What role does the organizational culture play in IS investments?

I think organizational culture plays a very large part in any aspect of an organization including IS investment. Organizational culture is the psychology, attitudes, experiences, beliefs and values that are shared by the people within the organization and may or may not mirror the corporate culture. The culture that is present in an organization should be reflective of the strategy and goals of the organization and be supportive of the corporate culture, however this is not always the case. Organizational culture is not easy to change quickly as it has developed over many years, so it would be difficult to suddenly value some attribute that wasn't highly thought of before even if it is suddenly supported by management and business needs.

For example, I'm currently working on a project with a company that does not have a culture that supports and values innovative approaches to its operational challenges. The result is that there is an extra hurdle to overcome to justify new improvements like a computerized purchasing system because these types of improvements are not seen as necessary by the culture. The IS change is viewed with disdain and skepticism among the staff and even some management. The result is that it is going to be much more challenging to obtain buy-in and wide support for the project, and this could have negative impact and may delay implementation or impair the success of the system overall.

However, in companies like Harrah's, which has a culture that is innovative and technologically astute, it becomes much easier to deploy new technologies such as the interactive mobile gaming platform or the customized CRM capabilities metioned in the video that provide individualized content and special offers based on the customers preferences and spending habits. Harrah's is continuously striving to provide richer gaming experiences for their guests over the entire enterprise and must be innovative to differentiate themselves from other entertainment providers, even testing new innovations internally to obtain feedback from guests and employees. This aspect is part of their organizational and corporate culture and supports and welcomes new IS ideas and investments.

Another example come from Jonathan Heiliger, vice president of technical operations at Facebook when he mentions a way that innovation is supported institutionally by conducting nighttime "hack-a-thons" every other month to encourage new applications or features during off hours. Through this process a new chat app was developed and added to FB which allows users to conduct chat sessions during their time online. It is through the supportive organizational culture which embraces new IS investments and innovations that has enabled Facebook to grow to over eighty million users today.

In short, organizational culture provides an great deal of influence in any business decision including IS investments. It is very important for management to consider the culture and how it will impede or assist the IS investments within the organization.

When choosing a CPA...

1. The CPA should have several years of business experience. Knowledge and experience with other businesses in your sector is even better.

2. They answer their phone, return phone calls promptly and respond to e-mail. Excellent communication skills are essential.

3. They should be able to think strategically about your business options and offer suggestions on how to improve your business in the future and not just compile financial reports from last year.

4. Help you execute a tax plan that legitimately allows you to keep more of what you earn. This extends past the taxes that the business pays and includes the income taxes paid by the investors and principals.

5. They are candid and direct in their conversations and communications. It is easy to find an accountant to agree with your decisions but you want someone to tell you when they think you are heading down the wrong road and why.

6. Help you protect your business from embezzlement, fraud, and dishonest employees through good financial controls and procedures. They should also help you implement internal procedures to more quickly detect any errors or omissions.

7. Provide an objective perspective about your business performance. Your sales manager will overestimate sales and the operations manager always fails to add in one-time expenses so you need a clear and accurate picture to make informed decisions.

8. Save you money and increase your profit by helping you identify “best” practices. This is where their experience gives them actionable insight into the business.

9. Be involved in the business community. They should have contacts that can help you grow your business and form strategic alliances.

A face-to-face interview provides the opportunity to know if there's a “right fit” for your business. In addition to all of the above, the chemistry between your personalities needs to match. Make sure to check their references. He or she should have a history of working with successful companies. It is reasonable to think the accountant had a part in that success.

Source: http://www.stevenwieblercpa.com/index.html

Why do you think schedule issues often cause the most conflicts on projects?

Part of the reason are the different attitudes and work styles that exist towards schedules as stated in the text. Schedules may be viewed differently in other cultures as well and Project managers must be aware of these concerns. Sometimes the original schedule was not realistically thought out and was too aggressive. Time goals should be s.m.a.r.t. along with the rest of the project goals. Also, milestones can be used so that the project has points to assess the progress and help determine where the project is in relation to the schedule goals.

Another reason is that time continues to move forward no matter what is being done to manage it. Careful consideration must be exercised to keep this perspective in mind during the time management process. Project contingencies will arise in the development of complex systems and these will need to be addressed. Often though the Project manager has not planned for the unexpected events on some level and may misuse resources to address "Murphy" as Goldratt states. But project managers must be aware that unplanned events will happen at some point and there should be a plan in place to deal with the problems.

Also, people tend to build in too much safety time into their task completion estimates, but fail to utilize this allotted time and succumb to student syndrome, which basically means waiting until the last minute to begin the task and rushing through it quickly. This misuse of the available time causes projects to fall behind because too much false safety is consuming the time resource that was never utilized on the project.

Finally, scheduling is an imprecise process and involves many people issues which adds to greater uncertainty. PM's are not sure of all of the variables that may affect the schedule. The scope of the project must be clearly defined and a detailed Work Breakdown Structure must be organized so a realistic work schedule can be assembled.

The role of organizational culture in IS investments

What role does the organizational culture play in IS investments? Is this something that can be easily adjusted when necessary? Why or why not?



I think organizational culture plays a very large part in any aspect of an organization including IS investment. Organizational culture is the psychology, attitudes, experiences, beliefs and values that are shared by the people within the organization and may or may not mirror the corporate culture. The culture that is present in an organization should be reflective of the strategy and goals of the organization and be supportive of the corporate culture, however this is not always the case. Organizational culture is not easy to change quickly so it would be difficult to suddenly value some attribute that wasn't highly thought of before even if it is suddenly supported by management and business needs.

For example, I'm currently working on a project with a company that does not have a culture that supports and values innovative approaches to its operational challenges. The result is that there is an extra hurdle to overcome to justify new improvements like a computerized purchasing system because these types of improvements are not seen as necessary by the culture. The IS change is viewed with disdain and skepticism among the staff and even some management. The result is that it is going to be much more challenging to obtain buy-in and wide support for the project, and this could have negative impact, delay implementation, and may impair the success of the system overall.

However, in companies like Harrah's, which has a culture that is innovative and technologically astute, it becomes much easier to deploy new technologies such as the interactive mobile gaming platform or the customized CRM capabilities metioned in the video that provide individualized content and special offers based on the customers preferences and spending habits. Harrah's is continuously striving to provide richer gaming experiences for their guests over the entire enterprise and must be innovative to differentiate themselves from other entertainment providers, even testing new innovations internally to obtain feedback from guests and employees. This aspect is part of their organizational and corporate culture and supports and welcomes new IS ideas and investments.

Jonathan Heiliger, vice president of technical operations at Facebook mentions a way that innovation is supported institutionally by conducting nighttime "hack-a-thons" every other month to encourage new applications or features during off hours. Through this process a new chat app was developed and added to FB which allows users to conduct chat sessions during their time online. It is through the supportive organizational culture which embraces new IS investments and innovations that has enabled Facebook to grow to over eighty million users today.

IT Doesn't Matter...Really?

What Carr is talking about is the IT that is infrastructural technology not proprietary technology. Carr is stating that many organizations confuse infrastructural technology as proprietary technology, especially during the years of the build-out phase which install the greatest amount of this infrastructural technology such as desktop computers, enterprise software, LAN's and the Internet. This build-out leads to standardization, falling prices and greater accessibility, but not strategic advantage for organizations.

Carr states that this trend mirrored the buildup of other types of infrastructure such as highways, railroads and power grids. IT has become a commodity just like these early technologies, although the early adopters initially gained the first mover advantage in the marketplace, these opportunities are largely gone since most of the technologies are available to all the players just like the power grid and the Internet.

Carr is not saying that proprietary IT does not matter to modern companies, only the infrastructural technology which is available to the entire market. I think that the catchy title was his way of getting every one's attention. Proprietary IT such as Apple's iTunes's store or Google's search system are a key differentiating element of their success and Carr is not talking about this type of IT investment. Carr also uses Dell and Wal-Mart as an example of companies that let others invest in the new systems that hold promise as well as risk, and invest when standardization, best practices and lower costs have taken effect.

I agree with Carr's major idea, that IT investment has been over emphasized and too much has been spent in new technologies that really don't improve the profitability or strategic position of the company. Too much investment can actually be bad as witnessed during the dot-com and real estate bubbles of recent years. I especially agree with the new rules for IT managers, spend less (even more important now), follow, don't lead (leading is expensive and risky), and focus on vulnerabilities not opportunities (your bank website being down for several days).

Harvard's endowment plunges nearly 30 percent

Is this the best our esteemed national university could do?

"In navigating the past year's storm, we developed greater financial flexibility, strengthened our investment team, sharpened our focus and positioned both HMC and the endowment to be robust, steady and, importantly, poised to benefit from growth in the world's economies," Mendillo said in a statement.

Translation:

"As we were caught up in the group think of the investment world which left us overexposed, we got rid of bad investments and bought new investments at a higher price taking a huge loss, fired 275 people to save money, panicked about the ugly balance sheet and reacted by placing too much of our portfolio in riskier global stocks to try and make up our losses."

I love corporate doublespeak.

IT project management

Do you think organizations should develop their own information technology project management methodologies? Why? Why can't they just follow a book or already developed methodology?



Yes at some level. I believe many organizations must design and develop their own ITPMM to align the project management processes and activities support the unique capabilities and strategy that each organization possesses. However, there exists a general set of core methodologies and standards in the PMBOK guide in which the organization can utilize as a foundation for developing customized project management methods that specifically address the needs of the organization. The level of customization needs varies between organizations. No two organizations are exactly alike and they use different methods to accomplish goals, so GM can use ITPMM designed by Toyota but ultimately the methodologies will need to be customized at some level to GM's specific needs, processes and capabilities. Rational Unified Process (RUP) from IBM is a process product that tries to address these needs by integrating project management best practices with customizable processes.

The Other Side of Outsourcing

An excellent look at outsourcing from the other side of the world. It will challenge you to think about the global economy and how the nature and geography of the workforce has fundamentally changed.

Systems view of a project and project management

What does it mean to take a systems view of a project? How does taking a systems view of a project apply to project management?


To view a project with a systems perspective is to see the whole internal and external operational landscape in which the project will be functioning. An example of a system is the cardiovascular process of the human body. To only see the heart and arteries without considering the interdependent support mechanisms that the heart system needs to function fails to consider the implications that any changes to the heart system will also cause variations, potentially fatal, in the interdependent systems of the body that rely on the heart. The reverse is also true.

Similarly, to develop and implement a project without considering the holistic view of the organization, the systems approach, will likely fail to bring the proposed benefits to the organization because the complete, possibly unintended impact of the project has not been fully considered on the entire system. Also, the project may actually hinder the organizational goals and cause real losses. For example, to develop a advertising project for a single product without considering the impact the campaign may have on other product lines within the company, whether or not the price is in conformity with the market position, cannibalization of exiting products, image of the company, and other similar issues must be addressed during the planning and design phase of the project.

Often, projects are designed myopically due to organizational arrangement and culture within a company, such as business units, departments, competitive aspects, and/or geographic regions. Great care must be taken to include the overall goals and perspectives of the organization to ensure the project displays goal congruence and the end result adds value to the whole organization.

W. Edwards Deming 14 Points

How many organizations today employ this philosophy?

The 14 points apply anywhere, to small organizations as well as to large ones, to the service industry as well as to manufacturing. They apply to a division within a company.

The 14 points.

Create constancy of purpose toward improvement of product and service, with the aim to become competitive and to stay in business, and to provide jobs.

Adopt the new philosophy. We are in a new economic age. Western management must awaken to the challenge, must learn their responsibilities, and take on leadership for change.

Cease dependence on inspection to achieve quality. Eliminate the need for inspection on a mass basis by building quality into the product in the first place.

End the practice of awarding business on the basis of price tag. Instead, minimize total cost.

Move toward a single supplier for any one item, on a long-term relationship of loyalty and trust.

Improve constantly and forever the system of production and service, to improve quality and productivity, and thus constantly decrease costs.

Institute training on the job.

Institute leadership (see Point 12 and Ch. 8). The aim of supervision should be to help people and machines and gadgets to do a better job. Supervision of management is in need of overhaul, as well as supervision of production workers.

Drive out fear, so that everyone may work effectively for the company (see Ch. 3).

Break down barriers between departments. People in research, design, sales, and production must work as a team, to foresee problems of production and in use that may be encountered with the product or service.

Eliminate slogans, exhortations, and targets for the work force asking for zero defects and new levels of productivity. Such exhortations only create adversarial relationships, as the bulk of the causes of low quality and low productivity belong to the system and thus lie beyond the power of the work force.

Eliminate work standards (quotas) on the factory floor. Substitute leadership.

Eliminate management by objective. Eliminate management by numbers, numerical goals.

Substitute leadership.

Remove barriers that rob the hourly worker of his right to pride of workmanship. The responsibility of supervisors must be changed from sheer numbers to quality.

Remove barriers that rob people in management and in engineering of their right to pride of workmanship. This means, inter alia, abolishment of the annual or merit rating and of management by objective (see Ch. 3).

Institute a vigorous program of education and self-improvement.

Put everybody in the company to work to accomplish the transformation. The transformation is everybody's job.