Blaize Horner Reich

IT ALIGNMENT: WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED?

We provide a review of the alignment literature in IT, addressing questions such as: What have we learned? What is disputed? Who are contributors to the debate? The article is intended to be useful to faculty and graduate students considering conducting research on alignment, instructors preparing lectures, and practitioners seeking to assess the ‘state-of-play’. It is both informational and provocative. Challenges to the value of alignment research, divergent views, and new perspectives on alignment are presented. It is hoped that the article will spark helpful conversation on the merits of continued investigation of IT alignment.

Information Technology Competence of Business Managers: A Definition and Research Model

This research explores the concept of the information technology (IT) competence of business managers, defined as the set of IT-related explicit and tacit knowledge that a business manager possesses that enables him or her to exhibit IT leadership in his or her area of business. A managers knowledge of technologies, applications, systems development, and management of IT form his or her explicit IT knowledge. This domain further extends to include knowing who knows what, which enables the manager to leverage the knowledge of others. Tacit IT knowledge is conceptualized as a combination of experience and cognition. Experience relates to personal computing, IT projects, and overall management of IT. Cognition refers to two mental models: the managers process view and his or her vision for the role of IT. The outcomes expected from IT-competent business managers are chiefly two behaviors: an increased willingness to form partnerships with IT people and an increased propensity to lead and participate in IT projects.

An Empirical Investigation of Factors Influencing the Success of Customer-Oriented Strategic Systems

A case research strategy was utilized to study first-mover strategic systems which companies had built and offered to their customers in support of a primary product or service. The study investigated eleven systems to discover the factors which enabled or inhibited the following outcomes: developing a first-mover customer-oriented strategic system (COSS); achieving a high level of adoption of the COSS by customers; obtaining competitive advantage from the COSS. In general, the findings supported previous research in the IS implementation and strategic systems literature. Factors that are related to the successful implementation of information systems and the competitive environment of the firm were associated with systems that were developed and introduced to the market first. Factors that are related to the adoption of innovations and information systems and to successful product marketing were associated with high adoption. There were several findings which had not been previously reported in the literature. Early adoption of the system was inhibited by poor support for the sales force and poor quality pilot tests. Long-term penetration was inhibited in cases where the champion lost direct control over the COSS. Competitive advantage was not achieved by any system which had spent less than three years in the market or by those which did not achieve high long-term adoption.

The impact of size and volatility on IT project performance

Studying the factors influencing project risk.

IT alignment: an annotated bibliography

We provide summaries of over 150 alignment articles. The information is intended to assist faculty and graduate students who are conducting IT alignment-related research. The findings presented should interest practitioners also. We hope that the article will facilitate the ongoing study and practice of IT alignment.

Managing Knowledge and Learning in it Projects: A Conceptual Framework and Guidelines for Practice

This paper presents a framework identifying the key areas within IT projects where knowledge-based risks occur. These risks include a failure to learn from past projects, competence of the project team, problems in integrating and transferring knowledge, lack of a knowledge map, and volatility in governance. The model was compiled through an extensive literature search encompassing project management, information systems, software development, and team learning literatures. This framework was then tested and modified through a field study of 15 senior project managers from North America and New Zealand. Analysis of the interviews from the field study resulted in a set of five broad principles of knowledge management within projects. These principles relate to a climate for learning, knowledge levels, knowledge channels, team memory, and knowledge risks. Practices suggested by the interviewees accompany each principle.

A Temporal Model of Information Technology Project Performance

Efficiently delivering expected performance from information technology projects remains a critical challenge for many organizations. Improving our understanding of how various factors influence project performance is therefore an important research objective. This study proposes and tests a temporal model of information technology project performance (TMPP). It shows that performance can be better understood by separating risk factors into earlier (a priori) risk factors and later (emergent) risk factors, and modeling the influence of the former on the latter. Project performance, the dependent variable, is measured by considering both process (budget and schedule) and product (outcome) components. The model includes interactions between risk factors, project management practices, and project performance components. The model is tested using partial least squares analysis with data from a survey of 194 project managers. Our results indicate that the TMPP increases explanatory power when compared with models that link risk factors directly to project performance. The results show the importance for active risk management of recognizing, planning for, and managing a priori and emergent risk factors. The finding of a strong relationship between structural risk factors and subsequent volatility shows the need for risk management practice to recognize the interaction of a priori and emergent risk factors. The results confirm the importance of knowledge resources, organizational support, and project management practices, and demonstrate the ways in which they reinforce each other.

Governing Information Technology Risk

Regulatory changes have affected the composition, role, and responsibilities of Boards of Directors worldwide. While stronger frameworks for directors9 fiduciary responsibilities have resulted, considerably less attention has been devoted to understanding the nature of, and concomitant duty-of-care towards, the information systems and technology assets in the organization, or IT Governance. As a result, Boards have not demonstrated the competence or attention that good IT governance demands. IT Governance takes two forms: a defensive form, IT Risk Governance, that seeks to safeguard the organization from the consequences of IT-related disasters; and a strategic form, IT Value Governance, which creates lasting shareholder value. This article focuses on IT Risk Governance. Based on an academic and trade literature review, and interviews with Board members from six international firms, it presents a model, the IT Risk Governance Chain, and a dashboard that outlines the critical areas of IT risk and the key questions directors should ask to properly safeguard the information and technology assets of their firms.

“Seeding the line”: understanding the transition from IT to non-IT careers

As organizations face increased competitive pressures and technological changes, their attention is focusing on how to attain strategic benefits from information technology investments, including investments in people. From a human resources perspective, one debate centers on how to attract and retain information technology (IT) professionals. Somewhat paradoxically, it is suggested that to retain IT professionals, organizations must provide both technical and business oriented career opportunities.This paper presents a case study of one organization, The Mutual Group, in which more than 70 IT professionals permanently moved into non-IT, business unit jobs during the 1980s and early 1990s. Using interviews and surveys of 51 former IT professionals, this research investigated the characteristics of the individual, the organization, the first non-IT job, and the transition period.We conclude from our findings that IT professionals who moved to non-IT jobs in the line made the transition without the benefit of deliberate preparation, formal transition programs, or safety nets to reduce the risk. Some conditions existed at The Mutual Group that may have assisted them, including: good relations between IT and the line, friends and mentors in line units, and a willingness to take risks in pursuit of new challenges.One contribution of this paper is that is begins to fill a gap in the career mobility literature, based on individuals and their stories of change. It also attempts to understand the role of context in one organization that is a recognized leader in the use of IT for competitive advantage.

Creating social and intellectual capital through IT career transitions

Many organizations must continuously innovate with information technology (IT) to maintain their competitive position. This paper illustrates how the Clarica Life Insurance Company created a stream of business-enabling IT innovations after more than 70 career transitions of IT people into line business positions. The theoretical lens used to discuss this case is the Nahapiet and Ghoshal theory of co-creation of social and intellectual capital. After presenting the Clarica case study with three management profiles, we interpret the data to show how social capital led to an increase in intellectual capital and the organizational advantage that was achieved. We conclude with suggestions for extensions of this model and implications for research and practice.