Week 5 - Q1



'''1. What is meant by IT strategy alignment? Discuss three reasons for which some organisations may experience IT strategy alignment gaps.'''

What is IT Strategy Alignment
IT Strategy Alignment addresses the management of organisational hardware and software resources and enables organisations to support planned change in future directions and resources(Broadbent & Weill, 1993; King, 1978; Henderson & Vankatraman, 1993; Gadiesh & Gilbert, 2001)

It also defines how IT will be used to facilitate electronic communication to support business processes and needs (Broadbent & Weill, 1993; Henderson & Venkatraman, 1993; Clark, 1989; Gadiesh & Gilbert, 2001)

Broadbent & Weill (1993) provide a more comprehensive definition and argue that successful alignment is exhibited through the outward display of competitive advantage or successful achievement of business goals from the use of information or IT. They show that in order to achieve alignment an IS strategy needs to be consistent with business needs, be flexible and the formation process needs to be issue-oriented with a view of different organisational levels (Broadbent & Weill, 1993).



References

Broadbent, M. & Weill, P. (1993) Improving business and information strategy alignment: Learning from the banking industry, IBM Systems Journal, Vol 32 No 1, pp 162-179

Henderson, J.C. & Venkatraman, N. (1993) Strategic alignment: Leveraging information technology  for transforming organisations, IBM Systems Journal, Vol 32 No 1, pp 472-484

Gadiesh, O. & Gilbert, J.L. (2001) Transforming corner office strategy into frontline action, Harvard Business Review, May, pp 73-79

King, W.R. (1978) Strategic planning for management information systems, MIS Quarterly, Vol 2 No 1, pp 27-37

Discuss three reasons for which some organisations may experience IT strategy alignment gaps.
1. Communication

Purposeful and strategically focused communication is important for successful alignment Communication facilitates understanding and promotes mutually beneficial thinking about strategy. When communication is rewarded and recognised it became an organisational norm noted that in order for communication to be effective organisations need “to replace old monologues by dialogue” and that much misalignment is due to poor communication. Communication needs to start with top management with the view that IT is a business resource that is used to achieve business needs.



2. Strategy 

While the nuts and bolts of strategy certainly aren't news to most senior executives, many staff people in IT — thanks to the traditional lack of a "seat at the table" — may need to better understand the fundamentals of overall strategy to be able to better communicate how technology links to strategy. Strategy relates to the mission, vision, and values of an organization. The mission explains the purpose of an organization; the vision outlines the future direction or where the organization foresees itself; and the values are the guiding principles. Values generally equate to the ethical and moral standards that an organization expects its staff to uphold.

Strategy is a hypothesis of what organizations think will be successful, is derived by current and future catalysts within the industry and operational history of the organization, and is generally created by the leaders of an organization (such as the board or senior management). The overall strategy then is broken down into a small number of focus areas, known as strategic themes. Examples of strategic themes include such familiar motifs as community building, improving operational efficiency, developing new products and programs, improving education, influencing legislation and regulation, and increasing customer loyalty.

3. Tactic

Most organisations have wrongly perceived IT/IS as a cost centre rather than a valuable asset. Business managers, in general, treated IT as an additional cost for their business project which may caused the project to suffer from overbudgeting. However, they don't realize that the IT/IS can help them in things such as project management. This misperception of IT can be caused by the lack of understanding of the use or benefits that IT could offer for their business strategy.

