CMIS 520 Managing Technology

1. CMIS 520Managing Technology Jo Ellen Moore, Ph.D.

2. IS/IT in Process View • Business Process: • Any sequence of activities that consumes resources and adds value to a product or service • Supports the customer or supports someone who supports the customer • Business functions contribute to multiple business processes

3. IS/IT in Process View Business Functions Process

4. IS/IT in Process View • Role of IEMgrs in Process View • Tp -- serves at enterprise level; responsible for IT infrastructure • tP -- responsible for process and its success • TP -- bridge between Tp and tP; bridge between enterprise and process in regard to technology • tp -- provides info about process problems and opportunities for improving process

5. IS/IT in Process View tP (Process) TP Tp (IT Infra-structure) tp

6. IS/IT in Process View • Role of IEMgr(TP) • The key player in a reengineering effort • Bridging role is crucial • TP individuals are rare • When TP individual does not exist: • Need effective partnering between Tp’s and tP’s • This partnering should also help to develop TP individuals

7. Partnering of IS &Business Managers • Sources of this material: • Lind & Zmud (1991, Organization Science) • Sambamurthy, Zmud, & Boynton (1992, ACM SIGCPR) • Zmud (1984, MISQ) • Brown (1997, MISQ)

8. Partnering of IS &Business Managers • What org structures tend to promote innovative IT-based business initiatives? • Research shows that greater IT innovation occurs when IS staff and users agree on importance ofIT and importance of business unitactivities (L&Z)

9. Partnering of IS &Business Managers • SZ&B recommend: • Centralized IS for IT infrastructure decisions • Business units lead decision-making on IT applications and project management • Use “coordination mechanisms” to involve IS in application and project management decisions • In other words, they are recommending a hybrid form

10. Partnering of IS &Business Managers • Coordination Mechanisms: • channels for information exchange • intended to break down barriers to cross-unit communications • Examples: • Steering committees • Liaison positions • Physical co-location • Inter-departmental job rotations

11. Partnering of IS &Business Managers • Formal vs. Informal CM’s (Zmud) • Formal CM’s • Static, Uni-directional • To promote consistency, predictability • Best for routine or well-understood activities • Examples: • Steering Committees • IS Committees • Liaison Positions

12. Partnering of IS &Business Managers • Informal CM’s • Dynamic, Multi-directional • To promote flexibility, interaction • Best for non-routine or poorly understood activities • Examples: • Physical co-location • IT networks (email, intranets, groupware) • Interdepartmental events • Interdepartmental job rotations • Cross-unit reward & measurement practices

13. Partnering of IS &Business Managers • CM’s and IS Org. Structures (Brown) • Centralized IS orgs use CM’s to: • Improve communications between IS and business units • Hybrid IS orgs use CM’s to: • Improve communications between corporate IS and dispersed IS units • Decentralized IS orgs tend to have less need for CM’s in regard to IT/IS. Why?. . .

14. Partnering of IS &Business Managers • Job Rotation article • Specifically considers rotation between EUC support (IS) and business units • Focus is on worker-level rotation, with managers involved in defining and managing the rotations

15. Partnering of IS &Business Managers • The rotations are proposed to: • Increase transfer of knowledge between users and IS • Reduce conflict between IS and users • Improve organizational integration of EUC • Create climate conducive to innovation applications of EUC • Provide challenging and maturing opportunities for business unit and IS employees

16. Partnering of IS &Business Managers • In CMIS 520 terms, the rotations should: • Increase ‘T’ of end users • Increase ‘P’ of IS folks • Help to directly integrate an organization’s ‘T’ and ‘P’ expertise and increase the likelihood of strategic applications of IT

17. Partnering of IS &Business Managers • Potential problems in rotating workers between IS and business units: • learning curve for rotated employee • increased workloads for rotated employee and for coworkers • decreased satisfaction and motivation of coworkers • issues in compensating, evaluating, and supervising the rotated employee • IS/IT professional’s fear of losing technical skills

18. Partnering of IS &Business Managers • What CM’s (formal or informal) have you seen implemented in organizations you’re familiar with? • Do they seem to help? Not help? • What CM’s would like to see implemented?