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8/8/2019 The Right Mind Set for Managing Info Tech
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BY:
M. BENSAOU
MICHAEL EARL
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M. BENSAOU: Associate Prof. of Tech. Mgmt.and Asian Business at INSEAD, France.
MICHAEL EARL.: Prof. at London Business
School. Director of Centre for Research in Info.Mgmt.
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Why Japanese Companies rarelyexperience IT problems so
common in west.
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FIVE IT PROBLEMS OFWESTERNCOMPANIES
IT investments are unrelated to BusinessStrategy
Pay-offs from IT investments are
inadequate. Too much technology for technologys
sake.
Relations between IT users and ITspecialists are poor.
System designers do not consider users
preferences and work habits.
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Research project to compareWestern and
Japanese Mgmt. was undertaken by authors.
The Research Project brought out five Principlesof IT mgmt. in Japan, which explained whyJapanese were better than western managers in
Mgmt. of IT in their business?
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FIVE PRINCIPLES OF IT MANAGEMENT:
Strategic instinct should drive IT investments.
IT investment should be based on operationalperformance improvements.
Identify a performance goal and then select anappropriate Technology that goes with it.
Achieve Organizational Bonding betweenManagers and IT Specialists.
Human Design- Design IT system inalignment with the skills of the Employees.
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STRAT ALIGNMENT VS STRAT INSTINCT
Western Managers aimed at strategic
alignment by developing IT strategies, butgoals remained elusive.
Business strategies were rarely clear. ITopportunities poorly understood and
organizational had different priorities whichled to failure of IT strategies.
Japanese managers looked IT as one of thecompetitive levers and never developed specialIT strategies.
Japanese went for IT investments focusing onoperational goals. And IT investments came insmall steps by process of Learning By Doing.
Example: Seven-Eleven Japan.
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PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENTS
Western Companies adopt Capital Budgetingprocess to manage and evaluate ITinvestments. But Japanese Companies go in forIT projects not by financial matrix but by
operational performance goals. In simplewords go for IT investments only if it getsoperational performance improvement.
Japanese prefer continuous improvement andincremental advance implying IT spendingscome in small steps.
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APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY
Executives inWest suffer fron phenomenon
Technology for Technologys Sake. Western managers assume that Technology
offers the smartest, cheapest way to improveperformance.
Japanese focus on adopting appropriate Tech.
Japanese managers first identify task and levelof performance and then select technology that
will help them achieve it in a way that supportsthe employees.
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ORGANIZATIONAL BONDING
Western companies have less of organizational bondingbetween IT specialists and managers. General feeling is
IT specialist control too much and do not know much ofbusiness. Two separate cultures exist users andspecialists.
Japanese companies encourage integration and bondingbetween IT specialists and business managers in four
ways:- Many Japanese managers spend 2-3 years in IT dept. as partof job rotation. This gives them Technical know how andknowledge of how to get things done in IT.
IT specialists and managers are co-located when IT projectsare in progress. This improves communication and
understanding. Senior IT Executives are also in charge of other functions, such
as- finance and planning. Overlapping responsibilities helpsin integration and bonding.
Japanese IT departments even integrate IT vendors forgingcommitted partnerships resulting in effective IT application.
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HUMAN DESIGN
InWest the focus is on technically most elegant
system and expect employees to adapt to it. Japanese believe that building system is not
the end; enhancing contribution from people ishigher goal.
Principle of Human Design is central toJapanese way of using IT.
Japanese are deeply aware of importance of
Tacit knowledge. Tacit knowledge is that subtleknowledge that cannot be fully communicatedin words and numbers.
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CONCLUSION
The five Japanese Principles of ITManagement- Strategic instinct, Performanceimprovement, Appropriate technology,Organizational bonding and Human design
have Universal Application, which can besuitably modified to fit a local context.