Lecture 19
Chapter 10
Leading the IT Function
Project
Turn in
1. Hard copy (in class Thursday)
2. Soft copy (by email to kross@soe.ucsc.edu)
2
Leadership of the IT Function
Key Learning Objectives for Chapter 10:
1. Understand the different roles that IT can play in organizations
and recognize that this role can change over time
2. Understand why IT role transitions may create organizational
tensions and conflict.
3. Understand why it is valuable to match the leadership
approach to the role that IT is expected to fill in the business
Analyzing the Role of IT in an Organization
The four quadrants
1.Support
2.Factory
3.Turnaround
4.Strategic
Each requires different leadership approach
5
Transitions
•Turnaround
•Factory
•Strategic
All of these require different management
skills and approaches.
All lead to different tensions
6
Managing Tensions
1.Execution-innovation
2.IT-business relationship
7
Organizing and Leading IT
•
•
•
•
Introducing new technologies
Maintaining old technologies
Balancing maintenance with innovation
Defining roles
8
Organizational Issues
• Tension between innovation and control
– Depends on firm willingness to take risks
• Is IT supposed to create or reduce risks?
• Tension between IT staff and business users
– Users want short term fulfillment
– IT want standardization, mastery of technology
• Balance is easy to get wrong
• See table
9
IT vs. user dominance
10
Drivers toward user Dominance
•
•
•
•
•
Pent-up user demand
Need for staff flexibility
Growth in IT services industry
Users’ desire to control own destiny
Fit with organization
11
Drivers toward centralized IT structure
• Staff professionalism
• Standard setting and ensuring system
maintainability
• Envisioning possibilities and determining
feasibility
• Corporate Data Management
• Cost estimation and analysis
12
Coordination and Location of IT policy:
IT Responsibilities
1.
2.
Develop and manage long-term architectural plan
Develop process to establish, maintain and evolve company
standards in
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
3.
Telecommunication protocols and platforms
Client devices and client software configurations
Server devices, middleware and database management systems
Programming and configuration languages
Documentation procedures and formats
Data definitions, especially for widely used data elements
Storage redundancy, backup and disaster recovery procedures
Information security policy and incident response procedures
Establish procedures that consider outsourcing options when
new IT projects are proposed
–
Ensure outsourced projects meet company standards
13
Coordination and Location of IT policy:
IT Responsibilities
4. Maintain inventory of installed and planned systems
and services
–
Evaluate value of these ongoing
5. Identify career paths for IT staff
–
Horizontal/vertical
6. Establish internal marketing efforts
–
Users understand challenges and costs, updates
7. Incorporate RFP process for new hardware/software
8. Identify and maintain relationships with preferred
vendors
9. Establish education programs for business users
10. Set up process for ongoing review of legacy systems
to determine upgrades, redesigns
14
Coordination and Location of IT Policy:
User Responsibilities
Seek to understand scope of all “IT activities supporting business users
1.
•
2.
Develop realistic estimates of the amount of user personnel investment
required for new projects both during development/deployment and in
ongoing operation and use
Ensure comprehensive user input for all IT projects that support vital
aspects of the unit’s operations.
Ensure nature of staffing interfaces is consistent with a new technology’s
strategic relevance to a business unit.
3.
4.
•
5.
6.
Charge-back system, IT pressures, activity based overhead allocation
How strategic project is should correspond to staffing
Periodically audit system reliability standards, communications services
performance and security procedures
Participate in developing and maintaining IT plans that set new technology
priorities, schedule the transfer of IT among groups, and evaluate projects
in light of overall company strategy
15
Coordination and Location of IT Policy:
Management/Policy Responsibilities
1.
Ensure an appropriate balance between It and business
users
Maintain comprehensive corporate IT strategy
Manage inventory of hardware and software systems and
services
2.
3.
•
4.
Corporate relationships with vendors
Establish standards for acquisition, development and IT
systems operation.
Facilitate transfer of technology from one unit to another
5.
•
6.
7.
Look for synergies and overlaps
Actively encourage technical experimentation.
Develop appropriate planning and control system to link IT to
company goals
•
Monitor planning, system appraisal, charge-back, project management
16
IT Leadership and Management of Budgets
• Budgets are extremely important control
mechanism!
• Budget to IT team directly or through business
units?
• Often a mix of both
• Example: phase-out of technology
17
Stages Theory of IT Adoption and Organizational Learning
• Framework for understanding IT assimilation in
business organizations
• Proposed in 1973 by Richard Nolan, professor
at Harvard
• Modified over time
• Based on idea of an S-shaped learning curve
18
Four stages of organizational learning
•
•
•
•
Initiation
Contagion
Control
Integration
19
Multiple growth processes
•
•
•
•
Applications Portfolio
Resources
Management
User Awareness
20
Three eras in Organizational Learning
• New technologies have led to different eras in
technology adoption
• Data processing era
• Micro era (from late 1970s)
• Network era (from early 1990s)
21
Different key players and leaders in each era
• IBM leader in data processing era
• Stayed leader into micro era by introducing IBM
personal computer
• Apple Macintosh computer had more
sophisticated operating system, making user
interface easier
• Competition drove innovation
22
Discontinuous technology advances
• Other industries
– Turbojet in airplanes
– Radial tires adopted by Michelin
• Technology
– Shift from mainframe to microcomputers
– Shift to networked infrastructure
23
Four areas of impact
•
•
•
•
Automating Transaction Processing
Informating Middle of Organization
Imbedding IT in products and services
Internal and external networking
24
Exam Revision
• Today we’ll go back over the main topics from
this class
• Thursday will be an open question time
25
ISM 158: Overview
This class considers the role of information in business strategy. In
particular, we focus on decisions regarding information technology
and information systems to give a business competitive advantage
over other companies. We will focus on case studies to see why
some businesses are more successful than others in building
information systems that lead to organizational and individual
efficiencies.
We look at how information impacts industries, markets and
countries, and leads to technology development. We develop an
understanding of design and maintenance of networked
organizations, including issues of leadership and management.
ISM 158 Perspective: CIO
We will generally look at decisions from the perspective of the chief
information officer.
Wikipedia:
The chief information officer (CIO), or information technology
(IT) director, is a job title commonly given to the most senior
executive in an enterprise responsible for the information
technology and computer systems that support enterprise goals.
The title of Chief Information Officer in Higher Education may be
the highest ranking technology executive although depending on
the institution, alternative titles are used to represent this
position. Generally, the CIO typically reports to the chief
executive officer, chief operations officer or chief financial
officer.
Schedule
Date
Topic
(Reading =
corresponding
chapter from text)
Introduction
3
Tue, March
28
Thu, March
30
Tue, April 4
4
5
Thu, April 6
Tue, April 11
6
Thu, April 13
1
2
Business Models
Case
Assessment
(Reading =
correspondin
g case from
text)
IBM
IT and Business
Models
Amazon.com
IT and Organization
Boeing
Optional:
Business
Proposal Draft
Schedule
Date
Topic
(Reading =
corresponding
chapter from text)
Case
Assessment
(Reading =
correspond
ing case
from text)
7
Tue, April 18
Making the case for IT
8
Thu, April 20
CareGroup
Project Team
and Topic Due
9
10
Tue, April 25 IT Infrastructure
Thu, April 27
iPremier
Business
Proposal Due
11
Tue, May 2
12
Thu, May 4
Ford
Project
Proposal Due
13
14
Tue, May 9
Thu, May 11
Reliability and Security
IT Service Delivery
Dell
Schedule
Date
Topic
(Reading =
corresponding
chapter from text)
15
16
Tue, May 16
Thu, May 18
IT Project Delivery
17
18
19
20
Tue, May 23
Thu, May 25
Tue, May 31
Thu, June 2
Thu, June 6,
12:00 –
3:00pm
Governance of IT
Case
Assessment
(Reading =
correspondin
g case from
text)
Cisco
Optional:
Preliminary
draft due
Vokswagen
Leadership of IT
Conclusion
Final Exam
AtekPC
Project Due
Final Exam
Overview of Module 1
• Chapter 1
– Introduces the organizing framework for the module
– Defines a business model
– Explores evaluation of business models
• Chapters 2
– Examines the impact of IT on business models
• Chapter 3
– Examines the impact of IT on organizational capabilities
• Chapter 4
– Examines the impact of IT on business value
Overview of Module 2
• Chapter 5
– Introduces elements of modern IT infrastructure and core IT
management issues
• Chapter 6
– Addresses the robustness of IT capabilities; system availability and
security
• Chapter 7
– Explores contemporary IT service models and their management
requirements
• Chapter 8
– Examines IT project management
Overview of Module 3
• Chapter 9
– Discusses themes and issues in IT governance
• Chapters 10
– Explores a way of defining and evaluating IT
leadership