Information organization and the politics of information

¶ … Politics of Information

The job of a Chief Information Officer (CIO) continues to grow in various areas of difficulty. Two of the areas that present themselves to be most challenging are; the constant need for staff development and education, as well as the need for self-development to become more business oriented on the part of the CIO.

The same three skills have topped the list for three years running: effective communication, strategic thinking and planning capabilities, and an understanding of business processes and operations (Prewitt, 2004, p.2). The steps needed in order to succeed where staff development is concerned include several techniques. Theses techniques include leadership by rotation which is an eighteen-month program that teaches six top performers in the IT department on-the-job management skills, including leadership, strategy, project management, HR finance, communications, and change management (Matthews, 2005, p. 1). Another technique includes a partnership with external mentors is the second technique. In this process four to eight employees, participate in the mentoring program. There are no time constraints on length of meeting time or location. The main objective of this technique is to give an employee the opportunity to see things from a different perspective (Matthews, p. 2). The last method entails creating support and incentives for technology training. In this method, employees are required to attend forty hours of training annually in order to enhance their technology skills, as well as prepare the employees for new project deployment. As an incentive, annual and quarterly bonuses are determined in part by attending all of the necessary trainings required by the company (Matthews, p. 3).

Another challenge faced by CIO's includes lack of business training. The role of the CIO is starting to mirror that of any other business manager (Prewitt, 2004, p. 2). To avoid extinction, CIO's must move from an orientation that revolves around technology to one centered on business processes (Hammer, 2005, p. 1). It is important that CIO's make a move towards more of a business orientation, CIO's that continue to use what is considered the classic model of the technology organization are doomed to extinction (Hammer, p.1). However, taking advantage of these opportunities require a CIO to obtain a new way of thinking. The business must move from an orientation that once was centered on technology to one centered around business processes (Hammer, p.1). The process concept must become the foundation of a whole series of managerial innovations that are transforming how businesses are organized, managed, and operated (Hammer, p.2). While there continues to be advantages in the Information Technology (IT) field, it suffers as well. Many IT professionals and managers are still inexperienced in change management, which is a key component to process management. They tend to focus more on the area of technology, which offers IT professionals a comfort zone considering this is an area that proves to be more familiar than others are (Hammer, p.3). Hammer proceeded to state that It executives are finding that an effective way to build credibility is by applying process techniques to the operation of their own organization. An IT unit can in effect be viewed as a "business within the business," whose customers are its users (2005, p.3). Moreover, it is important to see that even though there continues to be a gap between IT and business as a whole, there are ways for the two to come together and work in unison.