1. The Challenges Ahead Chapter 15 Information Systems Management In Practice 5E McNurlin & Sprague

2. Copyright 2002 by Prentice Hall, Inc. 15-2 Introduction Four goals for thriving in the new work environment: 1 Leverage knowledge globally 2 Organize for complexity 3 Work electronically 4 Handle continuous and discontinuous change

3. Copyright 2002 by Prentice Hall, Inc. 15-3 Organizing Principles Processes Rather Than Functions Self-Organizing Rather Than Designed Examples of self-organization:  Batman Returns: computer-generated bats flocking through Gotham City  Loren Carpenter: order-from-chaos  Ten Rules for the New Economy: game more sophisticated

4. Copyright 2002 by Prentice Hall, Inc. 15-4 Organizing Principles (cont.) The self-organization point-of-view  Requires taking the perspective of “organizing-as-a-process” rather than “organization-as-an-object”  Self-organizing systems create their own structure, patterns of behavior, and processes to accomplish their work

5. Copyright 2002 by Prentice Hall, Inc. 15-5 Organizing Principles (cont.) Communities Rather Than Groups Communities are the critical building blocks of a knowledge-based document Three reasons:  People, not processes, do the work  Learning is about work, work is about learning, and both are social  Organizations are webs of participation

6. Copyright 2002 by Prentice Hall, Inc. 15-6 Organizing Principles (cont.) The Learning Organization An organization and its people must master the following five basic learning disciplines:  Personal mastery: lifelong learning  Mental models: deeply ingrained assumptions, generalizations, and images that influence how people see the world and what actions they take  Shared vision: organization’s view of its purpose, its calling

7. Copyright 2002 by Prentice Hall, Inc. 15-7 Organizing Principles (cont.) Team learning: “dialog”: where people essentially think together, occur when people explore their own and others’ ideas, in order to arrive at the best solution; “discussions”: occur when people try to convince others of their point of view Systems thinking: to understand systems, people need to understand the underlying patterns

8. Copyright 2002 by Prentice Hall, Inc. 15-8 Organizing Principles (cont.) Embrace the Rules of Networks Three distinguishing characteristics od e-economy:  It is global  It favors soft things - intangibles, such as software, information, ideas, and most importantly relationships - over hard things, such as trucks, steel, and cement  It is intensely interlinked

9. Copyright 2002 by Prentice Hall, Inc. 15-9 Organizing Principles (cont.) Laws of networks  Aim for relationship tech: all about connecting  Follow the free: the best gets better and cheaper at the same time  Feed the web first: more important to be on the right network or network platform

10. Copyright 2002 by Prentice Hall, Inc. 15-10 Moving Forward Take a Portfolio Approach knowledge, transactions, and discussion intellectual work, automated mechanistic work, and interpersonal work Follow Employees

11. Copyright 2002 by Prentice Hall, Inc. 15-11 Moving Forward Educate Executives For their leadership roles  To set the tone of the organization toward technology  To use IT to promote business change  To guide technology introductions  To envision how IT can serve business strategy  To align IT with business objectives

12. Copyright 2002 by Prentice Hall, Inc. 15-12 Moving Forward (cont.)  To assess costs and benefits  To use systems with comfort Ways to educate executives  Learn by doing  Read publications  Through subordinates  Individual demonstrations  Executive briefings  Brown bag theaters  Short seminars  Formal programs