1. MBA 669 Special Topics: IT-enabled organizational Forms Dave Salisbury salisbury@udayton.edusalisbury@udayton.edu (email) http://www.davesalisbury.com/http://www.davesalisbury.com/ (web site)

2. Oh, the places we’ll go! What we’re going to be about this term Some history, and why we invest in Information Systems & Information Technology (IS&T) Technology trends and how business is changing Some implications of advancing information technology innovation How IS&T influences organizational structure Laying out the term

3. History of IT&S Early Days Automation Accounting focus Later Support business Functional focus Today Empower business Strategic & process focus Changes in organization design

4. IS&T Investment Profit Revenue Costs + – + – Why We Invest in IS&T Management Support & Decision Systems

5. The Basics Binary Digits (Bit) 0 or 1 Byte 8 bits, combined to mean something Coding Scheme ASCII EBCDIC

6. Trends in Technology Cost-performance ratio of chips keeps improving (Moore’s Law) Improving performance of optical communication networks Increasing storage capacity price performance Object technology and self- contained units of sharable software Emergence of networked and distributed computing Internet Mobile Computing & M- Commerce Wireless networks Pervasive Computing & U- Commerce Smart Devices RFID GPS

7. Moore’s Law

8. Critical Building Blocks Information Intensity The extent to which a product, service, process or relationship is comprised of information Infrastructure Information can be changed to zeros and ones and moved through a robust information infrastructure (e.g. the Internet) Open Standards Anybody can attach Using Technology to reengineer business processes Decisions structured and codified Using technology to link networks of individuals

9. What we do with technology First, we use it to do the same things, only (hopefully) faster Second, we use it to do new things

10. Digitization creates new opportunities Digitization turns information into 0’s & 1’s Digital information (be it text, audio, or video) is more easily transmitted with no loss of quality Resulting is mixing of traditionally separated businesses This is most pronounced in information intense businesses – once you have information you can digitize it and move it around with no quality loss to anywhere Democratization of technology means that there are a lot of pipes to which one can attach

11. Taking photos the “old” way Buy film in a store Load your camera Take pictures Take roll of film to store for processing Pickup the film when ready Select specific photos for enlargement Mail to family and friends

12. Taking photos the “new” way 1st Generation Digital Photography Old economy except 6 and 7 were replaced by using a scanner and emailing 2nd Generation Digital Photography Use a Digital Camera, no film, no processing 3rd Generation Digital Photography Your Digital Camera is now your mobile phone, in your binoculars or a palmtop computer

13. Organizing the old way Command and control Bureaucracy More management levels Information only exists in one place at a time Narrow control spans

14. Organizing the new way Greater autonomy pushed lower Reduction in force Far fewer management levels Information exists anywhere, anytime “Sequence” replace by “synchrony”

15. IT changes assumptions Old AssumptionIntervening TechnologyNew Assumption Information appears only in one place at one time Shared databases, client/server, internet/intranets Information appears simultaneously wherever needed Only experts perform complex workExpert systems, neural networksNovices can perform complex work Business must be either centralized or distributed Telecommunications, networks, client/server, intranet Business can be both centralized and distributed Only managers make decisionsDSS, enterprise systems, AIDecision-making is part of all jobs Field personnel need offices to have access to their information Wireless, pervasive computing, WWW, email Field personnel can work from any location with full information access The best contact is personalInteractive media, desktop teleconferencing, email The best contact is the most cost- effective that meets requirements Plans get revised periodicallyHigh-performance computing, intelligent agents Plans get revised when it’s needed People must work in one place to work together Groupware, telecommunications, email, client/server, GSS People can work together from anywhere, anytime Products take long time to develop, and custom products are expensive CAD/CAM, EDI, groupware, imaging, JIT, expert systems, CASE Customized products can be made quickly and cheaply, time to market can be reduced Move labor to cheaper markets – off-shore Robots, imaging technologies, OO programming, expert systems, GIS Work can be done in countries with high wages

16. Work & Structure Map Same Time Different Times Same Place Different Places Any Time, Any Place

17. Manufacturing and Production Engineering & Research Accounting, Finance, and Management Suppliers and Other Business Partners Procurement, Distribution, and Logistics Advertising Sales Customer Service Consumer and Business Customers Company Boundary Intranets The Internet Extranets The Inter-Networked Business

18. Some implications of IS&T Information Asymmetry The extent to which one party in an exchange knows something the other doesn’t – this is being reduced Richness Information content within a given time Dialog between provider & receiver Reach Number of people receiving information

19. Some more implications of IS&T Big firms can work like small firms Hotel information systems High-performance farming Small firms can work like big firms Internet/Virtual Businesses Limited need for Physical Facilities

20. Hypercompetition Speed and aggression create competitive advantage Moves & countermoves that can be implemented with IS&T IS&T is critical for speed Schumpeter’s “creative destruction”

21. Co-opetition Firms cooperate and compete at the same time Understanding this has implications for organization design Emphasizes ability to share or protect information with competitors or complementors

22. Networks bypass hierarchies Robust information infrastructure enables easy communication Chat rooms Websites Email Wide Reach Collective organization and action Jody Williams “Cyberthugs” Seattle WTO talks

23. The information-based organization More sophisticated data processing done more rapidly Reduction of gate-keepers and information switches Knowledge and tools for action at the bottom of the hierarchy – so is responsibility Task-focused teams Specialization

24. We conclude with a question… Is information technology a driver, an enabler, a product of globalization, or more than one of these? Why?