MIS 5241 Chapter 8 Organizing and Leading the IT Function (Herding Cats!)

MIS 5242 AGENDA  Introduction: What’s the Fuss?  Organizing and Evolving IT  User Dominance Models  Centralized IT Models  IT Policy Making  The Pseudo-IT Dept.

MIS 5243 Introduction: What’s the Fuss? IT Function Pressure to Innovate / Pressure to Avoid Risk Pressure to Respond to Users / Pressure to Respond to IT Needs Short-term needs, business concerns Standardization, architecture, maintenance Strategic impact of IT, opportunities Control, lowering risk, core business concerns

MIS 5244 The USER view The IT View The Tension Dimensions User Dominance IT Dominance Control Emphasis Innovation Emphasis User/Control User/Innovation IT/Innovation IT/Control

MIS 5245 Basic Question  What shall be the relationship between the IT “function” and the rest of the business?  Service organization?  Captive work unit?  Equal partner?  Strategic partner?  Outsourced entity?

MIS 5246 A Bit of History – Part s-1970s As IS became more proficient, other depts. required IS services 1950s-1960s IS Depts. began as task groups in Accounting 1970s-1980s IS developed specialized services, liaising with user departments who acquired equipment and their own specialist analysts

MIS 5247 The Historical Imperative 1980s-1990s In time, IS came to have its own agenda, clients, operating procedures, budgets and acted like a business 1990s-2000s As IS acted like a business, it was seen as a supplier rather than a partner. Voila: OUTSOURCING Don’t forget ASPs

MIS 5248 Users are the essential players IT is the essential player The Essential Tensions Expansion, Innovation, Experimentation Control, Standardization

MIS 5249 Organizing and Evolving IT Environmental pressures Corporate culture Technology Characteristics Individual Personalities Innovation Orientation and Locus of Dominance

MIS User Dominance Models  Drivers  Pent up User Demand  Need for Staff Flexibility  IT Services Competition  User Self-efficacy (need to control destiny)  Organizational Culture/Structure/Strategy  Implications

MIS IT’s Worst Nightmare  Unique focus on problems, not opportunities  System proliferation  Unmaintainability, lack of standards  System degradation in performance  Poor documentation, lack of specs  Little coordination  Duplication  Costs out of control  Catastrophic error

MIS Centralized IT Models  Drivers  Staff Professionalism  Standard Setting  Maintainability  Vision  Feasibility Determination/Analytical Judgment  Corporate Data Management  Implications

MIS Users’ Paranoia  Maintenance costs high, no innovation  Restrictive requirements for new systems  Paralysis by Analysis  Monopoly by IT group  Equipment and technology concerns dominate  IT is arrogant and out of control  User needs are ignored  Completely irrelevant IT  Catastrophic decisions

MIS IT Policy Making  A Balanced perspective  Both IT and users have responsibilities  Responsibilities are based on mutual respect for skills and needs

MIS IT Responsibilities  Development, management of architectural plan  Process to establish, maintain and evolve company standards  Procedures for outsourcing and maintaining standards  Inventory of systems  Manage IT staff  Make IT understandable through internal marketing  Assist RFP process by developing standards  Identify and maintain relationships with preferred system suppliers  Educate users  Procedures for managing legacy systems

MIS User Responsibilities  Understand scope of IT activities supporting business  Create and support understandable activity- based overhead allocation system  Provide strong input and interest in system projects  Appropriate stewardship at appropriate level  Audit reliability standards from user perspective  Participate in setting IT priorities within the IT plan

MIS Corporate IT policy Group Responsibilities  Balance tensions  Develop and manage corporate IT strategy  Manage inventory of h/w, s/w, systems, services, procedures  Establish standards for acquiring, developing and operating IT systems  Facilitate technology transfer (adoption) and nurture stewards  Encourage technical experimentation (research and scanning)  Develop planning and control systems, including appraisal, evaluation, charge-back, and personnel appraisal Boring, boring, boring….

MIS That’s fine, but what about people lower down the feeding chain? And what about us who have to work with the systems people while systems are being built? And what about the rest of us who have to manage the people who work with the new systems the system people built for us to use? Obviously there are a few more challenges!

MIS Getting Along with IT People  The Challenge  You are a steward for an IT-enriched, - enabled, or –dependent project  You have to get along with IT people before, during and after release  The Risks  Poor quality, dissention, sabotage  The Solutions

MIS What to Do…? For this Problem…. Try This…  Poor quality product  Unresponsiveness to request for help  Poor documentation  Apparent arrogance  Via “contract”  Complain through channels  Via “contract”  See below The bulk of problems with “IT” are actually problems with communication with “IT people”. The root of this problem is narrow focus on technology (with reason) vs. broad focus on business requirements. The solution is joint project work, “culture mixing”, opportunities for mutual respect, job rotation, and familiarization.

MIS The Two Cultures  There are at least two cultures at work here:  Business culture  IT culture  and the people populating these cultures have been subjected to decades if not centuries of “natural” (and a bit of “unnatural”) selection

MIS The Pseudo IT Dept.  Background: Your dept. is highly “technologized” and depends on IT or is IT- strategic.  Challenge: How does this influence your management style?  Components:  TrainingConflict resolutionAppraisal  RewardsHand-holdingComplaints  ExcusesResponsibilitiesLeadership

MIS Managing Technical People And finally, what if you have your OWN IT people to manage: Technologized employees Employee who uses applications to create or maintain software or files Supervision, Evaluation, Coaching, Mentoring Contractor/ outsourcer Employee of another firm who builds or operates applications Evaluation, Conflict Resolution, Resource Allocation Decentralized Technical Specialist Employee of the IT department Who works in your user department Integration, Work Evaluation, Conflict Resolution, Motivation Small or New Data Center, E-business, Website Full list of business challenges

MIS The Word… IS people are people; they respond to rewards and praise like others. IS people are individuals; it is unfair to stereotype them except to say they probably all like IT. Technically inclined people usually want to work on the best, most advanced technology available. Managers who have no knowledge of IT and who lack, in particular, programming skills, will find it hard to be respected during tech talk with tech experts. In any group, the more individuals can overlap skills, the stronger the group. IS specialists can profit from a bit of job rotation and so can their colleagues. There are paradoxical trends in employment in the technical ranks that may present opportunities for learning for everyone. Nontechnical employees may have some technical components created for them. Technical specialists who are not needed may be good additions for groups that anticipate contracting out. The two culture syndrome is always a threat. Managers who encourage free interchanges of discipline based ides will be ahead of the game in the end.