relationships with vendors 4.Establish standards for acquisition, development and IT systems operation. 5.Facilitate transfer of technology from one unit to another Look for synergies and overlaps 6.Actively encourage technical experimentation. 7.Develop appropriate planning and control system to link IT to company goals Monitor planning, system appraisal, charge-back, project management

17 IT Leadership and Management of Budgets Budgets are extremely important control mechanism! Budget to IT team directly or through business units? Often a mix of both Example: phase-out of technology

18 Stages Theory of IT Adoption and Organizational Learning Framework for understanding IT assimilation in business organizations Proposed in 1973 by Richard Nolan, professor at Harvard Modified over time Based on idea of an S-shaped learning curve

19 Four stages of organizational learning Initiation Contagion Control Integration

20 Multiple growth processes Applications Portfolio Resources Management User Awareness

21 Three eras in Organizational Learning New technologies have led to different eras in technology adoption Data processing era Micro era (from late 1970s) Network era (from early 1990s)

22 Different key players and leaders in each era IBM leader in data processing era Stayed leader into micro era by introducing IBM personal computer Apple Macintosh computer had more sophisticated operating system, making user interface easier Competition drove innovation

23 Discontinuous technology advances Other industries –Turbojet in airplanes –Radial tires adopted by Michelin Technology –Shift from mainframe to microcomputers –Shift to networked infrastructure

24 Four areas of impact Automating Transaction Processing Informating Middle of Organization Imbedding IT in products and services Internal and external networking

Exam Revision Today we’ll go back over the main topics from this class Thursday will be an open question time 25

ISM 158: Overview This class considers the role of information in business strategy. In particular, we focus on decisions regarding information technology and information systems to give a business competitive advantage over other companies. We will focus on case studies to see why some businesses are more successful than others in building information systems that lead to organizational and individual efficiencies. We look at how information impacts industries, markets and countries, and leads to technology development. We develop an understanding of design and maintenance of networked organizations, including issues of leadership and management.

ISM 158 Perspective: CIO We will generally look at decisions from the perspective of the chief information officer. Wikipedia: The chief information officer (CIO), or information technology (IT) director, is a job title commonly given to the most senior executive in an enterprise responsible for the information technology and computer systems that support enterprise goals. The title of Chief Information Officer in Higher Education may be the highest ranking technology executive although depending on the institution, alternative titles are used to represent this position. Generally, the CIO typically reports to the chief executive officer, chief operations officer or chief financial officer.

Schedule DateTopic (Reading = corresponding chapter from text) Case (Reading = correspondin g case from text) Assessment 1Tue, March 28 Introduction 2Thu, March 30 Business ModelsIBM 3Tue, April 4IT and Business Models 4Thu, April 6Amazon.com 5Tue, April 11IT and Organization 6Thu, April 13BoeingOptional: Business Proposal Draft

Schedule DateTopic (Reading = corresponding chapter from text) Case (Reading = correspond ing case from text) Assessment 7Tue, April 18Making the case for IT 8Thu, April 20CareGroupProject Team and Topic Due 9Tue, April 25IT Infrastructure 10Thu, April 27iPremierBusiness Proposal Due 11Tue, May 2Reliability and Security 12Thu, May 4FordProject Proposal Due 13Tue, May 9IT Service Delivery 14Thu, May 11Dell

Schedule DateTopic (Reading = corresponding chapter from text) Case (Reading = correspondin g case from text) Assessment 15Tue, May 16IT Project Delivery 16Thu, May 18CiscoOptional: Preliminary draft due 17Tue, May 23Governance of IT 18Thu, May 25Vokswagen 19Tue, May 31Leadership of IT 20Thu, June 2ConclusionAtekPCProject Due Thu, June 6, 12:00 – 3:00pm Final Exam

Overview of Module 1 Chapter 1 –Introduces the organizing framework for the module –Defines a business model –Explores evaluation of business models Chapters 2 –Examines the impact of IT on business models Chapter 3 –Examines the impact of IT on organizational capabilities Chapter 4 –Examines the impact of IT on business value

Overview of Module 2 Chapter 5 –Introduces elements of modern IT infrastructure and core IT management issues Chapter 6 –Addresses the robustness of IT capabilities; system availability and security Chapter 7 –Explores contemporary IT service models and their management requirements Chapter 8 –Examines IT project management

Overview of Module 3 Chapter 9 –Discusses themes and issues in IT governance Chapters 10 –Explores a way of defining and evaluating IT leadership