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Advise the CEO on how you see ITS in the new structure, highlighting benefits to DMC if this recommendation is accepted

Home, - Advise the CEO on how you see ITS in the new structure

Question - Case Study - DMC - You have just joined DMC (formerly trading as DataMine Consultants) as the new CIO. Your CEO has given you six (6) weeks to develop an initial draft strategy document (3 Year Plan) with the requirement to reorganise the business so that IT supports the company's business needs going forward for the company itself to be more effective and efficient. It is the CEO's vision for DMC to be restructured so that IT will be the driver and enabler of DMC future.

A) Carry out an evaluation of DMC against the Strategic Alignment Maturity Model and evaluate where DMC sits in this model. Here you need to do a brief Alignment Gap analysis from where DMC is now and where it should be in your opinion.

Answer - The nature of the business is understood by finding the relationship between the processes of the business and the strategies of the business with the strategic alignment. The infrastructure of the organization, goals of the organization, internal resources of the organization and the external environment of the organization is co-ordinated by using the strategic alignment method. The competitiveness of the organization is analysed in this.

Alignment gap analysis as per the case study

1) Harmony among divisions. DMC is lacking the harmony between the different divisions. The different sub divisions of the company are connected socially and this affects the performance of the organization.

2) Communication gap: The heads of the different divisions of the company meet after the duration of one month. The frequency of the meeting must be reduced to weekly instead of monthly.

3) Accounting system: The accounting system of the company is efficient and it depends on the accounting system of the bank to know about the financial condition of the DMC daily.

4) Organizational structure: There is not ITS in the DMC company. The services and the roles are duplicated due to the absence of the ITS.

5) Ethics and value: The ethics and the value are not defined in the company. There is no policy for deciding what will be considered ethical in the company and what will be considered unethical in the company.

B) Determine what the current structure of the organisation as an organisational structure (stovepipe etc) and suggest to the CEO how you think DMC should restructure the organisation to best close the Alignment Gap giving justifications for your recommendations.

Answer - Vertical stove pipe structure is followed by the DMC company. The manager of the company has the responsibilities of

1) Research and development in the company

2) Marketing and sales

3) Operations related to customer services and IT services

The function of the organization are represented by the different stove pipes.

Pros of Stive pipe structure

1) Clarification of career paths

2) Easy performance appraisal of the employees of company

3) Roles and services are duplicated so a back up is created

4) The expertise is shared throughout the company

Cons of Stove pipe architecture

1) Communication is not proper which can lead to failure of unit

2) The priorities of the different functional units may differ from the priorities of the organization.

The restructuring of the company must be done in the horizontal tunnel form because it will improve the communication in DMC and the priorities of the different functional units will be same as the priorities of the organization. It will help to focus on the different areas of the business. Working environment of the DMC will get improved and this will also lead to improvement in the performance of the employees of DMC.

C) Recommend to the CEO a revised management structure at the executive level and justify why this should be considered.

Answer - There should be three levels of the management in the revies management structure which include

Top level

Middle level

Bottom level

Top level will cover the top levels managers of the organization such as the CCO and CFO who will think about the various strategies for the organization and they will decide on the different long term decision and decision concerned with finance in relation to the stakeholders.

Middle level will cover the mangers who will be reporting to and will be accountable to the top level managers. They represents the heads of the different divisions. They will be guiding the low level managers.

Bottom level will cover the manager who will interacting directly with the employees of the DMC. They will administer the work of the organization and they will be monitoring the performance of the employees.

D) Advise the CEO on how you see ITS in the new structure, highlighting the benefits to DMC if this recommendation is accepted.

Answer - Benefits of new structure will be

1) It will improve the communication in DMC and the priorities of the different functional units will be same as the priorities of the organization.

2) It will help to focus on the different areas of the business.

3) Working environment of the DMC will get improved and this will also lead to improvement in the performance of the employees of DMC.

4) The financial position of the company will be administered by the dedicated financial head of the company.

5) The new structure will involve framing of the proper ethical policy for the company.

E) Advise the CEO of the resistance that there will likely be in the reorganisation process and advise the CEO of a strategy to retain and retrain as many displaced staff as possible. You should also describe the change management philosophy that you believe will be the most successful in the amalgamation process. Also, in your answer discuss how the introduction of new technologies or systems can be a catalyst for organisational change.

Answer - With the help of this process, the change will be understood, accepted, committed and embraced by the employees of the organization.

Benefits of retaining and retraining displaced staff is

1) The cost and the time of recruitment of the new staff will be saved

2) The tasks will be done easily with the introduction of new technology

3) The workplace will be adaptive and innovative with the introduction of new technologies.

4) The performance of the staff members will be better as they are well acquainted with the working environment of the organization

Resistance to change can be overcome by

1) The benefits of the change must be communicated to the staff

2) The staff must be made aware about the change

3) The incentives must be given to staff for working in new environment

4) The staff must be trained for working in new changed environment.

5) Intervention techniques must be used.

F) Advise the CEO of at least 8 different areas of DMC operations where outsourcing may be appropriate indicating the risks associated with each of the areas you select.

Answer - 8 different areas are:

1) Social media management: The social media management operation of the company can be outsourced.

Risks

The company may loose the control over the social media content

The content on the social media of the company is not decided by the company. The outsourcing may result in inappropriate content on social media.

2) Customer service: The operation of the customer service can be outsourced

Risks

It can lead to loss the interaction with the customers

It can lead to poor relationship with the customers

3) Web design: The design for the website of the company can be outsourced.

Risks

The design may not represent the vision and gaols of company.

It can result in high costs for development of web site

4) Hiring and recruitment: This process can be outsourced

Risks

The company can get the non competent talent.

The company may incur the high recruitment costs

5) Data storage and back up: This service can be outsourced

Risks

This can lead to lass of confidentiality and the privacy of the data.

The company may loose control on the data.

The security standards of the data are not decided by the company so, may be less secure.

6) Accounting and book keeping: This area can be outsourced

Risks

This can result in high costs

This can result in financial frauds

7) Legal services

Risks

This can lead to high costs

This can also lead to non compliance to some of laws.

8) Tax filling

Risks

This can lead to delay in tax filling and passing of due dates

This can fetch high costs for company.


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