Exam

ONLINE FINAL EXAMINATION Trimester 1 2022 2
UNIT CODE: DEN203
UNIT NAME: IT Strategy and Management
1. IT/IS governance is necessary for correctly and effectively implementing all the nuances of the novel strategies developed for improvement. However, doing so is not always so straight-forward. There are a lot of external and internal factors affecting the manner in which governance is done. We will discuss two critical factors affecting the IS/IT governance here:
· Stories and Myths: One of the demerits of the digital age is extreme amounts of data on the internet for anyone to look at and jump to conclusions. People log on sites without verifying their authenticity and get all sorts of information there – regarding other peoples’ salaries, their workout routines, their organization culture, etc. Often people post information anonymously to avoid flak from their employers – which makes these posts even more appealing to the masses who have logged on after a long frustrating day of work and are looking for a punching bag. They consume all these grandiose stories about how other systems are too good, or too bad. How users should be constantly upgrading themselves to be able to cope with the ever-changing technologies around the world. How people double or triple their salaries by using our company’s software – all kinds of sensationalisation. What this does to IS/IT governance is it disrupts the values shared by business managers, professionals, and basically the employees of an organization with the IS/IT system – thereby leading to difficulties in bringing about changes, especially implementing them at ground level – people who are supposed to implement them now think otherwise!
· Control Systems: There is such a thing called ‘too much order’. Just like kids cannot play in a house that is run by a tyrant – who wants everything arranged and measured to a T, IS/IT methods cannot improve in an organization with rigid controls. If the financial control is too fixed, and IS/IT changes are not given some leeway in monetary aspects, practical implementation of these changes become difficult. Some organizations tend to focus heavily on the results instead of the process – counting trees instead of wood – they eventually make people self-conscious and anxious about their performance instead of trying out new things and seeing what works. This experimental mindset is significant for IS/IT strategists as it leads them to run shorter iterations of implemented changes and come up with insights about what works and what does not.
From the perspectives of both business people and IS/IT, we need an awareness for the need of structure and instilling discipline for making that structure happen – implemented in real life. Both organizations and employees need to come to terms with the fact that getting structured is a team work and will only work if both sides do their needful.
2. IS/IT management and strategy implementation requires organizations to have certain competencies. When a new ‘Intended Strategy’ is developed, it is the result of an extensive analysis of the internal as well as external environments – of both IS/IT and business. These strategies are generally aimed at either introducing something new or optimizing some existing systems already in place in the business setting. Usually the strategy is implemented by imposing it directly on the...