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Enterprise and Global
Management of Information
Technology
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Learning Objectives
• Identify ways that information
technology has affected the job of
managers.
• Identify the seven major dimensions
of a networked organization and
explain how they can affect the
success of a business.
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12 Learning Objectives (continued)
• Identify each of the three components of
information technology management and
use examples to show how they might be
implemented in a business.
• Explain how failures in IT management
can be reduced by the involvement of
business managers in IS planning and
management.
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12 Learning Objectives (continued)
• Identify cultural, political, and geoeconomics challenges that confront
managers in the management of
global information technologies.
• Explain the effect on global ebusiness strategy of the trend toward
a transnational business strategy by
international business organizations.
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12 Learning Objectives (continued)
• Identify considerations that affect
the choice of IT applications, IT
platforms, data access policies, and
systems development methods by a
global business enterprise.
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Section I
• Managing Information Technology
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Business and IT
• As companies are transformed into
global e-businesses and players in
global e-commerce, it is vital for
business managers and
professionals to understand how to
manage this vital function.
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12 The Impact of IT on Managers
• A major force for precipitating or
enabling organizational and
managerial change
• Enables innovative changes in
managerial decision making,
organizational structures, and
managerial work activities
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12 The Impact of IT on Organizations
• Key dimensions of the networked
enterprise
– Organizational structure
– Leadership and governance
– People and culture
– Coherence
– Knowledge
– Alliances
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12 Managing Information Technology
• Three major components
– Managing the joint development and
implementation of e-business and IT
strategies
– Managing the development of ebusiness applications and the research
& implementation of new IT
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12 Managing Information Technology (continued)
• Three major components
(continued)
– Managing the IT processes,
professionals, & subunits with the IT
organization & IS function
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12
Managing the IS Function
• Organizing IT
– Centralization
– Decentralization
– Latest trend, hybrid
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Managing the IS Function (continued)
• Managing Application Development
– Involves managing activities such as
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•
•
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systems analysis and design
prototyping
applications programming
project management
quality assurance
systems maintenance
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12
Managing the IS Function (continued)
• Managing IS Operations
– Managing the use of hardware,
software, network, and personnel
resources in data centers/computer
centers within an organization
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Managing the IS Function (continued)
• Managing IS operations (continued)
– Operational activities requiring
management
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Computer systems operations
Network management
Production control
Production support
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Managing the IS Function (continued)
• Managing IS Operations
(continued)
– System Performance Monitors
• Monitor processing of computer jobs
• Helps develop a planned schedule
• Produce detailed stats for planning and
control of computing capacity
• Chargeback systems
• Process control
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Managing the IS Function (continued)
• Human Resource Management of
IT
– Recruit qualified personnel
– Develop, organize, and direct the
capabilities of existing personnel
– Train employees
– Design career paths and set salary
and wage levels
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Managing the IS Function (continued)
• The CIO and Other IT Executives
– Chief Information Officer (CIO)
• Oversees all use of IT in many companies.
• Brings the IT function into alignment with
strategic business goals
• Concentrates on business/IT planning and
strategy
• Helps develop strategic uses of IT in ebusiness and e-commerce
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Managing the IS Function (continued)
• Technology Management
– All IT must be managed as a
technology platform for integrated ebusiness and e-commerce systems
– May assign a Chief Technology Officer
(CTO)
• In charge of all IT planning and
deployment
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Managing the IS Function (continued)
• Managing User Services
– Functions to support and manage end
user and workgroup computing
– Provides both opportunities and
problems for business unit managers
• Help desks
• Establish and enforce policies
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Failures in IT Management
• IT is not being used effectively by
companies that use IT primarily to
computerize traditional business
processes, instead of using it for
innovative e-business processes
• IT is not being used efficiently by IS that
provide poor response times and
frequent down times or when application
development projects are not managed
properly
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Failures in IT Management (continued)
• Management Involvement and
Governance
– Senior management needs to be
involved in critical business/IT
decisions to optimize the business
value and performance of the IT
function.
• Requires development of governance
structures that encourage active
participation in planning and controlling the
business uses of IT.
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Failures in IT Management (continued)
• Helps avoid IS performance
problems
• Helps improve the strategic
business value of IT
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Section II
• Managing Global IT
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The International Dimension
• A vital part of managing an ebusiness enterprise in the internet
worked global economies and
markets of today.
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Global IT Management
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Cultural, Political, and Geo-economics
Challenges
• Cultural challenges
– Differences in languages
– Cultural interests
– Religions
– Customs
– Social attitudes
– Political philosophies
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Cultural, Political, and Geo-economics
Challenges (continued)
• Political challenges
– Rules regulating or prohibiting transfer
of data across their national
boundaries
– Severe restrictions, taxes, or
prohibitions against imports of
hardware and software
– Local content laws
– Reciprocal trade agreements
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Cultural, Political, and Geo-economics
Challenges (continued)
• Geo-economics Challenges
– The effects of geography on the
economic realities of international
business activities
• Distance
• Real-time communication
• Lack of good-quality telephone and
telecommunications service
• Lack of job skills
• Cost of living and labor costs
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Global e-Business Strategies
• Moving away from
– Autonomous foreign subsidiaries
– Autonomous foreign subsidiaries,
dependent on headquarters for new
processes, products, and ideas
– Close management of worldwide
operations by headquarters
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Global e-Business Strategies (continued)
• Moving toward
– Reliance on information systems and
Internet technologies to help integrate
global business activities
– An integrated, cooperative worldwide
hardware, software, and Internet-based
architecture for IT platforms
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12 Global e-Business Applications
• IT applications depend on a variety
of global business drivers, caused
by the nature of the industry and its
competitive or environmental forces
– Global customers
– Global products
– Global operations
– Global resources
– Global collaboration
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Global IT Platforms
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The technology infrastructure
Technically complex
Major political and cultural implications
Challenges
– Managing international data communications
networks
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Network management issues
Regulatory issues
Technology issues
Country-oriented issues
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12 Global IT Platforms (continued)
• The Internet as a Global IT Platform
– Companies can
• Expand markets
• Reduce communications and distribution
costs
• Improve their profit margins
– Low cost interactive channel for
communications and data exchange
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Global Data Access Issues
• Transborder data flows (TDF)
– Data flow across international borders
over telecommunications networks of
global information systems
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Global Data Access Issues (continued)
• Many countries view TDF as
violating their national sovereignty
• Others, as violating their laws to
protect the local IT industry or to
protect local jobs
• May view TDF as a violation of their
privacy legislation
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Global Data Access Issues (continued)
• Internet Access Issues
– High government access fees
– Government monitored access
– Government filtered access
– No public access allowed
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12 Global Systems Development
• Challenges
– Conflicts over local versus global
system requirements
– Difficulties agreeing on common
system features
– Disturbances caused by systems
implementation and maintenance
activities
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Global Systems Development (continued)
• Challenges (continued)
– Trade-offs between developing one
system that can run on multiple
computer and operating system
platforms, or letting each local site
customize the software for its own
platform
– Global standardization of data
definitions
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Global Systems Development (continued)
• Systems Development Strategies
– Transforming an application used by
the home office into a global
application
– Setting up a multinational development
team to ensure the system design
meets the needs of local sites as well
as headquarters
– Parallel development
– Centers of excellence
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Discussion Questions
• What has been the impact of e-business
technologies on the work relationships,
activities, and resources of managers?
• What can business unit managers do
about performance problems in the use of
information technology and the
development and operation of information
systems in their business units?
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Discussion Questions (continued)
• How are Internet technologies
affecting the structure and work roles
of modern organizations?
– Will middle management wither away?
– Will companies consist primarily of
self-directed project teams of
knowledge workers?
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Discussion Questions (continued)
• Should the IS function in a business
be centralized or decentralized?
What recent developments support
your answer?
• How will the Internet, intranets, and
extranets affect each of the
components of global information
technology management?
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Discussion Questions (continued)
• How might cultural, political, or geoeconomics challenges affect a global
company’s use of the Internet?
• Will the increasing use of the Internet by
firms with global e-business operations
change their move toward a transnational
business strategy?
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Discussion Questions (continued)
• How might the Internet, intranets,
and extranets affect the business
drivers or requirements responsible
for a company’s use of global IT, as
shown in the chapter?
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References
• James A. O'Brien; George M. Marakas.
Management Information Systems:
Managing Information Technology in the
Business Enterprise 6th Ed., Boston:
McGraw-Hill/ Irwin,2004
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