Module
Instructor’s Manual
3
IT Leadership
 IT increasingly fundamental to business
 Leadership of the IT function must change
 Core leadership issues:
 How to organize IT to support and enhance business activities?
 How to govern IT to minimize risk and maximize value of information

assets?
What IT leadership approach best fits the role of IT in the company?
Applegate, L.M., Austin, R.D., and Soule, D.L., Corporate Information Strategy and Management, 8th edition, Burr Ridge, IL: McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2009
Module 3: IT Leadership
Overview of Chapters
 Chapter
9
 Discusses
 Chapters
themes and issues in IT governance
10
 Explores
a way of defining and evaluating IT leadership
Applegate, L.M., Austin, R.D., and Soule, D.L., Corporate Information Strategy and Management, 8th edition, Burr Ridge, IL: McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2009
Module 3: IT Leadership
IT and the Board of Directors
Increasing cost, complexity, and consequences of technology
 Organizations vary

Operational dependence on information systems
 Strategic influence of information technology

Board supervision of IT should “fit” company’s use of IT
 What can we learn from this article

Why company boards should be involved in IT governance
 How boards can start to shape IT decisions

Applegate, L.M., Austin, R.D., and Soule, D.L., Corporate Information Strategy and Management, 8th edition, Burr Ridge, IL: McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2009
Module 3: IT Leadership
Volkswagen of America
Scarce IT resources
 Implementation of IT project prioritization process



Aim to align IT activities with business strategy
Pressure from businesses to bypass prioritization process
Explore justifications for process
 Explore justifications for exceptions
 Examine CIO’s response


What can we learn from this case

Understand factors that affect project delivery and how IT leaders can
better manage them
Applegate, L.M., Austin, R.D., and Soule, D.L., Corporate Information Strategy and Management, 8th edition, Burr Ridge, IL: McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2009
Module 3: IT Leadership
The AtekPC Project Management Office

AtekPC
Increasing price competition and consolidation in PC industry
 Focus on cost-reduction and renewed growth
 Formation of Strategic Planning Office


IT at AtekPC
Operational and maintenance focus
 Little cross-functional integration of applications or information services


Project Management Office



Goal of better and more coherent project delivery capability
Possibility to leverage PM skill from IT projects to broader enterprise
What can we learn from this case
How key factors influence the success of PMO implementations
 Understand leaders’ role in shaping those factors

Applegate, L.M., Austin, R.D., and Soule, D.L., Corporate Information Strategy and Management, 8th edition, Burr Ridge, IL: McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2009