3/21/2012
MANAGEMENT, LEADERSHIP,
AND THE ROLES OF THE CIO
Ephraim R.2bbMcLean
Regents’ Professor
Smith Eminent Scholar’s Chair
Chair, CIS Department
Georgia State University
Atlanta, Georgia
© 2012
MANAGEMENT VS. LEADERSHIP
Management is about coping with complexity through
planning and budgeting, organizing and staffing,
controlling and problem solving.
Leadership is about coping with change through
setting a direction, aligning people to a vision of
the future, and empowering and motivating them to
meet the challenges created by this vision.
Source: J.P. Kotter, Harvard Business Review, 1990
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AN EMERGING MODEL OF I/S
LEADERSHIP
•
•
•
What is leadership?
The successful exercise of power to achieve
organizational goals.
What is power?
The capacity to exert influence.
Sources of power
-
Organizational or positional
Expertise
Personal
KEY COMPONENTS OF THE I/S
LEADERSHIP MODEL
• Types of Leadership
- Transactional – aimed at producing stability
and efficiency
- Transformational – aimed at producing
innovation and effectiveness
• The Business Climate
- Stable, static
- Turbulent, dynamic
• Focus of Attention
- Technology and the I/S function
- The business as a whole
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I/S LEADERSHIP MODEL
FOCUS
Efficiency
Stable, Static
Technology and the I/S function
The Business
Transactional
Technologist
Enabler
BUSINESS DEMANDS
Dynamic, Turbulent
(managing complexity)
TYPES OF LEADERSHIP
Innovator
Strategist
Transformational
(instituting change)
Effectiveness
I/S LEADERSHIP MODEL
• The technologist uses technical expertise to
− develop and maintain cost-effective information systems;
− advises business managers regarding matters relating to
information technology;
− stays abreast of emerging technological developments; and
− projects their potential impact on the I/S function and on the
business.
• The enabler works closely with the user community to
− help them maximize the business uses of their present
information systems capabilities;
− networks and communicates with users to understand their
present and future IT needs; and
− acts as their advocate within the I/S organization.
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I/S LEADERSHIP MODEL
• The innovator
− strives for leading-edge IT processes by re-engineering
existing systems;
− updating existing technology;
− re-tooling the I/S staff; and
− creating an environment for experimentation and
innovation.
• The strategist
− serves as the boundary-spanner between the I/S function
and business strategists
− to ensure that the business is aware of the strategic
opportunities made possible through IT, and
− that the I/S organization is ready to provide support and
leadership for new business initiatives.
I/S LEADERSHIP MODEL
FOCUS
Technology and the I/S function
Stable, Static
Transactional
Technologist
“CTO”
BUSINESS DEMANDS
Dynamic, Turbulent
The Business
Enabler
“Partnering with Line Management” (managing complexity)
TYPES OF LEADERSHIP
Innovator
“Re‐engineering the I/S
Function”
Strategist
“Competitive Advantage”
Transformational
(instituting change)
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I/S LEADERSHIP MODEL
Question:
Does the progression through the roles, as outlined in the
previous chart, demand that the CIO of the future must start
as technologist, then move to enabler, then to innovator,
and finally to strategist?
No. It is possible to start in any one of these roles; but
without mastery of the earlier roles, it is critical that the
roles for which the new CIO has no experience be filled
by members of his or her team who do have this expertise.
KEY FEATURES AND IMPLICATIONS OF
THE I/S LEADERSHIP MODEL
• Organizations are experiencing increasingly more
turbulent environments while, at the same time,
trying to maintain some measure of stability.
• I/S leaders must master both transactional
(complexity) and transformational (change)
leadership to meet their organizations’ need for both
order and innovation.
• I/S leaders must become ambidextrous; equally
adept at innovation – “exploration” – and efficiency –
“exploitation”
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KEY FEATURES AND IMPLICATIONS OF
THE I/S LEADERSHIP MODEL
Implications for the technologist . . .
Lesson learned in the mainframe era are no longer
sufficient. SaaS, the Cloud, agile development,
mobile technologies, social media – all demand
mastery if the organization is to be ready for the
opportunities that these technologies promise.
Failure of the CIO to master them, or to build a team that
does, will leave the organization “blind-sided” by the
competition that is able to exploit these new
technological developments.
KEY FEATURES AND IMPLICATIONS OF
THE I/S LEADERSHIP MODEL
Implications for the enabler . . .
In this role, the CIO must provide demonstrated business
value through the use of current IT systems for improved
business efficiency, reduce costs, enhanced revenues, etc.
To accomplish this, a strong partnership with the user
community and management is essential – but good relations
alone are not sufficient; they must be coupled with a strong
record of delivering quality IT services.
The CIO needs to master “T Leadership.” The top of the “T”
represents breadth – a broad understanding of business; the
leg of the “T” is depth – a deep mastery of information
technology.
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KEY FEATURES AND IMPLICATIONS OF
THE I/S LEADERSHIP MODEL
Implications for the enabler . . .
Failure to master this role can create a serious credibility
gap – confrontation will replace cooperation. Disputes will
escalate and problem resolution will become increasingly
more difficult to achieve.
Without a strong business partnership and high levels of
service, users may choose to bypass the IT organization,
attempting to “go it alone” and acquiring their own
systems. At the limit, they may demand the outsourcing
of the entire IT organization!
KEY FEATURES AND IMPLICATIONS OF
THE I/S LEADERSHIP MODEL
Implications for the innovator . . .
Some suggest that “CIO” should stand for “Chief Innovation
Officer.” In this role, the CIO needs to create a “learning
organization,” where innovation can thrive.
This innovation can be stimulated in at least three ways:
• One, by building on a strong foundation of expertise in
current and emerging technologies, coupled with an
understanding of their application to business.
• Two, by creating a climate for innovation through a shared
vision; encouraging experimentation and team learning.
• Three, by fostering the early adoption of technology;
becoming “pioneers” and “early adopters.”
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KEY FEATURES AND IMPLICATIONS OF THE
I/S LEADERSHIP MODEL
Implications for the innovator . . .
In a slow-changing or fairly stable environment, lack of
creativity and innovation may go unnoticed for awhile
without serious consequences – but this is the exception,
not the rule.
For most organizations, the failure to innovate will begin to
show up in a loss of market share, an inability to be
competitive, followed by stagnation and eventual
obsolescence. “Lead, follow, or be left behind,” is
the watchword here.
KEY FEATURES AND IMPLICATIONS OF THE
I/S LEADERSHIP MODEL
Implications for the strategist . . .
Here the CIO has two main challenges,
• first, to ensure that the IT organization is aligned with,
and is playing a key role in, the future of the business; and
• second, that the IT organization is providing the systems, the
technologies, and the vision necessary for the business to
pursue this future.
“Information systems for competitive advantage” may be an
overworked, even trite, phrase; but in companies where CIOs
are exercising strong I/S leadership, their success in the role of
strategist is evident – and their companies are achieving
strategic benefits.
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KEY FEATURES AND IMPLICATIONS OF THE
I/S LEADERSHIP MODEL
Implications for the strategist . . .
As with the innovator’s role, failure in the strategist’s role
may go unnoticed for awhile. Indeed, the very success
of the CIO in transactional leadership – efficient, well‐
functioning, cost‐effective IT systems – may blind top
management as to the need for transformational IT
leadership; “we’re doing fine, they say.” “Not knowing what you don’t know” can hurt you;
and without a CIO who can play this strategist role,
companies will be unaware of missed opportunities.
KEY FEATURES AND IMPLICATIONS OF
THE I/S LEADERSHIP MODEL
In conclusion,
• Even though the four I/S leadership roles –
technologist, enabler, innovator, and strategist –
build on each other, no one role can be neglected.
• They must also both support the business – a
reactive role – and help shape the business
strategy – a proactive role.
• These conflicting role demands are difficult for any
one person to master. Also, even if it were possible
to master them all, there is not enough time to
perform them all. Thus a team approach, with
complementary skills, may to be required.
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I/S LEADERSHIP
In summary, I/S leadership requires . . .
• Maintaining a balance among the roles,
• Developing a team approach, and
• Mastering the challenge of meeting the company’s
business needs now – and for the future.
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