Management of Technological Organizations - The Organizational Environment

1
Management of TechnologicalOrganizations -The
Organizational Environment

• Catherine Smith
• Friday, February 8, 2008
• 950 AM to 1250 PM

2
Todays Agenda

• Reading comments
• Questions from last week
• McGregors Theory X and Y
• Organizational Roles and the CIO
• Theory X and Y Questionnaire
• Establish case study teams
• Case study team working session
• TODAY YOU WILL RECEIVE ASSIGNMENT 5 DETAILS

3
Your comments

• The fact is, people function according to what
  they feel will be most beneficial to themselves.
  Many people quickly learn that the system do not
  reward those that work at their fullest
  potentials and can, in fact, punish them.
  Organizations shouldn't try to change its
  workers, people never change very much, they
  should change their systems to better accommodate
  their workers and give them good reason to want
  to work their hardest. I hate to use such long
  quotations but I feel I can't rephrase this any
  better.The essential task of management is to
  arrange organizational conditions and methods of
  operation so that people can achieve their own
  goals best by directing their own efforts towards
  organizational objectives. (Bennis,
  1972)Organizations should always strive be to
  intertwine its own goals with the goals of its
  workers. That way each person will contribute as
  much as he/she could because it is in his/her
  best interests to do so.
• Do we see a problem here?

4
Great questions!

• The book seems to suggest that organizations
  should only deal with IT in a business capacity,
  while technical expertise is somehow not even
  worth holding on to. This might be a little
  subjective, but I feel I can say from personal
  experience that outsourced services like help
  desk support are rarely any good. What's wrong
  with centralization? Or at least organization of
  departments around a center? Am I wrong?
• I feel that outsourcing is a good idea when it
  comes to making the most of outside reputable
  vendors and utilizing specialists in all areas
  inside and outside of a company. Sometimes
  relying solely on employees within a company can
  be dangerous, if only a single person knows the
  ins and outs of an area and uses that to his or
  her advantage. Also, as supported by Chapter 2,
  the responsibilities in IS departments only
  continue to expand in different directions, while
  some traditional responsibilities are transferred
  elsewhere. I dont believe the field is at risk
  of deteriorating any time soon.

5
More comments

• Passing on IS functions to "knowledgeable
  end-users" has many worrisome side-effects, one
  of which is accountability. Moreover, while a
  "knowledgeable end-user" may have the skills to
  perform a task - say, operating a web server -
  without specialized training or education, they
  may be missing valuable skills or knowledge that
  IS staff would normally have. The trend of
  turning skilled, full-time positions into
  additional duties for end-users is both troubling
  for the IS industry as a whole and, in many
  cases, not in the best long-term interest of the
  organization.
• but
• In organizations today CIOs are always under
  pressure to "implement protective measures to
  safeguard the privacy of customer data, to
  install increasingly sophisticated security so
  that viruses and other attacks do not cripple
  system, and to add new financial reporting
  features to satisfy government regulations." It
  is most interesting in how the role of the CIO
  has changed over time as when CIOs were first
  formed they mainly had to structure IT
  environments in the early 90s. Their roles are to
  shape a business's use of IT and must play more
  of a leadership role rather than the role of a
  manager.

6
Bingo !!!

• I wasn't happy about reading that support
  infrastructure is being outsource since I'm
  interested in the programming and technical parts
  of IT, and I suspect that's part of support
  infrastructure.
• By the time we get into the job market, the
  field could change again, meaning that what we
  learned has become obsolete. It seems in order to
  be successful in IT, you have to constantly be
  looking into the future and be prepared for
  whatever changes arrive. Being able to easily
  adapt to new environments is going to be a very
  valuable skill for IT.
• the mainframe era may be gone but the
  mainframe era still exists it just has to be
  incorporated into the 2 more current eras. This
  also shows that a management tier will need to
  exist so these 3 eras can coexist.

7
Review and Questions Team Development

• How might management theory inform how teams
  develop and how
• people work together?
• Leadership matters the theories that leaders
  ascribe to can be influential.
• Taylorism
• Expectancy theory
• Theories of motivation can influence team
  leaders approach.
• Different behavior theories can help team members
  understand each others actions.
• Equity theory
• Hierarchy of needs
• Managers must understand employees needs in
  order for teams to work effectively.

8
Review Abraham Maslow
Wikipedia. (2007). Abraham Maslow. Retrieved
24 Jan. 2007 from http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mas
low
9
Review Team Dynamics

• Stages of Team Building
• Forming
• Storming
• Norming
• Performing
• Adjourning
• Why is learning about teams important
• to technological organizations?
• What role does individual motivation play?

10

• McGregors Theory X and Y

11
McGregors Theory X and Y

• Theory relates to workers and motivation, worker
  satisfaction,
• and interpersonal relations at work.

• Theory X People
• Are lazy immature
• Dislike and shun work
• Have to be driven
• Need rewards and threats
• (carrot stick)
• Are incapable of taking responsibility
• Must be looked after

• Theory Y People
• Have a need to work
• Want achievement
• Want responsibility
• Want to be adults
• Want to like their work
• Want satisfaction in work

12
McGregors Theory X Theory Y (Contd.)

• Where did this come from?
• Maslow spent a year working with a company that
  practiced Theory Y. He found that for many people
  the responsibility and autonomy demanded by
  Theory Y is too much. Many people need structure,
  order, and direction.
• Source Management, An abridged version of
  Management Tasks,
• Responsibilities, Practices, Peter Druckers
  seminal work on management.
• What are your thoughts?
• Where do you stand?
• Where did McGregor stand?
• Where do you think Maslow stands?

Well be doing a self assessment later in class
13

• The Role of the Chief Information Officer

14
Some Background on Organizational Roles

• The U.S. passed from the industrial era to the
  information era as
• early as 1957.
• Okay but what does this mean?
• The number of U.S. employees whose jobs were
  primarily to
• handle information surpassed the number of
  industrial workers.
• Okay again but what does THAT mean?

15
Some Background on Organizational Roles
(Contd.)
What is the traditional information hierarchy?
from Haeckel and Nolan, 1993
16
Some Background on Organizational Roles
(Contd.)

• Leadership Issues
• What are the waves of innovation that have
  implications for IT leadership?
• IT reduces cost (1960s)
• IT helps profitability (1970s)
• IT enhance products and services (early 1980s)
  (e.g., B. Dalton)
• IT enhances executive decision making (later
  1980s)
• IT reaches the consumer (1990s)
• IT is ubiquitous (2000 beyond)
• (from McNurlin Sprague pp. 50-51)

17
Organizational Roles

• What are the differences?
• CEO
• COO
• CFO
• CIO
• CTO
• CKO

18
Organizational Roles (Contd.)

• What are the CIOs responsibilities?
• Leading
• Understand the business
• Create and sell a vision
• Governing
• Establish decision making policy and
  accountability
• Investing
• Understand strategic implications
• Prioritize
• Managing
• Establish credibility
• Foster relationships across organization
• Become a change expert

(from McNurlin Sprague, pp. 62-91)
19
Organizational Roles (Contd.)

• Other responsibilities
• Develop a competent IS staff and IT savvy users
• Implement IS architecture
• GOAL
• Deliver solutions to the business not simply
  applications or infrastructure

(from McNurlin Sprague, pp. 62-91)
20
Organizational Roles (Contd.)

• IT Leaders are responsible for
• Supply Side
• Demand Side and
• Back office of the enterprise.
• What do these terms mean? For example,
  whats an ERP?
• It involves integrating components from across
  the enterprise
• - sales information
• - financial figures, and
• - operational data, manufacturing information
  and inventory
• are available across systems in the enterprise,
  spanning geographic and
• organizational boundaries

21

• In the context of a CIOs responsibilities,
• who are the customers?

22
That Vision Thing

• The CIO must have vision, but how does one get
  vision?
• Consider Joel Barker and his work as a futurist
• Explore the present
• Scan the environment
• Scout the future

23
Class Two
Lets go down the hall See you in room
119 in 10 minutes
24
Theory X and Theory Y Applied

• Lets assess where we might position ourselves
• Where is your work environment on the continuum?
• Complete Part I of the questionnaire

25
Theory X and Theory Y Applied

• Lets assess where we might position ourselves
• How strongly do you prefer X or Y?
• Complete Part II of the questionnaire

26
Theory X and Theory Y Applied

• Score the questionnaire
• What do you see?

27

• Why would you make us do this exercise?

28
Team Dynamics

• Stages of Team Building
• Forming
• Storming
• Norming
• Performing
• Adjourning
• Why is learning about teams important
• to technological organizations?
• What role does individual motivation play?

29

• Case Studies

30
Case Study Team Project

• Case Study of a Technological Organization
• Purpose To understand in a deep way the issues
  of managing technology within an organization.
• Focus One organization
• Methods Examination of scholarly materials
• Literature research
• Internet research
• Analyze what you find
• Develop graphic models
• Write a paper
• Present to the class

31
Case Study Team Project

• Case Study Assignment 5 - details
• An overview description of the larger
  organization, including the items listed on the
  next page. Each item should be clearly formatted
  in your presentation. The information must be
  accurate, thorough and relatively current (dont
  present information that is grossly out of date).
  The sources for all information must be
  referenced.

32
Case Study Team Project

• Case Study Assignment 5 - details
• Section 1
• Mission statement
• Organization chart
• Stakeholder web
• Brief history and current business environment
  (competitors, etc.)
• Overview of the organizations competitive
  environment
• SWOT analysis

33
Case Study Team Project

• Case Study Assignment 5 - details
• Section 2
• Description of the IT function and the
  organizations approach
• Discussion of the strategic rationale for the
  approach (why is it done that way?)
• The relationship of the IT function to the
  organizations competitive environment

34
Case Study Team Project

• Case Study Assignment 5 - details
• Section 3
• A detailed description of a focus area of IT
  assessment. This should be a description of one
  specific aspect or use of IT within the business.
  This focus could relate to a single stakeholder
  group, strategic initiative, or operations area.
  Ideas include things like customer service,
  direct marketing, package tracking, pricing,
  product development, a specific competitor, etc..
  The focus area should relate to what you know
  about the IT approach, and what you know about
  the strategic importance of IT within the
  organization.

35
Case Study Team Project

• Case Study Assignment 5 - details
• Your grade will be based on the following
  factors
• Preparation of all the components in the detail
  required (as stated above).
• Ability to organize the information found,
  summarize research findings, and give evidence to
  support each point
• Use of examples, anecdotes and references as
  evidence
• Demonstration of understanding of IT function
  within the organization
• Writing clarity, grammar, spelling, punctuation
• Quality and quantity of references and use of APA
  format for references and citation
• Organization, clarity and efficiency of group
  presentation, presentation materials, and written
  paper
• This assignment will be graded on a team basis,
  with each team member receiving the same grade.
  Counts for 15 of your final grade.

36
Team Project Case Selection

• IT case study organizations
• Aetna Insurance
• Iron Mountain
• Educational Testing Service
• Cisco Systems
• Stop N Shop
• Hoovers
• Netflix
• Web.com
• other options? Chose carefully!!

Each team will submit its 1st and 2nd choices
next week Finalize on 2/22 Only one team
per company
37
Case Study Team Meetings

• For balance of this session
• Discuss choice of case study
• conduct a QUICK san to see if sufficient
  information is available to allow the team to do
  its work!!
• Discuss questions (handout)
• Before leaving
• Submit in writing
• names of team members and tentative organization
  selection

38
Case Study Team Meetings (Contd.)

• Questions
• What strengths do your team members bring to a
  research project such as this?
• What weaknesses does your team have?
• How can you compensate for these weaknesses?
• What communication channels do you prefer?
• How do you like to proceed in team projects?
• Work on project definition and task delineation.
• What are your first steps? What are the
  milestones for your project?
• What kinds of information are you looking for
  that will help you construct a case study?
• How will you create the case study?

39
Case Study Team Meetings (Contd.)

• Keep in mind roles you may need for each session
  
• Leader
• Facilitator
• Note Taker
• Time Keeper
• Participants
• Critic or consultant
• Dont forget housekeeping
• Are you aware of your fellow team members e-mail
  addresses and phone numbers?
• Talk about a plan for work week-over-week with
  assignments and do-dates.
• Next week -- a GANTT chart for the semester.

40
Case Study Team Meetings (Contd.)

• Assignment due before class starts next week
• Semester Analysis (1)
• Examine the schedule for the course. Look at the
  deliverables and their due dates. Determine what
  should be done by your team and what should be
  done by you individually. Which deliverables will
  be challenging for you? Which will utilize your
  strengths? Which are you interested in most?
  Least? Why?
• Write your analysis in a three four page
  paper. No cover sheet is needed. Use 12 point
  type and double space.
• Submit on paper at start of next weeks class.
• Grading
• Use of proper English, grammar, spelling,
  punctuation
• Engagement with the questions thoughtfulness,
  complete discussion
• 3 of your final grade

41
Keeping Up

• Readings
• CHANGE Drucker, Peter F. (2005, January).
  Managing oneself.  Harvard Business Review, 83
  (1), 100-109.  This document is available on
  eCollege and Rutgers Library System.
• Josephson Institution Making ethical decisions
• Makkula Center Framework for ethical decision
  making
• Reading comments due noon 2/14
• Assignment
• 1
• Examine the schedule for the course. Write
  analysis paper.
• Submit on paper at start of next weeks class.

42
Any Questions?