Transcript No Slide Title

Organizational competence
in harnessing IS/IT
GP Dhillon, PhD
Virginia Commonwealth University
The skills challenge
... questions often asked ...
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How many specialists do we need to employ and in which
areas?
How many of the specialist skills should be pooled?
What is the impact of outsourcing?
We have oversupply but often cannot get the right staff.
How come?
What will be the profile of IT staff who can have a long
term career with the organization?
Can we define clear targets for our training program?
The external drivers
Environmental forces:
• globalization
• localization
IS/IT role in reducing
• transaction costs
• transaction risks
Motives:
• resource pooling
• risk sharing
• utilizing relative
advantage
IS/IT role in making
• reducing supply
• collaboration physically
• chain uncertainty
• increase resource utilizationpossible
Co-operative
strategy &
co-operative
information
systems
The internal drivers for change
Changing view of
roles and
responsibilities
Changing
technology
Roles
issues
Skills
issues
Changes in
service
provision
Some dominant management
theories since 1960s
Self Directed Teams
Searching for Excellence
Competitive Strategies
Entrepreneurship
Management by objective Long - Range Strategic Planning
Benchmarking
Conglomerates
Virtual Organizations
Intuitive/Analytic Management
S - Curves and Product Life Cycles
Quality Circles
Matrix Management
Limits of GrowthRestructuring
Y
T - Groups Theory X and Theory
Agile Manufacturing
The Managerial Grid
Econometric Models
Portfolio Matrix
Empowerment Delayering/Restructuring
Theory Z
The Systems ApproachCentralized Corporate Strategy
Just in Time
Zero - Based BudgetingHorizontal Organizations
Core Competencies Global Rationalization
Reengineering (BPR)
Competency lists
Cadbury
Schw
(Glaze, 1989)
WH Smith
BP
Man A’Port
(Jacobs, 1989) (Greatrex &
(Jackson,
Phillips, 1989) 1989)
NatWest
(Cockerill,
1988)
Strategy
Drive
Relationship
Persuasion
Leadership
Followership
Analysis
Implementation
Personal factors
Written comms
Oral comms
Leadership
Team
Membership
Planning &
organising skills
Decision making
Motivation
Personal strength
Analytical
reasoning
Info search
Concept
formation
Conceptual
flexibility
Interpersonal
search
Managing
interaction
Developmental
orientation
Impact
Achievement
orientation
Self confidence
Presentation
Proactive
orientation
Personal drive
Organisational
drive
Impact
Communication
Awareness of
others
Team
management
Persuasiveness
Analytical power
Strategic
Commercial
judgement
Adaptive
orientation
Critical reason
Strategic
visioning
Business knowhow
Achievement
drive
Proactivity
Confidence
Control
Flexibility
Control
Concern for
effectiveness
Direction
Motivation
Interpersonal
skills
Concern for
impact
Persuasion
Influence
Organizational Competence
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Organizational competencies are concerned with the
abilities of developing, managing, and deploying
resources and relate to organizational outcomes
Organizational competencies comprise personal skills
and organizational processes that are affected by the
culture of an organization
An organization will need to have competencies in
several areas (e.g. Marketing, Engineering, Human
Resources, Information Systems) to achieve a given
capability objective. Often these component
competencies strongly interrelate, and indeed the ability
to manage this interdependency is itself an
organizational competence
Process of competence
development
COMPREHENSION
(Components)
EMERGING
COMPETENCE
(Outcomes)
DEFTNESS
(Process)
COMPETITIVE
ADVANTAGE
(Capability)
RENT
(Measure)
The logic of developing competencies a
a measure of success
Value
addition
An idiosyncratic
view on
competencies
“Internalized
knowledge of an
individual” view
on competencies
* Knowledge based strategy
* Exploitation occurs with
value adding relationships
* Supply of IT is about
designing the infrastructure
An industrial
organization economics
view on
competencies
Cost
efficiency
Individual
skills
competence required
for delivery
Organizational
competence
The logic of developing competencies
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a measure of success
Value
addition
Cost
efficiency
Business
requirements
Exploitation
System
development
IT
infrastructure
Individual
skills
competence required
for delivery
Organizational
competence
Positioning
Strategy
Business
requirements
Exploitation
Culture
System
development
IT
infrastructure
Exploitation
Supply
Organizational Competencies Wheel
Strategy
Culture
Exploitation
Supply
Strategic use of IT and related
competencies
A key competence in relation to the
strategic use of IT is to consider future
options affecting the way an
organization works, both internally and
in relation to its customers
Competence in supplying IT
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It is important to set longer term planning and
development standards that applications
subsequently comply with
IT must support new business processes but
requirements analysis is a critical stage which
needs to be undertaken by those close to the
people, often in an iterative way
In order for IT to deliver business strategy
there has to be a clear understanding as to
where IT needs to be tailor made and where
packages can be used
Competence for exploiting IT
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Getting people to change their ways of
working can be a complex task and a variety
of approaches may be required to facilitate
buy in. However all of the approaches require
significant investment in time, cost and
support
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Competencies for harnessing IT can be linked
to improved organizational capability and
measures relating to improvement should be
developed
Strategy
Reshaping
Individual
effectiveness for
change management
Radical
organizational
change
Culture
Exploitation
Supply
Operational
Short term
planning
Individual
skills
Value
addition
Cost
efficiency
Idiosyncratic
information
Focused
performance
targets
Individual
skills
Corporate
knowledge
Organizational
economics
Organizational
competence
Technological
Planning
Production/
Development
Organizational
resource
application
Organizational
competence
Specialist
standards &
focused technological
planning
Ability to build
Individual
skills
Future direction
& organizational
standards
Ability to
integrate &
maintain
Organizational
competence
Strategy
Are IT trends considered during scenario
planning?
Not considered
Culture
Exploitation
Considered fully
Do you review the significance of IT in radically
improving the business processes?
Supply
No business processes
Process options modeled
To what extent are IT impacts considered in
relation to future staff skills and numbers?
Insignificant
Individual effectiveness for
change management
Reshaping
- Functional redesign
- Personal/Team development
- Negotiating skills
Dominant role
Radical organizational change
- Scenario planning
- Process modeling
- Manpower planning
Identify:
Short term planning
Operational
- Setting specific targets
- Supporting IT
- Dealing with service level
agreements
Individual
skills
Organizational resource
application
- Managing infrastructure
- Understanding customer
perceptions
- Evaluating resource
utilization
Organizational
competence
* Comprehension (skills
& knowledge)
* Process (how it can be
done - best practice)
* Monitoring (effectiveness)
Strategy
Culture
Exploitation
Supply
Idiosyncratic information
Value
addition
Cost
efficiency
Corporate knowledge
- Articulating value to business
- Developing individual
knowledge
- Maintaining external
recognition of contribution
- Ability to leverage expertise
- Managing benefits
- Evaluate and review strategic c
choices
Focused performance targets
Organizational economics
- Performing cost/benefit analysis
- Monitoring performance
- Automation
Individual
skills
- Investment appraisal methods
- Contractualization of decision
making
- Maintaining economies of
scale and scope
Organizational
competence
Strategy
Culture
Exploitation
Supply
Technological
Planning
Specialist standards & focused
technological planning
Future direction &
organizational standards
- Defining specific work
packages
- Understanding development
options
- Clarity of work practices
- Reviewing and understanding
value addition
- Setting planning control
options
- Understanding technology
trends
Ability to build
Production/
Development
- Developing an ability to
learn continuously
- Skill development
Individual
skills
Ability to integrate & maintain
- Technical risk management
- Technical performance
management
- Understanding of system
development methodologies
Organizational
competence