1. Enterprise and Global Management of Information Technology
Chapter 11
Enterprise and Global Management of Information Technology

2. Management role and IT
IT is enabling more work to be accomplished with less management intervention
IT allowing for much more control and access to vital information
Biggest challenge to managers is Information Resource Management

3. IT and the organization
Most organizations are currently performing at low levels of information resource utilization
IT success is a function of planning and management support and involvement
Usually accomplished by IT steering committees

4. Managing Information Technology
This slide corresponds to Figure 11.2 on p. 426 and relates to the material on pp
Managing
Information
Technology
Supplier
Customer
Superfast Producers
Cross-Functional
Integration
Business Pressures
Technology Base
The power, promise, and potential of information technology in business demands an improvement in the way business and IT is managed. In many ways, the potential of IT is woefully under-realized because management as a whole has not embraced -- nor understood -- that IT is more than a tool of "business as usual;" it is the first step in changing what business is.
The knowledge-based worker, empowered by IT and better educated, differently educated, more independent and yet networked, will not be managed in the information age the way assembly-line workers in manufacturing plants were managed in the US in the 1950s. Yet far too many managers operate under concepts of management steeped in the assumptions of motivation and control from that time.
The enabling technology of IT systems require a reconsideration of what it means to manage, of identifying what skills are required so as to allow information workers the infrastructure they need to do the jobs they know better than do their managers.
Yet IT doesn't just happen. IT systems don't create, maintain, or improve themselves. They must be managed -- understood and deployed in pursuit of strategic goals. What managers do may change, but on the most abstract level, management remains the process of coordinating the resources of the firm to meet the competitive opportunities and challenges of the marketplace.
Ultimately, just as IT provides the means for reinventing business, managers must reinvent management, challenging their previously held assumptions about authority, control, productivity, and responsibility.

5. Levels of Management Involvement in IS
This slide corresponds to Figure 11.4 on p. 429 and relates to the material on pp
Executive
Information
Technology
Committee
Management
Steering
Committee
Successful information performance requires the involvement of managers in IS governance. Management, then, must do more than simply endorse the IS design and approve its implementation. The IS can only fulfill its promise if management takes an active role in governing, maintaining, and controlling the IS at all levels of interaction:
Teaching Tip: You might link such involvement to seeing the IS as a core competency of the firm, an area valued by management and requiring special attention.
Levels of management governance include:
Executive Information Technology Committee. In this committee, top management develops and coordinates long-range plans. At this level, the committee includes senior management of the major divisions of the firm, as well as the chief information officer (CIO) of the organization, who is the senior executive responsible for governance of the IS function.
Management Steering Committee. In this committee, business unit managers oversee the progress of major systems development projects. At this level, the committee meets on a regular basis to review progress made, to settle disputes, and to change priorities, if necessary.
End User Management of Information Technology. In this committee, end users directly manage information technology in their business units and workgroups. A critical element at this level is participation by end users in developing key information systems.
End User
Management
of Information
Technology

6. Dimensions of organization
Multiple factors affect any organization
Organizations must stay within cultural limits unless major changes are planned
Many faces to this problem
Effectively solved with participative management style

7. Organizations as Sociotechnical Systems
This slide corresponds to Figure 11.5 on p. 430 and relates to the material on pp
Structure
People
Tasks
Technology
Culture
Viewing organizations as a Sociotechnical System involves seeing them as a dynamic interaction among five components: people, tasks, technology, culture, and structure. This concept emphasizes that improvement of an organization's performance requires managers to: (1) change one or more of these components, and (2) take into account the relationships among these interdependent components:
Teaching Tip: Remind students that under a systems perspective a change in one component results in a change in all components.
Under the sociotechnical system concept, managers must consider:
People. Managers, like their subordinates, have a wide variety of preferences for information and diverse capabilities for effectively using information. The IS should be tailored to each end user’s preferences.
Tasks. To avoid using IT to do the "same old thing, only faster," IT should be utilized to support the reengineering of business processes themselves.
Technology. The increasing complexity and sophistication of computer-based information systems should not be allowed to direct the form the IS takes. Instead, managers must ensure that technology is adapted to meet the information needs of end user interaction preferences.
Culture. The design of the IS must take into consideration and be consistent with the patterns of social interaction characteristic of the organizational culture. For example, an IS built upon assumptions of informal non-authoritarian workgroup interaction will not function well in a highly bureaucratic, top down, formal culture.
Structure. As part of reengineering, organizational redesign may be necessary to facilitate IS effectiveness. Decentralized, flat organizations make better use of IS.
Teaching Tip: Have students compare the structural needs of this approach with possible conflicts with some organizational cultures.

8. Case study: Buy software or upgrade network
Scenario is
Small company (revenue under 500 million)
Currently using satellite for network transmissions and a distributed data model
Organization needs to replace database (currently distributed to 350 locations)
Limited to current hardware (no upgrades)

9. Option 1 Centralized model DBMS (Oracle Enterprise) $500,000
Network infrastructure $700,000
Total $1,200,000

10. Option 2 Distributed model DBMS licenses (12,500*350) $420,000
Annual maintenance to old sat $400,000
Total $820,000

11. Solution Seems simple $820,000 vs $1,200,000 Not so simple………..
Executive level instruction to add capacity to stores requires upgrade to network
No longer becomes part of the topology issue
Take the $700,000 out of the budget
Net savings of $320,000 for solution A!

12. The Information Resource Management Concept
This slide corresponds to Figure 11.6 on p. 432 and relates to the material on pp
Distributed
Management
Technology
Resource
Functional
Strategic
Information
Information Resource Management (IRM) is the management concept that views data, information, and computer resources (computer hardware, software, networks, and personnel) as valuable organizational resources that should be efficiently, economically, and effectively managed for the benefit of the entire organization. The five major dimensions of IRM include:
Strategic Management. Information technology must be managed to contribute to a firm's strategic objectives and competitive advantages, not just for operational efficiency or decision support.
Teaching Tip: Remind students that business organizations exist as purposeful, profit-oriented entities.
Functional Management. Information technology and information systems can be managed by functional organizational structure and managerial techniques commonly used throughout other business units.
Resource Management. Data and information, hardware and software, telecommunications networks, and IS personnel are vital organizational resources that must be managed like other business assets.
Technology Management. All technologies that process, store, and communicate data and information throughout the enterprise should be managed as integrated systems of organizational resources.
Distributed Management. Managing the use of information technology and information system resources in business units or workgroups is a key responsibility of the managers, at whatever level or in whatever functional area.

13. Strategic Information Systems Planning
This slide corresponds to Figure 11.7 on p. 433 and relates to the material on pp
Develop
Strategies
Design IT
Arch-
itecture
Tactics
Create
Vision
Determine
Drivers
Assess
IT Architecture
Best
Practices
Strategic
Opportun-
ities
Technology
Platform
Re-
engineer
Companies do strategic information systems planning with four main objectives in mind:
Business Alignment. This involves aligning investment in IT with a company's business vision and strategic business goals.
Competitive Advantage. This involves exploiting IT to create innovative and strategic business information systems for creating competitive advantage.
Resource Management. This involves developing plans for the efficient and effective management of a company's information system resources, including IS personnel, hardware, software, data, and network resources.
Technology Architecture. This involves developing technology policies and designing an IT architecture for the organization. The major components of the IT conceptual design or blueprint include:
Technology Platform. Originally, a platform identified the operating system of a computer network (such as Mac, DOS, Windows, or OS/2) but now includes the overall system approach -- computers, system and application software, telecommunications components and overall IT infrastructure.
Data Resources. This includes the operational and specialized databases and storage facilities for business processes and managerial decision support.
Applications Portfolio. IT application software can be viewed as a portfolio -- a collection of computing solutions addressing the information needs of end users and managers.
IT Organization. Based upon the managerial philosophy of the company, this area addresses the structure of the IT and the design of support and maintenance concerns, such as the distribution of IS specialists within the company.
Technology
Implementation
Plans
Data
Resources
Specific
Needs
Business
Vision
Gap
Assess-
ment
Business/IT
Strategies
Application
Portfolio
Investment
Plans
Existing
Capabil-
ities IT
Organ-
ization
Organization
Transformation
Plans
Customer
Needs
Long-Range
Position
Needs
Partners
Needs

14. The Major Dimensions of Global IT Management
This slide corresponds to Figure on p. 448 and relates to the material on pp
Systems
Development
Data
Management
Technology
Platforms
Application
Portfolios
Business/IT
Strategies
Global IT
Cultural, Political,
and Geoeconomic
Challenges
Managing global information technology requires taking into account the cultural, political, and geoeconomic challenges that exist in the international business community. The five areas of IT activity shown on the slide are considered from this broader perspective when addressing the IT needs of global businesses. The three areas of challenges for managing global IT include:
Political Challenges. Many countries have rules regulating or prohibiting transfer of data across their national borders. Other countries limit, tax, or prohibit importation of hardware and software. Local content laws specifying value-added contributions to products required in-country and reciprocal trade agreements affecting the spending of revenue earned in the country, all complicate the management of IT in global contexts.
Geoeconomic Challenges. The uneven development of the world's economies make it difficult to take advantage of some opportunities (such as low labor costs) where other obstacles exist (such as poorly developed telecommunications and physical transportation infrastructure).
Cultural Challenges. Global IT managers must be thoroughly trained in and sensitive to the differences in cultural values, beliefs, and practices of the host country in which the global firm seeks to do business.

15. Political Challenges Rules regulating or prohibiting transfer of data
This slide relates to the material on p. 449.
Rules regulating or prohibiting transfer of data
across national boundaries (transborder data flows)
Severely restrict, tax, or prohibit imports of hardware
and software
Businesses today are becoming global companies and moving toward transnational business strategies in which they integrate the global business activities of their subsidiaries and headquarters. Global companies are increasingly using the Internet and related technologies as a major component of their IT platform in order to develop and deliver global IT applications that meet their unique global business requirements. However, in doing so organizations must be cognizant of sensitive political issues of the country that they are doing business with.
This slide can be used to generate discussion of some of the key political issues that organizations must consider in developing and managing global information technology.
Local content laws that specify the portion of the value
of a product that must be added in that country if it is
to be sold there
Reciprocal trade agreements that require a business
to spend part of the revenue they earn in a country
in that nation’s economy

16. Geoeconomic Challenges
This slide relates to the material on p. 449.
Sheer physical distance involved in international
business activity is still a problem
Difficult to communicate in real-time across the world’s
24 time zones
Difficult to get good quality telephone and
telecommunications service in many countries
Geoeconomic challenges in global business and IT refer to the effects of geography on the economic realities of international business activities.
This slide can be used to demonstrate to students that all of these geoeconomic challenges must be addressed when developing a company’s global business and IT strategies.
Problems finding the job skills required in some
countries, or enticing specialists from other countries
to live and work there.
Problems (opportunities) in the great differences in the
cost of living and labor costs in various countries.

17. Differences in work styles and business relationships
Cultural Challenges
This slide relates to the material on p. 449.
Differences in languages, cultural interests, religions,
customs, social attitudes, and political philosophies
As businesses become more competitive in global strategies, they are becoming more and more reliant on expertise which is available to them from around the world. For example, the growth of the Internet has enable organizations in the United States to draw upon expertise in India for developing activities in ongoing projects. However, in order to be successful, global companies are increasingly become sensitized in how to deal with cultural differences found throughout the world. In order to succeed in these markets organizations must respect the cultural differences of the countries that they are dealing with.
This slide can be used to generate discussion of some of the key cultural issues that organizations must consider in developing and managing global information technology.
Cultural challenges facing global business and IT managers include differences in languages, cultural interests, religions, customs, social attitudes, and political philosophies. Obviously, global IT managers must be trained and sensitized to such cultural differences before they are sent abroad or brought into a corporation’s home country. Other cultural challenges include differences in work styles and business relationships.
Differences in work styles and business relationships